Sold to the Alpha

Three days in hell.

The bond didn’t break. That was the sick joke. Rejection needed acceptance from both sides, and I’d been too shocked, too broken to say the words. So now I was stuck with these golden threads connecting me to someone who hated my existence.

I felt him constantly. His rage. His presence in the pack manor on the hill.

The pack got worse. Before, I was invisible. Now I was target practice. They whispered when I passed. “Even the Alpha didn’t want her.” “Rejected the second she shifted.” “Pathetic.” They shoved me into walls, knocked things over for me to clean, laughed when I flinched away.

Marcus’s beatings got creative. He blamed me for embarrassing him.

One night I heard a knock on the door.

Marcus answered it.

“Marcus Gwyneth? You owe Alpha Blackwood fifty thousand dollars.”

My hands froze on the brush.

Marcus’s voice went high and panicky. “I can get it! Just give me another week!”

“Time’s up. The Alpha wants his money tonight, or else.”

Fifty thousand. My stomach dropped. Marcus had gambled with the Alpha? Of course he had. Idiot never knew when to stop.

The voices got heated. Furniture crashed. Marcus pleaded. Then everything went quiet in a way that made my skin crawl.

Footsteps approached.

Marcus appeared in the doorway, and I knew. I knew by the look on his face…..that desperate calculation he got when the debts piled too high. Behind him stood two massive men in black, built like brick walls.

“Arabelle.” His voice was almost gentle. “Come here.”

“The Alpha wants his money.” Marcus licked his lips. “I don’t have it. But I have you.”

“No.” The word came out instinctive, sharp.

“You owe me.” The gentleness vanished. “Your mother died because of you. You’ve been nothing but dead weight your entire worthless life. Now you can finally be useful.”

One of the brick walls stepped forward. “Alpha Blackwood will accept the girl as payment. She’ll serve in the Blackwood household. Her labor settles the debt.”

Serve. They meant slave.

“I won’t go.” I backed toward the counter, looking for anything sharp. My wolf snarled inside me, but I’d only shifted once. I didn’t know how to fight.

Marcus grabbed me by my hair. I screamed in pain and struggled but he was too strong. He dragged me out of the house with my hair, almost drawing blood.

There was a black car outside.

Sleek. Expensive. Wrong.

“Take her,” Marcus panted, shoving me at the brick walls. “Tell the Alpha we’re square.”

“No!” I lunged back toward the house, but one of them caught me easy. His grip was iron.

“The Alpha’s waiting.”

They forced me into the car. Through the window, I watched Marcus turn and walk inside without looking back. After eighteen years of threats, he’d actually done it.

He’d sold me.

To my mate.

The drive took twenty minutes. I sat rigid between the two men, my mind spinning. What would Zach do when he saw me? Would he even care? He’d rejected me in front of everyone. Made it clear I was nothing to him.

Now I was being delivered to his door like unwanted mail.

The bond pulsed. He knew I was coming. I felt his presence growing stronger with every mile.

The Blackwood manor rose up like something from a gothic novel. All stone and shadow, towers reaching for the moon, windows glowing with warm light that promised me nothing. It was beautiful in a threatening way. Old money. Old power. Everything I wasn’t.

They dragged me up marble steps.

Zach was standing at the entrance.

The bond roared to life. I saw his jaw clench, his hands.

His voice was cold and soulless.

“Bring her inside.”

The brick walls obeyed, hauling me into a foyer that screamed wealth. Marble floors. Paintings that probably cost more than Marcus’s house.

Zach started walking down the stairs.

 He stopped three feet away. Close enough that I could smell him…..pine and smoke and something underneath that made my wolf whimper.

“Marcus Gwyneth’s debt is paid,” he told the men without looking at them. “Leave us.”

They disappeared.

An heavy silence hung between us.

He starts to speak. Businesslike. Cold. No bout of affection in his voice.

“You’ll clean. You’ll serve. You speak when spoken to.“

Something hot and angry flared in my chest. I lifted my chin. “I understand you’re a coward.”

“What?”

“Didn’t you reject me because I was not good enough? Now you’ll keep me here as your slave?“

He suddenly grabbed my chin and forced it to look at his face.

The bond sang at the contact.

“You don’t know anything about me,” he growled. “About what I’ve done or why. Be lucky I’m not jailing you.”

“Lucky?” I breathed, anger overriding fear. “You think I’m lucky? You’re my mate!”

“Was.” But his grip tightened. “I rejected you.”

“I never accepted.”

The words hung there, dangerous. His eyes searched mine, and I saw it…..the war raging behind that icy mask. Want fighting denial. Hunger fighting rejection.

Then he let go and stepped back like I’d burned him.

“You will accept. Eventually.” His voice was carefully empty. “Until then, stay out of my way.”

He turned toward his study.

“Your room’s on the third floor. Servants’ quarters. Someone will show you in the morning.” Neutral. Controlled. “Don’t make me regret this mercy, Arabelle.”

Then he was gone.

I stood alone in my mate’s house, surrounded by marble and gold, trapped in a cage made of golden threads and bitter rejection.

…………..

I could not sleep.

How could I? Ironically the servant quarters here was far better than the cold basement i used to stay in Marcus’s house.

I felt Zach somewhere below me in this massive house. Awake. Restless. Pissed off.

At dawn, someone knocked.

“Miss Gwyneth?” A woman’s voice, all business. “I’m Helen, the head housekeeper. Time to start.”

“You’ll need a uniform.” She shoved folded black fabric at me. “Change fast. Breakfast service starts in twenty minutes.”

The uniform was a simple black and white maid gown. Anonymous. Replaceable.

“Just as the angry man wants,” I sighed.

Helen showed me around the mansion.

“You start with dishes,” Helen said. “Work your way up if you’re not completely useless. The Alpha eats breakfast at seven sharp. Everything perfect.”

Helen left. I started scrubbing.

The other servants ignored me at first. Then the whispers started.

“That’s her. The rejected mate.”

“Can you imagine? Living in the same house?”

“I heard she begged. Literally got on her knees.”

I ignored them. Let them talk.

I’d survived worse than gossip.

At seven exactly, Helen rang a bell. “Breakfast service!”

All the servants grabbed their plates and exited. I kept working.

Then Helen reappeared. “You. Alpha wants you.”