CHAPTER 5: CONFUSION

KATHLEEN SILAS (Wolf: Leen)

Even against my will, I'd applied, and Beta Fin had told me to come to Alpha Hades's mansion for the physical screening.

I checked the time outside the gate. It's already noon. Fin had told me to come early, but I hadn't had the strength to get out of bed on time.

Everything happening had become overwhelming. But thinking of who I was doing this for made it worth it.

I walked in expecting to be late for nothing — joke was on me. The mansion was already packed with pretty girls I'd never associated with.

When did I ever have time to make friends, with my family's problems swallowing me whole?

I walked slowly, trying not to be seen. Curves and cleavage seemed to be everywhere I looked.

The Cranstone Pack really did have its share of beautiful women, all of them already seated. I took a seat too, and every head turned toward me at once. None of them had expected to see me here.

Goddess, I hated being here. I wished, uselessly, that I had other options.

"Look who we have here." Sonia stood and approached me.

I tried to ignore her. These girls loved bullying me wherever they found me.

"To think she had the guts to show up here — makes me wonder if they want an illiterate heir for the Alpha too," one of the girls behind her sneered.

They burst into laughter, staring at me like showing up here had been the worst decision of my life. The words stung, but I refused to let it show.

"Kathleen, just leave. We're saving you from embarrassment." Sonia rested a hand on my shoulder. I shoved it off.

"Don't listen to them," Leen, my wolf, encouraged.

I stayed seated, arms folded, telling myself I was used to words like these by now.

"Let her be, Sonia. Let's just watch her get rejected and tossed out of here," Abigail, Sonia's best friend, called from her seat. "I'd pay good money to see that on a billboard."

Beta Fin entered soon after, and the room went quiet. They called girls up one by one to check their features — he'd made it clear he wanted the prettiest, most curvaceous woman he could find for the Alpha.

I doubted I'd ever be chosen. Next to every girl here, I felt like the least attractive one in the room, my clothes worn thin.

"You must have the ideal body size and attractive features," Beta Fin announced. "If you don't meet the requirements, you'll be sent home." His eyes swept the room, sharp and assessing, missing nothing as each girl stepped forward.

They called us up one by one to be measured, the screening strict enough that most girls with fuller figures were turned away on the spot. Murmurs rippled through the room.

"You must also be a virgin," Fin added, last of all.

Several girls stood and left immediately to spare themselves the embarrassment — they weren't. In fact, among adult shewolves, very few are virgins.

Sonia was forced to leave. Clearly she wasn't a virgin. Before she left, she glared fiercely at me.

Then it was my turn, the last — everyone else had already left. I walked up and stood in front of Beta Fin.

"What's your name?" he asked, eyes on my file.

"Kathleen Silas," I said, hands clasped behind my back, praying silently to be chosen.

"You're twenty-three years old?"

I nodded, heart pounding against my ribs.

He circled me again. "Pretty face. Perfect, curvy body. Perfect to be a breeder," he said, eyes dragging from my head to my toes.

"Are you a virgin?" He glanced at my file. "Good."

Who would've thought being a virgin would end up saving me at a time like this? My struggles never even gave me the chance to look twice at a man.

"Follow me," he said. "You're coming to see my Alpha."

My jaw dropped as my gaze snapped up.

Sonia rushed toward us. "Beta Fin, how could you choose an illiterate to bear the Alpha's heir over all of us?" she nearly screamed, fighting to steady herself in front of him.

Fin shook his head. "Educational level wasn't part of the requirements."

"But my father already secured this spot for me," she said, her voice faltering.

Fin flashed her a thin smile. "He also told me you're not a virgin. That disqualified you."

She snapped her glare toward me, fuming, and jabbed a finger in my direction. "Enjoy this while you can. I'm coming for you," she threatened, and stormed off.

I pushed her threat aside, still stunned I'd been chosen over all of them, and hurried after Fin.

The car drove us straight to the Oreblack Wolf Pack. This would be my first time meeting this Alpha.

‘I hope he likes me — enough to actually pick me as his surrogate.’

After a few hours we arrived, and I didn't have time to marvel at the beauty of it. Guilt crawled up my chest as

I thought about how I'd betrayed myself — my beliefs, my principles, everything I once swore I'd never compromise.

I was about to be used as a baby-making machine. This was not the future I'd imagined.

The car parked at the garage. I stepped out beside Fin, the only familiar face in this whole place.

"Come on, let's go inside," he said, waving me forward.

We made our way into the mansion, servants filling every corner — ten times bigger than the one back home.

He led me into a meeting room and stopped. "Wait here. He's coming," he instructed, then left me there alone.

I sat, wringing my sweaty hands, letting my gaze wander. My mind kept drifting to my mother's face in that hospital bed, to Toby's tuition, to the reason I'd let myself be inspected like livestock in the first place.

‘This is for them. Whatever happens in this room, it's for them.’

I wondered how he'd look at me the moment he walked in — like something to be used and set aside.

"Leen, I don't know why I'm having a bad feeling," I said, my wolf surfacing in my mind.

"We're already here, Kath. We can't back out now," she reminded me.

I caught his scent right before he walked in and quickly rose to my feet, not wanting to seem disrespectful.

I lowered my head the moment I felt his presence fill the room. I didn't dare look up.

He walked past me without a glance, and I lifted my head just enough to catch him from behind — broad, powerful, every movement deliberate and controlled.

There was nothing warm in the way he carried himself. Power radiated off him in waves, cold as winter.

I wondered what his face would look like.

"Greetings, Alpha," I said politely.

"Look at me." His voice dropped, stone-cold.

I slowly raised my gaze. There, I found the coldest hazel eyes I'd ever seen, eyes that gave nothing away. I gulped and quickly lowered mine again.

He raked me over with a cold, dismissive stare, like this entire arrangement bored him.

“I believe you know what you’re here for?” he said.

I nodded, then quickly corrected myself. “Yes, Alpha.”

“No feelings attached. You fall for me, you die.” He reminded me again, more like a threat.

I gulped and nodded.

“One last question, why do you choose to be a surrogate mother?.” He continued.

I raised my gaze to look at him fully, ignoring how his cold stare made Leen shiver inside me.

"I’m just here for the money, to help my family," I began.

His eyes narrowed slightly — just a flicker, there and gone, like he hadn't expected me to speak before being spoken to.

“Good. remember what you just said.” Something shifted behind his eyes — brief, contained, gone almost as soon as it appeared. His jaw tightened.

"May the Goddess forbid it. You young little slut. I will never let you disgrace this family."

A familiar voice hit my ear.

I snapped my head around to see my father standing at the door.