Chapter 1

"Harder, Alpha! It's so deep. Yes! Yes! Yes, baby!"

The woman's cries and the sound of a man's frantic thrusts echoed through the eastern wing of the Ashcroft Manor just as Briella Whitemere climbed the final marble step with a silver breakfast tray balanced carefully in her dirty shaking hands.

She winced at the sound of women and men's moans and laughter alike. They were all coming from her husband's sex-bedroom.

With that, Briella lowered her eyes in great shame.

It wasn't the first time. Yet, she would pray everyday that it would be the last.

The servants lining the corridor suddenly became very interested in polishing furniture that was already spotless.

One maid looked away. Another covered her mouth, fighting a laugh.

Nobody reacted because now, everyone knew Alpha Bernard Ashcroft was a sex addict who fucked other people except his omega wife.

"My Lady...." A young servant girl reached for Briella's sleeve. "Please... don't."

Briella answered with the same tired smile she had worn for years. "He asked for breakfast."

"But, it's prohibited to...."

"Don't worry about me, my dear."

She continued walking but every step felt heavier than the last.

She had made fresh pizza, honey cakes, a roasted rotisserie and his favorite tea. She had woken before dawn to prepare everything herself. Maybe if today's breakfast was perfect.... Bernard would smile at her and kiss her?

Perhaps today.... he would remember she was his wife?

She was just outside the door when a sharp voice suddenly shattered her fragile hope.

"You bitch! Omega Briella!"

Briella stopped so abruptly that the tea trembled in its cup. An older housekeeper stormed toward her, fury blazing in her eyes.

"What is this?"

She snatched the cloth covering the tray and her expression twisted.

"You call this worthy of our Alpha? How dare you?!"

"Madam Skye. B-But...."

Before Briella could finish, the woman slapped the tray from her hands.

CRASH!

Porcelain exploded across the polished marble and the tea splashed over Briella's long skirts. The pizza flew down the hallway. And then, the corridor fell silent.

Dozens of servants watched. Nobody moved and nobody helped. The housekeeper grabbed Briella's arm so hard her fingers dug into her skin.

"You useless girl. You've had five years to learn how to be a proper wife. And still...." She leaned closer. "....our Alpha prefers my food and fucks strangers."

Laughter rippled through the hallway. Not everyone laughed actually. Some only looked away in shame.

Briella bowed her head, not sure what to say.

"I'm so sorry."

It came out too soft and the housekeeper screamed.

"Louder, bitch!"

"I'm.... I'm sorry, ma'am."

The woman shoved her backward.

"Get on your knees and clean it."

Without hesitation.... Briella obeyed. She knelt on the cold marble and one by one, she gathered the broken porcelain into her trembling hands.

A sharp edge sliced across her fingertip and a tiny drop of crimson landed on the white floor.

She quickly wiped it away with her sleeve. No one noticed.

While she was deep in work, the bedroom doors creaked open. The laughter inside gradually faded.

Several elegantly dressed women stepped into the hallway, adjusting their gowns as they left.

Behind them came two well-dressed men, laughing quietly with one another before disappearing down the staircase.

Briella didn't raise her head. She couldn't dare to even.

Soft footsteps passed in front of her. One pair of heeled feet remained. Unlike the others, they didn't move.

A gentle voice broke the silence.

"Oh my. You're beautiful."

Briella slowly looked up. The speaker was one of the prostitutes leaving Bernard's chambers. Her makeup was beginning to fade, but kindness still softened her face.

She studied Briella for a long moment. Then she sighed.

"I've been in many noble houses. I've met queens. Lunas. Rich women."

She shook her head.

"But I've never seen a wife as beautiful..." Her eyes drifted to Briella's bleeding hand. "....or as humble as you. That's so sad."

The corridor grew quiet. The woman looked toward Bernard's door before lowering her voice.

"If Alpha Bernard cannot see your worth...." She offered Briella a sad smile. "...maybe one day someone else will and you'd have the best time of your life."

Without another word, she walked away amd Briella felt the unusual words settle warmly in her chest.

The servants watched the woman catwalk away leave while Briella remained on her knees.

She didn't know whether to feel comforted.... or even more ashamed. But still, the words brought emotional tears to her eyes. 

Then a familiar voice echoed from inside the room.

"Briella?"

Bernard finally appeared. His shirt hung loosely over his shoulders as he glanced first at the broken dishes.... then at his kneeling wife.

His face hardened into fury.

"Fuck! Look what you've done again."

Not ARE YOU HURT or WHAT HAPPENED. Only disappointment.

He picked up a cleaning cloth from a nearby table and tossed it at her. It struck her face before falling into her lap.

"Clean this before my mother sees."

His eyes swept over her with complete indifference.

"And get out of my sight...." A cruel smile tugged at his lips. "....you dirty virgin wife."

He walked out and brushed past her without another glance. His footsteps faded and the corridor slowly emptied.

Only when she had gathered every broken piece, every overturned cup and every shattered wine glass did Briella stop moving.

One tear escaped but she caught it before it reached the floor. 

****

****

High above the entrance hall and hidden behind the carved balcony railing, Natasha Ashcroft watched everything.

Her expression softened just enough to resemble pity. Anyone looking up would have believed the Queen Mother mourned for Briella, her daughter-in-law. They would have been wrong.

Natasha wasn't grieving. She was waiting. And far far away from the walls of Ashcroft Manor, a deep war horn rolled across the valleys.

The banners of the Red Kingdom had entered Ashcroft lands.

****

****

It happened as usual. Bernard drank, cursed her and looked at her with cold, hateful eyes before he fell asleep. 

He had made it clear as usual that he did not care about her needs, didn't want her as a wife and did not want her body because his mother had told him to be ready but he never could be ready to touch her virgin body. 

So, Briella took her time and sobbed in her room. She also took her time to wish she was dead with her parents. Then, she made the decision she'd been daring to ever make since she realized Bernard would never mate with her.

She sneaked out of the estate. 

And it was surprisingly easy since the guards were incompetent as usual. Tears of intense anger and sexual frustration blurred her vision as she hurried away.

She walked into the exclusive district of the main city, ignoring the looks people gave her. 

The deeper Briella wandered into the district, the louder the city became. Wild music sounded through the streets as masked men and women laughed beneath glowing lights. Luxury cars lined the roads while elegantly or skimpily dressed couples disappeared behind velvet curtains.

Then she saw it.

The Pleasure House.

It was a towering black and glass building. Expensive perfumes drifted through its open doors, mingling with wine, musky sex, and whispered laughter.

People entered smiling and emerged looking drunk and completely different. Some walked on trembling legs.

Briella stared and her heart pounded. For the first time in five years, she wondered what it felt like to be wanted.

Briella felt small and felt out of place in her simple silky nightdress. And for very strange reasons, she felt her nipples peak beneath the thin fabric. 

She only stood outside the great building and stared up at it, temptation gnawing through her mind. 

Meanwhile, an Alpha stood in the shadows, wearing a very large red hoodie and watching her closely. Just by sight, one could tell he was a very powerful man. A large one at that.

He tried to control his instinct and for the first time in four centuries, his heartbeat quickened and he felt the rush of his own blood. 

Suddenly, Briella was crying as she wrapped her arms around herself and looked around, lost.

The man only felt a strange pull and it was all it took for his instincts to move his feet. 

Like a shadow, he approached her slowly. He did not speak. He did not ask for her name. She did not even see his face.

He only reached out and touched her face. And instantly they both froze. 

His touch was surprisingly light and caught a tear from her cheek. Briella flinched. She had heard stories of tall powerful men and their need for mating and their casual lifestyle. And with that, she expected cruelty.

But what she found now was gentleness instead. His hands were warm and his presence was calming. 

There was a great weariness about him but all Briella could think about was trust, need and a very foreign excitement. 

Without another word, he took her hand and moved them to a dark, private room. The door clicked shut and the world outside disappeared. 

The room was lit only by a bedside lamp. Shadows danced across the stone walls as Briella stood frozen, her breath still uneven.

She had trusted the darkness of the halls because it had hidden him and her from the other people who were lost in their own senses of passion.

But now, he reached up slowly and his gloved fingers pulled back the hood that had concealed his features.

The fabric slipped back and Briella's breath caught. He was.... breathtaking.

Long, dark hair framed a face so striking it almost didn't seem real. Strong, elegant features carried the quiet confidence of a man born to command. Yet it wasn't his face that stole every thought from her mind.

It was his eyes. They weren't blue or green. They weren't exactly violet. They were piercing and shimmering between red and violet, glowing faintly in the dim light like embers buried under ice.

Briella instinctively stepped back.

"Oh no.... W-What.... who are you...?"

Her voice trembled. Those eyes.... They weren't for any normal wolf.