01

ELARA

I found out I was getting married the same day I caught my father crying in the bathroom.

He didn't know I saw him, the door was cracked open, and there he was, hunched over the sink, shoulders shaking. My father, who had never shed a tear even when Mom died, sobbing like the world was ending.

Maybe it was.

"Dad?"

He jerked upright, swiping at his face with the back of his hand. "Elara. I didn't hear you."

"What's wrong?"

The look he gave me made my stomach turn.

"We need to talk."

Five minutes later, I was standing in the kitchen while he dropped the news.

"You're getting married," he said. No gentle lead-in, just the truth, dropped between us like a bomb.

I laughed out loud "What?"

"Lucian Cross. The future Alpha of the Nightshade Pack." His voice cracked. "You're going to be his mate."

I felt air leaving my lungs. "That's Sophia's arrangement, not mine."

"Sophia's gone."

My older sister, beautiful, perfect Sophia who was promised to the Cross family since we were teenagers. The golden daughter who was supposed to secure our family's future.

"What do you mean gone?"

"She ran away last night. Took everything." He couldn't look at me. "Alpha Cross demands a replacement. The contract was binding."

"Then find her!"

"We can't." His hands were shaking. "And even if we could, it wouldn't matter. He wants one of my daughters married to his son by the next full moon or the deal is void."

"What deal?" My voice was rising. "What are you talking about?"

The silence stretched too long.

"Dad. What deal?"

"I owe them money," he whispered. "Two hundred thousand dollars. The business was failing and I borrowed from the pack and I can't pay it back."

"So you're selling me." I said, almost whispering.

"I'm saving us."

"By throwing me away? I'm twenty-three years old! I have plans, I have a life, I'm not even the one who was supposed to…"

"Don't say it like that…"

"I'm not doing this!" I shouted. "I have plans, I have a life and I’m not Sophia's replacement!"

"You don't have a choice!" He shouted back, his face red. "None of us do!"

"There's always a choice!"

"Not this time!" His fist slammed on the counter. "If you don't do this, we lose everything. The house, the land, our place in the pack. They'll destroy us, Elara. Is that what you want?"

"You can't do this to me." I said. My whole body was shaking.

"All your life," he paused, "you've never been up to something good. Never been useful to yourself or to this family, never made this family proud." His eyes were hard. "Make this your first."

I stood there, staring at the man who raised me, and felt something inside me crack, my nails dug into my palms. I wanted to scream. I wanted to shift and tear apart everything but I swallowed it down, forced the rage back into the pit of my stomach.

"When?" The word came out flat. Dead.

"Three days."

I turned and walked away before I did something I couldn't take back.

That night, I couldn't sleep. I crept downstairs for water and heard voices coming from my father's office. The door was cracked open just enough for me to hear everything.

"She'll do what she's told." That was  Alpha Cross with his cold and unforgiving voice. "My son needs a mate on paper. The elders want tradition. This satisfies them."

"And after the ceremony?" My father sounded small again. Weak.

"After, she plays the part. Attends function, what Lucian does in private is none of her concern."

The glass in my hand almost shattered.

"She's a good girl," my father said, and I hated how pathetic he sounded. "She deserves…"

"She deserves what you can afford, Hayes. Which is nothing." Alpha Cross's laugh was sharp. "You borrowed money you couldn't repay. This is the cost. Be grateful I'm offering a way out at all."

"She'll cooperate. I made sure of it."

"Good. Though I have to hand it to you, that crying act in the bathroom was inspired. The girl bought it completely."

I couldn’t believe what I was hearing, Alpha Cross chuckled. "Saw it through the security camera. Very convincing."

"I did what I had to do."

It was fake, all of it. The tears, the broken voice, and theguilt in his eyes. He had staged it, played me like a puppet, made me think he was suffering too when really he'd just been setting the trap.

I backed away from the door, my whole body shaking. This wasn't just a transaction, it was a betrayal.

Three days later, I stood in a white dress that felt like a funeral shroud.

The ceremony was small. Our families and a handful of witnesses. Lucian spoke his vows like he was reading a grocery list. When he kissed me, his lips barely touched mine before he pulled away.

At the reception, he didn't speak to me once. Just stood across the room, jaw tight, looking like he wanted to be anywhere else. I understood because I felt the same way.

When it was over, his driver took us to the pack house. A massive estate that looked more like a prison than a home. Lucian stayed silent the entire ride, staring out the window like I didn't exist.

He led me upstairs to a bedroom, beautiful but empty.

"This is your room," he said.

Not ours. Mine.

"Where will you…"

"Down the hall." He was already turning to leave.

"Wait." My voice came out smaller than I wanted. "What happens now?"

He stopped. Looked at me with eyes so cold I felt frost forming in my chest.

"Now you stay out of my way."

A knock echoed from down the hall. His bedroom door. Lucian's expression didn't change. "Don't leave this room."

But I couldn't help it, I followed him and as he opened his door, my heart almost stopped.

A woman stood there. Tall. Blonde. Wearing nothing but black lace and a smile that said she knew exactly why she was here.

"You're late," Lucian said.

"Forgive me." She dragged a finger down his chest.

He pulled her inside. The door started to close but not before I saw him push her toward the bed, his hands already working at the lace.

The door clicked shut  and sounds started immediately. Laughter, movements with a woman's breathless moan.

I stood frozen in the hallway, my mating night and my husband was spending it with someone else. I wasn’t even wanted.

I walked back to my room. Locked the door. Sank to the floor and pressed my hands over my mouth to keep the scream inside.

My wolf howled.

This was my life now, this was what two hundred thousand dollars bought.

I don't know how long I sat there, hours maybe. Then I suddenly heard a knock on the door and I quickly stood up to open the door

Lucian stood there, shirt untucked, hair messed up, smelling like a woman’s  perfume 

"We need to talk," he said, pushing past me into the room.

He walked to the center of the room and he turned to face me. "The elders wanted me mated. They didn't say the bond had to be real."

My chest tightened.

"What are you even…"

"I, Lucian Cross, future Alpha of the Nightshade Pack," he said,"reject you, Elara Hayes, as my mate."

The bond snapped, pain tore through me like my chest was splitting open. My wolf screamed. I couldn't breathe well.

I hit my knees, gasping, clawing at my chest as the severed bond ripped through every nerve. I didn’t expect a forced bond to affect me like this, maybe because I had a little hope that things might be better with him, but I was wrong.

Lucian watched me break, his face stayed blank.

"You'll live here, attend pack functions, smile, play the part." His voice was flat. "I'll do what I want. You'll stay out of my way. We'll both survive."

I couldn't speak as he walked to the door and paused without looking back.

"Your father's debt is cleared. But if you leave, the deal is void and he loses everything, so if I were you, I would get comfortable."

The door closed.