Chapter 1

My brother forced me to drink an aphrodisiac, triggering my heat early.

Half-conscious, I felt someone pulling at my clothes.

I wanted to fight, but my arms and legs felt like lead, and I couldn't move them.

My mother's voice came from above me. "Penny, I don't have a choice, either. If we don't get this investment, the pack may not survive.

"You're an Alpha's daughter. Think of it as a sacrifice for the pack." As she spoke, she dressed me in a lace slip.

I wanted to speak, but I didn't even have the strength to move my lips. All I could do was let her do whatever she wanted with me.

Then my brother's voice came from outside, trembling with excitement. "Mom, it's settled. Rowan Gale is sending someone to pick her up soon."

Then he patted my shoulder.

"Don't act like you've been wronged. That's Rowan Gale, the Alpha of the largest pack in the werewolf world. Women fight each other for a chance to get into his bed. Count yourself lucky."

My mother agreed. "That's right. If Rowan Gale actually takes a liking to you and makes you his Luna, our pack will be set."

My brother scoffed. "Mom, think about it. Why would a man as wealthy as Rowan take a liking to someone as lowly as Penny? He'll only play with her. That's all.

"Even one night serving Rowan Gale is more than you deserve."

My head was heavy, but I could still hear the name clearly.

Rowan Gale.

Was he the one his own brother had hunted seven years ago, the one who'd nearly frozen to death in the snow?

Seven years ago, I pulled him out of that snow, half-dead. I planned his campaign, and despite being vastly outnumbered, he defeated his brother and took the Alpha's seat.

I taught him everything he knew about running a pack. He called me his teacher and the one who'd saved his life.

And now my brother had the nerve to say I'd be marrying above my station?

My mother took a rope and trussed me up like a turkey.

"Don't hold it against us. You're making this sacrifice for the pack. It's only right."

When I was born, a witch prophesied that I was an ill omen and that my existence would bring disaster to the pack.

My parents believed her, and whenever anything went wrong in the pack, they blamed it on me.

Even this crisis, they'd decided, was my fault.

That was exactly why they could put me in Rowan's bed with a clear conscience.

The drug's effects were wearing off, my heat was easing, and my head was clearing.

I could hear my brother negotiating with Rowan's Beta.

But what he didn't know was that Rowan's Beta was secretly working for me too.

Once I knew Rowan was firmly established, I withdrew without leaving a trace.

But he spent seven full years looking for me.

He'd turned a pebble I'd given him without a second thought into a necklace and worn it for seven years as if it were sacred.

Not long ago, some fool had joked that Rowan Gale's necklace was nothing more than a worthless rock.

Even though the man was a longtime business partner, Rowan immediately pulled every investment tied to him and left him no way to recover.

And my brother imagined he could package me up and hand me over to Rowan in exchange for an investment.

It was pure fantasy.

Most of the drug's effects had worn off, but I still couldn't move.

Two guards carried me out to a car.

My brother was driving.

He saw my eyes open in the rearview mirror, and a smug little smile tugged at his lips.

"Awake, Penny?

"I'm taking you to Rowan Gale. Countless women would kill for a chance to get into his bed. I'm giving you that chance."

I gave a humorless laugh.

"You're worried the pack's financial problems will threaten your position as heir. Don't pretend this is about anything else."

He shook his head, as though none of it were his doing.

"Don't call me heartless. Blame yourself for being the ill omen threatening this pack. Without you, there would've been no crisis at all."

He was the one who couldn't run a pack properly, yet that baseless superstition was the one thing he'd managed to remember all these years.

Maybe he was worried I wouldn't cooperate, because his voice softened. "Be good, Penny. If this deal goes through, I'll get you anything you want."

I saw right through his feigned concern. I said nothing and closed my eyes.

He took my silence as proof that I had finally given in.

We drove all the way to a villa, and they blindfolded me before letting me out of the car.

When the cloth came off, I was in an enormous bedroom.

Through the window, I could see one mountain range after another behind the house.

My only thought was whether those hills were where my brother would end up buried.