Chapter 2: The Golden Cage

Ann's POV

The match flickered out, plunging the small room back into absolute darkness but Alpha Reginald did not move from the edge of my bed.

I remained on the floor with my back pressed so hard against the door that the iron lock dug into it. I was paralyzed with my lungs refusing to take in enough air.

“You move quietly for a maid,” Reginald’s voice came through the blackness calm and chillingly conversational. “But you breathe too loud when you’re terrified and you smell... sweet. Your wolf woke up tonight, didn’t she?”

“Please,” I whispered with my voice cracking. “I won't say a word. I swear on the Moon Goddess, Alpha. Let me leave. I’ll run into the rogue lands. You’ll never see me again.”

The bed creaked as he stood. He crouched down and his large hand reached out in the dark with his rough fingers wrapping around my jaw.

“Leave?” he murmured with his thumb brushing away a tear on my cheek. “Why would I let you leave, Ann? You’ve just become the most valuable asset in this entire pack.”

Before I could process his twisted words, the door behind me suddenly jolted against my back.

“Open it,” a harsh and venomous voice hissed from the hallway.. Logan.

Reginald chuckled softly with a sound that made my blood run cold. He stood, grabbing my upper arm and hauling me to my feet. The door swung inward and Beta Logan stepped into the room.

“She saw,” Logan growled, stalking closer with his eyes darting to Reginald. “I told you she was creeping around. She knows.”

“I know she knows, Logan,” Reginald replied smoothly, stepping behind me.

“But look at her. She’s terrified. She’s eighteen today, just awakened with no family here to protect her and nowhere to run.”

“She’s a liability,” Logan spat, stopping just a foot in front of me. His intense gaze dropped to my trembling lips then to my throat as if imagining his teeth tearing it out. “If the council finds out...”

“They won't.” Reginald’s grip tightened on my shoulders with his thumbs pressing into the tense muscles of my neck. “Because Ann is going to solve our council problem.”

Logan froze and then his jaw ticked. “What are you saying?”

“The elders demand an heir, Logan,” Reginald said with his voice dropping into a dark commanding tone. “They threaten my seat. If I don't produce a child and take a mate, they will impeach me. And if I lose my Alpha title, we lose everything. We lose each other.”

Logan’s amber eyes flickered with the rage warring with the undeniable devotion he held for his Alpha then he looked at me, realizing exactly what Reginald was suggesting.

“Her?” Logan demanded with sudden bitter jealousy. “A human-raised omega maid? You want to claim her?”

“In name only,” Reginald promised softly. “You are my fated mate, Logan. Nothing changes that. But the pack needs a Luna. They need a breeder and Ann is perfect. She knows our secret, which means she is just as trapped as we are.”

Reginald turned back to me with the tenderness instantly vanishing.

“You will be my mate, Ann,” he commanded. “You will share my bed and you will carry my pups to secure my bloodline. In exchange, I will let you live. I will continue to send money to your pathetic and starving family but if you breathe a single word of what you saw tonight... if you ever disobey me... I will not just kill you. Then I will send Logan to slaughter your parents and your siblings, slowly while you watch.”

A horrified sob escaped my throat and my knees finally buckled but Logan’s hand shot out with his iron grip catching my wrist before I could hit the floor.

“Did you hear the Alpha, little maid?” Logan sneered with his breath hot against my face. “You belong to us now. Our secret. Our property.”

“Yes,” I choked out with a fresh wave of tears blinding me. “Yes, Alpha.”

Reginald smiled with his eyes gleaming. “Good. Clean yourself up. Tomorrow is a big day.”

***

The morning sun felt like a mockery as I stood in front of a mirror in the Alpha’s private chambers staring blankly at the stranger in the glass.

Two silent and terrified omegas had bathed me, scrubbed my skin until it was raw and dressed me in a stunning dress that clung to my curves. They had brushed my hair until it shone, leaving it to cascade down my back. I looked like a Luna but I felt like a sacrifice adorned for the slaughter.

The doors opened behind me and I didn't need to turn to know who it was. The volatile qnd bristling energy in the room announced Beta Logan long before he spoke.

“The council is waiting,” he said coldly.

I turned.

He was dressed in a black suit with his eyes scanning me from head to toe. For a fraction of a second. And I walked toward him with my legs feeling like lead and as I reached the doorway, Logan’s hand snapped out with his fingers wrapping painfully around my upper arm.

“Listen to me,” he whispered fiercely, leaning down so his lips brushed my ear. “You smile.. you nod and you play the part of the devoted and lucky omega who just won the lottery. If you hesitate, if you make him look weak in front of those elders, I will break your neck before you hit the floor.”

“I understand,” I whispered back with my voice completely devoid of emotion. I was hollowed out.

We walked down the grand corridor and stopped just outside the double doors of the council chamber where I could hear the muffled and angry voices of the elders inside, demanding answers.. demanding a future.

The doors swung open.

Alpha Reginald stood at the head of the table, looking magnificent, powerful and terrifying. When his eyes locked onto me, a triumphant smirk curved his lips.

“Elders,” Reginald’s voice boomed with absolute authority. “You demanded an heir. You demanded a Luna to secure the Silverstone pack.”

He looked down at me with his eyes flashing with that lethal gold.

“Allow me to formally introduce Ann Carter. My fated mate and your new Luna.”

Elder Harold stood up with his chair scraping violently against the stone floor. “An omega maid? Alpha, this is highly irregular, the bloodline...”

“The bloodline is mine to command!” Reginald roared with his Alpha aura exploding outward and crushing the air from the room and forcing several elders to lower their heads.

He turned to me with his grip tightening painfully on my waist and before I could blink, his hand tangled in my hair, pulling my head back as his lips crashed onto mine in a bruising and forceful kiss meant entirely for the audience.

I squeezed my eyes shut with my heart pounding in terror. But the true terror didn't come from Reginald’s crushing kiss. It came from the shadows behind me, where Logan stood entirely out of the council's view.

As Reginald forced his tongue past my lips, claiming me in front of the pack, I felt Logan’s hand slide slowly and possessively up the small of my back with his fingers tracing the curve of my back in the dark…!