5

The world spun for a second, and I took a steadying breath.

“Lorelai?” he asked, his voice softer than I had ever heard it.

It broke through the spinning, and I forced myself to stand strong.

“I’m good,” I bit, glancing over at the corner. I was losing my damn mind. Stupid werewolves.

“Kai. We’ve got to start,” Derik said, standing by his first girl.

Nikolai hesitated before letting me go and grabbing a random girl from his group, pulling her to the door as Braxton picked his.

He looked to me and nodded at the alcohol table. “Drink the punch. It’ll help,” he bit, before looking back at the others. “Wait here.”

Then the wolves disappeared.

Most of the girls huddled together, keeping to their respective villages, but I was winter born. Nobody cared where I went.

So, I found the alcohol. It was made up in a punch that swirled in my plastic cup, had a little fizz, and was a pinkish-orange color.

I had no idea what that meant, but I didn’t care enough to question it. Instead, I gulped it back before grabbing another one to sip.

The bittersweet taste coated my throat, and I went to the fireplace, sinking into the closest plush chair to wait my turn.

I had just started to relax into the warmth with the help of whatever I was drinking when the screams started.

5. The Oath

I sat by the fire, staring at the flames dancing in the ash as I drank the punch.

It was starting to have an effect; my tongue was numb, but my mind wasn’t. It heard every screech and scream as the three alphas came out, grabbing another three girls, then another three, until it was only me and two others.

I was next. I wasn’t ready.

My heart raced as the screams finally quieted and I took another sip, hoping it would numb my mind even more. My body felt relaxed, my muscles not tense at all, but my head was pounding.

I leaned back, resting my head against the big cushions on the couch, my eyes fluttering closed.

I had avoided his eyes burning into me every time he had come through that damn door, and the idea that I was going to be the next one he came to get had my jaw clenching.  

I didn’t want to be the next one screaming like the others that had gone through.

I’d kill for a coffee. Or a nap. I took the second option, slowly drifting while I waited.

The red eyes were in my dream.

I gasped awake and Nikolai was there, bending down, his eyes meeting mine.

“Your turn,” he said, holding his hand out. I looked between it and the door.

“Did you at least change the sheets?” I grumbled, letting him pull me up.

He smirked and led me through the door. Braxton and Derik grabbed the last girls from their group and followed us through.

I don’t know what I was expecting, but it wasn’t the room that greeted us. There was no bed, no lanterns. Only the moon shining down on us through the opening in the ceiling, casting its red glare.

The three alphas stood next to three concrete stands, each holding a golden goblet carved with the three symbols of Wolf Territory: a wave, a tree, and my own village’s symbol, a vine with flower buds, because the Grasslands area had meadows stretching over every part of it that wasn’t used for crops and animal farming.

The alphas all wore the same mischievous smirk, the shadows playing on their faces, making them look even bigger, even more intimidating.

Like they needed it. I was already nervous, and I was sure the others were too. I was just as curious though. Surely they didn’t expect us to fuck on the floor, so what the hell were we doing in the room with the goblets?

Nikolai stepped into the red rays of the moon.

His claw grew from the pointing finger on his hand, his eyes glowing red before he pierced his wrist with it.

We all gasped.

One of the girls whimpered, drawing the alphas’ attention. They glared at her as she shrunk back, her chin wobbling.

Nikolai held his wrist over the first goblet, his blood dripping into it. He moved to the next goblet, then the final one.

His eyes never left mine, and I wanted to be disgusted by what he was doing because I knew what it meant, but I wasn’t. I was even more intrigued.

He stepped forward, and the shadows moved down his face, dancing across his abs, his tattoo.

My mouth ran dry as I took him in. Strong, powerful muscle that had something stirring in me. Not entirely uncomfortable, but it was foreign.

I wanted to explore it further and when a smirk tugged at his lips, I wondered whether he could tell what I was thinking. What his body did to mine.

Derik and Braxton moved behind him, cutting into their own flesh with their claws, long, thick talon things, dripping their blood into the goblets as Nikolai finally spoke.

“Here you take an oath. A blood oath of loyalty to the Werewolf Territory. You become part of us,” he said in that deep, gravelly voice that had my stomach tightening.

I shivered, crossing my arms across myself, the cold of the room trying to seep in past the feelings Nikolai pushed through me.

“What oath?” I asked, wanting more specifics before I decided whether to take it or not.

“Patience, Spitfire.” Braxton winked from behind Nikolai. I clenched my jaw and tried to wait.

“An oath that forbids revealing what happens tonight. An oath that holds your tongues to the traditions we expect of you tonight. An oath that makes you a part of our promise to protect you as a race within our territory,” Nikolai explained, and I raised a brow.

So that’s why my mom had been so vague. It wasn’t comforting; the unknown was terrifying. I shivered, not able to stop my next question falling from my lips.

“And if we don’t take the oath?”

Braxton blew out a breath as Derik stepped forward.

“Try it, beautiful,” he said with a smile, but his voice was a threat, cold and hard.

“Please…” One of the girls shivered, a Forest girl. “Please…don’t punish us for her cursed tongue. She’s winter born.”

I rolled my eyes, of course. How could I forget my ghastly curse? Sometimes, in moments like these, it was hard for resentment not to creep in. My parents knew what would happen to me and my brother for having children in winter.

They swore we were due in spring but came eight weeks early. We almost died and because we didn’t, we have the devil in us, or some stupid shit like that. I’d seen no proof of that.

The red eyes from my dream flashed in my mind, and I shuddered at the lie I told myself. I shook it off and waited for the alphas to get annoyed and punish me for a birth I had no choice in.

But they didn’t.

“Tonight is about sacrifice. About warmth and pleasure. There will be no punishments,” he said, before reaching back for a goblet.

I almost snickered. Pleasure. I bet I wouldn’t even get an orgasm out of the wolf bastard. Pity, it’d probably be the best orgasm of my life.

My blood roared to life at the thought, and the alphas’ eyes snapped to mine. I lifted my chin defiantly, but that had their smirks growing knowingly.

Nikolai handed a goblet to me, his hands brushing mine as the other offerings were given theirs by their own alphas. Mine lingered.

He leaned in, his warm hands cupping mine on the gold.

“I can smell you,” he breathed, my hair brushing my face as I tensed. He nuzzled his face in my neck, sniffing as his hands clasped on mine, tighter, warmer.

A tight heat prickled in my lower stomach, my pussy betraying me, growing slick at the scent of him, the radiating heat, the tension. My nipples hardened against my silk.

He noticed.

He growled against my neck, my head involuntarily rolling to the side. My breaths came short and sharp through my tight chest as I fidgeted beneath his overwhelming body.

His hand moved to my waist, the touch searing through my defenses, breaking them down easily as my thighs grew damper.

“Kai,” Derik said, a warning tone in his voice.

Nikolai ignored them, his hand latching around me, yanking me forward, flush against his body. I yelped, the goblet falling from my hand.

Braxton caught it. He tugged Nikolai back, his eyes bright red. “Nikolai,” he said in a deeper voice.

Nikolai stepped back, his glowing red eyes catching mine, the intensity so fierce I sucked in a breath.

Braxton handed my goblet back, warning me with his eyes before pushing Nikolai back, who resisted for a second before stepping back to the concrete half pillars, the shadows covering his face.

He was still watching. I shuddered, swallowing hard.

“Soon, brother.” Derik held his shoulder, his claws out, resting there, and I had a feeling Kai was still on the edge of not listening to his other alphas.

“The oath,” Nikolai rasped. “Then drink the blood.”

The other girls gasped, but I had seen it coming.

“It connects you to us,” Braxton said, his shirtless body doing just as much damage to my libido. Did wolves not own shirts? He caught me staring and grinned. I quickly looked away.

“Come forward, girls,” Derik said with an impatient huff.

We did, each stepping in front of our pillar, in front of our alpha.

“Read the oath,” Kai pressed.

I looked down at the old script carved into the concrete and read with the other girls.

I pledge myself to my alphas.

I pledge myself to Werewolf Territory.

I offer my purity as a token of my loyalty.

I accept their protection.

I accept their bodies in mine.

I will protect the secrets and traditions of the blood moon with my life.

I will tell no one of this ceremony.

I will accept the blood of my alpha in my body.

I will accept the brand of my alpha on my body.”

I stepped back at the end of the oath, my eyes widening.

Brand?

“Drink,” Nikolai ordered, his voice less hoarse, his eyes back to green.

I hesitated as the other girls followed their orders. I looked at the swirling drops of blood, then the oath I had just spoken.

“What brand?”

“Drink and we’ll tell you,” Derik said, nodding to the goblet.

“If you don’t drink, we can’t answer your questions, Spitfire. You’re not sworn to secrecy until our blood is in you,” Braxton offered.

I sighed. I had to commit to an oath without knowing the details? Seemed like a setup to me, but I had no choice.

I drank the blood.

It was metallic and bitter. And then it was cold. I frowned, the room spinning as the liquid slid from my throat.

Wherever it landed, my body didn’t like it. It stung like a bad sunburn as I screwed my face up, holding my stomach as the goblet fell from my hands. I swallowed hard as Nikolai frowned.