1

Akemi Ravenscar.

“Gareth, don’t do this to me!” 

I scream, desperately trying to catch the hem of my brother’s sleeve. But the barbaric hands of the Firefang wolves yank me, dragging me to a ground where thousands of other human girls are already kneeling in the biting snow.

It is called “The Choosing” an offering of virgins. And for the first time, it is commanded by the barbarian Alpha King of Basgiath, a ruthless monarch whose name alone is enough to turn the day into night.

Of the seven kingdoms, four are governed by human monarchies, while the remaining three fall under the dominion of werewolf rule. Among these, Basgiath reigns supreme. The Alpha King has never showed interest in any human kingdom until a week ago, where he expressed his desire to forge a marriage alliance with a human kingdom. Nobles, merchants, the royal family, lords, and even commoners have forcefully brought their daughters to a foreign realm—all for the sake of alliances, for the allure of power.

Yet, I never imagined that my own brothers, bound by blood and honor, would hand me over so readily to this cruel fate.

“Do not do this! You promised Father—” I twist and turn, straining to glimpse their faces.

It hasn’t even been a month since we buried our father. His body is still fresh in the earth, and yet they barter my life away as if it were nothing but a trinket. Thousands of human girls, just like me, are already on their knees in the frozen field. I am the last one to be tamed, doing everything in my ability scream at my brothers. I can hear my own voice in my ears because everyone else is silent.

A hand I never see coming slams into the side of my face and I’m thrown to the ground. My cheek smashes into the snow and the icy sheets bites into my skin.

When I lift my face from the snow, I see how surrounded we are. Guarded by Firefang wolves. They are giants. Massive brutes. The tower over us humans like tree, even more so our soldiers stand no chance. A single Firefang wolf can slaughter five human men without so much as breaking a sweat. And here I am—just one human girl, caught in their clutches.

And their king? What haven’t I heard about him? His cruelty, his ferocity in battle, the way he takes what he wants without hesitation or mercy. No one knows his name; they simply call him the barbarian king. The world simply knows that he is a Firefang wolf, a breed born of radiation, known for their volcanic bites and lightning combats.

All of a sudden, everyone begins to bow their heads, including my brothers—the wolves, the girls, the entire gathering—except me. My chin is up until a shadow descends over me. It feels like the world is ending. But no—it is a giant from the unliving, tall as a tree and broad as a mountain. I didn’t even hear his footsteps until he was right in front of me.

My eyes falls first on his boots that is caked in the snow. Then, I travel up—up past his thick legs as solid as tree trunks. The tunic he is wearing does nothing to hide the power in his chest whose muscle definition can only be ungodly. The collar dips into a deep V. In there, I can see his golden skin, like the brightest dust of the earth. His shoulders are broad and tapered down to the biggest biceps I have ever seen.

With a simple press of his fingers, he tilts my head all the way up until I’m staring into his eyes. By the heavens, his eyes are twin infernos of a frigid landscape, they hold a depth of worlds colliding—molten gold streaked with storms of discord.

They are the color of a king’s goblet; no, they are the molten sun, spilling fire and fury into the snow-covered land around us. It is as if the sun had melted and been captured in his irises. His stare isn’t just intense—it is elemental, a force that bends to will. I croak. It is the only movement I can manage as I stand paralyzed under his gaze.

“Whose daughter, are you?” his voice is an earthquake contained in a single breath, it sounds like something strummed by the hands of heavens. It must have come from the bowels of the earth, born from the void between worlds, and yet, impossibly, it feels both celestial and terrifyingly raw.

If I thought my body was shaking before, I was wrong.

“She is my sister! House of Ravenscar!” Gareth shouts, stepping forward with a forced smile. “If the Alpha King has taken a liking to her, we will gladly give her in marriage.”

"I pick her."

The Alpha King’s words crack and the moment they leave his mouth, it feels like all the oxygen has been ripped from my lungs. He barely looks at me anymore. He focuses on my brother as though I were some trivial decisions and not a person. The other girls are slowly been retreated by their families, yet I remain, still on my knees.

Then, an older woman whose eyes are hollow finds her way to me. She is wearing a large chain as some sign of authority, holding a book in her arms. She is perhaps, a gamma. Behind, Gareth drags and forces me to balance when all I want is to sink back into the snow.

“What’s happening?!” I gasp.

“The bonding.” Gareth hisses. “You’ve been chosen. Now be quiet.”

I can’t breathe. How is this possible? An alpha wolf mating with a human?

"Is she a virgin?" the Alpha King asks.

“Yes!” Gareth blurts, eagerly, too eagerly. “She is untouched, unblemished by any man!”

My skin crawls as I stand there while they discuss the state of my maidenhood like some livestock. The Alpha’s eye starts to appraise each curve and feature of my face with calculation, and then he stops, to be fixated on my chest. Shame burns through me. I want to disappear, to die right here in the snow.

"If I find out she isn’t…” he rasps with the promise of violence, "I’ll take off the head of every last member of your household. Slowly. I’ll rip out your spleens, one by one, and burn your entire lineage to ash. Your family, your name, your bloodline—everything will be erased."

“I understand.” Gareth says.

“Ozaiah?” The Alpha King’s voice is directed at the woman in red coat. She hands him a ring. He extends his palm and waits for me to offer mine. But I can’t. My body is refusing to move.

Gareth senses my hesitation and decides to shove my hand forward. My skin meets the king’s calloused ones, like those of someone who has lived a thousand battles. The golden ring he slides onto my finger is immediately heavy.

A second ring is given to him, but he slips this one onto his own finger as though making me wear it would be an inconvenience, a chore. When he finishes, his shoulders snaps back like a drawn bow and he brings his hands to rest beneath his abdomen.

What now? My mind races, trying to make sense of what’s happening as the woman in the red coat, Ozaiah, begins chanting. I glance, only to realize that every pair of eyes—thousands of them—are fixed on us. Firefang wolves are everywhere, making this a grand spectacle of something. Wait! A bonding ceremony. My stomach turns.

They’re making me marry him. This is happening.

“I stand before Basgiath soil, before these witnesses, to bond our king in matrimony with his chosen… mate.” She hesitates, as if even she questions the absurdity of it all. My heart pounds in my chest. A mate? How can I, a human, be his mate?

Her voice grows louder, invoking elements as though calling upon the heavens themselves. “We stand before the moon, the wind, the earth, the fire… all that makes us the nation of barbarians.” Ozaiah states.

The Alpha King turns to face me, and I grow smaller. He raises his hand his braids catch my attention—the weave of his hair symbolizes the victories he has won.

“I, Khal Drogo, Alpha and King of Basgiath.…” He begins but narrows as he looks toward Gareth. “What is her name?” he growls, and my brother blurts it out.

“I, Khal Drogo, Alpha of the barbarians and King of Basgiath, the unburnt, take Akemi Ravenscar as my human mate.” He dips his hand into a bowl filled with red liquid and marks my forehead.

I almost recoil, but Gareth’s hand presses me forward, forcing me to stay still as the weight of the Alpha’s touch lingers on my forehead. His mark feels like a brand, an irreversible symbol of my fate sealed to a man who embodies destruction.

“Go ahead, state your vows.” Ozaiah commands but I remain frozen. How can I say vows that mean nothing to me?

My lips refuse to move. The Alpha eyes are on me, full of impatience.

“Akemi!” Gareth snarls, forcing my hand into the air, as if he could will the words out of me through sheer force.

“Repeat after me unless you want our heads to roll off the ground!” My brother’s voice trembles as he repeats the King’s vow behind my ear, weaving my name into it.

“I, Akemi—” I start but I fail to continue.

“I, Akemi Ravenscar, daughter of the late Owen Ravenscar, take—”

I fail again.

“Takes the King of Barbarians as… as my…”

“As my—” I choke on the next word, unable to bring myself to say it until the Alpha King’s voice cuts deep.

“Husband.” The Alpha King says with finality.

“Hus-band.” I whisper.

The ceremonial bowl is brought to me, and I dip my trembling fingers into the red liquid. When I look up at him, I realize I cannot reach his forehead—he towers over me like a mountain.

“Can… can the King… um?” Gareth tries to help, but Ozaiah’s voice kills his suggestion.

“The King bends his neck for no one!” she hisses.

I’m stuck. My hand is suspended awkwardly in the air until Khal Drogo lifts me effortlessly, like I weigh nothing at all. His large hands wrap around my torso, and the heat from his grip burns through the fabric of my dress. Now face to face, I muster all the courage I have left and mark his broad forehead with the crimson liquid.

The moment I touch him, something shifts. His golden eyes, already molten, begins to ignite—the yellow brightens in color. He looks down at me with a possessiveness that makes my heart stutter, and with one word, he seals my fate.

“Mate.”

It isn’t just a word—it’s a claim, a branding of my very soul. And in his gaze, I see a future I cannot escape.