Chapter 3

The whole room fell into a dead hush as eyes snapped toward me. I slowly lowered my hand, my heart pounding against my ribs as self-consciousness washed over me.

Matron Ana glared daggers at me. “You are not allowed to speak in a private council meeting!”

The Thornwood speaker held up a hand, his gaze locking onto me. “Young lady, are you sure about this? Carrying the Alpha’s child is no light burden.”

I swallowed my fear, forcing my chin up. The physical pain was nothing compared to seeing my mother bleeding in the gravel. “That money would save my family, sir. I don't care about the pain.”

Alpha Theron looked at me, genuine concern in his eyes. “Are you sure about this, Aria?”

What do I have left to lose?

“I am sure,” I said, keeping my voice firm.

The speaker nodded slowly. “Very well. By law, you must undergo a series of physical tests. If you pass and have the best vitals, you will be chosen. You have two days to think it over before testing begins.”

“Meeting adjourned,” Theron announced.

Numbly, I began clearing my station as my mind spun. Did I really just offer my body to a ruthless Alpha I’ve never even met?

“Are you out of your goddamn mind?”

I was greeted with my brother’s fuming face the minute I landed on Sarah’s doorstep. My brother, Leo, was the typical teenage male wolf, full of heightened emotions and hormones. It was no shock he reacted this way.

“I guess everyone has heard,” I muttered, slipping off my shoes to relieve my aching feet. The last thing I wanted was to have this conversation, but Leo never learned how to accept the word no.

“Everyone? The whole fucking pack and the neighboring packs heard! What are you doing bringing attention to us? Now everyone thinks you’re selling yourself like a prostitute!”

“Leo. Please.” Mother rolled into the hallway, Sarah pushing her chair behind her. She looked even worse than she had this afternoon, her bloodshot eyes glaring at my brother. “Don’t call your sister a prostitute. She’s had a hard day.”

He sighed deeply, dragging his hands down his face. “Not only was I mocked for being thrown out of our father’s house, but now this! My schoolmates had a field day taunting me about things I didn't even know happened!”

Despite my exhaustion, my heart leaped for him. Hollow Vale teenagers were brutal with their taunts, and I could only imagine the cruel things they had said to his face.

“What else could I have done, Leo?” I sighed, sitting on a kitchen chair as my body screamed in protest from the unbearable pain. “We need this money.”

Sarah sat beside me, a first-aid kit in hand. “Aria, there are other ways to get money. I know how bad things are, but being a surrogate? You would have to lay with a stranger. You would have to leave your baby behind.”

“That’s nothing compared to losing my mother!” I replied in desperation. “We have been kicked out of our home, Sarah. Mother needs treatment or we lose her. Leo needs to go to college! If I take this, I can finally leave this pack.” My voice broke as the reality hit me. I could leave. I could actually have a future.

Everyone watched in silence as I fought back tears, but they slipped down my bruised cheeks anyway.

“Leo could go to college and become a doctor,” I whispered, looking up to meet their gazes. “An existence better than this can be bought with that money. Please understand, I would have done it for a fifth of what they offered. So I don’t care if they call me a prostitute. I will not let my mother die, and I will not die a slave in this pack.”

My mother’s face twisted in agonized grief. “Oh, Ari...”

She broke down into heavy, ragged sobs, clutching her chest. But as the tears spilled over her hollow cheeks, her gasps turned into a violent, rattling cough that tore through her frail frame.

Her body spasmed against the wheelchair. She clutched her throat, gasping wildly for air as her face turned a sickly grey.

“Mum!” Leo yelled, all his anger instantly vanishing as he rushed to her side.

Sarah scrambled for the oxygen tank near the wall, her hands shaking as she fitted the mask over Mum’s face. Mum choked, clutching her chest, a thin smear of blood glistening on her bottom lip as her eyes rolled back.

“Breathe, Martha, just breathe,” Sarah panicked, rubbing her back as Mum struggled for every breath.

Leo dropped to his knees in front of her chair, grabbing her trembling hands. His face went completely white as he watched our mother fight just to stay alive. The pride, the embarrassment, the anger about school ground gossip, it all burned away in a single second.

He slowly turned his head to look at me, his eyes wide and brimmed with terror.

“Do it, Ari,” Leo whispered, his voice trembling as he looked from Mum’s bloodied lip back to me. “I don't care what anyone at school says. Please... just do it. We can't let her die.”

I nodded slowly, swallowing the lump in my throat. “I know.”

It took ten agonizing minutes for Mum’s breathing to stabilize. Once the fit passed, Leo and I carefully lifted her out of the wheelchair and laid her down on Sarah’s guest bed.

We climbed up beside her, sandwiching her frail body between us just like we used to do when we were little.

Mum looked up at the ceiling, tears quietly leaking from the corners of her eyes as she held both of our hands in her weak grip.

“I failed you,” she sobbed softly into the quiet room. “I failed you all.”

“No, Mother,” I whispered, leaning my forehead against her shoulder. “Richard failed us.”

“Yes, Mum. That bastard took everything from us,” Leo added softly, resting his cheek on her arm. “You’re perfect.”

She wept, softly squeezing our hands. “I wish I’d never married him. I wish I’d never agreed to merge our accounts or put his name on the house deeds. You deserve so much better. Both of you.”

“We’ll get through this,” I whispered, holding her tight. “All of us.”

Leo stayed quiet, the hotheaded rage completely drained from him.

“You’d finally get to be a doctor, Leo,” I murmured softly, fluffing his messy hair.

He gave a weak half-smile, but he couldn't stop the single tear that fell onto Mum’s sleeve.

Eventually, the exhaustion pulled Mum into a heavy sleep. I quietly slipped out of bed to let Sarah clean the deep cut on my cheek, but my mind was already set.

Later that night, after making sure Leo was fast asleep on the sofa, I lay awake on a thin pallet on the living room floor.

Through the small window, moonlight spilled across the floorboards. My face throbbed where my father had struck me, and every muscle in my legs ached from running across town in cheap shoes.

I stared up at the dark ceiling, my mind racing through the next forty-eight hours.

In two days, I would stand before the medical team from Thornwood Pack. They would inspect me, test my blood, and evaluate my fertility like prize livestock. And if I was lucky enough to pass, I would be handed over to a cold, ruthless Alpha who viewed me as nothing more than a vessel.

I turned onto my side, my fingers clutching the broken crescent pendant inside my pocket, the one Mother had handed back to me for luck.

Two days, I thought, closing my eyes against the dark. Two days until everything changes.

I must pass that selection, no matter what.