The Contract

The pen felt heavier than iron in my hand. Its golden tip hovered above the crisp parchment, the black ink already waiting to seal my fate. The letters glared up at me in bold strokes, every clause deliberate, every condition as binding as chains.

"One year. Surrogacy. Heir."

My chest tightened.

Across the wide mahogany desk, Alpha Damon Veylor lounged in his leather chair, though lounging seemed too gentle a word for him. Even when he sat back, broad shoulders straining against the dark fabric of his suit, he exuded authority, power, and something darker that unsettled my wolf. His black eyes were fixed on me with the steady, dangerous patience of a predator watching prey.

“You’ve had three days, Selena,” he said, his voice smooth but cold, deep enough that the air seemed to shiver with it. “Either sign the contract, or walk away. But if you walk away, you walk away from your pack too. I will not protect them without this bond.”

My stomach clenched. My pack. My family. My people who had trusted me to keep them safe when everything fell apart. Without his protection, they would be easy prey for the rival packs circling like vultures.

And Damon knew it.

“Why me?” My voice cracked, betraying the storm in my chest. “Out of all the women you could have chosen, why me?”

His jaw tightened, a muscle ticking in the corner of his cheek. For a heartbeat, I thought I saw something flicker in those obsidian eyes—something softer, almost pained—but it vanished as quickly as it appeared.

“Because you’re mine,” he said at last, each word deliberate, like a verdict being passed. “The Moon Goddess tied you to me, whether I wanted her to or not. That bond is the only reason you’re sitting here instead of rotting in debt with your pack.”

My wolf whimpered at his words, recognizing the truth I had been trying to ignore. From the moment our eyes met three weeks ago, the bond had surged to life between us—heat rushing through my veins, sparks burning across my skin. The Moon Goddess had given me the most powerful Alpha in the region as my mate.

But he didn’t want a Luna.

He wanted a contract.

“You don’t even want me as your mate,” I whispered, forcing the words past the lump in my throat. “You don’t want a wife. You just want—”

“An heir,” he finished flatly, his gaze sharp as steel. “And loyalty. You give me both, and your people survive.”

I stared at the papers again, bile rising in my throat. The neat legal language couldn’t disguise what it was asking of me: to give him my body, my womb, my soul—for a year. After that, he would release me. The bond between us might remain, but this… arrangement would end.

Could I endure it? Could I live a year under the roof of the man who was both my fated mate and my coldest tormentor?

I thought of my pack. The children who looked up to me. My younger brother, sick and frail, who needed medicine only Damon’s resources could provide.

I thought of the night our pack house burned, when Damon had appeared like a shadow of salvation, his warriors scattering our enemies in minutes. That night, he hadn’t looked at me with cold eyes. That night, he had looked at me like I was something… more.

But now, staring at me from across this desk, he was unreadable. A wall of stone and storm.

“If I sign this,” I said carefully, my fingers trembling above the paper, “what happens when the year is over?”

His lips curved in something that wasn’t quite a smile. “When the year is over, you’re free to leave. Free to run back to whatever life you think you’ll have left. The child stays with me. Always.”

The words cut deeper than any blade. A child of mine—our child—raised without me. Claimed as his alone.

I shook my head, the pen slipping from my grasp. “That’s cruel.”

His eyes darkened, a storm rolling through them. He leaned forward, resting his forearms on the desk. The sheer weight of his presence pressed against me until I could barely breathe.

“Cruel?” His voice was low, dangerous. “Cruel is the life you’ll have if you walk away from this. Cruel is watching your people starve because you were too proud to sacrifice yourself. Cruel is war, Selena. This contract is mercy.”

Tears stung my eyes, but I refused to let them fall. I had been raised as an Alpha’s daughter, taught to hold my head high even in defeat. My father had believed strength was the only way to survive. But strength had failed him. It had failed us all.

And now, I was all my pack had left.

“Selena,” Damon said, his tone shifting slightly—still firm, but quieter now. Almost coaxing. “I won’t force you. The choice is yours. But know this—if you leave that contract unsigned, you leave everything else behind too. I will not come to your rescue again.”

His words echoed through the silence of the office. My heart pounded so loud it hurt.

The pen lay between us like a weapon, waiting to be used.

My wolf stirred within me, restless and aching, pulling toward him. He is ours. No matter what he says, he is ours.

But the human part of me recoiled. This wasn’t love. This wasn’t the bond I had dreamed of. This was a transaction, a bargain forged in desperation.

Still, desperation had a way of breaking dreams.

I picked up the pen. My hand shook violently, but I pressed it to the page, scrawling my name across the bottom line.

The moment the ink dried, Damon reached forward, pulling the contract smoothly toward him. His gaze flicked over the signature, and for just a heartbeat, his shoulders eased, as though a weight had lifted from him.

“Good,” he said simply, though there was something rough in his voice he couldn’t quite disguise. He stood, towering over me, and extended his hand. “From this moment forward, Selena Ashford, you belong to me.”

His words should have felt like shackles. And in a way, they did. But they also lit something deep within me I couldn’t deny.

I placed my hand in his. His grip was firm, warm, sparking with the bond I had tried so hard to suppress. My heart betrayed me, racing faster at his touch.

His eyes caught mine, and for a single, stolen second, I swore I saw a flicker of longing there. Something buried. Something dangerous.

Then it was gone. He released me, turning back toward the door.

“Pack your things,” he ordered. “You’ll move into Blackthorn Hall tonight. From now on, you are under my roof, my rules. Remember the terms, Selena. A year.”

And with that, he left me standing alone in his office, the contract signed, my fate sealed.

I sank back into the chair, the weight of what I had just done crashing down on me. My people would be safe. My brother would have the medicine he needed. I had won them a future.

But what future had I won for myself?

The bond between us hummed, a thread of fire connecting my soul to his even in his absence. And deep inside, my wolf whispered the truth I refused to admit.

No matter what the contract said, no matter how cold he was—

I was already his.