Chapter 2: Touch in the Dark

"Give me the pen," I whispered raspily.

The words felt like poison scorching my throat to ash. Every cell in my body screamed in protest, but the image of Maya’s pale face on the ICU bed paralyzed what little sanity I had left.

Uncle Julian hurriedly shoved a black pen into my violently shaking fingers, a sickeningly satisfied grin carved across his face.

I stared down at the paper resting on the thick black leather cover in front of me.

SECRET SURROGACY AND ABSOLUTE CONFIDENTIALITY AGREEMENT.

The title at the top of the document looked like a death sentence for the pride I had guarded my whole life. The tip of the pen in my hand trembled above the signature line.

One drop.

Two drops.

Cold tears spilled from my eyes, soaking into the fibers of the white paper until the black ink beneath began to bleed.

Destroyed.

My world, my honor, and my future crumbled to ash in a matter of seconds.

Yet, when I closed my eyes, all I could see was Maya shivering as the cruel wolf blood poison consumed her life.

If my body and my womb were the price I had to pay so Maya could keep breathing, then let me sink to the bottom of hell. With what little strength I had left, I pressed the pen to the paper and signed my name.

Elora Vance.

That single signature officially sold me to a wealthy stranger I had never even met.

"Good! Smart girl!" Uncle Julian exclaimed, snatching the document from my hand, his eyes gleaming with greedy delight.

Before the pen in my hand could even hit the floor, two tall, broad-shouldered men in black suits materialized from the shadows of the corridor.

Their aura was rigid and intimidating.

"Wait! Give them the surgery money now! Make sure Maya is taken straight to the plasma isolation room!" I screamed at Uncle Julian.

"Relax, Elora. Your sister's hospital fees were already transferred directly by the agency," Uncle Julian replied without even looking at me.

He was too busy counting thick stacks of cash inside a brown envelope handed to him by one of the men.

"Let me hug Maya first! Please, give me just one minute to see my sister!" I begged, trying to push past them toward the ICU hallway.

The two men in black suits didn't give me time to breathe, let alone take a step.

Without a word, one of them clamped his hands around my upper arms with a grip like cold iron.

"You're coming with us now," the man said in a deep, emotionless voice.

"Let go of me! Let me see my sister!" I shrieked hysterically.

I thrashed with all my remaining strength, jerking my body as I tried to summon my suppressed wolf energy.

But after a day without food and completely drained of emotion, my body was no match for these two giant guards.

They dragged my limp frame through the hospital’s emergency exit, my sobs echoing uselessly down the cold, quiet concrete staircase.

Maya... I'm so sorry...

SLAM!

The door of a large black van slammed shut as my body was thrown onto the cold leather seat.

Before I could push myself upright, a thick strip of black silk was pulled tightly around my head, covering my eyes completely.

"Don't even think about taking it off if you value your life," a cold voice growled from beside me.

My world plunged into absolute darkness.

A terrifying, suffocating fear crawled up from my toes, constricting my chest until I could barely draw a breath. I clutched the folds of my thin, faded dress, stained with hospital dust.

My fingers trembled violently, fighting the numbness spreading through my joints. In this darkness, I felt like livestock being driven to the slaughterhouse.

No view. No clues. Only the roar of a high-powered engine speeding through the pitch-black night of Silver Falls.

Every time the van took a sharp turn, my heart leaped wildly against my ribs.

Who was the man paying for me?

Was he an old, crippled Alpha? A ruthless tycoon? Or a pack monster who just wanted to use my body and discard me into an abyss?

The silence inside the vehicle was deafening, filled only with the ragged gasps of my own terror.

After a long ride that felt like endless torment, the van finally slowed and came to a complete stop. The door slid open, and the freezing night air bit into the bare skin of my arms.

A rigid, forceful hand guided me out.

I heard the soft chime of an elevator, followed by the pull of gravity as we ascended at high speed. My ears popped lightly from the drastic shift in air pressure.

This man lived somewhere high up.

Chime!

The elevator doors slid open.

I was nudged forward, taking several steps across a hardwood floor that felt incredibly smooth and expensive.

"Go inside," the guard whispered curtly.

CLICK.

The heavy latch of an automatic multi-point steel door locked into place behind me.

Silence.

The stillness in the room was so thick and heavy, like a giant, airtight tomb. I stood frozen in the middle of total darkness, the black silk still covering my eyes.

My breath came in shallow, rapid gasps as panic threatened to consume me.

Suddenly, my heightened hearing caught the faint scuff of leather shoes against the wooden floor. Someone was approaching from the far corner of the room.

The footsteps were slow, measured, and dripping with a cold, lethal calculation.

THUMP.

My heart felt like it had been hit with a sledgehammer. The temperature in the massive penthouse suddenly plummeted to near freezing.

An intensely powerful, crushing aura flooded every corner of the room, slamming into my chest until all the oxygen in my lungs felt sucked away.

This was no ordinary man's aura.

This was the high-tier dominant aura of a pureblood Alpha—a massive, suffocating pressure capable of making the wolf inside me whimper in terror and drop to its knees.

My inner wolf went rigid, screaming a dire warning of extreme danger.

His scent rolled over me in a heavy wave, overwhelming my senses.

Sharp wet pine, rich aged cedarwood, and the biting chill of ozone that filled the air seconds before a massive thunderstorm erupted.

A scent so deeply masculine, commanding, and intoxicating.

My body trembled even more violently. This man was the ruler of this dark domain, a dangerous entity existing thousands of tiers above my status.

Those heavy footsteps finally stopped right behind my back. He was so close I could feel the wave of heat radiating from his tall, broad frame.

He towered over my small body from behind.

I held my breath, squeezing my eyes shut beneath the silk blindfold, not daring to make the slightest move. An unfamiliar chill rippled across the skin of my lower back as his fingers began to touch the thin dress I wore.

His long, calloused fingers slipped beneath the thin fabric, resting directly against the bare skin of my waist.

ZAP!

An extraordinary explosion of electric shock blasted outward from the point of his touch!

A high-velocity current of heat raced through my veins, spreading from my waist, tearing up my spine, and burning through my chest with an overwhelming rush of sensation.

"Ah...!"

A soft gasp slipped from my lips before I could stop it. My heart hammered like a war drum.

The terror that had paralyzed me moments ago suddenly tangled with a strange, searing wave of longing that burned through my sanity.

How was this possible?

Why did the touch of an absolute stranger spark a fire in my blood that left me breathless and burning?

Why was my terrified wolf suddenly clawing to press my body deeper into his embrace?!

It made no sense! It defied every law of nature!

Behind me, the man went completely rigid. His heavy breath hitched sharply in his throat, as if he, too, had just been struck by the exact same violent electric shock.

The silence between us thickened with a dense, suffocating emotional tension. I could feel the hard muscles of his chest strain against his luxurious clothes.

Yet the burning confusion in my chest didn't last.

The man quickly suppressed his surging emotions and his inner wolf. His grip on my bare waist tightened abruptly, digging into my skin so hard it bordered on painful.

He yanked my trembling body flush against his broad chest. Lowering his head, he angled his face right over the crook of my exposed neck.

His breath, hot like burning embers, brushed against the skin of my throat as his icy baritone voice whispered sharply:

"Remember the rules. Never try to touch my face, and never try to find out who I am. You're just a rented womb tonight."