Chapter 5

I was back in my room trying to process everything when the lights went out.

Complete darkness. Not even moonlight through the windows.

My heart started pounding. Something was wrong. Power doesn't just cut out in a mansion like this without reason.

Then I heard it. Footsteps in the hallway. 

Click. Click. Click.

Slow. Deliberate. Someone was walking toward my room.

I pressed myself against the wall, trying to stay quiet. Maybe if I didn't make noise, they'd pass by.

First I thought it was sore, but the steps were too quiet to be him. 

The footsteps stopped right outside my door.

My hands were shaking. This had to be an assassin. Someone who wanted me dead before I could become Luna. Or maybe a spy from my pack. Or the notices I'm a Luna already? They want me dead? 

The door handle turned slowly.

I held my breath.

Light suddenly flooded in from the hallway, blinding me after the darkness.

"Did I scare you?" 

Dante stood in the doorway holding a battery-powered lantern. His smile was predatory.

"What happened to the lights?" I asked, my voice shaky.

"Nothing happened to the lights." He stepped inside and closed the door behind him. "I had them turned off."

"Why?"

"Privacy." He set the lantern on the table. "We need to discuss your immediate duties."

"At night? In the dark?"

"Some duties are best handled in the dark."

My stomach dropped. "What duties?"

Dante pulled out a folded paper from his jacket. "There's a clause in your contract we need to address tonight."

"What clause? I read the whole thing."

"Did you?" His smile got wider. "Let me refresh your memory."

He unfolded the paper and read aloud. "The Luna's first pregnancy must be sired by the firstborn, regardless of mate-bond preference."

"That wasn't in the contract I signed!"

"It was in the faded text you couldn't read properly." Dante moved closer. "Legal formatting requirements, remember?"

"What ? You tricked me…"

"We gave you exactly what we promised. A contract with terms and conditions."

I backed toward the window. "I won't do this. Not tonight. Not like this."

"You will," Dante said firmly. "Because you signed an agreement already and you have no choice."

"There's always a choice!"

"Is there?" Dante asked. "What's your choice here, Kiera? Refuse me and break the contract? Go back to a pack that called you a murderer? Live with humans until you go insane?"

He was right and I hated him for it.

"Why does it have to be you?" I asked desperately.

"Because I'm the eldest. Because the pack heir needs to come from the strongest bloodline. Because those are the terms."

"Terms? You mean terms I didn't agree to"

"Terms you signed without reading carefully enough."

A soft knock interrupted us. Dante frowned and opened the door.

Anna stood outside with a silver tray.

"Sir," she said nervously. "I brought the Luna's evening medicine."

"Medicine?" I looked between them. "What medicine?"

"Fertility enhancer," Dante said casually. "To increase your chances of conception."

"No!" I stepped back. "Absolutely not!"

"Anna," Dante commanded. "Set it down and leave."

Anna placed the tray on the table and hurried out.

"You can't force me to take fertility drugs!"

"I'm not forcing anything," Dante said. "I'm explaining your options. Take the medicine willingly, or we'll find other ways to ensure compliance."

"Other ways?"

"Yeah! Injection. Forced feeding. However it needs to happen."

I stared at the small glass vial on the tray. Clear liquid that would change my body chemistry. Make me more likely to get pregnant.

"They haven't even let me settle in," I whispered. "Looks like you've all been eyeing me from the beginning."

"We've been planning for you, yes."

"Planning for me? How long have you known about me?"

Dante's expression changed slightly. "That's not important."

"It is important! How long?"

"Focus on tonight, Kiera. On your duties."

Another knock on the door. This time it was Soren.

"Dante," he said smoothly. "Having trouble?"

"She's being difficult."

"Am I interrupting something?" Soren stepped inside, his eyes taking in.

"He wants me to take fertility drugs and sleep with him tonight!" I said desperately. "That wasn't in the contract!"

"Actually, it was," Soren said gently. "In the medical compliance section."

"Medical compliance section?"

"Page twelve, subsection C," Soren recited. "The Luna agrees to any medical interventions deemed necessary for pack welfare."

"That's not what that meant!"

I realized I'd been completely played. The faded text, the legal language, the rushed signing. They'd planned every detail.

"You're both monsters," I whispered.

"We're Alphas," Dante corrected. "We do what's necessary for our pack."

"Including forcing women into pregnancy on their first night?"

"Including securing our bloodline," Soren said. "Which is what you signed up for."

"I signed up to be Luna! Not a breeding machine!"

"Same thing," Dante said bluntly.

Footsteps in the hallway made all three of us look toward the door. Tarlon appeared, looking uncomfortable.

"What's going on?" he asked quietly.

"Explaining contract terms," Soren said.

"The fertility medicine terms?" Tarlon's voice was strained.

"You knew about this too?" I stared at him.

"I knew," Tarlon admitted. "But I didn't agree with the timing."

"The timing is perfect," Dante snapped. "Why wait?"

"Because she just got here! Because she's traumatized and confused!"

"She's Luna now," Dante said firmly. "Luna has responsibilities."

"Luna has rights too," Tarlon shot back.

"What rights?" I asked desperately. "Please, tell me what rights I have!"

"The right to be treated with respect," Tarlon said.

"Respect doesn't produce heirs," Dante said coldly.

"Neither does rape," Tarlon said quietly.

"That's not what this is," Soren said smoothly. "This is fulfilling a contract."

"A contract I was tricked into signing!"

"A contract you signed willingly after reading it."

"I couldn't read half of it!"

"Not our problem," Dante said.

I looked at the three brothers. Dante determined and possessive. Soren calm and somewhat manipulative. Tarlon conflicted but still here.

“And You can't refuse," Dante continued. "You're our mate now. 

" And if you try to escape, the doors are locked," Soren said gently. "The windows are barred. The grounds are patrolled."

I was trapped. Completely, utterly trapped.

"Please," I whispered, looking at Tarlon. "Please don't let this happen."

Tarlon's face was pained. "Kiera..."

"Please. You said Luna has rights. Help me claim them."

"She has one right," Dante interrupted. "The right to do her duty."

"And what's my duty?" I asked, though I already knew.

"To produce an heir. Tonight. With me."

I looked at the fertility medicine on the tray. At the three Alphas watching me. At the locked door and barred windows.

"Listen you can't say no to this," Dante said simply.

The threat was clear. They would force me either way.

"Your choice is to accept your role as Luna, Everything else follows from that."

I picked up the vial of medicine with shaking hands. "You're treating me like a prisoner and not a Luna. Luna has freedoms" 

"Reasonable freedoms, Within the estate."

"After you produce us an heir, we'll discuss expanding your privileges," Dante said.

It wasn't much. But it was something.

I looked at the three of them again. At my captors. My husbands. My future.

"Can I at least have some time to prepare? To wash up and change."

"You have ten minutes," Dante Whispered

"Ten minutes?"

"To make yourself ready for your Luna duties."

I clutched the vial tighter. "And if I'm not ready in ten minutes?"

"You wouldn't want to do that."

The clock on the mantle started chiming nine o'clock.

"Your ten minutes start now,"