ONE: The Ultimatum: Forced Bride

ELIZABETH MILKHART

If my mother had told me two nights ago, that I would be traveling to the dreaded Backwood Castle in my only good dress and straw hat, I would have spit in her goddamned face.

“No, no, no, this cannot be happening!” I gasped with widened eyes that scoured through the local paper I held in between shaky hands.

There it was! My name, Elizabeth Milkhart, among the seven selected for the mating raffle, clear as day!

“How could this be? Since when did those posh mighty werewolves want anything to do with us humans?” I wheezed, feeling my temples pulse painfully.

I stared at the picture of the dashingly handsome Alpha beside the inked cursive with his bright gray eyes and wolf-cut black hair. He was just about the most drop-dead gorgeous man I had ever had the displeasure of seeing.

I could feel something hot flare inside me when our eyes met, almost like he was staring back at me from the black and white print newspaper.

I dropped it like it was hot shit.

“For god’s sake Elizabeth, surely he cannot be that bad? You should be grateful a woman as plain as you are got picked to be a surrogate! I imagine there are plenty of fresher fish in the Stone County!” My mother’s unwanted drawl made me whirl around to face her, my face hot with anger.

First off, I know my mother did not just call me ugly. PLAINN?! I was the only redhead in all of Stone County! That had to count for something didn't it?

Plenty of fresher fish she said?

That wicked Alpha Blackwood could snag a goddamned shark for all I cared, I didn't want any part of it!

“I want to be a nurse mama! Not a glorified mistress!” I shouted, the “like you” part was silent, but something about the way my mother’s light green eyes filled with tears told me she had gotten my point clearly.

Crap. Pain twisted in my chest as I shook my head but my mother was already turning away from me, snatching the apron she had laid out on our small wooden dinner table and walking quickly into the kitchen.

“No…ma, I didn't mean it like that-” I started, but it was already too late.

My mother was all I had since my father died and left us to fend for ourselves in Stone County. It was harder here, life, dangerous for us mere humans.

I had caught a glimpse of the elite werewolves once when I had followed my mother to the luxury houses where she did her cleaning job.

She had been a surrogate for a couple of the elite wolves and had immediately been cut off the minute the child was born.

I probably had well-fed half-sisters and brothers I didn't even know about.

It was a cold life, and I wanted none of it, especially not with someone as powerful as Alpha Blackwood.

I would want to hold my baby, touch it, breathe it. I didn't think I could stand just giving my child away like a bag of potatoes! I shan’t do it!

Half of the women of Stone County would have thrown themselves at the opportunity to share the Alpha’s bed, but I was only terrified.

“Come on Ma, please! I'm not cut out for this, I don't even fit into his world!” I whined, stomping around behind my mother until she turned to face me, slamming the pan down with a heated look on her face.

“Oh, shut up Elizabeth! Enough of your whining already! Don't you see? Look around you! It's not like life is handing us a lot of fucking lemons!” My mother cursed angrily and I flinched as her words stabbed into me like a knife.

It was true. I had pretended not to notice the stack of mail left unopened on the small dining table, or the way the cabin house we lived in was falling apart around our heads…paint peeling…mice scurrying…we needed help.

Blackwood’s kind of help.

Shit!

I had to take this offer, I had to…I feared Alpha Blackwood was just the type of King to send assassins to anyone who refused his summons.

I swallowed heavily, setting out the plates in silence.

After dinner, I snuggled up beside my mother’s petite body. Her skin was hard from years of labor, and I swore to use all the money I would get if I won on her.

“There’s one more thing you should know Elizabeth,” My mother's low voice boomed just as a gust of wind blew out the hurricane lamp I had arranged on the table.

It was always Elizabeth since my father died…never Lizzie.

The room was instantly plunged into darkness as I stumbled around for a match, relighting the lamp with shaky fingers.

The darkness eased, but the chilly thorn remained in my spine as my mother’s green eyes bore into mine.

“What's that Ma?”

“The Alpha, Ezra Blackwood, is a wicked Wolf Elizabeth. He is scarily gorgeous, ruthless, a heartbreaker who doesn't care less about we humans. Don't ever let yourself fall in love with him.” she deadpanned in a cold detached voice that made me shiver before I let out a slow chuckle.

Fall in love? It was just like my mother to overthink herself into a rut when I hadn't even been chosen yet!

“I think you’ve had too much of those wild herbs Ma, it's getting your head all jumbled up.” I muttered, patting her sparse brown hair before the heavy sound of fists rapping on the front door shook the wood in its frame.

My mother inhaled sharply and my heart started to hammer wildly in my chest.

“They're here,” She breathed and my eyes widened to the size of golf balls on my head.

“WHAT? W-Who?” I shrieked as my mother flew up from the bed with lightning speed, snapping on the light that flickered dangerously before steadying with an electric hum as she made her way to the door, ignoring me.

“Mrs. Vanessa Milkhart?” A man’s harsh voice came from the doorway and I froze, scarcely trusting myself to breathe before forcing myself to walk toward the door on wooden legs.

It was happening, it was really happening! A thousand thoughts raced through my head as I watched my mother’s small back hunched around the crack in the door, murmuring to the Alpha King’s guards.

Crap!

If there was ever a worse time for shit to hit the fan, it was sure as hell blowing through the goddamned roof now.