Chapter 5: Six Years Ago

*Six Years Ago*

Kyra scrubbed the palace floors of the alpha's private chambers with hands that was starting to bleed from a full day of cleaning, but she didn't stop because she needed this job more than she needed rest.

Zara's medical bills were piling up and the pack only paid omega servants minimum wage, so Kyra took every extra shift she could get even if it meant working eighteen-hour days.

The alpha's chambers were off-limits to most staff, but the head housekeeper had called in sick and someone needed to clean before Alpha Ryker returned from his meeting with the elders.

Kyra had volunteered immediately because private chamber cleaning paid double, and double meant another week of Zara's medications.

She was so focused on scrubbing that she didn't hear the bathroom door open, didn't realize she wasn't alone until a deep voice said, "Who the hell are you?"

Kyra's head snapped up and her breathing stopped because Alpha Ryker Thorne stood in the doorway wearing nothing but a towel slung low on his hips, water droplets sliding down his muscled chest and his dark hair wet and messy.

She scrambled to her feet and dropped into a submissive bow, keeping her eyes on the floor. "Kyra Sedgwick, Alpha," she said quickly.

"I'm filling in for the head housekeeper, I apologize for disturbing you."

"I didn't ask for my chambers to be cleaned today," Ryker said, and she could hear the irritation in his voice. "Who authorized this?"

"The head housekeeper's schedule, Alpha," Kyra said, still not looking up. "I can come back later if you prefer."

There was a long silence and then Ryker said, "Look at me."

Kyra's wolf whined at the command and she slowly raised her eyes, meeting his gaze for the first time. The mate bond whipped into her like a horse that lost control, it was so powerful and sudden that she actually gasped and stumbled backward.

No, she thought desperately, this can't be happening, not with him, not with the alpha who was completely out of her league.

Ryker's eyes went wide and then narrowed, as gold flash through his eyes as his wolf recognized what she was.

"You're my mate," he said, and it sounded like an accusation.

"I'm sorry," Kyra whispered, because what else could she say? "I didn't know, I swear I didn't know."

"You're an omega," Ryker said, and the disgust in his voice made her flinch.

"My fated mate is an omega maid who scrubs floors for minimum wage."

The words hurted her so bad that Kyra felt tears burning behind her eyes.

"I'll request a transfer," she said quickly. "To another pack, I'll leave so you don't have to…"

"The elders are meeting tomorrow to strip my alpha title if I don't present a mate by the deadline," Ryker interrupted, running a hand through his wet hair. "Three years I've been alpha and they're using some ancient pack law to force me into a political marriage I don't want."

Kyra didn't understand why he was telling her this. "I'm sorry, Alpha," she said quietly. "But that doesn't have anything to do with me."

"Doesn't it?" Ryker's eyes fixed on her and she saw calculation there, saw him weighing options and

coming to a decision she knew she wouldn't like.

"The elders want me mated to stabilize the pack, they don't care who the mate is as long as the bond is real."

"No," Kyra said, shaking her head. "Whatever you're thinking, no."

"I'm thinking I could kill two birds with one stone," Ryker said. "Present you as my mate to satisfy the elders, keep my alpha title, and then quietly end the arrangement once the heat dies down."

"That's not how mate bonds work," Kyra said. "You can't just end them."

"We can if we don't complete the mating," Ryker said. "No marking or claiming, just a year of playing pretend for the pack, and then you disappear with enough money to start over somewhere else."

Kyra's mind raced because this was insane, but she thought about Zara in the hospital and the experimental treatment that was her sister's only hope.

"How much money?" she asked quietly.

"Fifty thousand dollars," Ryker said. "Plus room and board in the Luna quarters for the year, plus a recommendation letter to any pack you want to join after."

Fifty thousand dollars would save Zara's life. Kyra looked at the alpha who was her fated mate and saw only a business transaction, saw the way he held himself separate like touching her would contaminate him.

"If you're serious about this offer, I want the money upfront."

"Done," Ryker said immediately. "I'll have my lawyer draw up the contract tomorrow, you sign it, I present you to the elders tomorrow night, and we start the year."

"And after the year?" Kyra asked.

"After the year, you leave and we never speak of this again," Ryker said coldly.

"No contact, no claims, or demanding more money or trying to leverage the mate bond, as you have taken your fifty thousand, once it's one year… You disappear."

It should have hurt more than it did, but Kyra had learned a long time ago that life wasn't fair and fated mates were just another cruel joke the universe played on wolves like her.

"Fine," she said. "But I want it in writing that you'll never try to find me after the year is up, that you'll let me go completely."

"Trust me," Ryker said, and his smile was more like a smirk. "Finding you again is the last thing I'll ever want to do."

PRESENT DAY

Kyra stood in the break room with Zara and Ryker and watched Kade color at the table, oblivious to the tension crackling between the adults.

She thought about that day six years ago when she'd been scrubbing floors and her entire world had shifted, when she'd agreed to sell herself to save her sister and convinced herself it was the right choice.

She'd been so young and desperate and stupid, had actually believed Ryker when he'd promised to let her go.

But looking at him now, at the way his eyes tracked Kade's every movement with a hunger that terrified her, Kyra knew that promise was about to be broken.