Chapter 1: The Alpha's Bargaining Chip

"Clean faster, you wolfless freak!" The heavy boot of my father’s Beta slammed down onto my hands, pressing my fingers into the shattered shards of the glass vase I was trying to gather. The dark, dense liquid of the aconite tonic I had spent the entire night distilling for Healer Knox now mingled with my own blood.

The blood began to pool on the marble floor of the main hall, but I didn't scream. I just swallowed my tears and the pain. All my hard work as the pack healer's assistant, trying to prove my worth through medicine since I didn't have a wolf, had been ruined in a single second when I tripped.

Yesterday, I turned eighteen. It should have been the most important day of my life, the day my wolf would finally awaken and I would experience my first shift. But midnight came and went in absolute silence inside my mind. Nothing happened. I was a freak, a broken human living among wolves.

So, what my father and Healer Knox had told me was actually true: I was going to pay for my mother's sins. I never truly believed I didn't have a wolf; I always imagined I did, but yesterday, I realized just how unfortunate I was. They said the Moon Goddess had cursed my soul as punishment for the crime my mother committed. It wasn't fair, but the innocent always paid for the sinners.

The fact that I was the Alpha's daughter only made matters worse in the Bleakwood pack, because my face was a constant reminder of what my mother had done. Honestly, I didn't blame her, nor did I hold any resentment. I think I understood why she did what she did. Who in their right mind could live with a monster like my father? So, at her first and only opportunity, she fled with the man she considered the love of her life, her fated mate.

No, my parents weren't fated to each other. My mother was literally sold to my father against her will in a business transaction that saved her old pack from total bankruptcy. I just wanted to understand why she abandoned me, why she didn't take me with her... but I guess a baby would only hinder their escape and their new life, wouldn't it?

"Get your hands off her, Eric." A thunderous, cold voice echoed from the top of the staircase, causing the Beta to pull his foot back immediately.

It was my father. The Alpha.

Just hearing his voice made my body tremble involuntarily. Nothing good ever happened when he approached me. As I said, I was a daily reminder of the shame my mother had put him through.

The Alpha's heavy footsteps resonated against the marble steps, each strike echoing like a death sentence in the silence that abruptly settled over the hall. Eric, the Beta who seconds ago was crushing my fingers with disdain, stepped back three paces, bowing his head in submission. Everyone feared Alpha Richard. But no one feared him more than I did.

When his black boots stopped just inches from my face, the scent of pine and blood—his oppressive Alpha aura—suffocated the air around me. I looked up, ignoring the burning in my cut fingers, and met my father's cold, merciless gray eyes. There wasn't a shred of fatherly love there. Only disgust.

"Look at you," he hissed, his deep voice vibrating in my chest. "A disgrace to my blood. A wolfless freak who can't even clean the floor right."

"I'm sorry, Alpha," I forced the words out of my dry throat, keeping my eyes downcast. Calling my own father "Alpha" was one of the strictest rules in the house. I had no right to call him father.

Richard let out a dry, barren laugh, a cruel sound that made me shrink even further against the harsh floor.

"Save your apologies, girl. Your usefulness to this pack has finally arrived. And, by a twist of fate, you will serve exactly the same purpose your mother did. A business transaction."

My heart skipped a beat. A cold, sharp panic surged through my veins.

"What... what do you mean?" I dared to ask, breaking protocol by looking at him. I didn't understand why my own father hated me so much. Yes, my mother had fled, but I was still his blood... wasn't I?

Richard took a step forward, gripping my bruised chin with brute force and tilting my face upward.

"I mean that the Alpha of the rival pack has come to collect the peace treaty we signed eighteen years ago," he sibilated, so close I could feel his hot, dangerous breath. "The agreement was clear: to cease the war between our lands, my firstborn daughter would be handed over as a bride to their heir as soon as she turned eighteen. Your eighteen autumns arrived yesterday, girl."

The air left my lungs. The peace treaty. I knew of that cursed paper's existence, but I never thought...

"You are going to marry the new Alpha of Ambervalley, Demetri," Richard continued, a sadistic glint in his eyes. "That bastard is crippled, poisoned by silver, and his days are numbered after the last battle. They want a wife to bear an heir before he dies and the pack crumbles. And you will fulfill that role."

"But... Father... the contract..." I tried to beg, but he squeezed my jaw even tighter, the disgust in his eyes tearing me apart from the inside.

"You are the firstborn, the eldest daughter. The treaty demands you, and I will fulfill it," Richard growled, his voice as cold as ice. "I would never hand Chloe over to that pack of monsters. You, a wolfless freak who brings me nothing but shame and reminds me of your mother's sins, are the perfect sacrificial pawn. Finally, you will be of some use to me: securing the peace of Bleakwood by paying with your life."

He shoved me away with contempt, throwing me back onto the marble floor.

"That's not fair!" a young, trembling voice echoed near the entrance of the hall.

It was Ethan, my brother. He took a step forward, his fists clenched, but the terror in his eyes was undeniable. He always tried to be kind to me, bringing me food hidden in the basement, but he also feared our father's wrath. "Father, please... she won't survive there. She doesn't have a wolf to defend herself!"

"Shut up, Ethan!" a shrill, spoiled voice interrupted.

Chloe walked down the stairs, holding up the skirts of her expensive dress. She looked at my bloodied hands with disgust and a victorious smirk. "She should be grateful someone actually wants to marry a piece of trash like her. The contract demands the eldest, so that's her problem. Hurry up, little sister. Pack your bags. The wedding is tomorrow morning."