Tous les chapitres de : Chapitre 1 - Chapitre 10

The eviction notice felt like sandpaper between my fingers. Red letters screamed at me from the cheap paper: FINAL WARNING - PAYMENT DUE IMMEDIATELY - $4,000.I sat on the edge of my mattress....the only piece of furniture left in my studio apartment.....and tried to remember when everything went to shit.No. That was a lie. I knew exactly when.Six months ago. The night they brought what was left of my father home in a body bag.Beta Marcus Thorne of Shadowmere Pack. Strong, respected, loved by everyone who knew him. Gone in a single night. A rogue attack, they said. Brutal. Vicious. The kind of violence that left nothing but blood and questions no one wanted to answer.My phone buzzed for the fifteenth time that morning. I didn't need to look to know it was another bill collector. They called in shifts now.....hospital, utilities, credit cards I'd maxed out trying to keep Mom alive and a roof over my head. Each call was a reminder that I was failing. Drowning. Suffocating under the

The smell of burnt coffee and stale grease hit me the moment I pushed through the diner's door. Joe's 24-Hour Diner wasn't much....cracked vinyl booths, flickering fluorescent lights, a counter that had seen better decades....but it was the last job I had left.Was.Past tense.I didn't know it yet as I tied my apron around my waist, but I was about to lose this too."Table four needs refills," Joe barked from behind the counter, not looking up from his newspaper. He was a gruff wolf in his sixties, mostly grey around the muzzle, who'd given me this job when no one else would. I'd been grateful. I'd thought maybe he was different.I grabbed the coffee pot and headed to table four.Three male wolves sat there, young and cocky, probably mid-twenties. Their eyes tracked me as I approached, and I already knew this was going to be a problem."Coffee?" I asked, keeping my voice neutral, professional.The one closest to me...sandy blonde hair, blue eyes that would've been handsome if they we

I should have taken a different route home.Should have avoided the east side of the city where the nicer apartments were, where wolves with money and status lived in buildings with actual security and working elevators.Where I used to live, back when Dad was alive and we could afford more than a shoebox studio.Where Derek lived with his perfect mate.But my feet carried me there anyway, some masochistic part of me needing to see what I'd lost. Needing to remind myself why tonight didn't matter, why giving myself to three monsters for gold wasn't really a betrayal of anything, because there was nothing left to betray.The apartment building loomed ahead....red brick, clean windows, a doorman who actually gave a shit. I slowed my pace, told myself to turn around, walk away.Then I saw him.Derek stood outside the entrance, his arm around a woman who glowed with that unmistakable radiance of a freshly marked mate. She was beautiful....long auburn hair, perfect skin, curves in all the

The city was alive with lights and noise, wolves heading to bars and clubs, living their normal lives. I walked past them like a ghost, heading toward the bus stop.The bus that would take me to Blackwood territory.To Obsidian Hall.To three Alphas who would claim every inch of me.To the Rite.My hands weren't shaking anymore.My breath was steady.I'd made my choice.Now I just had to live with it.The bus pulled up, doors hissing open and I stepped inside.Paid my fare.Found a seat near the back.As the bus pulled away from my neighborhood, carrying me toward whatever waited in the dark forests of Blackwood territory, I felt strangely calm.This was it.No going back now.Tonight, I would learn what it meant to be thoroughly used.Tonight, I would earn my gold.Tonight, I would become someone new.And tomorrow....if I survived....I'd pick up the pieces and figure out how to live with what I'd done.But first, I had to get through tonight.Through the Rite.Through three Cursed Al

Darkness swallowed me whole.I stood frozen just inside the door, my heart hammering so hard I could hear it in my ears. My eyes struggled to adjust, making out shapes in the dim light.....furniture, shadows, movement.Then I smelled them.Pine and smoke. Leather and steel. Something wild and untamed that made my hindbrain scream danger even as my body responded with an unwelcome heat.Alphas.Three of them.My eyes finally adjusted enough to see the space I'd been pushed into. Not a ritual room like I'd expected. This was a bedroom....massive, luxurious, clearly personal. A huge bed dominated the center, easily large enough for six people. A fireplace crackled against one wall, casting flickering shadows. Dark furniture, expensive rugs, floor-to-ceiling bookshelves.This was their private space.Their territory.And I was prey that had just walked into the den.Movement in the shadows made me spin around.Three figures detached themselves from the darkness, stepping into the fireligh