1. The Village

Every year they came. Every year they tormented. Every year they stared from dark eyes and huge bodies at the offerings of the village.

This year was my year.

Turning eighteen was meant to be some amazing experience that the village deemed as an honor because of them.

Like being a chew toy for a bunch of asshole alphas for the night was something to celebrate. Like saving my vagina to be ripped to shreds by them meant I should be forever grateful to their big hairy balls. Yeah, right.

The village was usually quiet, but not tonight. Tonight was the blood moon. The night of the offerings. It was alive with music and the roar of a bonfire as the village prepared.

I looked over at the white dress my mother had laid out and sneered.

I had contemplated forgoing the whole thing by ruining my "purity" with the baker's son in the men's village, but last time they had been offered a nonvirgin, the alphas had lost their shit and burned almost every hut to the ground, ravaging the offender like a whore in front of the flames.

I shuddered at the memory of her splayed limbs getting fucked for the entire village to see. The worst part was, she had enjoyed it. They were that good with their wolf dicks.

The girl thought she was some sacrifice to them, giving her body willingly, letting them take her in every hole in the dirt and mud, screaming in pleasure for hours.

I shuddered and sank below the water of the tub I was in. The water was almost cold now, and I had scrubbed every part of myself clean, but I couldn't bring myself to get out.

I wasn't just on show for the alphas tonight. My dad was coming to the offering. I hadn't seen him in years-since puberty. He lived in the men's village with my brother and had for years, as was the tradition.

Girls of the village turned eighteen, gave themselves to the alphas, then came back the next day as "women."

The men had their choice of a wife, but being a wife was a loose term. It just meant they had been chosen to reproduce. My father had chosen my mother because she had nice tits.

I scoffed and looked down at mine with a roll of my eyes, sinking lower so I couldn't see them. I had inherited those and was dreading the disgusting men that would come to inspect them.

I had no idea who it would be. The men and women were not allowed to have any contact before eighteen to avoid the temptation, but I was looking forward to meeting my brother.

He was my twin, and I had never met him. It was fucked up, but there was nothing I could do. Nothing except get out of the bath and put the stupid dress on.

I was about to get out when my mom came in. Her face dropped when she saw me still in the bath.

"Lorelai! Hurry along, child! We need to get you to the bonfire with the other offerings!" she fretted, patting her blonde hair back into her claw clip.

She was wearing a stunning royal blue dress that matched our eyes, with a thigh slit and a deep V that wrapped across her thin waist.

Her dark red lipstick was perfect on her full lips, and I knew she was trying because she was going to see my father again.

Hopeless romantic that she was, she still believed he loved her.

I smiled. "You look beautiful, Mom."

"Thank you, sweetie." She blushed before pursing her lips and hurrying me out of the water.

I pushed her hands away as she tried to dry me. I snatched the cloth from her and wrapped it around myself.

"I will be out in a minute," I promised, and she hesitated before nodding and leaving.

I needed longer than a minute, but I was already late.

That wasn't a surprise though. Most of the tasks I was given seemed menial and dull, not worthy of my promptness. The ladies of the village had given up trying to lecture me in punctuality.

I slid on the white silk dress with a lace slit up the thigh running up my body to the side of my breast. It hung low, showing off everything I had to offer.

I grabbed for the white lace underwear and looked between them and my boxer shorts. They were white and infinitely comfier. I chewed my lip in indecision. They were coming off anyway, so did it really matter?

"Don't you dare, Lorelai. Wear the clothes you have been given," my mother said, opening the door with a firm scowl. She knew me too well.

I huffed and slid the panties on with a grimace. She beamed, then came forward with a brush. I sat down at the wooden vanity as she brushed out my damp waves that were raven black, just like my father's.

"Are you nervous?" she asked, and it was the first time she had openly spoken about the offering.

I shook my head. "No. It's just sex." I shrugged, and she smiled warmly.

"Then you are braver than I was at your age."

"Did it hurt?"

She nodded, her eyes shimmering with the memory. Thanks Mom, now I was afraid.

"But not to worry. The alphas now are much nicer. Gentler." She gave me a reassuring smile, but I didn't believe her. The alphas were anything but gentle.

"How many offerings are there this year?" I asked, not sure why I cared.

"Seven. You're the last, being born in winter." She smiled, but it was a timid smile, and I was sick of the pretending.

I spun to her, clutching the back of the chair as she paused midbrush.

"Oh, I forgot, winter borns are cursed," I snapped. "Maybe I'm lucky; they'll have tired themselves out by the time they get to me."

My mother gulped, then slipped her palm down my cheek, resting my chin in her fingers. "It doesn't happen like that, Lori," she whispered, and I frowned.

"Well how would I know? You haven't explained anything to me," I huffed, and spun back so she could finish my hair.

We had to go, or I couldn't offer my precious purity to the beasts that lived in the city. The brush came through my hair slower before my mother stopped.

"They'll come and inspect you all. Then you'll get in the carriages. Their favorites will get in their personal carriage.

"You'll go into the city to their compound. It's beautiful, a gorgeous mansion filled with all the amenities, food, and luxuries you'll never see again. It'll have you in awe, and then they'll split you into groups. One per alpha," my mother said, seeming far away, but I was transfixed.

She had never gone into so much detail, and I didn't know how much I wanted to know.

"Wait, you don't have to be with all three?" I asked, relief pouring through me, until she gave me a sad smile.

The three alphas ran the three different parts of the realm, but they all lived in the city.

We lived in the Grassland, where hills and farmland stretched for miles broken only by the gravel roads. The other two were the Forest and the Water.

"Not at once. You'll be put in the group with the Grassland offerings first. Then they'll barter," she said, and her voice broke.

I narrowed my eyes at her. "Barter?"

"Swap and trade which virgins-offerings, I mean," she corrected, but I had heard it, "they will have first. Which alpha will be the one to claim your purity."

"And once the groups are chosen?" I was afraid of the answer, but my mother huffed and stood up, rubbing her thumb on my cheek.

"And then they will accept you as a part of Werewolf Territory, taking your purity as an offering."

"You mean as payment," I sneered, and Mother scowled at me.

"They protect us, Lorelai. If it weren't for the wolves, our village would have been destroyed during the great war, the vampires would own humans, and we would simply be walking blood bags," she reminded.

"As opposed to walking sex slaves?" I taunted, and her scowl deepened.

"Enough, Lorelai. It's the way things are. We are human, surrounded by creatures far more terrifying than us. We must accept the blessings we are given, and that is the protection from the alphas," she said, then left the room, expecting me to follow.

I did-just as the horn blared from the bonfire.

Mother's eyes widened. "Lorelai, run!"

2. The Offering

"What, why?" I demanded.

"They are here! You cannot be late or our family will be cast to the Vampire Territory!" she cried.

I sucked in a breath. I had never seen that happen before.

She pulled a shawl over her shoulders, then grabbed my hand, abandoning our hut and hauling me through the matching homes.

It was bloody freezing, the warmth of the fire and wooden floorboards at home changing to damp grass and soft mud. I hadn't even put on my twine shoes.

Apparently, that was less of an infraction than being late.

Mother and I raced through the huts toward the bonfire as the music leveled and the villagers fell quiet.

The night air was cold and ominous as my mother pushed me into the lineup with the other offerings, all wearing the same provided silk lace dress that I was. They had their twine feet decor on though.

Breathing hard, I eyed the dark carriages on the gravel behind the bonfire. There were two of them, both black with a wolf head on the side.

Mother patted my hair down and readjusted my dress as the others were fluffed by their own guardians.

"Mom." I smacked her hand away as she tried to stand me straighter. I was already taller than the other girls, I didn't need to stand out more.

I hadn't been nervous before, but now I was; something about standing there on display, waiting for them to climb from the carriages, had my heart racing.

"Please them, Lorelai. Make them happy," my mom whispered.

"They have everything they could ever want or need in their fancy mansion; they have access to any girl in the entire Werewolf Territory. How the hell am I meant to please them with a vagina I've never used before?" I demanded in a hushed tone, and my mom tried to hide her smirk, failing as she held my face and kissed my forehead.

"I know the books you read, my dear, you know exactly what to do." She winked back, and I snickered, drawing frowns my way.

I ignored them and hugged my mom.

"I love you," I whispered against her.

"I love you too." She breathed, then stepped back. She looked over me, her eyes filled with pride, just as the moon began to cast red shadows over everything.

I sucked in a breath and looked up. The blood moon.

"Holy shit," I bit, my legs feeling like jelly as the severity of the situation hit me.

It wasn't just sex. It was three alpha douchebags claiming my body in exchange for my family's protection. A family I didn't even get to see because of their stupid laws.

My eyes scanned the crowd, locking on navy eyes and a face almost identical to mine.

My brother.

He was taller than me, with clean stubble covering his jawline. His hair was dark like mine, his body slender like mine, his lips full like mine.

My eyes watered as I felt the twin connection burn through me, still as strong as ever, and I hadn't realized how scared I had been of not feeling that.

I clutched my arms tightly, the cold air giving me goosebumps as I smiled at him.

"Lucas," I breathed, and as soon as the name left my lips, a shadow fell over me.

I gasped, shrinking back from the wall of a man that towered over me. He was huge, muscles uncovered, body heat radiating from his form. His green eyes caught mine, and his lips curled back as he shoved his dark hair back from his face.

Nikolai Ferus. The Grassland alpha was staring me down, but it was his tattoos that caught my attention: grasslands turning to forest, then to an ocean on his arm before bursting into inky flames across his chest.

He snarled at me, and my eyes shot back to his. I refused to cower though, refused to step back. I hadn't done anything wrong.

"Are we interrupting something?"

His husky voice did something to my stomach. I looked behind him to my mother, who was standing with my father. He narrowed his eyes at me, then nodded once, and I knew I had to make him proud.

I couldn't let him down after not seeing him for years.

"No."

"Are your knees broken?"

That voice pulled at something inside me again, and I shook my head, seeing the other offerings bowing before the alphas.

The other two were watching, their eyes full of hunger, their bodies just as intense and rippled in abs and muscle as the one in front of me.

"Shit, sorry," I cursed, bending like the others before grimacing at my use of language.

The leanest of the alphas, Braxton Trux, the Water alpha, barked out a laugh before coming over and putting his hand on the shoulder of Nikolai.

He had a similar arm tattoo, but his started with the water. The other one started with the forest.

"Put that one in the front," he said, his long blond hair pulled into a bun, a blue braid falling down his back with a bead holding it in.

I gasped, looking up, my eyes clashing with Nikolai's again. He was my alpha. The Grassland alpha. I could feel it in every part of me, but the look that seared me reached even further than that bond.

His jaw was strong, his cheekbones high, and his black hair kept falling over his face, just for him to push it back again. He nodded once, and I pursed my lips.

I didn't want to go in the front.

His eyes let mine go before he roamed over me slowly. I shivered underneath his gaze, my skin prickling as he inspected every part of my body. I felt naked, like he could see through the stupid dress they had chosen.

"Stand," he growled, and everyone got to their feet. He stepped closer, my breasts brushing his torso as he looked down.

"Why were you late?" he asked, his voice a dangerous tone that said he was threatening me even though his words weren't direct.

I scrambled my brain for an answer, opting for the truth-ish.

"I almost wore the wrong underwear. Sir," I said, my eyes meeting his as his lips moved so close to mine, I could taste the whiskey on his breath.

A smirk tugged at his mouth before he leaned back, leaving my body drowning in sensation that I didn't understand. His fingers brushed up my thigh, and my breath hitched.

He lifted my hem, revealing the white lace panties that I was required to wear, his finger tracing the lace trimming as my eyes fluttered closed, my skin on fire where he touched.

My heart raced. I had no idea why I was reacting so strongly, but it made the idea of getting naked with the guy that much more exciting.

"Hmmm. Carriage one," he called before stepping back.

My eyes flung open, and he moved to the next girl. My eyes went back to my family.

My father was grinning proudly, his arm wrapped around my mom. She had tears in her eyes as my brother clenched his jaw.

I could feel his anger, and I wanted to go to him. I wanted to hug him. But I had to wait until tomorrow.

I swallowed back the emotion as the second alpha came over. The Forest alpha.

He was the oldest, but his face was the friendliest. His brown hair was shorter than the others and smoothed back. He wore jeans, his muscles and strong body on display as much as the other two.

The V on his hips went down below his waistline, and I bit my lip. The alphas were sexy as hell. I couldn't even deny that.

My body hummed at the idea of being beneath that much power. Derik Achlis leaned in, sniffing my neck as I shivered, his body heat warming my icy skin. He smirked.

"Give Nikolai hell, beautiful," he said in a low voice, brushing my ear with his lips before moving to the next girl.

I glanced over at Nikolai and swallowed as he announced that Portia Caldwell would be joining me in carriage one.

Perfect. Tonight officially made it the worst night ever.

Miss Perfect Portia... Just her name had me tensing. She was the leggy blonde who said all the right things, kissed ass like a pro, and never rubbed people the wrong way-except for me.

She was as bitchy as they came, and I had been on the rear end of the scorn from the villagers most of my life because of her. She proved my point with her next words.

"Oh, thank you. I am so grateful, Your Majesty, my alpha, but I must decline. It would be improper to willingly choose to be in the same carriage as a winter born. I wouldn't wish bad luck on the night," she said, as sweetly as molasses.

I rolled my eyes, and all three alphas turned to me. I had to work to keep my spine straight under their gaze.

Most humans avoided procreating in the months that led to a winter born, so there hadn't been many. Not any in my lifetime. I clenched my jaw and steeled myself for the condescension.

"You're winter born?" Nikolai asked.

I nodded once. We had already established that.

Nikolai and Derik looked toward Braxton. His eyes rolled back before swirling with blue and white. He nodded once, and his eyes flicked back to the ice blue they were before.

They looked at me again before looking up at the moon. The blood moon had crested, and Nikolai nodded toward the carriage.

"Carriage one."