Zeva’s POV

The stone floor was cold beneath me, its chill biting through the thin fabric of my dress as I sat in the vast, dimly lit quarters of Alpha Darian Kaelith. The silence here was deafening, broken only by the occasional crackle of the fire in the hearth. For nearly an hour I waited, my thoughts circling like vultures. Why had he dragged me here after rejecting me so publicly?

My heart still ached from the sting of that cruel moment in the hall. His words — “you’re nothing but an omega” — gnawed at me like a wound that refused to close. Leah whimpered in the back of my mind, restless and angry.

“We are not weak, Zeva. We are not worthless.”

I straightened my spine despite the weight pressing down on me. I wouldn’t cower, not here. Not anymore.

The heavy doors creaked open, snapping me from my thoughts. Darian entered first, tall and commanding in his dark ceremonial attire, his expression carved from ice. Thalyn swept in beside him, smugness dripping from every step. Elder Mael followed, his age-lined face betraying nothing, along with two other officials from the East. They carried the air of judgmental vultures, circling a prey they’d already decided was doomed.

I stood, refusing to remain seated like some servant awaiting orders. My voice shook, but I forced it out. “What is this? Why am I here?”

Darian’s eyes flicked to me, and for a heartbeat I thought I saw something — not compassion, but curiosity. Then his lips curled into a smile that never reached his eyes. “Because, Zeva, you’re more valuable than you realize.”

A hollow laugh slipped from me. “Valuable? You called me an omega in front of everyone. You rejected me.”

“Yes,” he said smoothly, stepping closer. “I did. But that doesn’t erase what you are. You come from the Ashryn bloodline — fierce warriors, leaders of their time. Blood that was feared, respected. And yet, somehow, you’ve managed to taint that lineage by lowering yourself to the role of an omega. It’s tragic… but still useful.”

His words hit me like blows. My family’s name… Ashryn. He was using it against me now, twisting it into a blade.

“I don’t understand,” I admitted, though dread coiled in my gut. “What do you want from me?”

He didn’t answer. Instead, he reached into his coat and pulled out an envelope, crisp and sealed with the Eastern crest. He tossed it onto the small table between us, the gesture casual, but my instincts screamed at me not to touch it.

When I hesitated, Thalyn smirked. “Open it, omega. This is the only chance you’ll ever have to be worth anything.”

My fingers trembled as I broke the seal and unfolded the parchment. The words blurred at first, my mind refusing to process them. Then the truth hit me like lightning, stealing the air from my lungs.

A contract. Not just any contract — a trade agreement. My name inked into the parchment, written as though I were an item on a merchant’s ledger. I was to be given away to Alpha Aric Veylor of the Northern Pack.

Not just to be his Luna. Not even as a mate.

But as his breeder bride.

The paper slipped from my hands, falling to the floor like ashes. Leah roared inside me, her voice sharp with rage. “No! We will not be caged. We will not belong to him!”

“You can’t be serious,” I whispered, looking between them. My voice cracked, but I didn’t care. “This is barbaric.”

Elder Mael cleared his throat, his tone maddeningly calm. “Think of it as an honor, child. Alpha Aric is a powerful leader. This will unite the East and the North in strength and prosperity. And you… you will become Luna of the North. Surely that is preferable to wasting away as an unwanted mate here.”

His words were a poison wrapped in silk. Luna? The thought was a mockery.

“I’ve heard the stories,” I spat, my hands curling into fists. “Aric Veylor is a monster. A beast feared even by his own pack. You want me to be chained to him?”

Darian tilted his head, his smile sharpening. “Better chained to him than to me. At least he won’t pretend to love you. He’ll take what he wants, and you’ll serve your purpose. And in return, I get what I want — an alliance too valuable to ignore.”

The room spun, fury and disbelief warring in my chest. Before I could speak, Thalyn’s laughter cut through the air.

“You act so surprised,” she sneered. “But surely you should have known by now that you don’t hold any value in this pack anymore. There are several other ways to get rid of you, this… is just a merciful consideration for you.”

Mericiful consideration? I scoffed in my head, Leah wanted to take over in rage and peel off that ugly smile from Thalyn’s face. But I had to exercise a measurable amount of self control, this wasn’t the best time to overreact. My chest ached, not just from heartbreak, but also from betrayal.

“You are only speaking with boldness because you were picked, your value is as useless as mine,” I spat in bitterness.

“How dare you!” Thalyn barked, and the next I knew, she raised her palm and slammed it to my cheek.

Something inside me snapped. My palm stung before I even realized what I’d done — the sound of my hand striking her cheek back echoed through the chamber. Thalyn gasped, fury flashing in her eyes before she lunged at me again. Her second slap sent my head snapping to the side, the metallic taste of blood filling my mouth.

“You wretch!” she shrieked.

Before I could recover, hands seized me, rough and merciless. The guards dragged me to my knees, holding me down as though I were a criminal.

“Enough!” Darian’s voice thundered through the room, his expression twisted in fury. “How dare you lay hands on her in my presence?”

I laughed bitterly through the pain. “She struck me first.”

“Silence!” he snapped. His eyes burned into me, full of disdain. “You should be grateful I haven’t already executed you for defying me. Guards — take her to the dungeon. Let her think about the honor being offered to her.”

I struggled, Leah snarling inside me, but the guards’ grip was iron.

“Wait,” Thalyn said, her voice sickly sweet. She pressed a hand to Darian’s arm, her swollen cheek reddened but her smirk firmly in place. “Don’t just lock her up. Give her a choice. Let’s make it… interesting.”

Her eyes met mine, brimming with venom. “Three days. No food, no water. If she agrees to the trade, she walks free and lives as the North’s Luna. If not…” Her smile widened, cruel and gleeful. “She dies.”

The officials nodded their approval as though she had offered some grand wisdom. Darian didn’t even hesitate.

“Very well,” he said coldly. “Three days. Decide if you value your life enough to surrender it to Aric Veylor. If not, your blood will stain the dungeon floor.”

The guards yanked me upright, dragging me toward the door. My body screamed in pain, but my spirit refused to break. I met Thalyn’s gaze one last time, and despite everything, I let a smile twist my lips.

“Enjoy your Luna title while you can,” I told her, my voice steady despite the ache in my chest. “Because the day will come when you choke on it.”

Her face darkened, but I was already being pulled away, the dungeon’s darkness waiting to swallow me whole.

Leah’s growl echoed in my mind, fierce and unyielding. “We will not die here. We will not bow. If they want to break us, they will learn what it means to face an Ashryn.”

And as the door slammed shut behind me, I clung to that fire.

Three days. Three days to decide between death… or a fate worse than death.

Zeva’s POV

Three days blurred into an eternity. The dungeon was a pit carved out of stone, damp and cold, filled with the stench of mildew and rusted chains. I thought I would lose my mind long before I lost my body. Time didn’t move down here; it stretched and warped, melting into agony. My throat had dried into sandpaper, my lips cracked until blood crusted them.

Leah, my wolf, fought inside me like a cornered beast. Stay alive, she urged, though even her voice wavered with fatigue. We can’t die here, Zeva.

But I was dying. Slowly, brutally. Every bone in my body throbbed, every muscle shriveled under the cruelty of deprivation. My head spun until I couldn’t tell if I was awake or dreaming.

And yet, I wasn’t dead.

I wondered bitterly if that was Thalyn’s plan all along—not to kill me outright, but to unravel me piece by piece until I begged for death.

I was curled against the damp wall when I heard footsteps echoing, heavy and deliberate. My foggy mind barely registered them until the iron door screeched open, flooding the dungeon with flickering torchlight.

Two guards dragged something—or rather, someone—across the stone floor. The body landed with a sickening thud in front of me. My heart stopped when I saw her face.

“Kara!” My voice cracked, raw from disuse. My younger sister groaned, her delicate features twisted in pain. She couldn’t be here. Not her. Not my Kara.

The world narrowed to her trembling frame as I scrambled forward, ignoring the chains clattering around my wrists. “Please,” I begged, looking up as shadows filled the doorway.

Darian and Thalyn entered, dressed in ceremonial silk, looking every bit like royalty in this rotten place. Their smugness made bile rise in my throat.

“Leave her alone!” I shouted, shielding Kara with my own body.

Darian’s lips curled. “This isn’t about her. This is still about you.”

Thalyn stepped forward, her voice syrupy with cruelty. “Three days, Zeva. That was the deal. Accept the trade or pay the price. But we’ve decided to… raise the stakes.”

She crouched down, brushing a mocking finger against Kara’s cheek. My sister flinched. “Either you agree to go to Aric Veylor as his breeder bride,” Thalyn whispered, “or you watch your sweet sister bleed before your eyes.”

I froze.

The words cracked something deep inside me. My wolf, Leah, growled with feral rage, but even she faltered at the thought of Kara’s death.

“No,” I whispered, shaking my head. “Not her. Please, Thalyn, she has nothing to do with this.”

Thalyn’s eyes glittered. “Oh, but she has everything to do with it. You see, pain is only useful if it’s shared.”

Darian folded his arms, towering behind her like a dark sentinel. “Decide, Zeva. Your life or hers.”

I clutched Kara to me, my body trembling violently. For years, I’d defied every cruelty, spat back every insult, endured every lash of humiliation. But this—this was where my defiance broke. I couldn’t let Kara suffer for me.

Tears blurred my vision. My voice cracked as I forced the words out. “I’ll do it. I’ll go. I’ll take the trade.”

Kara whimpered behind me, but the guards yanked her back before I could hold her again.

Darian’s grin spread like poison. “Good girl.”

The chains were ripped from my wrists. For the first time in days, I felt air that wasn’t tainted with mold. But it was no victory. The noose around my neck had only tightened.

They didn’t even give me time to breathe before the preparations began.

I was led upstairs, my body half-dead, stumbling on weak legs. Omegas swarmed me like I was some doll to dress. Warm water filled the copper tub, steam curling in the chamber, and I sank into it with a hiss. The water stung my raw skin, but it was a luxury I hadn’t felt in years—or perhaps only days that felt like years.

Food followed: a bowl of broth, soft bread, meat that tasted like salvation on my tongue. Leah purred inside me as strength trickled back, though it was tainted with bitterness.

As the omegas brushed out my tangled hair and wrapped me in silk, I caught Thalyn leaning against the doorway, arms folded, eyes burning with triumphant mockery.

“Not too pretty,” she ordered the girls dressing me. “Remember, she’s going north to suffer, not to shine.”

Laughter echoed from the omegas, though uneasily. I didn’t react. My spirit was too hollow to waste on her taunts.

Still, one thought clawed free of my haze: “Kara comes with me.” My voice shook, but my gaze locked on Thalyn’s. “Wherever I go, she goes.”

Thalyn’s laugh was sharp as glass. “Do you truly think you can negotiate? Kara stays here, Zeva. You’ll bear Aric his heir first—then maybe we’ll consider returning her.”

“No—”

“Shut her up,” Thalyn snapped, and the omega girls froze me with a silencing look. My protests meant nothing. My words weighed less than air.

My heart cracked open. They weren’t just trading me—they were using my sister as a leash, binding me in chains stronger than steel.

The sound of trumpets cut through the hall. The herald’s voice rang clear: “Alpha Aric Veylor of the North has arrived!”

The air shifted instantly. The atmosphere grew taut with unease, as though even the walls recoiled.

My chest tightened. Every story I’d ever heard about the North’s Alpha spilled into my mind: tales of a ruthless warrior, a beast of blood and shadow, a man who turned rivers red with the blood of his enemies.

I was trembling as I walked downstairs to meet him.

And then I saw him.

Alpha Aric Veylor filled the doorway like a force of nature. He was taller than any wolf I had ever seen, his presence thick and suffocating, his shoulders broad and carved with power. His dark hair was cropped short, a jagged scar slashing across one brow, only amplifying the menace of his sharp, angled features.

But it was his eyes that stole my breath—storm-gray, cold as steel, merciless as winter.

Black tattoos curled down his muscled arms, intricate swirls of ancient runes and wolf sigils that marked him as more than just an Alpha. He was something primal, something feared.

Every instinct screamed at me to run. Leah crouched low in my chest, whimpering.

His gaze landed on me, pinning me in place. For a heartbeat, the world disappeared. There was no hall, no crowd, no Darian or Thalyn—only his storm-gray eyes burning into mine.

Heat crawled up my neck. Terror and something darker twisted inside me.

Alpha Aric had come for his bride.

And I was the sacrifice.

Aric’s POV

The northern winds still clung to my cloak as I paced the length of the council chamber, boots striking the obsidian floors like war drums. Garrick leaned against the carved wolf pillar, arms crossed, his usual mask of indifference covering the storm brewing in his eyes. Across from me, High Seer Malrik sat motionless, those cursed silver eyes glittering like moonlit daggers.

“I’ve already given my answer,” I growled, voice low but laced with enough venom to send lesser wolves trembling. “I will not be shackled. Not to a mate. And certainly not to a whimpering omega who will break before the first winter.”

Malrik’s mouth curled into something between a smile and a sneer. “This is not about shackles, Alpha Aric. This is about legacy.”

I stilled, my hand tightening around the edge of the stone table until cracks spread beneath my grip. Legacy. That word had haunted me since the day I first claimed the northern throne bathed in blood and fire. The north demanded strength, not sentiment. My people respected me because I gave them survival, not because I entertained the foolish notions of bonds and Luna crowns.

“You speak of legacy as if it can be carved by a weak hand,” I snapped. “I will not risk my bloodline for a whore’s womb.”

At that, Garrick pushed off the pillar, his dark gaze locking with mine. He was the only one who dared push me, the only one whose loyalty gave him the courage. “She isn’t just some omega, Aric. Malrik’s right. She carries Ashryn blood. The same bloodline the seers once called the Moon’s Flame. You can spit on it, ignore it, curse it all you want—but you know what it means. That bloodline can birth power.”

My chest tightened at the mention of that name. Ashryn. The tales were whispered like fireside curses: wolves touched by the moonlight itself, their line destined for greatness—or destruction. Most believed the bloodline had long since withered. But now Malrik was claiming it still flowed—in this so-called omega.

I narrowed my gaze at the seer. “And what makes you so certain? What if Darian is playing us for fools, spinning tales of ancestry to rid himself of his unwanted mate?”

“Because Darian is a fool,” Malrik countered smoothly, leaning forward with the heavy tone of prophecy in his tone. “He had the moon’s gift in his hand and chose to spit it out. You think it was chance he rejected her? No. The goddess does not make mistakes. She gave him a mate, and he was too blind, too proud to claim her. That rejection is his weakness—and your opportunity.”

The room thickened with silence. Garrick was watching me closely, gauging the cracks in my resolve. Malrik’s words hit like hammer blows against the walls I had built around myself. I despised the idea of bonds, of destiny. But I despised even more the thought of letting power slip from my grasp.

After a long moment, I exhaled through my teeth and sank into my chair, the weight of my choice pressing down like chains. “Fine,” I bit out. “If this ‘Ashryn omega’ exists, then I’ll see for myself. But make no mistake, Malrik—if this is a ploy, if she’s nothing but a frail mutt wrapped in old stories, then I will bury Darian and his entire cursed pack under northern snow.”

Malrik’s lips curved, triumphant. “The goddess will not disappoint you.”

~

The journey to the East was long, the forests growing thinner as the air warmed with the winds. I rode ahead, Garrick at my side, our soldiers trailing in disciplined silence. My thoughts circled like wolves around prey, restless, hungry, uncertain.

“Garrick,” I called.

“Yes, Alpha.”

“When the breeder bride arrives to the north, see to it that she is taken care of and stays clear from my way. I would hate to cross paths with her before the wedding night,” I said with disdain in my voice.

Garrick chuckled lightly. “Let Roxie take up the responsibility, this is a women’s affair. She can keep the breeder bride in check, just like you want.”

I nodded.

When the walls of the Eastern pack rose before us, I felt no awe, no respect. Their banners fluttered in the weak sun, but their stone carried no weight, no threat.

“Pathetic,” I muttered.

Darian was waiting at the gates, a smile plastered on his lips like a merchant desperate to sell rotten wares. His eyes gleamed with greed, but behind them I saw the shadow of humiliation. He bowed low, too low for an Alpha.

“Welcome, Alpha Aric of the North,” he said, voice oily. “It is an honor to receive you.”

I dismounted, ignoring his extended hand, letting my silence do the cutting. His smile faltered as I strode past him, my soldiers falling into place. Garrick stayed close, his mouth twitching at Darian’s awkward attempt to save face.

“Spare me your pleasantries,” I said flatly, my voice echoing across the courtyard. “I did not ride south for wine and words. I came for what was promised. Where is she?”

The color drained from Darian’s face, though he masked it quickly with a bow of his head. “Of course. The omega is being prepared.”

“Prepared?” I turned sharply, my voice cracking like a whip. “She is not a banquet to be dressed and displayed. Bring her. Now.”

Darian swallowed, the humiliation bleeding through his posture as he snapped his fingers at a guard. The man bolted, rushing inside.

I could feel the tension ripple through the gathered wolves. They were watching me, their own Alpha already diminished in his own halls. That alone was victory enough for the moment.

But then—I felt it.

The shift in the air. The sharp tug in my chest.

My gaze snapped to the entrance of the hall just as she appeared.

She was slight, almost fragile in her frame, her red hair a wild curtain that caught the faint sunlight. Her skin was pale, far too pale, and her figure showed the unmistakable scars of neglect—hunger, exhaustion, deprivation. She was dressed in silks that did not belong to her, like a lamb paraded before wolves.

For a heartbeat, I was ready to dismiss her. Weak. Breakable. Not worth the price of my presence.

And then her eyes lifted.

Emerald. Sharp. Burning.

The world stilled. My breath caught, unbidden, as those eyes locked with mine. For a moment, I wasn’t Alpha, wasn’t conqueror or beast of the north. For a moment, I was simply—caught.

The bond roared to life between us, savage and undeniable, a chain I had never asked for yet couldn’t break. My wolf surged, snarling, straining against the walls of my mind.

“Mine.”

I clenched my jaw, forcing the reaction down, masking it beneath the ice I wore so well. She looked weak, but those eyes—gods, those eyes held defiance. Fire wrapped in fragility.

And that fire burned straight into me.

Garrick glanced at me sidelong, a flicker of knowing passing through his expression. Malrik’s words echoed, unwelcome and undeniable.

The goddess had not disappointed.