“Father, please.” Micah begged, tears freely flowing down her cheeks. “Please don't do this to me.” Tears splattered into her cup of tea.
“There’s nothing we can do, Micah.” He looked down at her, a harshness in his tone and gaze.
“For generations, our family has owed the Alpha's lineage a huge sum of money, and for years, we've tried to offset the loan by giving up the most beautiful of our daughters to appease them.”
“This generation, this time, the sacrifice is you.” Her stepmother chimed in, her voice ice-cold.
Micah slowly shook her head, eyes closed as the weight of the words sank in.
Their family was one of the most respected in their pack. How could they have been owing the Alpha’s bloodline for generations?
Beside her, a chuckle sounded, and Micah glared at the owner of the voice. Trust Lena, her stepsister, to always mock her in a bad situation.
Lena shrugged offhandedly and stuffed some bread into her mouth, a mocking smile adorning her lips.
“Why are you sad, though?” Lena tittered. “You should be honored that you are beautiful enough to be deemed Alpha Caspian's wife.”
“Dad, can't Lena go instead?” Gary's little voice piped up, stained with tears. His meal sat untouched on his table. Micah couldn't blame him.
She was too stunned to muster up any appetite, even though she had been starved by her stepmother for the past two days.
Her stepmother harshly slapped Gary, and he started crying. Micah waited for her father to intervene. Gary was too small to be cruelly smacked like that.
She waited—like she had waited for the past six years—for him to intervene when her stepmother punished, maltreated, and starved his own children for the littlest of things.
Instead, he scoffed. “You do not speak when elders are talking, boy.”
Angrily, he flicked his gaze over to Micah. “The day after tomorrow, you will pack your things, and early in the morning, his Omega and his men will take you over to the mansion.”
She didn't acknowledge him.
“Did you hear me, Micah?” he barked, stomping his fist on the table.
She nodded lifelessly.
Six years. Six years of being a rag for her stepmother and stepsister to walk on however they wished. Six years of labored servitude. And for what? To be sold to Alpha Caspian.
Alpha Caspian, whose very name sent waves of terror throughout Europe. Every year, he craved bloodlust and would launch an unexpected war on a pack, bringing back slaves—wolves and she-wolves alike. He forced the men into a lifetime of labor and kept the women as sex slaves.
Cold and unfeeling, he only cared about expanding his kingdom.
As the tales went, his number of wives was uncountable—like grains of sand on the seashore.
Most of his wives had already been mated before being wedded to him, but he went as far as torturing their husbands to get what he wanted.
And what about the tales of women who willingly gave up their freedom and lives to be with him?
Everything she had heard about Alpha Caspian was enough to send a shiver of dread down her spine.
With eyes heavy as stone, she looked up at her father, who was tucking pieces of meat between his bread. Her brother was silently sniffling, while her stepsister and stepmother chattered excitedly among themselves.
“Father, I've found my mate.” She spoke.
Silence.
The piece of bread he was holding clattered onto his plate.
“You don’t have a wolf yet,” her stepmother, Lilah, quipped.
“She came to me a few weeks ago and helped me find my mate—”
Her father scoffed and picked up his bread again, shaking his head.
“Father.” She called, her tone desperate. “We both planned to officially mate on the Day of the New Moon.”
He resumed chewing, ignoring her.
“It was meant to be a surprise.” Her voice faltered. He wasn’t listening. “I wanted to surprise you.”
“Who else knows?” Lilah snapped, tension creasing her forehead.
“Nobody but you and him.” Micah squeaked, fresh tears clouding her eyes.
“Good. And you're going to keep it that way.” Her voice was firm. “On the Day of the New Moon, you'll be officially mated to Alpha Caspian. He doesn't need to know that you have found your mate.”
“Father, please—”
“If he finds out before that time, the price we will be paying back on your head will be significantly lowered.” He gripped her hand. “Micah, remember that this ends with you.”
She decided then and there that she had heard enough.
“Dad, I can't believe you would do this to me!” she yelled, standing up. “I’m eighteen! I am now an adult! You don't get to decide what happens in my life!”
He continued chewing, not looking up at her. “It’s a done deal, Micah.”
“Gosh!” She swiped her plate down, and it crashed into pieces as she fled out the back door.
“Oh, Crispy, what do we do?” Micah asked, each shaky step taking her deeper and deeper into the woods. She needed to clear her head.
“What did I do to deserve this fate? Alpha Caspian is the cruelest of the Wolf Kings in all of North Europe, and Dad literally signed my life away to him.”
A crack of twigs behind her made her jump in fright.
“Who's there?” She whispered into the darkness. Another rustle of leaves.
‘Run’. Crispy, her wolf whispered.
Micah immediately took off, her heart in her mouth. The night air whizzed past her, and her wolf leapt out and howled.
She didn't get far before she was pummeled to the ground by a much bigger wolf. The wolf that had been pursuing her.
It was her stepmother.
“Mother—”
A vicious slap rendered her speechless.
“Don’t you ever call me that, you little skunk.” Her beastly form morphed back into the human that Micah hated from the very depths of her soul. “Were you trying to run away?”
Micah shook her head in fright. Lilah smiled, but the moonlight reflecting off her gleaming teeth made it look a ghoul from a horror film.
“Do not ever think you can run away from this. If you do, they will take my Lena, and that can't happen. You try it, and I will find you and put an end to your miserable destiny.”
Micah stiffly nodded. Her nose had started to bleed from the first slap.
“Good.” Lilah purred. She backed off her limp body.
Micah lay spread-eagled on the wet forest floor long after Lilah left, staring dully at the starry night sky.
She turned, inhaling the moist dirt from the leafy ground, a lone tear crawling down her cheek.
‘I’d rather you put an end to this miserable destiny than sell me to an even more miserable one.’
