Chapter 1: The Hundred Million Dollar Rejection
The air in the Silver Moon Great Hall was thick with the scent of stale ale and the copper tang of fear. I stood on the auction block, my wrists bound by silk cords, the fabric of my thin slip dress clinging to my skin in the drafty room.
I wasn’t an Omega anymore. I was a debt to be paid.
“Do I hear fifty million?” the Auctioneer roared, his hammer poised like a guillotine.
I looked down at the front row. Silas—my former Alpha and the man I thought was my fated mate—sat there with his arm draped around a high-ranking she-wolf.
Two days ago, he had looked me in the eye and said the words that shattered my soul:
“I, Silas of Silver Moon, reject you, Seraphina, as my mate. You are too weak to carry the future of this pack.”
Now, he was watching me being sold to cover his pack’s gambling debts like I was nothing more than a used car.
“Sixty million!” a voice called from the back.
“Seventy!”
The Alphas in the room were salivating. They saw a rejected mate—a woman with no pack protection—as the ultimate toy.
I closed my eyes, praying for the floor to swallow me.
Then the heavy iron doors of the hall were blasted off their hinges.
The sound was like a bomb going off. A freezing wind swept through the room, carrying the scent of ancient forests, dark musk, and pure, unfiltered power.
The rowdy Alphas went dead silent. Some even fell to their knees.
A man walked through the smoke.
He was a giant, his frame wrapped in a heavy charcoal-colored trench coat that swept against his polished boots. His hair was black as a raven’s wing, and his jawline looked like it had been carved from granite.
But it was his eyes that stopped the world—glowing, molten gold.
Lycan.
Dominic Volkov. The King of the North. The man they called the “God of Ruin.”
“This auction is over,” Dominic said.
His voice wasn’t loud, but it carried a low-frequency growl that made the glass windows vibrate.
“K-King Dominic,” the Auctioneer stammered, his face turning ghostly white. “We didn’t expect… the girl hasn’t reached her reserve price.”
Dominic reached the stage in three slow, predatory strides. He didn’t look at Silas or the other Alphas.
He looked at me.
As his gaze swept over my shivering frame, I felt a spark ignite in my blood—a bond so much stronger than the one I had with Silas that it made me gasp.
“One hundred million,” Dominic stated, his eyes locking onto mine. “In cash. Right now.”
Silas stood up, his face red with bruised ego. “You can’t just take her, Volkov! This is Silver Moon territory!”
Dominic turned his head slightly, a cold, lethal smile playing on his lips.
“If you want to keep this territory, Alpha Silas, you will sit down and remain silent while I purchase the woman you were too stupid to keep.”
Dominic stepped onto the platform. His presence was overwhelming—a wall of heat and dominance.
He reached out, his large gloved hand grabbing the silk cords at my wrists. With a single effortless jerk, he snapped them.
He didn’t let go.
He pulled me toward him until my chest slammed into his hard, muscular torso. The scent of him—leather, rain, and spice—flooded my senses, making my head spin.
“You’re shaking, little wolf,” he whispered, his voice meant only for me.
He leaned down, his lips grazing the sensitive shell of my ear.
“Is it because you’re cold… or because you can feel exactly what I’m going to do to you the moment we’re alone?”
My breath hitched. My body, which had felt like ice for two days, was suddenly screaming with a heat I couldn’t control.
“I… I am rejected,” I managed to whisper.
“Good,” he growled.
His hand slid down my back to grip my waist, pulling me flush against him. I could feel the heavy thrum of his Lycan heart.
“It means I don’t have to share. You aren’t a debt anymore, Seraphina. You are mine. And I have a very specific way of marking my property.”
He swept me up into his arms, ignoring the gasps of the crowd.
He carried me out of the hall and tossed me into the back of his darkened limousine. The door clicked shut, locking us in a world of black leather and shadows.