Fern I stand in the hallway for too long, thinking about the interaction between us. There is something about the way that he inspected me that made a strange feeling stir in my stomach. Suddenly, I hear my father's voice from the dining room. "Fern." I step back, letting my eyes fully take in the wreckage that Alpha Gaven had created. My father looks small from where he is sitting. Smaller than I have ever seen him look before. "Earn his favor," my father demands from where he is sitting. "Perhaps if you do a good enough job, he will forget that he was given the lesser of my two daughters." I swallow hard. "You mean you want me to sleep with him?" "Do whatever it takes," he snarls before storming from the room, leaving me alone with my mother. I wait for her to say

