Sold To The Alpha Who Hated My Bloodline.

"You will not shame this family a second time." My father didn't look at me when he said it. He was staring at the letter in his hand like it might change if he read it again. I stood in the doorway of his study, still in my work clothes, dust on my knees from the garden. "What letter?" "Sit down, Lara." I didn't sit. Something in his voice already told me I didn't need to. He set the letter on the desk and turned it towards me. I recognized the seal before I read a single word, it was a black wolf's head pressed into red wax. Nightshade. "No," I said, before I even finished reading it. "The debt is due in seven days." His hands were shaking. He wouldn't have admitted that if I'd said something. "Either I pay it, or he takes the house, the land, everything your mother and I built or…" "Or you hand me over instead." I felt strangely calm saying it, like I was reading someone else's sentence out loud. "You already agreed, didn't you? Before you even told me." He didn't answer. That was enough to answer. "Father." My voice cracked on the word, the way it hadn't since I was a child. "You're giving me to the man who hates our name more than anyone alive." "I'm keeping this family alive." He finally looked at me, and I wished he hadn't, because there was no apology in his face. Only exhaustion, and something colder underneath it — relief, maybe, that the choice had finally been made for him. "You leave at dawn." —----- I didn't sleep that night. I packed the little I was allowed to take, and somewhere past midnight, I climbed out my window the way I used to when I was a child sneaking out to the river to meet Kieran. Kieran was already waiting under the old birch tree, like he always was when I needed him and hadn't said a word. "You heard," I said. "Everyone's heard." His jaw was tight, his eyes darker than usual. "The whole village is talking about it. The cursed bloodline finally gets what it deserves — that's what they're saying." "And what do you think?" "I think your father is a coward." He said it flatly, like a fact, not an accusation. Then, quieter: "I think I should have found a way to pay for it myself." "You don't have that kind of money, Kieran." "I know." He looked away from me, out toward the dark treeline, and for a moment I saw something in him I rarely did — real fear, not the careful, guarded calm he usually wore like armor. “I wish I could. I'm sorry, kitten." "Don't be. This doesn't have to do with you." He didn't say anything more. He just stared at me and gave a nod. I stepped closer instead of pushing. "I leave at dawn." "I know that too." "Damaris Nightshade will never let you go," he said finally. "Once he has you, that's it. You'll belong to his pack." "I know. That's exactly what a sale means." "Do you know what's really going to happen to you?" His voice sharpened, just slightly. "Lara, his family died because of what your bloodline supposedly did. You think a man like that brings home the daughter of his enemies to treat her kindly?" "I don't have a choice." "There's always a choice." "Not this time. Except you have an idea.”I reached for his hand before I could stop myself, and he let me take it, which told me more than anything he could have said. “Kitten,run away with me.” He said, looking straight at me. “ We will go to another town, start a new life together.” I smiled. Why would he suggest that? That was a very dangerous thing to do. “ You know I can't. How about my family?” “ They don't love you. I do.”He said leaning closer. He pinned me against the tree and kissed me. The birch tree's white bark was cool against my back as Kieran pressed me against it, his hands gripping my face like I might disappear. "Tell me you won't go through with it," he whispered against my mouth. "Tell me you'll run with me instead." I couldn't answer. His lips found mine again—desperate, hungry, tasting like promises we both knew he couldn't keep. My fingers tangled in his hair as he kissed me like he was trying to memorize every part of me. "Kieran..." I breathed. "Say my name like that again," he growled, his mouth moving to my neck, finding that sensitive spot that made me gasp. "Say it like you mean it." "I mean it." My voice broke. "I do." He pulled back just enough to look at me, his dark eyes fierce with something that looked like rage and desperation mixed together. "This isn't over," he said, cupping my cheek. "No matter what happens, no matter who you're forced to marry—you're mine, Lara. Always.I'll find a way to check on you," he said. "I swear it." "Kieran—" "I mean it." He finally met my eyes again, and there it was again - yearning ."This isn't goodbye. Not really." I wanted to believe him. I wanted, more than anything, to close the distance between us and finally do the things we'd been swallowing for years. But dawn was coming, and with it, a debt that would take me somewhere he couldn't follow. Or so I thought. "Promise me you'll be careful," I said instead, because it was safer than the truth. "I'm always. I love you, kitten.” “ I love you too”. He left and I started crying. --- Dawn came too fast. The carriage that took me from my father's house was plain, unmarked, driven by a man who didn't speak a single word the entire journey. I watched the only home I'd ever known shrink behind me until the trees swallowed it whole, and I thought about Kieran standing at that tree line, watching me go, not moving until I was completely out of sight. By the time the carriage stopped, the sun was fully up, and so was the black iron gate of Nightshade territory, tall enough to blot out half the sky. A woman was waiting for me at the gate — sharp-eyed, unsmiling, dressed in pack colors. "You're the debt," she said, not a question. "I have a name." "Doesn't matter here." She turned without waiting for me to respond. "The Alpha wants to see you before the sun sets. I'd suggest you don't keep him waiting." I followed her through the gate, my chest tight with something I refused to call fear. Behind me, the iron gate closed with a sound like a verdict. Ahead of me, somewhere in that fortress of black stone, waited the man who had every reason in the world to hate me on sight. I had no idea, walking in, that the thing which would end up terrifying me most wasn't his hatred. It was how quickly it would start to feel like something else entirely. They led me into a hall lit by firelight, and he was already waiting, arms crossed, watching me the way a wolf watches something wounded. Damaris was unbelievably handsome, with sharp features, dark hair, and piercing eyes that seemed to see straight through me. He had a strong, muscular build, and everything about him screamed power. But he wasn’t warm. His expression was hard, his jaw tense, and his cold eyes made it clear that he wasn’t someone to mess with. He looked like the kind of man who never showed weakness. He was handsome… terrifyingly so. And somehow, I began to wonder what kind of personality I was to expect from him. "So this is what your family sold to save itself." His voice was low, unimpressed. " Emm yeah. My name is…," I said quietly. "I don't care what it is." He stepped closer, eyes cold, unreadable. "You're my wife. Nothing more." "I understand." I held his gaze, even though everything in me wanted to look away. "I won't cause trouble." Something flickered across his face — gone before I could name it. "Ensure that you don't or else," he paused. “You wouldn't want to know what I will do.”