The wolf contract

Chapter 1: Signed in Blood

The air in the hall was heavy with the smell of blood and gold.

I stood among men, my hands tied with a thin rope, my worn white dress clinging to my body with sweat.

My father... he sold me. With just three words. "My daughter for the debts."

I raised my head slowly.

He sat on a black throne, far in the shadows. I couldn't see his face. Only his eyes.

Golden eyes. Wolf eyes.

He didn't blink. He didn't speak. He just gestured with his finger.

One of his men pulled me until I stood right in front of him. The smell of musk and old blood choked me.

"Your name?" His voice was rough, like it came from a grave.

"Liana..." I whispered, my voice trembling.

He held out his hand. His hand was large, cold as ice, with a silver ring shaped like a claw.

He placed a paper in front of him. A contract.

"Sign here, Liana." He said my name like a curse. "One year. You will be my wife on paper. You protect my pack from the curse. And after... you are free."

I laughed bitterly, tears on the verge of falling.

"Free? After they sold me?"

His face came closer to me. Finally, I saw him.

Cruelly handsome. A sharp jaw. And a small scar above his eyebrow.

But his eyes... there was fear in them. Not of me. But for me.

"You have no choice." He pulled out a small dagger and cut his palm. Black blood dripped onto the contract.

"Either you sign with your blood... or you die now, and my pack takes your soul instead."

I froze. The whole world turned black except for his golden eyes.

I picked up the dagger with a trembling hand.

I signed.

And the moment my blood touched the ink...

He howled.

Not from his mouth.

From his chest.

The door behind me closed on its own.

And the curse began.