CHAPTER 1
TRIGGER WARNING!!! THERE ARE A LOT OF DISTURBING SCENES IN THIS BOOK THAT CAN BE TRIGGERING FOR SOME READERS. REMEMBER, THIS IS A DARK ROMANCE. I CAN'T PUT ALL THE TRIGGER WARNINGS BECAUSE THAT WILL MAKE UP A WHOLE BOOK. THERE'S SELF-HARM, BLOOD PLAY, r**e, AND SO ON. ENJOY THIS STORY.
CHAPTER 1
“Are you sure about this, Dal?” Vida asked, her voice tight with worry as she leaned against the vanity.
Dahlia didn’t look away from the mirror. She was too focused on her reflection, on the unfamiliar woman staring back at her. Her lashes were darker, her lips fuller, her eyes sharper. She applied another careful stroke of eyeliner, steady hands betraying none of the chaos in her chest.
“Very sure,” Dahlia replied calmly. “Just hit the button.”
Vida sighed and stepped forward, gripping Dahlia’s shoulder and spinning her around. Her eyes flashed with a glare sharp enough to cut skin.
“This is not some stupid game, okay?”
Dahlia blinked, unfazed. “You’ve done it plenty of times.”
“Yes, and I am different,” Vida snapped. “You can’t just go f**k some stranger like it’s nothing. Your dad would literally kill you.”
Dahlia rolled her eyes and gently removed Vida’s hand before turning back to the mirror. Her lips curved into a small, bitter smile.
“Exactly,” she said. “That’s the reason why I’m doing it.”
Vida stared at her phone, frustration knotting her stomach. She still couldn’t believe this conversation was happening. Dahlia, her sweet, sheltered, painfully innocent Dahlia, had asked her to book her a blind date on a hookup app.
Number one, Dahlia wasn’t reckless.
Number two, Dahlia was a virgin.
This wasn’t her.
“Please, Dal,” Vida tried again, softer this time. “Think this through.”
Dahlia met her eyes in the mirror. “Would you rather I do it with a friend?”
Vida scoffed loudly. “That’s not what I meant and you know it.”
“Fine,” Vida muttered. “I’ll match you with someone.”
She began scrolling through profiles, scrutinising each one like she was defusing a bomb. Most of the men looked wrong, too rough, too arrogant, too dangerous. The kind of men Vida herself gravitated toward, the kind she would never want near Dahlia.
“Oh, come on,” Dahlia suddenly said, snatching the phone from her hand. She tapped the next profile without even reading it.
Vida gasped. “Dal! What if he’s a serial killer?”
Dahlia burst out laughing. “Then we’ll make serial killer babies.”
Vida shot her a look so deadly it could’ve stopped a heartbeat. Dahlia only laughed harder.
“I’ll be fine, Vida,” she said, finally serious. “I’m not a kid anymore. I’m twenty. Let me fly, okay?”
Vida inhaled deeply, then exhaled slowly. She hated how right Dahlia was. Somewhere along the line, she had become overprotective, motherly even, because she knew what kind of cage Dahlia lived in.
This wasn’t just a date.
Dahlia had one goal.
To lose her virginity.
She was done kneeling at her father’s feet, done living under rules carved from another century. If destroying the very thing he worshipped, her so-called purity, was what it took to escape an arranged marriage, then she would do it.
Growing up, Dahlia’s life had been governed by commandments rather than love.
Don’t speak unless spoken to.
Lower your eyes when a man addresses you.
Remain pure until marriage.
She despised it all.
It was the twenty-first century, yet her life felt trapped in the tenth. High walls surrounded her home, guards watched her every move, and freedom was nothing but a myth.
Her father, Ramon Greenwall, was a powerful man, feared, respected and untouchable.
Vida was her only friend.
Her only escape.
The daughter of one of Ramon’s associates, Vida was the only person Dahlia was allowed to see. Even then, under strict supervision.
Ramon had warned her countless times: no man was ever to touch her. She would be married after her twentieth birthday, her virginity presented like a prize.
Every six months, he conducted a virginity test. Another one would come before the wedding. Dahlia knew that.
And she knew exactly what she had to do.
Even if it was dangerous.
Even if it ruined everything.
She didn’t care about the consequences anymore. She just wanted it done.
*****
“Alpha Kyson, your condition is worsening, you need to mate immediately.” Francis’s voice was steady, but his eyes betrayed his fear as he stood beside the bed.
Kyson coughed violently, his claws scraping against the sheets as his body convulsed. Heat burned through his veins like wildfire. His wolf snarled relentlessly beneath his skin, desperate, feral and starving.
His claws refused to retract. His vision blurred. His breath came in ragged gasps.
“Maybe with time…mmm, it will stop.” Kyson struggled to speak.
“It won't, Alpha, it'll just grow stronger, and you'll grow weaker. If that happens, your wolf will take full control. You know what will happen if that happens.” Francis tried to reason with him.
“Just, bolt the door. Close the windows tightly and chain me up.”
“Alpha, I need to help you, I can't let you go through this.” Kyson raised his head, finally looking at Francis.
“And what do you plan on doing? I can't mate with Sapphire, I would crush her, I can't mate with any wolf right now, I would be putting them in danger.”
“Who said anything about a wolf?” Kyson arched his brow, trying to understand his right-hand man.
“There's this app these humans use when they want to hook up, it's mostly for hookers, I uploaded your profile there, now listen first.
Hookers barely have families, and they normally live a life where people hardly look for them. Once your wolf is satisfied, I would dispose of the body and sort everything out. No wolf gets hurt, and you get better. What do you say?”
“What?” Kyson roared, furious.
“That's a terrible idea, I don't want to kill anyone, to hell with my wolf.” But he knew the consequences if he didn't mate immediately. Kyson's wolf was not normal like the others; he had no control over it during times like this.
Francis’s phone chimed.
He pulled it out, his lips slowly curling into a relieved smile.
He waved the phone in the air. Kyson could barely see it; his body was giving up on him.
His eyes had turned golden red, and his wolf was becoming too powerful. He grunted as he tried to control himself.
“Someone already matched you. She is on her way here. I'm doing this for you, Alpha. I want you to get better.”
