"Take off your clothes."
My eyes snapped wide open.
There were five of them in the room, all women, cloaked in muted robes marked with the elder seal, watching me like I was already bare. Their stares weren't cruel. Just expectant. Detached. As if they'd seen this a hundred times before and knew I'd eventually obey.
Maybe the ones before me hadn't flinched.
Maybe they'd considered it an honor. Most women in the pack would have.
To them, this was the moon's favor – a golden spoon offered by fate itself. A chance to bear the Alpha's heir.
But for me?
That golden spoon dripped with poison.
And I was expected to swallow it smiling.
The people around were all women but it was still hard for me because I wasn't used to letting people see my naked body.
I clenched my jaw. Humiliation curled in my gut, making my skin burn even before I moved a muscle.
The women surrounding me wore stern faces, practiced in apathy. They were the elders assigned to examine women of low birth for one purpose only: to find a womb suitable for the Alpha.
"We don't have all day," one of them said flatly. "You were told what this was. Obey."
I swallowed hard. My fingers trembled as I reached up to undo the ties of my worn linen dress. My wolf stirred faintly, like a flicker of defiance deep inside me, but the silver band clamped around my wrist tightened, burning slightly. A reminder. I couldn't shift even if I wanted to.
So I did what was expected of me.
I undressed.
Time passed like molasses after that examination.
A week dragged on, slow and agonizing. I went about my tasks in the servant quarters in the council house with an aching sense of dread in my chest.
Every morning, my mother Almira would wake up earlier than everyone, brushing her hair with more care, humming to herself, smiling in ways she hadn't in years.
And then the letter came.
"You were chosen!" she shrieked with joy, rushing into our corner of the servant's quarters, waving the sealed letter like it was a blessing from the Moon Goddess herself.
I didn't move.
She dropped beside me, gripping my shoulders. "Do you know what this means? We will have a home, Vivien. A real one. You won't scrub floors until your bones break anymore. We might even get a surname recognized again!"
But I could only hear the beating of my own heart.
Because I had hoped foolishly, desperately, that I wouldn't be chosen.
I thought maybe they would find my wolf too weak. Maybe my bloodline too tainted. Maybe they would pick someone else.
But no.
The daughter of a traitor Beta, the girl they all hated, was now the chosen breeder of Alpha Finn Reiss.
How fucked is that.
It wasn't until I stepped into the stone-cold hallway of the Alpha's main residence that the weight of my fate truly pressed down on me.
This was no promotion. It was a cage with velvet drapes.
My new quarters were elegant compared to the servant rooms but it offered no comfort. Even the windows had runes etched into the glass, preventing wolves from shifting near them.
A gilded prison.
The day he came to see me was the first time I saw him in over six years.
Finn Reiss.
Once, we had laughed under the moonlight. He had given me my first stolen sweet from the kitchens. I used to follow him around the training yard, wide-eyed, clutching a wooden toy too big for me. He used to ruffle my hair and tease me as a child.
But that boy was gone.
In his place stood a man with broad shoulders and cold, calculating eyes. The Alpha of one of the largest packs in the region, the Levian Pack. The one destined to mate with the Celestial Wolf, should she ever awaken from her enchanted sleep.
He stepped into my room, his presence filling the space before he even spoke.
I stood slowly, trying to calm my breathing.
"Why me? Why would you choose the daughter of a person who betrayed your pack?" I asked, my voice steadier than I expected. My eyes locked onto his, searching for any flicker of the boy I once knew.
He didn't flinch. He didn't look away.
Finn stood tall, dominant, radiating the kind of power that made my lungs tighten.
"Why not?" he said with a shrug, lips curling into a cruel smirk. "It's not like you are chosen to be my mate and Luna. You are chosen to be a breeder. Don't feel any special."
The words hit harder than any slap.
"So that's it, then? You want to insult me and my family further?" I snapped before I could stop myself.
His hand moved in a flash.
He gripped my jaw, fingers digging into my skin. Pain bloomed sharp and immediate.
"You should be honored to mother your Alpha's child, woman."
I bit the inside of my cheek to keep from crying out.
Because if there was one thing I knew, it was that tears only made them enjoy it more.
So I stood there, silent.
Burning.
But not broken.
Not yet.