After Six Alphas Called Me Cheap, I Took Their Pack

The bond refused to sleep. And it refused to let me close my eyes.

I stared at the ceiling of my heavily barred room. A low, vibrating hum buzzed beneath my skin. It felt like a physical wire, anchored dead center in my chest, stretching out through the cold walls.

"Quiet," I commanded the empty air.

The wire only hummed louder. It pulled in six different directions. Six pairs of unseen eyes, watching me from the dark corners of Blackwood Manor. Ever since the sunlight hit me in the graveyard, the connection had snapped fully awake.

"What are you going to do to me tomorrow?" I asked the shadows.

No answer. Just the terrifying, frantic energy of the impending full moon.

I threw the blankets off. Sitting still felt like waiting for an execution. I slipped out of bed, cracked my door open, and listened. Silence. The brothers were either asleep or out hunting.

I crept down the hallway, my bare feet silent on the wood, and headed straight for Griffin’s office.

The heavy oak door was unlocked. I pushed it open and shut it behind me. Moonlight spilled through the massive arched windows, illuminating a metal file box sitting squarely on his desk.

"You track everything, Griffin," I muttered, popping the unlatched lid. "Let's see what you keep off the spreadsheet."

I flipped through thick manila folders. Financials. Territory maps. Then, a black folder caught my eye.

*Elara Blackwood.*

"The forgotten Luna," I read aloud, pulling the file free.

I flipped the cover open. A yellowed photograph slid out and fluttered to the carpet. I knelt, picking it up by the edges.

Two young women grinned back at me. They stood shoulder to shoulder, laughing at whoever held the camera.

My chest seized. My throat instantly closed up.

"Mom?" I choked out.

I traced the laughing face on the right. I had never seen my mother smile like that. In my memories, she was always exhausted, always looking over her shoulder. Here, she looked radiant. Alive.

I grabbed the heavy desk chair and pulled myself up. I needed more. I dug into the folder and pulled out a folded piece of stationery.

"A letter," I whispered, unfolding the crisp paper. The handwriting was elegant, sharp, and frantic.

I read the words out loud, needing to hear them to believe they were real.

"They want the Anchor Bloodline," I read, my voice trembling in the quiet room. "They think it died with you. I pray it really did. Because once they find out it is alive, they will burn the entire world to get it."

The paper slipped from my hands. It hit the desk with a soft slap.

"Anchor Bloodline," I repeated.

The glowing red words from my father's dissolving journal flashed in my mind. It was me. It always lived inside me.

"He didn't owe them a debt," I said to the empty room. "He wasn't paying off a gambling loss. He was paying them to look the other way."

A bucket of ice water dumped straight down my spine. I gripped the edge of the mahogany desk to keep my knees from buckling. I wasn't collateral. I wasn't a hostage. I was the exact lock core this entire twisted Pack was going crazy trying to claim.

"You figured it out."

I spun around, knocking a pen cup off the desk. It clattered against the floorboards.

Kade stood in the doorway. He wore no shirt. Water dripped from his dark hair, trailing down his chest and soaking into the waistband of his sweatpants. His eyes weren't their usual cold whiskey color. Tonight, they glowed a piercing, unnatural gold.

"How long have you been standing there?" I demanded, pressing my back against the wood.

"Long enough," Kade answered. He stepped into the office.

"Who is she?" I pointed a shaking finger at the photograph.

Kade's glowing eyes flicked to the picture, then to Elara's name on the folder, and finally settled on my face. The silence stretched between us, thick and suffocating.

"Answer me, Kade," I pushed.

"She and your mother were pack sisters," he stated, his voice devoid of its usual sharp edge. "Sworn family. Not blood."

"And she was the Luna here."

"Briefly."

"Why did she die?" I asked, my voice rising. "Mason said she ran away. He said she chose the moon over her own kids."

Kade closed the distance between us in three long strides. I tried to slide away along the desk, but he planted his hands on the wood on either side of my hips, trapping me.

"Mason lives in a fantasy," Kade said, staring down at me. "She did not run away. She died to protect the very thing this Pack will take at any cost."

"Me," I challenged, refusing to look away from his golden stare. "You want the Anchor Bloodline."

"We need it," he corrected.

"What does the Anchor even do?" I demanded, my fingernails digging into the desk.

"It binds," Kade answered. "It grounds the madness. Without it, the wolves tear each other apart."

"So I'm supposed to fix your broken family? I am not a battery for your pack."

For the first time since I arrived at Blackwood Manor, Kade didn't sneer. He didn't issue a cold command.

He lifted his right hand. His thumb brushed against the side of my neck. He traced the swollen, scarred Mating Mark he had forced onto my skin in the clearing.

I flinched, but he didn't press hard. The touch was agonizingly gentle.

"Tomorrow the moon rises," Kade murmured, his thumb smoothing over my pulse point. "When it hits its peak, you will feel things you cannot understand."

"I already feel it," I argued, my heart hammering against my ribs. "It feels like a wire pulling me apart."

"It will get worse," he warned. "You will feel things you cannot control. The pack will hunt. The bond will demand an answer."

"I won't let it change me." I grabbed his wrist, trying to pry his hand away from my neck. "I will lock my door. I will hide."

His fingers curled, cupping the side of my jaw. He held my face firmly, forcing me to look directly into his glowing eyes.

"Do not fight it, Ava," Kade ordered.

"I fight everything in this house," I shot back.

"Not this." His voice dropped to a low, desperate rumble. "Fighting the moon is exactly what killed Elara. If you resist the Anchor tomorrow night, it will tear you apart from the inside out."

"Then what am I supposed to do?" I asked, my voice cracking.

"Give in, Ava," he murmured, his voice dropping to a rough whisper. "Just yield."

He dropped his hand. The sudden absence of his touch left my skin burning.

Kade took a step back. He didn't say another word. He turned on his heel and walked out of the office, disappearing into the dark corridor.

I stood alone by the desk. I looked down at my trembling fingertips.

The low hum beneath my skin spiked. It vibrated against my bones, growing louder and more frantic by the second. Tomorrow was rushing at me like a massive tidal wave. I could hear the roar of the water approaching.

And I had a terrifying premonition.

When that wave finally crashed over us, Blackwood Manor would never be the same again.