ALPHA'S DARK PAYMENT. HE REJECTED HER. HIS WOLF CHOSE HER.

The palace was colder than the execution ground.

Elara hadn't expected that.

She'd imagined warmth-fireplaces, servants, polished wood, gold accents like the storybooks described.

Instead, the halls were carved from stone so dark it swallowed the light. Torches flickered in long corridors, throwing shadows that twisted across the walls like restless spirits. Her footsteps echoed with every step as the guards escorted her inside.

She didn't know where they were taking her.

No one spoke.

Every turn felt like descending deeper into the lion's den-into the heart of the predator who had taken everything from her yet spared her out of some twisted sense of justice.

Or cruelty.

They finally stopped before a heavy iron door.

"Inside," a guard ordered.

Elara hesitated. "What... is this?"

The guard's jaw tightened. "Your quarters."

Quarters.

A laugh almost escaped her lips.

It sounded too pretty a word for a cage.

They pushed her inside.

The room was small, windowless, and lit by a single lantern. A narrow bed stood against the wall, stiff and cold. Beside it was a basin and a folded piece of cloth. No blankets. No warmth.

Just a cell.

Elara stood in the center of the room, breathing shallowly, her hands trembling as the door slammed behind her.

Her father was dead.

Her life had ended with him.

And now...

Now she belonged to the Alpha.

Kane Blackthorn.

The man whose eyes held a storm she didn't understand.

The man she feared more than death.

But tonight, all she felt was empty.

She slumped to the floor, hugging her knees as the lantern burned, releasing thick, dark smoke into the air, casting faint shadows on the walls. The cold seeped into her bones until she couldn't tell where she ended and the stone began.

"Papa..." she whispered, her voice cracking. "Why?"

Silence was the only answer she got.

And thousands of distant footsteps, heavy, moving through the palace.

Not guards.

Not servants.

Him.

They stopped outside her cell.

Elara's heart pounded, her breathing heavy and fast.

The latch shifted.

The door opened an inch.

And Alpha Kane's silhouette filled the doorway, tall and intimidating.

"Elara," he said quietly.

Not harshly.

Not cruelly.

But in a way that made her heart twist painfully, as if her name tasted bitter on his tongue.

"Your punishment begins now."

**** ALPHA KANE'S CHAMBER

Inside the royal chamber, Kane was getting dressed by the maids. His face was totally expressionless and cold as they did all that. It's not a new thing anymore; even though nobody would dare look straight at his face, they were used to his cold and dark expressions.

They put the royal black attire on him, a robe known and feared by many for the terrible memories it held. His long hair was styled and packed in a loose ponytail.

"Where is Luciano?" he suddenly asked.

The maids all stepped away from him with their heads bowed.

"We are all done, Alpha," they said at the same time...

"Leave," he scoffed and mind-linked his beta.

**Assemble the elders!**

The maids bowed once again and sprinted out, not wasting a second.

Almost immediately, Luciano, his beta, walked in. A young man in his early thirties, he was wearing his usual black outfit. Aside from being his beta, he was the closest family to him and also his childhood friend.

Kane was already staring out the window with his two hands behind him when Luciano entered his chamber. He bowed behind him, even though Kane had told him to stop bowing before him when they were alone.

"Alpha, it's time for the meeting; the elders are all waiting in the throne room," Luciano reported.

"Stop bowing when we are alone; it doesn't look good on you," Kane scoffed and stormed away.

Luciano chuckled and followed him behind.

**"You're the Alpha; he should always bow before you," **Tyrant, his wolf, said.

"Fine," Kane rolled his eyes and cut off the link.

*

*

*

*. ROYAL HALL

The elders were all on their feet, standing and waiting for Alpha Kane. They had been discussing the right punishment to be served, not just to judge but also to please the affected families. Of course, all those girls, after being sold, were killed, turned into sex slaves and breeders, losing their freedom, while the unfortunate ones died.

The judgment must be fair enough. Even though the daughter wasn't the one who committed the crime, those young girls didn't do anything wrong either.

Moments later, Alpha Kane appeared, with Luciano beside him and five able-bodied warriors.

All the elders bowed until Kane and Luciano took their seats.

Kane gave the head warrior a sign, and immediately Elara was brought out before the Alpha and the elders.

"Kneel!" Luciano snapped.

Elara swallowed and went on her knees, far away from where the elders stood. She couldn't even see their faces clearly, but she knew them, and none could breathe when her father stood.

Silence stretched until Kane cleared his throat, staring at the elders.

"We, the elders, have already discussed this, and we have come to a conclusion," one of the elders said.

Another cleared his throat. "We have decided that the Alpha's judgment will please and satisfy the affected families."

The throne room fell silent once again, all eyes on Kane, expecting him to speak up and give the final verdict.

Elara was trembling where she knelt; she would take any punishment except for death.

"Please, goddess, let him spare my life," she prayed in her head, her heart beating fast, fear and agony written all over her.

Finally, Alpha Kane spoke.

"Beta Draven has been executed," he said.

Elara swallowed.

"He has paid for his sins, and his daughter, Elara, will become the pack's sex slave; she will experience what those young wolves of my pack experienced." Kane paused, and there was total silence.

Her pains will be doubled; my verdict will be passed down from my reign to the other Alphas to come. Sorrow shall be her second name.

Anyone among you who wishes to share her with me should step forward," Kane muttered.

The elders blinked at each other in silence.

"Step forward or remain silent!" Alpha Kane roared.

Nobody moved.

"Elara will become the royal sex slave and will never know peace until her eyelids close in death," Alpha Kane declared.

"This is my verdict!"