W-what do you need? I rejected you!

The situation in the house is tense to the limit. I want to get out of here, to hide, so I don’t have to see or hear anything, but there is no choice. This is a sale-buy where my father’s reputation is at stake. The only one I can’t reject and run away wherever my eyes look. I take a few steps away from Reign, but he does not react in any way, does not turn his head and does not show displeasure.

“Do you want to hit the memories? They say you had a stormy marriage in the capital. You even broke a few beds,” Deegon says again when no one says a word after his previous revelation about someone else’s private life.

Neither the man next to me nor Dalila refutes Deegon’s words. It’s easy to put two and two together to understand that Reign and my sister slept together because it turns out that she was his temporary wife.

“Is this true, Reign? Have you come for me?” my sister immediately lifted her head, already looking favorably at the man.

Uncle Elion shushes her to keep her mouth shut in men’s conversations; she immediately shuts up but looks triumphantly at me. It’s like she’s saying, ‘Look how nothing you are.’

For some reason, it is unpleasant that they were close. An irrational feeling that cannot be explained.

“It’s all over between us,” the redhead stammered as if he had forgotten the name of my sister, his ex-temporary wife.

Her face twisted as if muscles were moving under her skin. Everything was twisted so that it stopped hiding the true face of my sister. I even recoiled from fear, which I quickly tried to hide under a mask of indifference.

There was a chuckle from Deegon’s side. No, he was also a redhead, but I couldn’t call him one: too mature. Forty-one, in fact, is the prime of life for a werewolf, considering that men live to be three hundred years old. At that moment, I felt like a moth: fleeting, a one-day thing. A minor episode in the lives of long-lived men.

“I see,” Elion took the floor. “Let’s get to the main point. Here is my daughter Dalila, what do you think? Where did we leave off? All in all….”

“Seven hundred gold coins,” said Deegon graciously.

My uncle and sister gasped when they heard such an amount. Dalila already jumped up and puffed out her chest, demonstrating splendor. She involuntarily glanced at herself and pursed her lips together. Not the fifth one, like Dalila’s, but the third one is also not bad, as for me.

“Oh, lord, I’m so glad that you appreciate my girl so much,” Elion jumped up, even his eyes glistening with anticipation.

I’m sure even his palms were itching with the desire to quickly grab such an amount into his greedy hands.

“For Danika, the daughter of Mr. Rehan,” after a long pause, Deegon clarified.

I got another evil look from Dalila. It made me uncomfortable. Undeservedly, it wasn’t my fault.

“Mmm,” I let out a groan, having to grab the nearest chair with my hand.

My head felt dizzy, and my stomach felt hot.

“Let’s not drag it more. I also initiate the king’s right,” Deegon grins with all his snow-white teeth. “The girl will soon begin to climb the walls with desire, and the estrus has just begun. I don’t want to torture the girl any longer than necessary.”

I blushed at the details of my personal life on display.

“There are two of you,” Dad remarked in a disgruntled tone.

For our family, this is a problem because my father cannot single out someone, although I know if it were his will, I would completely refuse both. But the king’s right is the only thing he cannot influence. Both wolves are red-haired, unlike all other members of the pack—black-haired and white. The fiery suit is a sign of belonging to the ruling family. The leader has many descendants: both close and distant. Only they have alpha power, so the leaders of all the packs have been red-haired since ancient times. 

Reign takes off his hood and shows his right. Red hair color. Uncle opens his mouth and, for some reason, throws an angry look at his daughter as if it was her fault that she missed such a man.

“Eight hundred,” Reign chuckled, never taking his eyes off the beta’s.

The battle of gazes between the two men continues. No one is surprised that they are familiar with each other because they belong to the same clan branch.

“Nine hundred,” Deegon smiled coldly, not looking away.

It was as if two fierce beasts had clashed among themselves. Enemy.

“What about Dalila?” Uncle tried to insert his words, sitting and fidgeting nervously in his chair.

He shifted his eyes first to Reign, then to the beta, as if he could not decide who to bet on and persuade not to buy me but his daughter.

“One thousand,” Reign finally finished off everyone, and there was a deadly silence.

“Two thousand,” Deegon’s hard voice cut through the silence.

I sat down on a chair from weakness but also lifted my head in shock because that kind of money for a half-breed was unheard of. My uncle even seemed to clutch at his sternum, breathing as hysterically as if he were suffocating.

“You know the rules. Since you have initiated the right of the king, it means that temporary marriage should end with the birth of a puppy,” my father says in a hoarse voice after clearing his throat. “And since there are two of you, the choice is mine, regardless of the price you offer.”

I held my breath because I realized that my father was right. On the one hand, the right to a female in heat tied his hands, forcing him to give his daughter to the one who wanted it, and on the other ... There was no such strict price limit. In the case of a regular sale, the one who offered the most gold coins always won the auction, but here everything depended on the choice of the father of the half-breed. In our case, my father.

“Who do you choose, Danika?” Dad left that choice to me. Unheard of. And very rare.

“Rehan, what are you doing?” Uncle Elion ignores everything and everyone. “It’s two thousand, thinks, do you have any idea….”

“Shut up, brother, I am the head of the family, and this is my daughter. Stay out of this!” Dad began to lose his temper, snarling at his brother.

“You don’t need gold, you are already dying, brother, but think about me, my family,” Uncle clenched his fists and bulged his eyes.

I was silent, but the fire of rage and pain was boiling inside me. What a callous wolf you’d have to be to hit your own brother like that. I shuddered and squeezed my eyes shut; I didn’t want to imagine the moment when I would remain an orphan.

“Rehan is right,” Deegon’s voice cleared the tension. “Choose, Danika.”

And all eyes focused on me, waiting for the verdict.

I could feel my body shaking. A draft blew in from the ajar doors, blowing a chill over my hot skin. I was sweating from the exertion, and it felt unpleasantly sticky.

“Come on, niece,” Uncle leans forward, narrowing his eyes.

My sister’s head was down, so I couldn’t see her face, but her clenched hands on the table spoke for themselves. I swallowed the stringy saliva, and out of the corner of my eye, I saw Reign turn toward me. I didn’t dare look at Deegon, though. For some reason, there was a feeling that my decision was completely unimportant. He was like a wolf, watching for prey and knowing that no matter what predator bites it, in the end he alone will get the prize.

“We have three hours before making a decision,” my father saved me, sighing heavily and getting up from the table.

“But the heat….” Elion said, displeasure clearly audible in his voice, undisguised and greedy as if he was suffocating from the fact that so much gold would soon disappear from his hands.

I hold back a nervous laugh, out of place in my situation. Oh, Uncle simply did not know my father, who stopped sponsoring his younger brother long ago, who spent all his savings and income on gambling and his crazy ideas, as grandfather used to say.

“You’re right, Rehan, according to the law, there are three hours,” Deegon chuckled, keeping his attentive, incomprehensive gaze on me.

I forced my head up to meet his eyes. A fierce hungry beast. That’s who looked at me from the depths of his eyes. A numbness gripped my entire body, preventing me from moving. It seemed that he hypnotized me, not releasing me from my animal captivity. His upper lip twitched, revealing a sharp fang and showing a grin of hunger that coiled inside like snakes. Me. I am his release and the quenching of his appetite. And this revelation, which was given to me in silent silence and exchange of glances, illuminated me so sharply that I made a decision that launched the entire chain of subsequent events in my life.

“Reign,” the hoarseness in my voice from the long silence cut my throat. I cleared my throat and added more clearly, fearing that no one heard me. “Reign! I choose Reign!”

“Wh-what?” My uncle was taken aback, and his eyes darted around in panic. “Did you mean Deegon, niece?”

Dalila jumped up in her seat, sharply raising her head and looking at me with narrowed eyes. Her mouth dropped open, she began to look from me to Deegon and back as if she did not believe that I did not say what everyone expected from me.

“You heard my daughter, Mr. Deegon,” Dad said with incredible relief, pursed his lips and turned to the man, whose face continued to wreathe in a satisfied smile.

“I don’t have a hearing problem, Rehan,” the beta grinned, never taking his dark, flesh-hungry gaze from me.

My heart hadn’t stopped beating frantically since we’d come in, beating against my chest from the inside. There was a thunderclap from outside, cutting through the silence and the incandescent atmosphere.

“The choice has been made in favor of Reign ...” Dad said, somehow bewildered, looking at the stranger, whom, except for Deegon and Dalila, no one had seen or known until that moment.

“Hellhound,” he smiled as if he was grinning, saying the name of the family.

There was complete silence. Even I held my breath. Not just a redhead, a relative of the rulers, but close to the ruling one. The leader and his sons have the surname Hellhound. The closer the surname is to our hypostasis, the more noble the family. Our surname Whitehead means that the family is not simple; it always had a lot of male warriors who once made up the army of the leader. It is a pity that the family is dying out, and only my dying father and worthless uncle remain from the men of our family.

“The choice has been made in favor of Reign Hellhound. I think we need to discuss the details in private,” Dad nodded at the man and tried to smile at me reassuringly, but it didn’t help.

My throat was tight, and the feeling of the imminent disaster still did not let go. Reign smirked and moved forward while Dalila snorted.

At that moment, Deegon didn’t even look at my family members, still burning me with his vicious gaze. Slowly he got up, imposingly came closer to me, and leaned over. Everyone twitched, but the man growled, causing the others to freeze like a pillar of salt. Reign moved his brows frowningly to the bridge of his nose but did not intervene, although it was clear that the power of the beta did not work on him.

“W-what do you need? I rejected you,” I whispered hoarsely, unable to feel safe next to this bully. “Everything is legal.”

His proximity took my breath away; hot blood ran through my veins.

“You’re wrong, girl,” the man whispered in my ear, pouring out the heat of his breath. “You were born for me, and I will have you at any cost.”

He spoke so quietly that no one but me could hear these words. Goosebumps ran down my skin. Deegon straightened up, defiantly moved his nose in the air, inhaling the aroma of my estrus, grinned and clucked. And just went to the exit. Only the slam of the door brought me to my senses. And then there was the roar of the male, which vibrated through my body. Moisture ran down my legs. Started…