Johnathan
I take out my phone and pull up the listing for Mara. She has been removed from the site, but I screenshot it right before the auction came to an end.
I spent roughly half the money in my bank account on her. It’s way more than I can afford to waste on a she-wolf. I did not need someone like Mara. Technically, I can take any mate and declare her my Luna for my pack to be recognised by the council. But I wanted Mara.
Establishing a new pack takes a lot of money. Money I don’t have. The modern world destroyed a lot of packs. Humans are encroaching on our territories, and to keep the unknowns, as we call them, out, we have to buy the land that has been our homes for centuries.
The human authorities who are aware of our existence also keep increasing our taxes. They are convinced we’re rich even though most of us don’t even have a pot to piss in.
Douglas used the word heiress in Mara’s listing, knowing that a lot of Alphas are struggling to get by now and would jump at the chance to get their hands on a rich little heiress’s money. Insincere fuck.
It was a stupid move. I could have gotten a much better she-wolf for far cheaper. I shouldn’t have done it. I should have given up on her, but I couldn’t bring myself to stop. Douglas Smith is a multi-billionaire. Only a fool wouldn’t have taken that chance.
I’m getting by for now, but my money is running out. My pack is growing by the day and maintaining it is starting to cost more than I’m making.
I own the entire town of Haven’s Crest. I bought it one dilapidated shack at a time, and turned this place into an irresistible tourist attraction. The humans spending their money here are barely keeping me afloat, and if I want to keep growing my pack, I need the land surrounding my town.
Unfortunately, the land belongs to the local government that purposefully inflated the price - they want us out of here. A town of vampires and werewolves on their doorstep makes them uncomfortable.
I considered threatening or simply killing them, but there are always new, more corrupt humans to take the place of the ones I kill.
The fact that Douglas disowned Mara is a complication, but not an unexpected one. I already prepared for that contingency when I put in my first bid. I always have a Plan A, B, and C in place before I make any kind of move. I never make hasty decisions, and buying Mara was a calculated risk.
There are other ways to get my hands on BioGen and Douglas Smith’s fortunes.
Preston knocks on my door a minute or so after Mara leaves with Rhoda. I’m not happy that she’ll be seen with the whorehouse’s madam, but Preston thought that Rhoda was a good choice to make Mara feel more welcome here. Rhoda comes from a similar background as Mara, and my Beta figured they’d bond over their shared trauma.
My Beta sighs and slumps in the nearest chair. “So,” he says, getting right to the point. “What do you think of her?” Preston asks.
“Mara? She’s a little skittish. Quiet.”
“Can you blame her?”
“No,” I answer curtly. “But she-wolves like that…Lunas need to be authoritative.”
“She’ll find her way.” Preston replies with a sigh. “You are not going to…harm that poor girl are you?”
Like me, Preston is a rogue, but unlike other Alphas and Betas we did not grow up together, forming a familial trust bond. He has served me faithfully over the years, and I trust him, but I still keep my darkest secrets close to my chest.
He knows why I bought Mara. He was the one who alerted me to the fact that Douglas listed her on the market.
“Johnathan?” Preston asks a little hesitantly. “The girl? You will be kind to her, right?”
“I won’t harm her. You should know better than to even ask me such questions.”
He’s asking because I started with pleasure houses and strip clubs, that’s how I make some of my money, but I have never hurt one of the girls who works for me, and all of my employees are there of their free will. I’ve never forced them into it.
I hate it. I hate what I’ve had to do, but it was enough to establish myself in Haven’s Crest, and now the income from my various establishments is enough to keep my head above water, but trading in flesh never sat well with me.
“She asked me about the bank card,” Preston says.
“Mara?”
“Yes. She wants to know if it’s from you.”
“What did you say?”
“The truth. I know nothing about it.”
“It’s from her father. It’s not a lot. Enough to get her settled with the essentials. Less than I paid for her, actually.”
“How do you know that?”
I pull out a letter addressed to me and hand it to Preston. It doesn’t say much. In it, he simply asks that I’ll keep her safe and treat her better than her previous mate did.
That is where my Plan B comes in. Douglas cares about his daughter. Maybe not as much as he should, but enough to ask that I treat her well. That could be enough to get my foot in the door.
“Hm,” Preston grunts when he’s done reading. “That’s interesting. The way he turned his back on her when he disowned…I didn’t think he cared at all. Maybe Douglas Smith isn’t the cunt I thought he was.”
“Maybe not. Kyson’s a dickhead though. I’ve met him.”
“Yes, he’s not going to win any popularity contests,” Preston says with a chuckle. “Do you think Douglas really disowned Mara?”
“We have to assume that he did.”
“It’s a shame. We really could have used that money.”
I sigh and lean back, staring up at the roof. “What’s done is done, Preston. There’s no use crying over it now.”
“I know,” Preston says. “At least she’s pretty, right? I mean…she will be, once she heals.”
The photo Douglas used in his listing is of a younger Mara. I think she might have been seventeen, maybe eighteen, when it was taken. Clearly still more girl than woman. Her skin was perfect, unmarked by years of abuse, her green eyes sparkled with light, showing all the excitement her bright future held.
A future that was destroyed by her father and their asshole Alpha.
What I haven’t told anyone, what I’ll never tell anyone, is that her image alone called out to me in ways I couldn’t explain. Even if she didn’t come with the promise of a large inheritance, I would have kept bidding on her. There’s just something about her…
The call was even strong when she sat in my office, rendered almost completely mute by years of abuse, I felt it. A connection that transcends words or understanding.
"Yes, well,” I say. “Pretty doesn't really pay the bills, now does it?”
"You can put her back on the market...see if you can recoup some of your money."
I glare at my Beta. "Have you lost your fucking mind? No!"
"I'm just saying-"
"And I'm saying no. What's wrong with you?"
Preston holds his hands up in a defensive motion. "It was just a suggestion, man. There are rich Alphas out there who will want her."
"I don't care! I will never sell her. Never. Bring it up again and I'll rip your head off your shoulders. Are we clear?"
"Yes, Alpha," Preston mutters under his breath.
"Good. You can go, and we won't talk about this again."
My Beta nods and wordlessly leaves the study.
I get up and pour myself a whiskey. This has been one hell of a long and disappointing day. I can't wait for it to end.
MaraI thought I’d enjoy my excursion into town with Rhoda, but I’ve been isolated for so long that all the people made me nervous.Everyone seemed to know who I am. People stopped me to introduced themselves, welcomed me to the town, and asked me if I’m happy to be here, when the wedding would be, if I like the Alpha, and wanted to know who bruised me up. Who dared to touch a hair on our Luna’s pretty little head? Is your father happy with the new arrangement? All questions I couldn’t answer, or didn’t want to answerRhoda was no help. She basked in the attention. Or perhaps people here are just like that and she’s so used to it that she didn't even notice. I couldn’t quite figure out which one of the two it was.By the time we made it back to the mansion, I was exhausted and ready to crawl into a hole. There was a time, not so long ago when I think about it, that I enjoyed going out. I was popular in school - no doubt because of my father's money - and I had no shortage of invitat
MaraThe dining room is one of the smallest places I’ve seen so far. It’s big enough to hold a six-seater table, carved by hand like everything else, a sideboard and serving trolley piled high with food and plates.There’s enough room to move around, but no one’s going to throw any lavish parties in here. I get the feeling that it’s Johnathan’s private dining room, but somewhere in this massive mansion there must be some kind of reception hall for parties. Wolves love to throw parties.Preston is sitting at the end of the table with a lovely blonde woman next to him. She’s dressed comfortably in a strappy sundress. I remember when I was able to wear clothes like that. Jealousy tucks at my heart - not because the girl is a hundred times more beautiful than I am, but because she has the kind of freedom I’ve forgotten.“Hello,” she chirps and sits upright. “I’m Ally, Preston’s mate. You are Mara right?”I nod and smile at her. Like everyone else in Haven’s Crest, she’s almost uncomforta
MaraI climb the steps to my father’s mansion with heavy legs. Haley, my best and probably only friend, dropped me off at the gate because Lucas, my mate, won’t allow me to drive.The guard refused to let Haley in, and I was forced to walk up the kilometre long driveway, while my bruised and battered body screamed out in agony.I haven’t been home in two years. Today is my twenty-first birthday, and my father wanted to see me for the first time since I married Lucas Mattfield - the future Alpha of Red Ridge.I am in a sad state. I’m only allowed to eat once a day - Lucas wants a hot wife - and last night I took a particularly brutal beating. It was one of the worst he’d ever given me, and he laughed the whole time. I think it’s one of the reasons my father refuses to see me. I’m always covered in fresh and healing bruises now, and he can’t stand to look at the thing he had done to me.On the night of our wedding, Lucas took me into the bond room - the place where newly wed couples h
MaraI wake to the sound of tyres humming softly on the tarmac, the woodsy scent of Beta Preston’s cologne in my nose, and the more flowery lavender scent of a woman. Frowning, I sit upright and look out of the windshield of the moving SUV. Ahead of us is a long, deserted road and the setting sun.I have no idea where we are. Red Ridge must be far behind us. I’ve never seen anything so empty and desolate in all my life. The world here is flat, with nothing but the road and grasslands as far as the eye can see. How long was I out?“Hello lovely,” a chirpy voice says from the front seat. “Did yeh have a good sleep?”I look over at the platinum blonde sitting in the passenger seat. She’s in her mid-twenties. Her make-up is heavy, and she’s dressed in a tight, red dress that leaves little to the imagination. All I manage in way of an answer is a croak.“Give her some water,” Beta Preston says, his voice deep and even.He’s a handsome man, with salt and pepper hair, hazel eyes, and a be
MaraI stare in wonder at the winding road ahead of us. It disappears around several bends, leading all the way to the top of the mountain, and the town of Haven’s Crest.Who the hell builds an entire town on the top of a mountain?We crawl up the road. There’s literally nothing between us and a sheer drop into the canyon below, but it’s idyllic, with the green mountain rising up against the bright blue sky. Cotton candy clouds drift in the azure heavens.As we round one of the many dangerous bends, a waterfall comes into view. Rainbows dance in the misty water that vanishes into the pond below. “Wow,” I gasp.“Pretty, ain’t it?” Rhoda says with a soft laugh.I can’t tear my eyes away from the beautiful scenery. It’s like a postcard sent from some exotic place I never knew existed. Far below and in the distance, a blue lake glimmers in the bright sun. At long last, we reach the top. A massive white and black sign welcomes us to *Haven’s Crest - A home for every soul.*I smile wryly.
Mara“Your father asked me to take you off his hands,” Jonathan says in a straightforward, almost bored voice. “Actually, he put you on the open market. There was a fierce bidding war for you.”My eyes almost bulge out of my skull and fresh tears burn my throat. How could my father do that to me? He did not put me on that market to sell me to an Alpha. It’s a slave market where wolves sell their used up wives or unwanted daughters. Most end up as breeders or prostitutes in the wolf pleasure houses.“Everyone thought you came with an inheritance and that you were worth the investment,” Jonathan goes on.I have no idea how much he paid for me, but my father would not have settled for anything less than the compensation Kysan and Lucas demanded. “My father disowned me,” I whisper. “You won’t get your money back.”“I know. Preston told me.” His eyes slide over my ravaged face. “That is not why I bought you. You do not need to fear me,” he says and leans over to take one of the drinks. “I