Chapter 1

Alexa’s POV…

 

It was the night of my 18th birthday; it was meant to be one of the happiest nights of my life because this would be the night I was expected to meet my mate. I was happy and thrilled, and to top up everything, I also just found out that my father had planned a celebration just for me.

 

This surprised me, as alpha Danister rarely did anything for me if it didn’t benefit him in any way. I shook my head when I later got to find out the real purpose behind this party he was throwing. I should have known.

 

After putting on my dress and light make-up, I couldn’t help but admire myself in the full-length mirror that stood tall in the corner of my small room.

 

One of the servants, Martha, then entered my room without knocking. She had come to inform me that the party was about to start.

 

“Why are you so excited?” She asked me as she saw the huge smile on my face.

 

“Why shouldn’t I be?” I answered. “For the first time in a long time, something wonderful is about to happen to me. I am about to experience the most wonderful bond created by the goddess herself. Also, right in the middle of the party my dad threw to celebrate me.”

 

Martha laughed. “You are a fool if you think your father wants to throw you a princess party. If not that I managed to feel sorry for you, I shouldn’t even be telling you this. Alpha Dan warned us not to inform you until you came down to see things for yourself. He didn’t want you running away before he auctioned you to one of the highest-paying nobles in exchange for your hand in marriage tonight.” The words cut right through my heart as she told me everything, the stark reminder of who I was and how everyone saw me in this pack.

 

Martha might have helped me by informing me so early, though through her harsh tone, but for her sake, that wasn’t so smart of her. If Alpha Dan found out that she was the one who told me the truth before I entered the party hall, he might take things as far as having her head.

 

I checked the time. It was still a few minutes till the party began. I could still escape as far as anyone was concerned. Martha might not even get in trouble as long as my father never found out how I knew about his intentions.

 

I thought about it for a few more seconds, and in the end, I decided that escaping was the best option for me now. I didn’t want to get married to some scruffy old alpha twice my age, as I knew that most of the wealthiest alphas that had conquered many territories now spent their post-battle days collecting wives in their seventies.

 

No, of course, I didn’t want that. I wanted no one else but the one whom the moon goddess had prepared for me. I wanted no one else but my mate.

 

I pretended to go with it and assured Martha I would be down in a minute. After she left my room, I hurried over to my window, wasting no time taking off my shoes. I reasoned that when I got down, I would shift, and then my wolf, Kim, would rush us out of this place as fast as she could. I might return, or I might not, but either way, I wasn’t getting auctioned tonight.

 

The moment I placed one of my feet outside. I felt it then, that connection I had only read about in books before. The only feeling greater than love itself. The mate bond felt strange like a million butterflies were flying in your stomach at once.

 

“Our mate is here!” Kim informed me. “He’s in the party hall. He’s one of the guests. He must be an alpha!”

 

All the excitement I felt in my stomach flushed when I realized what that meant. I was running away from this place, hoping my mate and I would collide somewhere else, he would claim me, and then I wouldn’t have to go through this auction anymore, but now, he was seated in the very place I was running away from.

 

This was a tough choice to make. Do I still run away now and miss out on the first chance to bond with my mate? Will I ever get to see him again after this? Or do I damn the consequences and choose to attend the auction, hoping he would be the one with the highest bid?

 

I needed to think of what to choose fast, as I didn’t have much time left.

 

*** 

 

After giving it some more thought on the best decision to take, I finally chose not to run away. I planned to try to have a chance to speak with my mate before the auction started and beg him to make sure he won my hand in marriage.

 

I hoped he had the financial ability to do so because of how these hungry older men looked at me. It appeared as if they would pay my father anything to walk out of this place with me as their new property. Two of them, most especially alpha Collin and alpha Yak, long-time friends of my father.

 

I looked around for where I would sit as I entered the hall. The chair reserved for the princess of the pack was always right beside my father, but I never sat there, or rather, he never let me sit beside him.

 

Ever since I was born, my father has hated me, and that’s because he thinks I was the one who killed my mother, Luna Samara. But I didn’t kill her. Of course, a newborn baby couldn’t kill anyone. She died in childbirth, but my father thinks otherwise, and just as he hated me, he got the other blue scorpion wolves to hate me as well. Everyone loved Luna Samara, so it only made sense that they would hate the wolf that took her life.

 

It hurt growing up, never being accepted into the home you were born into, but I got used to it after a few years. I even got used to harsh treatment from the servants, and I didn’t let that bother me again.

 

I decided to turn my thoughts away from the bad memories and look forward to a good evening. If all went well, I would be walking out of this place with my mate, and I wouldn’t have to live here anymore.

 

I spotted him in the distance as I sat on a small stool near the pack’s servants dishing out food. The hall was filled with a lot of naked female slaves, most of whom were seen either massaging, pleasuring or giving a show to the noble guests that were seated. My mate, on the other hand, didn’t seem interested in any of what was going on around him. He wore a straight face and didn’t show any interest when some female slaves tried to engage him.

 

“He’s so handsome!” I said to Kim inwardly, happy that the moon goddess chose well for me. The slaves, after seeing that they were wasting their time, walked away from my mate and went over to some of the older men. As they should.

 

He was seated not too far from my father. So, I reasoned that he must be one of the Alphas serving under our pack. My father conquered a lot of territories back in his youthful days. He boasts about his achievements a lot of times, so it didn’t make much sense to me why he’d want to auction his only child off just to get more money.

 

I got up from the small stool to walk towards where my mate sat. If I needed to talk to him, I needed to do it now because the guests appeared to want to start the auction soon. As I heard through my wolf senses, some were already offering my father large pieces of their territories to have me.

 

Even as fast as I walked, it took up to a minute for me to reach where he was seated, as I had to brush through many naked female bodies. Sometimes, I wondered what was wrong with these men.

 

Finally, I was so close to him, and when he noticed me standing behind his chair, he turned to face me.

 

“Hello,” he smiled, knowing who I was immediately. “Or should I say hello, mate?”

 

He smiled at me upon seeing me come closer to him. He’d felt my presence before coming here, and I was sure he’d anticipated seeing who I would be.

 

The next voice I heard was that of Martha.

 

“Princess? Princess Alexa! The auction has started. Your father says you should climb the stage now.”

 

Princess.

 

Though he had already heard my name from Martha, I thought I should still politely introduce myself for a few seconds before quickly asking him for the favour.

 

“My name is….”

 

“I don’t care about your name!” He spat. “And I already have a fiancee. I apologize. You will just have to go and find yourself another mate.”