Chosen By Ruin

And that's how I find myself in the dimly lit red selection room.

Beta Gary pushes me inside, a hateful scowl fixed on his face.

"I would not have spared you if I was the one holding the gun earlier, you frail little thing."

He's always been that way with the humans in the pack. In the thirteen years I've spent here, I've never caught something as close to a smile on his face. But he has always been exceptionally mean to me.

Gary hates it when humans possess any form of audacity.

I admit, I am frail-looking, but I know I'm stronger than most omega wolves even though I'm only human. It's not something I find worthy of bragging about, but it's the reason I've outrun my omega partners during the Run Or Die game twice before.

The same game I just lost Elena to.

And it's also the reason I can use daggers expertly.

I harbor secrets.

My heart pounds silently as I look around the red room.

It's wide but oddly narrow, with most of the space occupied by expensive furniture. The buyer isn't here like I expected, and I can't help but wonder if Gary has brought me into the wrong room.

A leather office chair rests against a long red curtain, tucked behind a polished brown wooden desk.

Opposite the desk is what looks like a hospital bed.

My eyes narrow as I stare at it.

There's something dark smeared across the white sheet.

I take a cautious step closer.

Blood.

My stomach twists.

Before I can look away, the sound of a hand striking flesh comes from somewhere to my right.

I jerk toward the sound.

A girl in nothing but a bra and panties steps out from an inner room I hadn't noticed before. She isn't alone. A man dressed in a black suit follows behind her, casually zipping his trousers.

I don't need anyone to explain what just took place between them.

I think I'm in the wrong room.

The girl turns toward him and spreads her fingers against his chest.

"Do you need me to spend the night in your bed, Alpha Soren?"

My thoughts immediately return to Maerra.

Had she lied about me having a buyer because she was desperate to save me?

I'm already considering slipping out of the room to find her when the name the girl just called replayed itself in my head. Alpha Soren...

My head turns back just in time to see him smack the girl hard on her backside.

That must have been the sound I heard earlier.

But that isn't what concerns me.

"I'm about to get busy with my little guest right here, so I'll excuse you for the night," he says to her.

Then he pulls her toward him and joins their lips again.

My stomach churns.

And suddenly, it dawns on me that I might not be in the wrong room after all.

The girl gives me a disdainful glare as she passes, but I don't even know her. She's the least of my worries right now.

The door shuts behind her and I'm left with him. Alpha Soren. I take in his face properly. It's really him.

"Where were you running to, Liliana?" he asks, a grin spreading across his face. "Don't want to say hi to your old-time friend?"

He pulls out the leather chair tucked beneath the desk and settles into it before gesturing toward the seat across from him.

"Sit."

I'm unable to look away from him as I slowly take the seat.

 Alpha Soren isn't just the Alpha of Bloodfangs pack- One of the largest packs on the continent, he is also a man I'm scared of with everything inside of me.

Alpha Kol might be ruthless, but Soren kills and smiles while doing it. Twenty people could be seated and Soren would be having sex in their presence. He is anti-moral.

He killed his own Luna with his bare hands.

He used to lead this packhouse before eventually leaving it to Kol and dividing the pack members between them. I remember being relieved that I wasn't transferred to his packhouse.

"I...I wasn't running," I manage to say, hoping he no longer remembers what I did years ago.

His grin widens.

I prefer when he frowns.

"Do you still steal daggers and sell them, Lily?" he asks. "I remember you used to steal mine. How many exactly? Ten? Twenty?"

My heart pounds violently.

I had been chained and beaten until I could barely recognize myself when I was caught stealing his daggers three years ago. I had intended to trade them for money.

He gave me one month to retrieve every dagger I had stolen.

But he left the pack before that month was over.

Back then, I was one of the maids assigned to take care of his room.

"I wasn't able to retrieve them," I confess quietly. "And...I no longer steal daggers."

I wait nervously for his rage.

It doesn't come.

Instead, he leans across the desk, allowing his eyes to travel slowly over me with a look that makes my skin crawl.

"You're more grown than I remembered."

He catches his lower lip between his teeth.

Sick fantasies are written all over his expression.

My heart sinks, but I say nothing.

"I've bought you, Liliana."

I exhale roughly.

"Let me guess...as your sex slave or a breeder."

The words escape before I can stop them.

There isn't another use for people like us who are bought by people like him.

A deep chuckle rolls from his throat.

He leans back into his chair and pulls a cigarette from his pocket. He lights it, takes a slow drag, and lets the smoke escape through his nose.

I wait.

"You are not going to be my sexual slave, Lily Rose."

My brows pull together.

"Nor will you become a breeder."

He takes another drag.

"I have a better use for your intelligence."

My eyes widen slightly.

"What could you possibly need me to do for you?"

He stands.

Another puff of smoke leaves his mouth as he walks around the desk.

He disappears behind me.

I swallow instinctively.

I don't trust what I can't see.

I expect him to grab me from behind, perhaps strangle me or do something worse.

Instead, he leans toward the side of my neck.

His fangs extend.

The sharp points slowly trail along my skin.

Every muscle in my body goes rigid.

All he has to do is sink those teeth into my throat, and I'll be dead before I can scream.

"Ever heard of Xaden Draven?" he whispers, his mouth close to my ear.

The name makes me blink.

"I only know he's the Alpha heir of the MoonBound Pack."

I lie.

That isn't the only thing I've heard about him.

I have never seen him before, but his reputation precedes him. Rumors say he's young, ruthless, cursed, and untouchable.

His parents head Supraveil Academy, the biggest supernatural academy in the world and one of the hardest places to get into.

Your family name has to carry enough weight in the supernatural world before you're even considered for admission.

Alpha Kol's daughter had apparently tried to get in and been rejected.

I've also heard that dragons are reared inside the academy.

I never believed that part.

I wouldn't have believed the academy itself existed if it weren't the same academy my late parents had once promised my elder sister she would attend when she became old enough.

Before tragedy destroyed our family.

And now I have no idea why Alpha Soren is talking to me about the most talked-about cursed Alpha heir in Eldoria.

Another rumor says he's yet to find his mate because every predicted mate they bring to him- dies in his bed.

I never took any of those seriously. But it's hard not to grasp onto gossip when the maids here are full of them.

"You're getting into Supraveil Academy to kill him."

He says it as casually as if he has just ordered me to buy him cigarettes.

Then he returns to his seat.

I stare at him.

I expect him to take his words back. He doesn't. He settles deeper into the leather chair.

"And I'm getting you inside the academy tomorrow morning because you've already been offered admission."

To say I'm confused is an understatement.

I would rather be a breeder.