IRIS POV
The car smells like leather and expensive cologne.
Iris sits in the back seat between Eleanor and a driver who hasn't spoken a single word since picking her up from the warehouse. Her hands are shaking so hard she has to sit on them to keep them still. The car moves smoothly down a highway lined with trees that get thicker and darker as they drive further from the city.
Goodbye. That's what she didn't get to say to her father.
She watches the city disappear in the side mirror. The Chen Pack territory gets smaller and smaller until it's just a memory fading behind them. She's never been more than five miles from her pack in her entire life. Now she's driving away and everyone she loves is getting left behind.
Eleanor shifts in the seat beside her.
You're probably wondering what happens now, the woman says. Her voice is not unkind but it's not warm either. It's the voice of someone delivering information. Facts. Rules.
Iris nods because speaking seems dangerous.
Eleanor pulls out a piece of paper and starts reading like this is a business transaction. Which it is. Everything has been a transaction since the moment her father agreed to sell her.
You will live in the omega quarters at the Blackwell compound. You are not permitted in the main residence except when summoned. You will attend pack ceremonies and stand silent beside the Alpha. You will wear what you're told to wear. You will eat what you're given. You will speak only when spoken to.
Eleanor's words come out one after another like bullets hitting a target.
You will never question the Alpha. You will never contradict him in front of the pack. You will never leave the territory without permission. You will submit to him completely. You will eventually bear him children. Strong children who carry Blackwell blood and his power.
Iris feels something twist inside her chest.
She knew this. Of course she knew this. Every omega knows these things since birth. But hearing it said out loud makes it real in a way she wasn't prepared for. It makes it final.
Eleanor continues without pausing.
The Alpha does not want a companion. He does not want conversation. He does not want your opinion about anything. He wants obedience. He wants someone who understands her place and stays in it. Do you understand me?
Yes, Iris whispers.
Eleanor turns to look at her fully for the first time. The woman's eyes are sharp and grey and completely empty of sympathy.
The Alpha is James Blackwell. He took control of this pack at nineteen years old. He's killed more people than you've met in your entire life. He's the most feared Alpha on the eastern seaboard. And you have just become his property.
Property.
The word lands like a punch to the stomach.
Iris has always known this is what she would become. Her mother died when she was twelve in a pack alliance that went wrong. After that, her father raised her to be valuable. To be useful. To be the kind of omega that powerful alphas would want. He trained her in languages and etiquette and the art of being invisible.
But knowing something and experiencing it are completely different things.
The car turns and suddenly mountains rise up all around them. Real mountains. Not the rolling hills near the Chen territory. These are massive and ancient and they swallow the entire sky.
Eleanor leans back in her seat and closes her eyes.
You'll do fine if you're smart. Don't be afraid because fear makes you clumsy. Clumsiness gets you punished. Just be what you were trained to be and you'll survive this.
Survive.
That's the goal now apparently. Not live. Not thrive. Just survive.
Iris watches the mountains get closer and closer. She thinks about her father's face in the warehouse. She thinks about how he couldn't look at her after he sold her. She thinks about how her younger sister probably doesn't understand where she went. She thinks about how her pack will forget her within a few months.
Her hands start shaking again.
Eleanor notices but doesn't comment on it. She just stares out the window like she's seen this a thousand times before and it means nothing to her.
The driver takes a turn onto a private road. Gates appear, massive and made of black iron. Guards stand on either side in human form but Iris can smell the wolf underneath their skin. They wave the car through without checking anything. Eleanor must be known here. She must be important.
The compound appears through the trees like something rising from the earth itself.
It's massive. The main mansion is all white stone and dark windows. It looks like someone built something beautiful and then decided beauty was a waste of time. Everything is clean lines and cold angles. Nothing soft. Nothing welcoming.
Around the main house are other buildings. Smaller ones. The omega quarters probably. Training grounds where Iris can see warriors moving in the distance even in the afternoon light. Walls surrounding everything. Guards at every checkpoint.
Everything is contained and controlled.
Eleanor opens her eyes and sits forward.
The cottage, she says to the driver. Take us straight there.
The car moves deeper into the compound. Away from the main mansion. Away from everything that looks important. The trees get thicker and the buildings get smaller until they reach a white cottage separated from everything else by distance and deliberate placement.
It's beautiful in a cold way. White with dark shutters. A garden that probably wasn't tended by an omega. Everything looks expensive and empty and designed for isolation.
The car stops.
Eleanor gets out first. Iris follows because moving feels easier than sitting still. The sun is starting to get lower in the sky and the mountains are turning purple at the edges.
Eleanor opens the door to the cottage. Inside is a bed. A dresser. A window that looks out at nothing but forest and distance. A bathroom with running water and clean towels.
This is your home now, Eleanor says. There's food in the kitchen. You'll find clothes in the dresser. Wear the grey dress if you're summoned. It's appropriate for a first meeting with the Alpha.
Grey. Neutral. Invisible.
Of course.
Eleanor walks to the window and points at the distant mansion glowing in the fading light.
He's in there. The Alpha. He probably hasn't thought about you twice since the auction ended. A transaction completed. A problem solved.
When will I meet him? Iris asks quietly.
Eleanor turns back and her expression is unreadable.
When he decides. He doesn't usually summon new brides immediately. He likes to make them wait. It builds anticipation. Or fear. Usually both.
Eleanor walks toward the door.
I'll return tomorrow to help you understand what will be expected. For tonight, you rest. Eat something. Try to sleep. You're going to need your strength.
She leaves before Iris can ask what that means.
The cottage door closes and Iris stands alone in her new prison.
She walks to the window and stares out at the mansion glowing in the distance like a dark star pulling everything toward it. Somewhere in that building is James Blackwell. An alpha who kills without hesitation. An alpha who doesn't feel anything. An alpha who paid five hundred thousand dollars for her without even looking at her face.
An alpha who is going to own her completely from this moment forward.
She touches her hand to the cold glass.
Outside, the sun disappears completely. The compound goes quiet. The wolves will start howling soon. She can feel it coming. The night is settling over everything like a blanket made of secrets.
Iris realizes she doesn't even know what he looks like. She only saw him for three seconds in that warehouse before Eleanor pulled her away. She doesn't know his face. She doesn't know his voice. She doesn't know anything about the man she's going to spend the rest of her life with.
She wonders if he's thinking about her at all.
She wonders if he's already forgotten.