A few hours ago, Sloane Mercer still had three reasons to live for...
"Dearest fellow pack members," Alpha Mercer's booming voice echoed across the packed meeting hall, "I stand before you today, not as your Alpha, but as a humble father..."
His tone was heavy as his eyes roamed the hall.
About three hundred pale faces stared back at him, bristling in apprehension of the revelation to come.
Amongst these faces, was Sloane's.
Tonight, she was turning 18.
Her mate Grayson would finally make their relationship known to the Pack.
And they had saved up just enough to buy her freedom from the slave ranks...
But at this moment, standing in the back row with the rest of the pack slaves, two of those reasons shattered before her eyes.
Alpha Mercer continued grimly, "My daughter, Lady Sancia has committed a grave and terrible crime..."
"I'm pregnant..." Sancia announced, her red rimmed eyes swelling up with a fresh wave of tears, "I can no longer represent the pack as the Lycan tax bride..."
"How could you be so selfish, Lady Sancia?!" A woman in the crowd cried, "You've been marked by the Lycans! If they catch wind of this, they will kill us all!"
Grayson surged forwards, gathering Sancia tenderly into his arms as she trembled before the accusing eyes of the entire pack.
Just a few hours before, he held Sloane in the same way...
Just a few hours before, Grayson Rhodes had been hers...
Now, he was the father of her sister's unborn child.
Sloane's vision spun. Her knees suddenly felt barely capable of holding up her body weight.
She clenched fistfuls of her maid's uniform to keep her hands from trembling, but it did nothing to stop the cold chill running down her spine.
Where had it all gone wrong? Where had she gone wrong?
She never had much to offer him, but they were happy! Sloane could swear on her life they were...
How could Grayson betray her so cruelly?
She didn't understand it. She couldn't...
"A crime against the Lycan Federation is punishable by the execution of the Alpha, or annihilation of the entire Pack."
Alpha Mercer's shoulders slumped with the weight of what would now become of the Glacier Pack because of Sancia's frivolity.
But Sloane swore her own shoulders weighed twice more.
All the promises they'd made to each other, the vows of eternity with the moon as their only witness...
It all crashed down on her at this moment.
She'd bet her entire life on this. On him...
The faces of the Glacier Pack members grew even paler. Whispers of horror spread through the crowd. And someone wailed inconsolably.
Somewhere to the left, a woman passed out in her mate's arms.
The Glacier Pack was thoroughly shaken by this unlikely turn of events. And who could blame them?
The world they lived in was governed by the Lycan Federation, an alliance of Lycans and Vampires.
Everyone knew just how terrifying the Federation was.
The Lycans ruled over everything and everyone with an ironclad grip, dispatching their bloodthirsty Vampire Knights to execute any defaulters of their law.
Rumors had it, whole packs had been wiped out in a single night for crimes as light as peaceful protests against the Federation.
What would become of a pack that couldn't pay the mandatory bride tax?
The Lycans would never accept a tainted woman.
"This is all my fault. I will face the emissaries and fight for Sancia's hand!" Grayson declared boldly, rising to his feet. "If I am to meet my death fighting to protect my child, then so be it!"
The ache that had lodged itself in Sloane's chest twisted even deeper.
Today was supposed to be the day they would escape the Glacier Pack together.
To finally honor the vows they'd made in secret two years ago, to be husband and wife.
Instead, Sloane was watching her mate... her husband, vow to sacrifice his life to defend her sister.
"What can you do?! You're just an enforcer!"
"You don't stand a chance! You'll only get us all killed!" A few disgruntled pack members yelled out their protests.
The panic in the hall rose quickly, bordering on a pandemonium.
"Quiet down!" Elder Hart, called for silence as he stepped forward, lifting a hand to the crowd.
He was the oldest wolf in the pack, and that had earned him respect comparable to that of Alpha Mercer himself.
"We can point fingers and cast blame later. But if we do not find a suitable explanation before the emissaries arrive tonight to collect the tax..." Elder Hart addressed the crowd, "We will be wiped out by the Vampire knights."
Sloane's heart ran cold.
So this was how she would die.
Because her mate couldn't keep it in his pants and had gotten the Lycan tax bride pregnant.
"We all know the Lycans do not tolerate excuses..." He continued grimly, "We also know that they do not know what Lady Sancia looks like. And so I propose that we send a replacement."
Another round of horrified whispers spread about. Elder Hart's suggestion was a risk that could make or break the pack.
Sloane wished she could partake in the horror spreading through the hall, but she could barely breathe around the ache pulsing beneath her rib...
Perhaps it was for the best that they all died tonight. Then she didn't have to watch Grayson make the vows he'd done with her in secret, to Sancia openly.
"But the absolute requirement is a bride with Alpha blood! Lady Sancia is blessed with the strongest moon gift of all the pack females!" A pack enforcer pointed out the flaw in Elder Hart's plan.
"We will reconvene on this matter within the hour." Elder Hart decided, nodding to Alpha Mercer and the two exited the hall alongside a few other elders.
The hall fell into a pin drop silence as the pack awaited the decision that would determine all their fates.
Grayson and Sancia left soon after, Grayson supporting her the whole way.
Sloane's eyes trailed them, and remained fixed on the exit long after they disappeared from view.
Grayson didn't glance her way. Not once.
Did the two years they spent together mean so little to him? Were the vows they took worth anything?
She was still in a daze when her attention was called,
"Slo..." A voice whispered,
She glanced up to see Cathy, Grayson's sister pushing her way through the crowd.
Cathy was the only one in the Glacier Pack who knew Grayson and Sloane were mates and had secretly taken wedding vows.
Cathy stopped a short distance away, taking a dazed Sloane's hand in hers and guiding her out of the hall.
The hallway was deserted, most of the pack would await the decision in the meeting hall even if it meant waiting all night long.
Because truly, seeing another morning was no longer assured for the Glacier Pack.
"I'm really sorry about all of this." Cathy said, her tone sympathetic.
Sloane's eyes stung, tears blurring her vision. "What... how... I don't..."
Cathy sighed heavily. "We only found out about it an hour ago. Grayson is also...in a tight spot."
A tight spot? He'd gotten her sister pregnant while she still wore his ring!
What spot did that leave her?!
"Elder Hart would like you to be present during the deliberations." She said, "Who knows? There might still be a chance to make things right. But first, you have to look presentable."
Sloane nodded absentmindedly, letting Cathy guide her through the pack house.
"Here," Cathy said as she led the way into her room, "I had a dress prepared. Why don't you freshen up and change into it?"
The water in Cathy's bath was scalding hot. But Sloane barely took note of it as she rinsed off the grime of hours of working in the laundry room.
The dress Cathy had given her was simple, but elegant. It reminded Sloane of the dresses she'd seen in Sancia's closet while picking up her laundry.
Her reflection stared back at her in the mirror, like an accusation.
'You are nothing. You deserve nothing. Not even your own mate.'
The dress hung a bit loosely around her emaciated form. But interweaving a strand of magic, Cathy's moon gift made quick work of it.
In a blink of the eyes, Sloane was staring at the reflection of a ranked lady. A title she'd never had a claim to since she'd been disowned at birth.
Though her midnight blue strands were a few shades darker, and her almost translucent silvery-glass orbs were impossible to miss, she looked like a younger version of Sancia.
The door opened, and Sloane turned, startled to see a cold-faced Alpha Mercer and a guilty looking Elder Hart walk in, accompanied by four buff enforcers.
"Good job, Cathy." Alpha Mercer commended, his eyes raking down Sloane's form from head to toe. "She'll do just fine."
Sloane's eyes grew wide. "What... what's going on? Have I done something wrong?" She stuttered, backing away uneasily.
The enforcers advanced on Sloane, grabbing hold of her hands and before she could protest, a putrid smelling cloth was placed over her nose.
The room swayed around her. Sloane tried to struggle, but her limbs felt like jelly.
"Sloane..." Alpha Mercer's expression was cold, "My child. For the first time since you were born as a disgraceful human, you finally have some use."
"The pack will be eternally grateful, for your selfless sacrifice."
Sloane's vision spun, dark spots dancing across her vision, and the last thing she heard before going under was a grim report,
"Alpha Mercer! The Red Cloaks are here!"