Chapter 2

By the following morning, I'd learned two important things about Blackmoor: their kitchens served enough food to feed three packs, and absolutely everyone in the packhouse knew I was supposed to give Alpha Kaelen an heir.

The guards stared at me as though I might drop a litter right there in the corridor, and the healer had left another bottle of Moonroot tonic outside my room.

I was just contemplating pouring it into a nearby fern when a woman appeared uninvited in my doorway.

Seraphine.

I'd heard her name repeatedly since arriving.

The Beta's daughter, the elders' favorite, and the woman who seemed to manage all of Blackmoor's affairs.

She was beautiful in a polished, expensive sort of way, but her smile was anything but.

"So you're the famous Fertility girl."

"Felicity."

"Of course." She glanced at the untouched bottle on my table, her smile vanishing. "You haven't taken your tonic. You're already causing trouble."

"Good morning to you, too."

Seraphine stepped into the room, heels clicking sharply.

"Do you have any idea how much is riding on this arrangement? The Alpha can't afford to waste time on a girl who doesn't understand her duty."

"Then perhaps he should have bought a dictionary instead of buying me," I shot back. "I'm being held responsible for a spelling mistake. It's either laugh or scream."

"Listen carefully," Seraphine snapped, her composure fracturing.

"Blackmoor has waited years for an heir. The elders are losing patience, and Kaelen's enemies are watching. If you fail, the consequences won't fall on you alone."

"I'm sure the entire pack will survive my refusal to drink a mystery potion."

Her cheeks flushed. Instead of arguing, she snapped her fingers toward the hallway.

A servant immediately scurried in, carrying a steaming bowl of thick, dark liquid that smelled like boiled oak bark and rotten mushrooms.

I instinctively stepped back.

Seraphine snatched the bowl from the girl and shoved it toward me. "The healer recommended a stronger preparation. Drink."

"I'm not drinking that."

All pretense of politeness dissolved from Seraphine's face.

"Do you think you can embarrass the Alpha and get away with it? I won't stand by while some nobody makes a mockery of our traditions."

She lunged forward, grabbing my wrist with bruising force.

I yanked my arm back. The foul liquid sloshed dangerously, scalding droplets hitting the floor between us.

"Drink it!" she hissed.

"No!"

The door slammed wide open, hitting the wall with a deafening crack.

"What the hell is going on here?" Kaelen’s voice thundered through the room.

Seraphine released me so quickly she nearly dropped the bowl.

"Alpha! I was only trying to help. She refuses to cooperate, and I thought—"

"You thought what?" Kaelen’s voice was dangerously quiet, which somehow made it worse.

Seraphine swallowed hard but lifted her chin. "The elders are concerned. We cannot allow her personal whims to delay the heir's preparation."

Kaelen ignored her excuse, his gaze fixed on the bowl. "Who authorized a stronger preparation?"

"I did."

Raw, unfiltered fury flashed in Kaelen's eyes.

Without a word, he snatched the bowl from her hands and slammed it down onto the table with such force that it tipped over the edge.

It struck the floor and shattered, sending a wave of dark, foul liquid across the rug.

A sharp hiss instantly erupted from beneath the furniture.

I froze.

A long, black marsh viper slithered out from under the rug, its narrow head rearing up, fangs bared right beside Kaelen's boots.

"Kaelen!" I screamed.

He pivoted, but before the snake could strike, a pool of the spilled tonic washed over its head.

The creature convulsed violently, then went entirely stiff.

Silence dropped over the room like a stone, broken only by the servant's delayed shriek.

Seraphine stumbled backward, her face drained of all color.

Kaelen stared at the dead viper, then slowly lifted his gaze.

"Guards," he barked. Two men rushed into the doorway. "Secure this room. Get the healer for that snake, and escort Seraphine to my office. She has a lot of explaining to do."

Seraphine opened her mouth, but for once, nothing came out. She let the guards lead her away.

Once the room was cleared and the air settled, Kaelen finally turned to me.

"You should have told me she was threatening you."

I let out a harsh laugh. "I tried to tell you yesterday that I didn't want to be treated like a breeding experiment. You handed me a schedule."

His jaw clenched. "Your safety is my responsibility."

"Is that why you intervened? Out of concern?"

"Because I will not allow anyone to interfere with the arrangement I made."

There it was.

Not kindness. Just a business transaction.

He nudged my original, unopened bottle across the table.

"This tonic is approved. You will take it according to the healer's instructions, not Seraphine's."

I didn't touch it. "I'll confirm what's in it with the healer first."

"You may." He turned toward the door, then paused, looking back over his shoulder.

"Felicity. Until we know how that viper got in, don't wander the packhouse alone. Be careful."

For a split second, it sounded like a reasonable, almost human request.

Then he ruined it.

"This pack cannot afford to lose you before the matter of the heir is settled."

I stared at his broad back, disbelief washing over me.

He had just watched a lethal snake die by his boots, seen a woman try to poison me, and threatened his Beta's daughter. And yet, it all still came down to his legacy.

"Right," I murmured, my voice dripping with ice. "Wouldn't want to damage the investment."

His expression hardened.

I turned away before he could answer.

Perhaps it was the tonic. Perhaps it was the snake. Perhaps it was simply the fact that my own father had sold me and the Alpha of Blackmoor had accepted the purchase without a second thought.

Whatever it was, one thing had become painfully clear.

My arrival had brought trouble to this pack.

And if Kaelen thought I was going to solve every problem while he treated me like a misplaced item on his inventory list, he was in for a very unpleasant surprise.

I glanced at the bottle.

Then at the dead snake being carried from my room.

Maybe my name really did mean good fortune.

If so, Blackmoor had better hope I stayed lucky.

Because Kaelen, I was beginning to suspect, was the unluckiest man I'd ever met.