The Rogue Alpha’s Forbidden Slave Mate

NYX

The bottle’s already halfway in my sack when he turns around and my breath catches.

Shit.

“I saw that!” the apothecary bellows, his face redder than his herb-stained apron. “You little thief!”

Halo, my wolf, growls in my head. ‘Smooth. Real smooth, Nyx.’

‘Shut up,’ I snap, clutching the sack to my chest.

“I didn’t take anything.”

My voice doesn’t tremble, though it probably should from the way fear already rattles my bones.

This man who is twice my size, will easily kill me if he finds the bottle of medicine I have just stolen.

Yes, kill me.

No one cares who gets lynched, raped, beheaded, or beaten to a pulp in this part of town.

It's a jungle. Kill or be killed. Gone were the days I grew up as royalty.

“You think I’m blind?” he shouts, storming toward me with a limp that tells me his knee’s gone soft over the years. “You little wood rat! I saw you tuck it right in!”

“You are mistaken, sir,” I lie, staggering back.

I would rather die than let go of this medicine.

I'm my mother's only hope to live through the night.

Spectacle always sells faster than fresh bread in this market. In seconds, a crowd starts forming like moths to a flame.

I hear mutterings, then someone loudly whispers, “Rogue girl, I knew it!”

“That’s why we don’t let rogues into our stalls!” someone jeers from another edge. “Tattered little street vagrants!”

And there it is, the label—Rogue, as if it’s carved into my forehead, etched into my DNA.

Welcome to my life as the daughter of an Alpha who's lost everything she's ever owned to chaos. Chaos honed by the most evil entity to have walked the earth.

That chaos has a name.

Kane.

Kane Blackheart. A demon in human clothing. I will tell you all about the bastard if I don't die here today.

I square my shoulders and spit the words out like venom. “Touch me and I’ll bite your fingers off. I didn't steal anything.”

‘You really know how to charm them,’ Halo drawls.

‘You are not helping!’

“We’ll know if you didn't. Get her sack!” Someone suggests.

Within seconds, rough hands grab my arms and yank me back. My sack nearly slips from my grip as I twist and kick, my heart hammering in my chest.

‘Halo, now would be a good time to go full-on beast mode.’

‘And get us both gutted in the middle of a herbal stall?’ She thinks back. ‘I vote we wait for divine intervention.’

“Let me go!” I snarl, thrashing while burly idiots wrestle me still.

“Enough.”

A female voice cuts through the noise like a whip and everyone stills, even the men holding me freeze like puppets with their strings cut.

The woman stepping into the circle is stunning in a way that makes you uncomfortable. Tall, pale like moonlight, and gorgeous.

“She’s with me,” she says smoothly. “My ward. She's slightly unhinged, prone to sticky fingers but entirely mine.”

The apothecary blinks slowly, smithen. “She stole-”

“Did you see her put anything in her sack?”

“Well, no, but…”

“Then we’ll be leaving now.” Her smile has blades in it.

She doesn’t wait for permission, her hand slips around my arm and pulls me forward as though I am something she just bought and paid for.

And no one stops her. Not even me.

We’re halfway down the cobbled path before I yank free. “Okay, what in the seven hells just happened?”

“You were about to get lynched over a bottle of fever tonic. You’re welcome.”

“I didn’t ask you to play guardian angel,” I snap, rubbing my arm. “You could’ve just watched and clapped like the rest of them.”

She tilts her head, amused. “True. But where’s the fun in that?”

I narrow my eyes. “Why did you help me? Who even are you?”

She grins. “Someone that needs you.”

“You and every other desperate woman in this godsforsaken part of the world.” I eye her neat dress and fancy hair-do, “Except you're not from this side, are you?”

She laughs. It’s light and terrifying. “And you need me too.”

I cock a brow. “I don't share that sentiment.”

“I have a proposition,” she says. “A mission. Do it, and I’ll make sure your mother is healed, your sister safe, fed, for life.”

“H-how do you…know about my mother?”

“Listen to me first.”

My stomach takes a sharp twist just as this conversation has, but I keep my face blank. “Oh yeah? And what’s the catch?”

“Kill Alpha Kane Blackheart.”

Oh.

It makes sense now. Since I did meet her amidst herbalists, she was probably there to get medicine for her insanity. I am talking to a madwoman.

I burst out laughing. “I would love to wring his little neck for sure.”

But when she doesn't flinch or laugh in return, it dawns on me. “You’re serious.”

“Three months,” she says, brushing nonexistent dust from her sleeve. “All details will be provided. Do it, and save your mother’s life.”

I stare blankly at her. “You’re insane.”

“And you’re desperate.”

“Lady, people don’t say things like that out loud unless they’re drunk, suicidal, or cursed. What do you think I am?”

“Nyx. Nyx Eden Ashvyr. First Daughter of the late Alpha of Eclipse County. You lost your father to this very monster I am asking you to take out, and now live with your dying mother and little sister, Aura, in a hut that can barely stand erect when the wind blows.”

My mouth falls open.

“I did my homework.” She stalks closer, her eyes shining with conviction. “I know about your wolf’s tier too. I know you are a Nightbane wolf and just how powerful you truly are. That makes you the perfect person for this job. Help me help you, Nyx.”

My throat tightens, bumps rising on my skin.

“This was a mistake. And do not follow me, stalker.”

“Wait.” She takes a sack out of her heavy purse and pulls the strings open.

It's filled with money. Golden coins that will feed me and my family for months, probably get me enough tonic for this strange illness plaguing my mother.

“Ten more bags of this,” she announces and Halo stirs.

‘Ten?!’

She's not done. “A house by Raven's Hut riverside and a doctor from the west to cure your mother. Tell me, child. Is this enough incentive to kill a man who's already taken so much from you?”