Chapter 5

For two days, Freya did not leave her room.

The walls pressed in tighter with each passing hour, and the air itself seemed to whisper cruel reminders: Breeder. Property. Loan repaid with your body.

She stared at the ceiling until her eyes burned, then buried her face in the pillow until her breath came shallow and raw. But no matter how long she wept, no matter how much she tried to bury her mind, the truth clung to her like chains.

She had begged. She had cried. She had pleaded.

And Alpha Logan had walked away.

By the third morning, the weight became unbearable. Sitting in silence was worse than death. She couldn’t remain locked in that room like a lamb waiting to be slaughtered. She had to try something—anything.

Samantha noticed the shift in her. The young nurse had grown attached in those few days, watching Freya fade into the shadows of herself. She had brought food, brought comfort, but Freya could not eat or rest. Now, when Freya suddenly bolted upright, a spark of something fierce in her tear-stained eyes, Samantha knew trouble was brewing.

“Freya, what are you—?”

“I can’t stay here,” Freya cut in, her voice sharp with determination though her hands shook. “I need to speak to him. I need to beg him again. Maybe he will listen—maybe he will let me work for him instead. I’ll be a maid, I’ll clean floors, anything—just not this.”

Samantha’s face turned pale. “No! Freya, you don’t understand. He doesn’t take kindly to questions, much less defiance. If you go to him, you might provoke his wrath.”

“I don’t care,” Freya snapped, startling herself with the edge in her own voice. Then, softer, desperate, “I can’t just sit here and accept this. I’d rather die trying.”

Before Samantha could stop her, Freya pushed past and fled the room.

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The corridors of Northridge Pack House were vast and confusing, but desperation lent her wings. She ran, her skirt tangling around her ankles, her hair falling from the pins the maids had carefully placed. Her heart thundered in her chest, her breath coming in short, fast gasps.

The Guards turned their heads as she passed, some shouting after her, but she didn’t stop. She didn’t know where she was going, only that she needed to find him.

At last, she saw him.

Alpha Logan stood at the far end of the great hall, speaking with Xavier and two guards. His presence dominated the space effortlessly—tall, broad, carved from stone, his aura coiling like a storm barely restrained.

Freya’s knees buckled, but she forced herself forward.

The guards moved instantly to block her path. “Stay back, omega—”

“No!” she cried, wrenching free. Before anyone could stop her, she ran straight to Logan and dropped to her knees before him, tears spilling down her cheeks.

“Alpha, please!” she sobbed. “I beg you, don’t make me do this. I can’t be your breeder. I don’t want this life! Please—let me work for you instead. I’ll clean, I’ll serve, I’ll work for the rest of my life. I’ll repay every coin my father owes you. Just don’t make me…” Her voice cracked, breaking under the weight of the word. “…don’t make me bear children like this.”

The hall went utterly silent.

Logan stared down at her, his eyes narrowing. His jaw tightened, and his expression was unreadable, but his aura surged like a shadow threatening to crush her into the floor.

The guards moved to restrain her, rough hands grabbing her arms, but she screamed and tore free, throwing herself back down at his feet.

“Please!” she cried, her forehead pressed to the cold stone. “Please, Alpha, I’ll do anything—just not this!”

Xavier’s calm voice cut through the silence.

“Freya.”

Her head jerked up, eyes red and wild.

“It’s impossible,” the Beta said evenly. “Even if you worked for the rest of your life, every hour of every day, you would not be able to repay what your father owes. His debt was vast. And he collected even more when he sold you here. There is no escape from this fate.”

The words struck like knives.

Freya’s chest tightened until she could barely breathe. She looked at him, shaking her head violently. “No. No, that’s not true. I’ll find a way. There has to be a way—”

But Xavier’s gaze remained firm. “There isn’t.”

Something inside her broke.

Her tears spilled faster, her voice rising in a raw cry. She turned toward Logan again, desperate. “Then kill me! If I can’t pay, if I can’t escape, then kill me, Alpha. Because I can’t live like this!”

Gasps rippled through the hall. The guards stiffened, exchanging uneasy glances. No one had ever dared speak to him that way.

Logan’s eyes burned like ice. He stepped forward, looming above her. “Enough.”

But Freya couldn’t stop. Panic had overtaken reason.

Her eyes darted to the side—an open archway leading to the outer courtyard. An exit. A chance.

Without thinking, she scrambled to her feet and ran.

The hope lasted only seconds.

Two guards intercepted her at the threshold, seizing her arms in iron grips. She thrashed, kicked, clawed, screaming until her voice tore. But their strength was unyielding. They dragged her back before the Alpha, tossing her to the floor like a ragdoll.

She landed hard, pain shooting up her side. Her palms scraped against the stone, but she hardly felt it as her sobs filled the silence.

And then—his voice.

Cold. Final.

“Try that again,” Logan said, each word deliberate, “and I will behead you myself.”

The world stopped.

Freya froze, her tears drying on her cheeks. The air itself grew heavier, suffocating. His eyes pierced through her, sharp as a blade at her throat.

Her stomach twisted violently, nausea rising. She pressed her hands to the floor, trembling uncontrollably.

How could she mate with him? How could she let this man—this monster—touch her, claim her, break her?

She was trapped.

Samantha rushed in, her face pale as death. She dropped to her knees beside Freya, wrapping an arm around her shaking frame. “It’s all right,” she whispered, though her voice trembled. “It’s all right, I’ve got you.”

But nothing was all right.

Freya looked around through blurred vision. Guards lined the walls, every one of them standing stiff, alert. The pack house was a fortress, guarded at every corner. There was no escape.

Her voice cracked as she forced the question out, trembling lips forming words she dreaded to hear.

“If I refuse…” she whispered hoarsely. “If I refuse to be your breeder, Alpha… what will happen to me?”

The hall froze again.

Logan had already turned to leave, his back to her. But her question rooted him in place. Slowly, with a deliberate precision that made every heartbeat drag like eternity, he turned.

His steps echoed across the stone floor as he advanced. Each one was measured, predatory, the sound of inevitability closing in. His eyes never wavered from her face, colder than steel, darker than night.

He stopped just before her trembling form. His shadow swallowed her whole.

Then, in a voice that vibrated with danger, he said—

“Either you do what you’re here for…”

He leaned closer, his words a death sentence whispered against her fear.

“…or you’ll find out what happens to those who defy me.”