Lara's POV
"Explain to me how you were accepted into the Warrior Academy without my knowledge," Alpha Sam's voice cuts through the tension in his office like a blade.
My father stands behind his massive oak desk, his authority radiating through every word. Against the far wall, Alpha Gerry maintains his characteristic stoic expression, though I catch the slight tightening around his eyes. My arranged mate. The man my father bartered me to like livestock to cement an alliance between our packs.
One year ago, I discovered the Alliance Bond my father had orchestrated with Gerry's pack. A contract written in my blood without my consent, declaring me property to be transferred upon my eighteenth birthday. Last week, when I finally came of age, the bitter truth crystallized - Gerry isn't my fated mate. The Moon Goddess had other plans, but my father apparently knows better than the divine.
