Aria's POV
The van smelled like blood and fear.
I pressed myself against the metal wall, my wrists burning where the silver chains bit into my skin. The two men who'd taken me sat up front, laughing about something I couldn't hear over the roaring in my ears.
My father had sold me.
The words kept repeating in my head, but they didn't make sense. Parents were supposed to protect you. Love you. Not hand you over to strange men with cruel eyes and chains.
"Please," I whispered, even though I knew they wouldn't listen. "Please let me go. I won't tell anyone. I'll—"
"Shut up back there," the driver growled. "You belong to Blood Moon now. Better get used to it."
Blood Moon. Even I knew that name, and I'd barely paid attention to pack politics. Blood Moon was where rogues went—wolves who'd been exiled or abandoned or were too violent for normal packs. They weren't bound by the Council's rules. They did whatever they wanted.
And now I belonged to them.
The drive felt like it lasted forever. By the time the van finally stopped, my whole body was shaking. The men dragged me out into darkness that smelled like rust and rotting things. Abandoned warehouses loomed around us like broken teeth.
"Welcome home, sweetheart," one of them said, shoving me toward a building.
I stumbled through a door, down concrete steps, into a basement that made my skin crawl. Cages lined the walls. Some were empty. Some weren't.
A girl with matted brown hair looked up from one cage, her eyes dead and hollow. She didn't even seem surprised to see me.
The men threw me into an empty cage and slammed the door. The lock clicked with terrible finality.
"Someone will be down to process you in the morning," the scarred one said. "Try to get some sleep. You're gonna need it."
Their laughter echoed up the stairs.
Then I was alone in the dark with nothing but the sound of my own breathing and the quiet whimpers from the other cages.
I didn't sleep.
How could I? Every time I closed my eyes, I saw my father's face. Heard Dominic's voice saying I was too unremarkable. Felt the pack's laughter crushing me.
The mate bond was still there, pulling at my chest like a fishhook. Even here, in this nightmare place, I could feel Dominic. Could sense his direction like a compass pointing home.
But he wasn't my home anymore. He'd made that clear.
"First time?"
I jumped at the voice. The girl in the next cage was looking at me now, her dead eyes a little more alive.
"What?" My voice came out hoarse.
"First time being sold." She said it casually, like we were talking about the weather. "I can always tell. You still look shocked."
"My father—" The words stuck in my throat. "He just gave me to them."
"Yeah, they usually do." The girl shifted, and I heard chains rattle. "I'm Zara. You got a name, or should I just call you New Girl?"
"Aria."
"Well, Aria, here's the deal. Blood Moon buys wolves from families who owe them money. We work off the debt through labor. Fight rings, mostly. Cleaning up after matches, tending wounds, sometimes fighting if they think you're strong enough." She paused. "You strong?"
I thought about my unremarkable wolf. My average strength. My complete lack of anything special.
"No."
"Then you'll be cleaning." Zara almost smiled. "Could be worse. The fighters don't last long."
"How long have you been here?"
"Two years. Maybe three. Hard to keep track."
Two years. The number hit me like a punch. "How much is your debt?"
"Started at twenty thousand. But they charge interest. And they take out costs for food, shelter, medical care. I probably owe more now than when I started." Her voice was flat. Empty. "You'll never pay it off, Aria. Nobody does. We're here until we die or until they get bored and kill us anyway."
I wanted to scream. To cry. To break the cage bars with my bare hands. But I just sat there, frozen, while the truth of my new life settled over me like ice water.
Morning came with the sound of boots on stairs.
A scarred man I hadn't seen before unlocked my cage and hauled me out. "Come on. Boss wants to see you."
He dragged me through the warehouse, past rooms that made my stomach turn. Fight rings with blood-stained floors. Rooms full of wolves in chains. A medical area where someone was screaming.
Finally, we stopped outside an office door.
"Be respectful," the scarred man warned. "Cade doesn't like attitude."
He shoved me inside.
The office was surprisingly clean compared to the rest of the place. And behind the desk sat a man who made my wolf want to run and hide.
Cade Winters was tall and lean, with dark hair and eyes that looked like they could see straight through you. Scars crossed his knuckles and disappeared under his sleeves. He studied me the way a scientist studies a bug under a microscope.
"Aria Blackwood," he said, my name sounding strange in his rough voice. "Bought from Marcus Blackwood of Silver Crest pack for the sum of fifty thousand dollars."
Fifty thousand. That's what I was worth to my parents. The price of their debt.
"Your contract belongs to Blood Moon now," Cade continued. "Specifically, it belongs to me. You'll work in the fight rings until the debt is paid, plus interest and operational costs. Based on current calculations, that'll take approximately ten years. Maybe more."
Ten years. I'd be thirty-four. If I even survived that long.
"Do you understand?"
I wanted to say no. Wanted to fight. But Zara's words echoed in my head: You'll never pay it off. Nobody does.
"Yes," I whispered.
Cade's eyes narrowed. "You're from Silver Crest. That's Alpha Thorne's territory."
The mention of Dominic's name sent pain shooting through the mate bond. I flinched before I could stop myself.
Cade saw it. His expression shifted—something calculating flickering across his face. "Interesting. You know the Alpha personally?"
"No." The lie came automatically. "I just... I'm nobody. Nobody important."
"Everyone's somebody, Aria." He leaned back in his chair. "Even the ones people throw away."
The scarred man stepped forward to take me back to the cages, but Cade held up a hand.
"Wait. There's something off about you." He stood, moving around the desk with predator grace. "Let me see your wrists."
My heart hammered as he grabbed my arm, studying where the silver chains had burned my skin. The burns should've been healing by now—wolves healed fast. But they weren't.
"How long have these been on you?"
"Since last night."
His eyes snapped to mine. "And they're not healing."
It wasn't a question.
Before I could answer, he grabbed a knife from his desk and made a quick cut across my palm. I gasped as blood welled up, bright red against my skin.
We both watched it.
Normal wolf healing took seconds for small cuts. Minutes for bigger ones.
My cut didn't close. The blood just kept flowing, dripping onto the floor between us.
Cade's expression went cold. Dangerous. "What are you?"
"I don't know what you—"
"Don't lie to me." His voice was quiet. Deadly. "Your wolf is suppressed. Completely locked down. That doesn't happen naturally." He grabbed my chin, forcing me to meet his eyes. "What did your parents do to you?"
"Nothing! I'm just—I'm weak. I've always been—"
"No." He released me, but his eyes never left my face. "Weakness doesn't suppress a wolf. Only one thing does that."
He moved to a shelf and pulled down a small vial filled with dark liquid.
"Open your mouth."
"What? No—"
The scarred man grabbed me from behind, forcing my jaw open. Cade dropped a single drop of the liquid onto my tongue.
It tasted like earth and fire and ancient things.
Then my whole body exploded with pain.
I screamed as something inside me started to break free—something that had been sleeping, buried, chained down my entire life. My wolf, but bigger. Stronger. Wrong in a way that felt terrifying and right at the same time.
Power flooded through my veins like lightning.
And when I opened my eyes, Cade was staring at me with a mix of shock and something that looked like hunger.
"Well," he said softly. "That explains everything."
"What—" I gasped. "What's happening to me?"
"Your parents didn't just suppress your wolf, Aria." His smile was sharp as a knife. "They suppressed what you really are."
He grabbed my bleeding palm and pressed it against his own cut hand.
Our blood mixed.
And suddenly I could feel him. His heartbeat. His wolf. The power thrumming through his veins like a song only I could hear.
I yanked my hand back, horrified. "What did you do? What is this?"
Cade's eyes gleamed in the dim light.
"Congratulations, Aria Blackwood. You're a blood witch. And you just became the most valuable thing I've ever owned."