The air in the Alpha's den was thick with the scent of pine and something else… something wild and primal that made the hairs on Ellis's arms stand on end. She clutched the rough fabric of her servant's dress, her heart thrumming like a trapped bird against her ribs. Alpha William, a man whose presence filled the entire room, watched her with an intensity that both terrified and thrilled her.

He had bought her, a mere human, to settle her father's debts. But the way he looked at her, the lingering touches, the way he singled her out from the others in his vast harem, told a different story. A dangerous story.

Tonight, the air crackled. She knew, deep in her bones, that something was about to change. The fragile balance of her enslaved existence was poised on a knife-edge, ready to shatter.