Selene sat by the fire, staring at the flames dancing in the ash as she drank the punch. It was starting to have an effect; her tongue was numb, but her mind wasn’t. It heard every screech and scream as the three Alphas came out, grabbing another three girls, then another three, until it was only her and two others.

She was next And she wasn’t ready.

Her heart raced as the screams finally quieted, and she took another sip, hoping it would numb her mind even more. Her body felt relaxed, her muscles not tense at all, but her head was pounding. She leaned back, resting her head against the big cushions on the couch, her eyes fluttering closed.

She had avoided his eyes burning into her every time he had come through that damned door, and the idea that she was going to be the next one he came to get had her jaw clenching. She didn’t want to be the next one screaming like the others who had gone through.

She would kill for a coffee. Or a nap. She took the second option, slowly drifting while she waited. The red eyes were in her dream.

Selene gasped awake and Ethan was there, bending down, his eyes meeting hers.

“Your turn,” he said, holding his hand out.

Selene looked between it and the door.

“Did you at least change the sheets?” she grumbled, letting him pull her up.

He smirked and led her through the door. Cole and Zachary grabbed the last girls from their group and followed them through.

Selene didn’t know what she was expecting, but it wasn’t the room that greeted them. There was no bed, no lanterns. Only the moon shining down through the opening in the ceiling, casting its red glare.

The three Alphas stood next to three concrete stands, each holding a golden goblet carved with the symbols of Wolf Territory: a wave, a tree, and her own village’s mark a vine with flower buds. The Grasslands had meadows stretching over every part that wasn’t used for crops or animal farming.

The Alphas all wore the same mischievous smirk, the shadows playing across their faces, making them look even bigger, even more intimidating. Like they needed it.

She was already nervous, and she was sure the others were too.

Selene was just as curious, though. Surely, they didn’t expect them to f*ck on the floor. So what the hell were they doing in a room with goblets?

Ethan stepped into the red rays of the moon. His claw grew from the pointing finger on his hand, his eyes glowing red before he pierced his wrist with it.

Selene and the other girls gasped.

One of the girls whimpered, drawing the Alphas’ attention. They glared at her as she shrunk back, her chin wobbling. Ethan held his wrist over the first goblet, his blood dripping into it. He moved to the next goblet, then the final one.

His eyes never left Selene, and she wanted to be disgusted by what he was doing because she knew what it meant, but she wasn’t. She was even more intrigued.

He stepped forward, and the shadows moved down his face, dancing across his abs, his tattoo.

Selene’s mouth ran dry as she took him in. Strong, powerful muscle that had something stirring inside her. Not entirely uncomfortable but foreign. She wanted to explore it further, and when a smirk tugged at his lips, she wondered whether he could tell what she was thinking. What his body did to hers.

Cole and Zachary moved behind him, cutting into their own flesh with their claws long, thick talons dripping their blood into the goblets as Ethan finally spoke.

“Here, you take an oath. A blood oath of loyalty to the Werewolf Territory. You become part of us,” he said in that deep, gravelly voice that had Selene’s stomach tightening.

Selene shivered, crossing her arms across herself, the cold of the room trying to seep in past the feelings Ethan pushed through her.

“What oath?” Selene asked, wanting more specifics before she decided whether to take it or not.

“Patience, Spitfire.” Cole winked from behind Ethan.

She clenched her jaw and tried to wait.

“An oath that forbids revealing what happens tonight. An oath that holds your tongues to the traditions we expect of you. An oath that makes you a part of our promise to protect you as a race within our territory,” Ethan explained.

Selene raised a brow. So that’s why her mom had been so vague. It wasn’t comforting; the unknown was terrifying.

Selene shivered, not able to stop her next question from falling from her lips.

“And if we don’t take the oath?”

Cole blew out a breath as Zachary stepped forward.

“Try it, beautiful,” he said with a smile, but his voice was a threat cold and hard.

“Please…” one of the girls shivered. “Please… don’t punish us for her cursed tongue. She’s Winter-born.”

Selene rolled her eyes. Of course. How could she forget her ghastly curse? Sometimes, in moments like these, it was hard for resentment not to creep in.

Her parents knew what would happen to her and her brother for having children in winter. They swore they were due in spring but came eight weeks early. They almost died and because they didn’t, people claimed they had the devil in them.

She’d seen no proof of that.

The red eyes from her dream flashed in her mind, and she shuddered at the lie she told herself.

Selene shook it off and waited for the Alphas to get annoyed and punish her for a birth she had no choice in. But they didn’t.

“Tonight is about sacrifice. About warmth and pleasure. There will be no punishments,” Ethan said, before reaching back for a goblet.

Selene almost snickered. Pleasure. She bet she wouldn’t even get an orgasm out of the wolf b*st*rd.

Pity it’d probably be the best orgasm of her life.

Selene’s blood roared to life at the thought, and the Alphas’ eyes snapped to hers. She lifted her chin defiantly, but that only made their smirks grow knowingly.

Ethan handed a goblet to her, his hands brushing hers as the other offerings were given theirs by their own Alphas. His touch lingered.

He leaned in, his warm hands cupping hers on the gold.

“I can smell you,” he breathed, his hair brushing her face as she tensed.

He nuzzled his face into her neck, sniffing as his hands clasped hers tighter, warmer.

A tight heat prickled in her lower stomach, her p*ssy betraying her, growing slick at the scent of him the radiating heat, the tension. Her npples hardened against her silk.

He noticed. He growled against her neck, her head involuntarily rolling to the side. Selene’s breaths came short and sharp through her tight chest as she fidgeted beneath his overwhelming body. His hand moved to her waist, the touch searing through her defenses, breaking them down easily as her thighs grew damper.

“Ethan,” Cole said, a warning tone in his voice.

Ethan ignored them, his hand latching around Selene, yanking her forward, flush against his body.

She yelped, the goblet falling from her hand. Zachary caught it. He tugged Ethan back, his eyes bright red.

“Ethan,” he said, his voice deeper.

Ethan stepped back, his glowing red eyes catching hers, the intensity so fierce Selene s*ck*d in a breath.

Zachary handed her goblet back, warning her with his eyes before pushing Ethan away. Ethan resisted for a second before stepping back to the concrete half-pillars, the shadows covering his face.

He was still watching.

Selene shuddered, swallowing hard.

“Soon, brother.” Cole held Ethan’s shoulder, his claws out, resting there, and Selene had a feeling Ethan was still on the edge of not listening to his other Alphas.

“The oath,” Ethan rasped. “Then drink the blood.”

The other girls gasped, but Selene had seen it coming.

“It connects you to us,” Cole said, his shirtless body doing just as much damage to Selene’s self-control.

Did wolves not own shirts?

He caught her staring and grinned. She quickly looked away.

“Come forward, girls,” Cole said with an impatient huff.

They did each stepping in front of their pillar, in front of their Alpha.

After reading the oath, Selene stepped back at the end of it, her eyes widening.

“Drink,” Ethan ordered, his voice less hoarse, his eyes back to green.

Selene hesitated as the other girls followed their orders. She looked at the swirling drops of blood, then the oath she had just spoken.

“What brand?”

“Drink, and we’ll tell you,” Zachary said, nodding to the goblet.

“If you don’t drink, we can’t answer your questions, Spitfire. You’re not sworn to secrecy until our blood is in you,” Cole offered.

Selene sighed. She had to commit to an oath without knowing the details?

Seemed like a setup to her but she had no choice.

She drank the blood. It was metallic and bitter. And then it was cold.

Selene frowned, the room spinning as the liquid slid down her throat. Wherever it landed, her body didn’t like it. It stung like a bad sunburn as she screwed her face up, holding her stomach as the goblet fell from her hands.

She swallowed hard as Ethan frowned.

“Is it meant to feel so sh*t?” Selene gasped as weakness spread through her, a heavy, icy feeling taking over as she stumbled.

“Zach,” Ethan snapped, holding her up.

Why were the other girls not feeling it?

Zachary’s eyes rolled back in his head, that same white swirling from before coating them. He growled, then s*ck*d in a breath.

His eyes snapped back to Selene, and she looked up from hooded lids that tried to close.

“Winter-born,” he breathed, walking forward, holding Selene’s face. Her eyes fluttered closed as he did the eye thing again.

“What’s wrong, Zach?” Cole snapped.

“The winter is fighting the blood.” He smirked. “Her shadows don’t like us in her body with them.”

His eyes went back to normal, and he stepped back.

Selene shivered at the way he said shadows. She didn’t want them anywhere near her.

“We’ve never had a Winter-born offering. There hasn’t been one in over a millennium. Will this be a problem?” Ethan demanded