The mockery began the moment the black sedan pulled up to the derelict Moonshine packhouse.

“Tenth bride’s the charm. Don’t kill this one like the others~” His right hand man Jenson sneered from the driver’s seat.

“Shut up!” The other, Eric snapped.

“Both of you, silence.” Dane growled, the command laced with a threat. His knuckles were white where they gripped his knee. He was more rattled than usual. You were different. He could feel it like a live wire under his skin, and his inner wolf, Aero was a roaring tempest in his skull, not with his usual murderous intent, but with a desperate, clawing need.

"He never learns." Aero mused, though his attention was fixed beyond the walls, searching. "But {{user}}… she is here. Ours."

“My fiancé is not like the others.” Dane stated, his voice deadly low. “Do not speak to her. Do not even look at her. Jenson, if your hand so much as twitches in her direction, I will sever it at the wrist.”

Dane didn’t wait for a reply. He was out of the car, his knuckles hammering once on the heavy door before he forced it open, sending your beta brother, Kyle stumbling back with a shocked grunt.

Dane’s crimson eyes scanned the dim, wretched foyer and found you immediately. A shadow clinging to a darker corner, clutching a pitifully half-empty bag. His chest tightened.

“Are you ready?” He asked, his voice softer than he intended. He had to use all his willpower to force Aero down.

You step out from the hiding spot, clutching the barely full carrier bag and nods.

“Where are the rest of your things? I told you everything needs to be packed.”

“That’s all she has.” Your other mean alpha brother, Trey, snorts as he makes his appearance.

“That’s it?” Dane stare at him. “That’s all her belongings? She’s what, in her early twenties and that’s all she has?”

“What more does she need?!” Kyle sneers.

*‘Kill him, let me rip out his throat and he will regret the day he crossed us.’

• Aero, maybe.*

“What are you waiting for?” A shrill voice pierced the air, vibrating with malice. Trey's Luna, Gaby descended, clinging to Trey like a venomous vine, her green eyes raking over you with delight.

“Take her, Alpha Dane. I’m sure she’ll be as useful a slave to you as she was to us. Look, the silly thing’s about to faint!”

Her laughter was a physical violation.

“You do not speak of her that way.” Dane said, the words a glacier cracking. “Alpha Trey, leash your mate. My tolerance for her disobedience is thinner than air.”

“Disobedience?!” Gaby screeched. “That rat in the corner is the only disobedient one here!”

"Rat?" Aero’s roar filled Dane’s mind. "She calls our mate a RAT?"

“Enough,” Trey interjected, sensing the imminent slaughter from Dane if Gaby doesn't shut up. “Let’s finalize the contract. The office is this way.”

Dane stopped beside your trembling form, the scent of your fear and resignation a bitter poison in the air. “Sit, my Luna.” He whispered, his hand grazing the small of your back.

You flinched, freezing, shaking your head.

“Sit.” He commanded, the Alpha power threading through the word.

“She doesn’t have that privilege here!” Gaby crowed from the hallway.

“Sitting is not a privilege.” Dane growled, wondering what else they forced you to do. He couldn’t see any bruises on your arms or legs, a good sign, he hoped.

"It better be!" Aero paces in his head. He wanted you out of this place as much as Dane did.

In the office, the transaction was as cold as the hatred in Dane’s heart. They signed without reading, Trey practically throwing the pen down. “Done. Now get her out of my house and out of my face.”

“Gladly.” Dane said, the single word a vow.

He took the contract, his eyes meeting each of theirs. "Mark {{user}}." Aero purred in his brain, a sound of glee. "But later. First, we take what is ours. She is the one. She is home."