The Alpha King Paid 100 Gold For Me — And Ignited A Deadly Rebellion
Part 1
The rusted iron shackles ground mercilessly against my raw wrists.
I kept my eyes glued to the dirty floorboards of the auction platform.
Shadows shifted around me as potential buyers circled like hungry vultures.
The auctioneer grabbed my chin and wrenched my head up to face the crowd.
He yelled that I was twenty-two, literate, and had decent teeth.
I bit the inside of my cheek until I tasted copper, forcing my ragged breathing to steady.
Fighting back in this place only earned you a shattered jaw—a tragic lesson I’d learned the hard way when raiders slaughtered my pack months ago.
While the strong fighters had been butchered in the dirt, the weak survivors were dragged here to the trading block.
“Fifty silver!” the auctioneer demanded, scanning the damp morning air.
Silence hung heavy in the damp morning air.
Fifty silver might as well have been fifty gold pieces.
Catching the dismissive glares of the gathered men, I shrank back; they saw right through my dirty rags to the jutting collarbones beneath.
The auctioneer nervously lowered his demand to thirty silver, sweat beading on his brow as the silence stretched.
A few men stepped closer to inspect me.
Their cold eyes scanned my bruised and battered limbs.
They were looking for a disposable kitchen maid or a cheap field hand.
The auctioneer’s booming voice cracked with desperation.
Sweating through his collar, he announced my training as a master healer under the pack elders, rapidly listing my skills with rare herbs and complex bone setting.
Scattered laughter rippled through the marketplace.
“Real wolves heal themselves without magic!” someone spat.
A towering man stepped out of the crowd, the severe burn scars on his face stretching as he grinned.
“Twenty silver.”
His name was Greg.
His yellowed teeth flashed, and as his gaze crawled over my battered frame, I saw my entire miserable future written in that twisted expression.
It would be a short life of backbreaking labor and daily beatings.
The auctioneer begged the crowd for twenty-five.
Greg chuckled darkly and dropped his offer to fifteen.
He pointed out I was half dead already.
I squeezed my eyes shut against the rising tears.
Maybe if I kept quiet and worked incredibly hard, he wouldn’t kill me right away.
The auctioneer protested the insultingly low price.
Greg sneered that absolutely nobody else wanted me.
The entire marketplace suddenly went dead silent.
My inner wolf stirred uneasily in the back of my mind.
A wave of raw, suffocating power washed over the square.
My skin prickled with a sudden and overwhelming awareness.
Every instinct I possessed screamed at me to drop to my knees.
The air itself grew impossibly heavy.
Conversations stopped mid-sentence.
People scrambled frantically to bow their heads.
A towering figure moved through the parting crowd with predatory grace.
The auctioneer went completely white as a sheet.
His hands shook violently against the wooden podium.
A voice cut through the silence like a cold steel blade.
One hundred gold.
My eyes snapped wide open.
A man stood entirely apart from the terrified crowd.
His dark hair framed a face carved from unforgiving granite.
His sharp jawline tensed as his piercing golden eyes locked onto me.
He was the Alpha King.
His name was Craig.
Everyone in the realm knew the ruthless conqueror of the Northern Territories.
He built a massive empire on the crushed bones of his enemies.
The auctioneer stammered in absolute shock.
He asked if the King was certain about the staggering price.
Craig’s voice dropped to a terrifyingly soft register.
He asked if the auctioneer dared to doubt his word.
Greg took a trembling step forward.
He muttered something about having the very first claim on me.
Craig didn’t even blink.
He told Greg to leave immediately.
Greg practically tripped over himself running away in terror.
Craig stepped smoothly onto the wooden platform.
The sheer power rolling off him stole the breath directly from my lungs.
He stared down at me with an unreadable expression.
He asked if I was truly a skilled healer.
I whispered my confirmation into the quiet air.
Hope fluttered weakly in my chest like a trapped bird.
Maybe he bought me for my unique skills instead of my body.
He simply nodded once.
He turned his broad back to me.
A massive warrior named Tyler stepped forward from the shadows.
Craig ordered his man to take me to the mountain fortress.
He commanded Tyler to make sure I was fed and cleaned.
I took a desperate step forward.
I told the King I could prove my incredible skills to him.
Tyler’s massive hand clamped down hard on my shoulder.
His grip was like unyielding iron.
He quietly listed the strict rules of my new existence.
I was never to speak to the King unless addressed first.
I was never to look him directly in the eye.
He firmly reminded me I was just valuable property now.
The harsh words hit me like a physical blow.
I nodded numbly.
At least I was finally out of the slave camps.
The agonizing journey up the mountain was utterly brutal.
My bare feet bled heavily against the jagged rocks.
The King’s hardened warriors laughed openly at my struggle.
They called me a completely useless Omega.
They joked that healing was a pathetic crutch for weaklings.
On the third day, my exhausted body simply gave out completely.
The rugged world tilted sideways.
I hit the dirt hard.
Someone loudly suggested leaving me for the mountain vultures.
I braced myself for a swift kick to the ribs.
Instead, incredibly strong arms lifted me gently from the freezing ground.
The distinct scent of pine and steel washed over my senses.
I realized the Alpha King himself was carrying me.
He held me against his chest as if I weighed absolutely nothing.
He didn’t say a single word during the long ascent.
We finally reached the towering black gates of his intimidating fortress.
Warriors drilled violently in the massive stone courtyard.
They battered each other with terrifying, unrestrained force.
A tall man with cold pale eyes stepped directly into our path.
His name was Dan.
He was the King’s calculating uncle.
His lip curled in profound, unconcealed disgust.
He demanded to know why Craig was carrying a weak servant girl.
He warned that the entire pack was watching his every single move.
Tyler quickly dragged me away before the tense argument escalated further.
Three exhausting weeks passed in the grim, joyless fortress.
I scrubbed the stone floors until my fingers bled raw.
I offered to heal the frequently injured warriors.
They spat directly at my feet.
They fiercely claimed that suffering built unbreakable character.
I was strictly forbidden from using my healing gift.
One morning, a young boy crashed to the stone floor during a combat drill.
The sickening crack of his leg bone echoed sharply through the courtyard.
Dan loomed menacingly over the sobbing child.
He grabbed the boy’s broken arm and twisted it violently to teach him a lesson.
He loudly preached about burning out weakness through intense agony.
Something deep inside me completely snapped.
I didn’t think about the strict rules or the deadly consequences.
I sprinted across the courtyard and dropped to my knees beside the child.
Warm, golden light flooded from my palms into his mangled body.
His shattered bones instantly knitted back together flawlessly.
Dan’s face twisted into a terrifying mask of pure rage.
He screamed that I had hopelessly corrupted their sacred ways.
Craig stepped out silently from the shadows of the balcony.
His golden eyes critically studied the perfectly healed boy.
Dan vehemently demanded my immediate, severe punishment.
I boldly lifted my chin and stared directly into the Alpha King’s eyes.
I silently dared him to punish me for showing basic mercy.
The air crackled with lethal, unspoken tension.
Craig casually announced that a healed boy was a useful boy.
He completely silenced his uncle’s furious protests with a terrifyingly low growl.
Tyler tightly escorted me back to my small quarters.
My heart raced out of control for the rest of the day.
Hours later, a heavy knock hammered against my wooden door.
A stoic guard ordered me to follow him immediately.
We climbed the winding stone stairs to the restricted royal wing.
The guard opened the entrance to the Alpha King’s private sanctuary.
The heavy oak doors clicked shut behind me, leaving me completely alone with the most dangerous man in the kingdom.
