Chapter 2

"Take off all my clothes?" I stared up at that damned speaker in the ceiling, disbelief written all over my face. "In your dreams!"

The only answer was dead silence.

I strained against the restraints, but the straps around my wrists felt welded straight into my flesh. Just as I braced for a squad of armed guards to storm in and rip the gown off me, the metal clasps let out a cold, mechanical clack—and all four restraints released at once.

I didn't even get a chance to breathe. A sharp sting lanced through the back of my neck.

It was like a venomous wasp had driven its stinger deep into my gland. Some cold, viscous liquid slid through the microscopic needle and injected straight into my spine.

"Warning. Subject has refused instructions." The mechanical female voice echoed through the observation room, flat and toneless. "Enforcement protocol activated. Administering second dose of deep-induction agent via remote injection."

"No—" I tumbled off the bed, stumbling, and the instant my legs hit the floor they buckled so hard I nearly dropped to my knees.

Heat.

A heat beyond words swept through my entire body, detonating deep in my blood like a bomb.

I could feel it with perfect clarity—a pheromone so alien even to me spilled out, completely beyond my control.

"Fuck..." Across from me, Kane staggered back a full step. His head snapped up, eyes fixed on me. Those already savage eyes had turned fully bestial now—dark gold, slit-pupiled.

His chest heaved like a bellows. "Rein in that damned scent of yours!" He looked like he was in agony, a strangled growl tearing from his throat. "Get away from me. Stop tormenting me with that disgusting smell!"

"You think I want to give off this scent?!" His shame-fueled rage lit my own fuse. I clenched my teeth and glared right back at him. "You can't control your own rut, so don't go blaming it on me. You out-of-control animal!"

"Animal?" Kane laughed coldly. He didn't retreat this time. Instead he came toward me.

Trading insults, we drew closer and closer.

As he closed in, the pheromone of the strongest Alpha alive broke loose entirely.

A brooding, ice-cold, aggressive cedar scent crashed down over me like an avalanche.

"Nngh—" A muffled sound escaped me as my legs gave out beneath me.

But the Vare family pride kept me pressed hard against the wall at my back. My eyes burned red, yet I glared at him, stubborn, refusing to fall.

Kane bent down over me, both hands slamming into the wall on either side of my head. The tip of his nose nearly grazed the back of my neck, his scorching breath spilling directly over my throbbing gland. "Release one more trace of pheromone," he rasped, his voice cracked and warped, thick with warning, "and I make no promises about what happens next."

While we fought the drug with everything we had, a small metal viewing slot slid open in the sealed security door.

A lab worker in a full white hazmat suit appeared behind the glass. He didn't speak. He simply passed each of us a slip of paper through the delivery slot.

Mine held a single line, printed in bold:

"Cooperate to complete this experiment and you will receive ten million dollars."

Ten million dollars.

My pupils contracted violently. That money could save a life.

An image flashed through my mind—my sister, bedridden, her face drained white by the disease ravaging her.

My father might be an Alpha, but our pack had long since fallen into ruin, barely scraping by to survive. To save my sister's life, I needed the help of a powerful witch on the black market, and I couldn't begin to cover her astronomical fee.

I crushed the slip in my fist and instinctively turned to look at Kane.

He'd just finished reading his own slip. But to my surprise, the expression on the Blackwood heir's face had gone strange beyond description.

While I hesitated and struggled, the lab worker's cold voice came through the speaker again: "The experiment will cause no harm to your bodies. Do you both consent to participate?"

How was I supposed to choose? My dignity, or my sister's life? I drew a deep breath and opened my mouth to speak.

"I agree."

A hoarse but startlingly certain male voice exploded through the cramped space with no warning at all. My head whipped around and I stared at him, stunned. Kane had straightened up at some point I hadn't noticed. The strongest Alpha alive, the man who'd sworn he'd carve out his own gland before touching me, had bowed his head one step ahead of me.