"Dad! You can't be serious!" Lily exclaimed as she was dragged down the hallway by her father. 

After the rejection ceremony, Lily fled from the entertainment hall and returned to her room to mourn the loss of her mating bond. She prayed and begged the Moon Goddess for forgiveness. Lily never wanted to do this, but she didn't have a choice. She couldn't be tied to an unfaithful mate for the rest of her life. 

For two days, Lily stayed in her room and slept as she recovered from losing the mating bond. On the second night, her father, Kenneth, kicked the door in to drag her out. Because Garrett didn't attend the rejection ceremony, Kenneth was hell-bent on Lily being bonded to Garrett immediately. 

After receiving a phone call that Garrett was back from a business trip and was staying at the Embassy Suites, Kenneth knew that he had to get Lily to him.  He forced her to go to the pack doctor to have every test done to show that she was still pure and genetically tested to show she had no defects before getting her ready to go to the hotel. 

"You embarrassed us. You wore your wedding dress. We have no money for Brandy's dress. By ensuring your bond to Garrett, Alpha Jack promises to pay for everything," Jacob retorted. 

"What about what I want? You got what you wanted! Brandy will be Matthew's Luna! Why must you do this to me?" Lily asked as she was brought to a door. She should've taken her friend up on her offer to go out of state with her for the holidays. Perhaps she would've been able to avoid this.

"If you hadn't ensured that we couldn't get the money back from your tuition, then perhaps we wouldn't need to do this. This is your fault," Kenneth answered angrily. "I've already gotten that squared away." He pried the jacket off his daughter, revealing her attire: a silky white camisole. "All you must do is do what he says. You'll be fine."

For the first time in her life, she wanted to physically harm her father. Lily wanted to shift and maul her father, but she was still too weak from the broken mate bond. She was helpless as Kenneth opened the door to the room and shoved her into the room.

The room was decorated with homey hues, for they gave a sense of home away from home, of a place of nurturing safety. However, Lily didn't feel safe at all. She felt like her whole world had been turned upside down. 

Tonight, was her engagement night as her father explained it. It felt more like she was being offered up on a silver platter to a predator.

Lily quickly turned the lights off and sat down on the bed. The room was now pitch black and eerily quiet. The only sound that could be heard was the fan that was hiding Lily's rapid breathing.  Lily lay stiffly on the bed, feeling like her body was under a spell. She was unable to move. 

Lily heard the door opening, and light entered the room, blinding her for a moment. She closed her eyes in fright, afraid of what would happen next. Lily heard that the second son of the Hunter family was hideous, temperamental, and had a fierce reputation for being a cutthroat businessman.

Most would think that he was not husband material. Even if someone wanted a business alliance, they would never marry into the family since the second son was the only one available. However, Kenneth Bray would. 

Kenneth Bray, Lily's father, if he could even be considered a father, was short on money. He hid his daughter, Brandy's, gambling addiction from his wife and spent almost their entire fortune paying off Brandy's debt. Kenneth took a loan from a loan shark and failed to pay the loan shark back. 

Now, the loan shark wanted to collect, but Kenneth still had no money. He came up with the idea to persuade Matthew's father, Jack, to choose Brandy over Lily. It almost didn't work as Jack didn't care about Lily not being an Alpha; however, after finding out Brandy was pregnant with Matthew's pup, Jack agreed to it. 

Lily would still be a member of their pack, but she would be bound to their second-born son, whom they had been trying to marry off for years now. After Brandy's promiscuous nature came to light, Alpha Jack and Luna Kelly wanted to make sure that Lily was a good girl that hadn't been messing around while in college. After going through her medical records and her brave front during the rejection ceremony, they were convinced. 

It is going to be okay, Lily told herself. She knew that this man was only ten years older than her. He was not married yet, and Lily could only wonder why. He had to be a weirdo! 

The quilt on her was lifted slowly. A large hand touched Lily's arm, and she kept from shrinking away from the hand. Instead, she slapped his hand. 

"You… you could at least introduce yourself," Lily stammered out. 

The man chuckled before removing his hand and said, "I am Garrett, but you already know that. Are you afraid, Lily?"

His voice was low and husky. If she were in a different situation, Lily would have thought his voice sounded good. But in her current state of high mental tension, he sounds like a monster. 

"Yes, I am a little scared, but I can get past it," Lily said as she trembled in fear. She was doing this for her family. That's all that matters.

"I'll turn on the light. Maybe that will help," Garrett suggested. He leaned to the left to touch the switch on the wall, but Lily grabbed his hand tightly.

"Don't..." Lily begged. She didn't think it would make it better. She was already nervous, as is. If he genuinely was disgusting to look at, Lily didn't think she could go through with this. 

Garrett remained still for a while before moving closer to Lily on the bed. He began stroking the side of her face. Garrett then cupped her face lovingly as he tried to ease her fear. 

"Sir, it's my first time. Can you be gentle?" Lily asked humbly.

"Seriously?" Garrett responded in disbelief.

"Why is that so shocking? I wanted to wait until marriage," Lily snapped, overcoming the fear for a moment as she was slightly offended. However, her fear came back with full force as she felt Garrett's hand shifting from her face.

Garrett's fingers went down from checks to her slender neck, over her collarbone, and drifted over her chest. Lily sucked in her breath as she became stiff toward Garrett's touch. Her hands clenched the sheets as if she was going to rip through them.  She began to focus on her breathing to keep from hyperventilating. 

"Do you know what it means to lie here with me tonight?" Garrett questioned.

"It means I'm... yours from now on," Lily answered softly.

Garrett chuckled again and said, "You don't have to treat yourself like an object, especially since I am not trying to do that."

Lily didn't know what to say to that and remained quiet. This clearly was a transactional situation. She didn't expect love or anything else from him.

"I need a wife, not a plaything. You need money. We can help each other," Garrett continued while he held her hand tightly.  

Lily wanted to tell him no, tell him that he was ruining her life, and tell him that she did not need money. It was her family. She had never experienced something so shameful as her experiences before tonight. Lily wanted to reject him, but where would that leave her and her family?