Prologue
Welcome to The Sanctuary.Here, once a year, the Black-Market Auction takes place.
At The Sanctuary, anything and everything is available, for the right price.But the most prized items are the omegas.
It’s a way for some of them to make money and better their lives, while for others it’s an escape.A way to be with a feared Alpha in the safety of The Sanctuary.But there are rules attached to the purchase of an omega.
All purchases must be settled in full before you are allowed access to the omega.
No one is allowed to permanently mark an omega.
No one is allowed to claim an omega.
You are only permitted twelve hours with your omega.
Chapter One
Price Paid in Blood
Zion
The Sanctuary is alive tonight.
I feel it in the walls, in the marble floors that reverberate with every restless step of the Alphas packed into this room.The air tastes of tension—metallic like blood, bitter like greed—and heavy with a hunger that coats the tongue of every man gathered here tonight.
The annual auction always pulls them in.Alphas from across the country, some from overseas, all drawn here like moths to flame.They posture, they growl, and they flash money like it makes them some kind of damned gods.But underneath all that bravado, they’re the same as the rest of us.
Desperate.
Pathetic.
I usually loathe nights like this.There are too many people and too much chaos in my ordinarily controlled environment.Aiden basks in the chaos, feeding off it like a fucking vampire.My brother thrives on control and performance.I don’t.I sit in the shadows, watching, judging, making sure everything runs smoothly.Cold and detached.That’s how I’ve kept myself alive this long.That’s how I’ve kept this empire—our empire—standing while Alphas burn themselves to ash over slick and scent.
Omegas.The poison I swore I’d never touch.
The announcer’s voice crackles through the speakers.“Lot number four.”
