Page 12 of Dark Sold Mate

He didn't answer. He just picked her up out of the truck in a way that left her feeling powerless. Elle wanted to fight, to kick, to scream. But she had lost all her strength along the road.

She was back in the pack, which had marked her as undesired, as inferior, as garbage to be rid of.

And Silas was carrying her into the bonding hall to marry her against her will. The hall looked different: high ceilings, torches in iron sconces on the walls, and the old binding circle cut in the floor in the middle of the room.

There was an old wolf there waiting, Leo. He was a servant of the pack. His eyes widened in shock when he saw Elle.

“Alpha,” Leo said carefully. “Is this—”

“We are bonding and getting married tonight. And I shall hear no arguments.”

Leo glanced at Elle's tied hands and the way she seemed limp in Silas’ arms. “Does she consent?”

“As my mate, she does. Now, begin the ceremony.”

Elle found her voice. “I don't consent. I don't want this. Please, Leo, don't—”

“Leo,” Silas growled. “Now.”

Something like pity flashed in Leo's eyes as he moved to the binding circle. “As you command, Alpha.”

Elle's eyes pricked with tears. This couldn't be happening. This couldn't be real.

Silas placed her on her feet in the middle of the circle, but held onto one of her arms, as if he suspected she would run away the moment he released her.

The ceremony was brief. Leo quoted words in the ancient language. Words about bonds and mates. Elle barely heard them above the roaring in her ears.

“Do you accept this bond?”

“Yes, I do,” Silas responded.

Leo faced Elle. “And you?”

Elle opened her mouth. She could say no. She could refuse. But what good would it do? Silas was already determined. He had already hauled her in this direction, already initiated her into this.

“I have no choice.”

“That's not—”

“Just finish it,” Silas cut in.

Leo nodded tightly and finished the ceremony. Elle felt it when he uttered the last words—pain in her right shoulder blade as if somebody had stamped a brand on her flesh.

She gasped and saw Silas wince a bit, too. The tattoos on their bodies were a physical manifestation of a mate connection she never desired.

“It's done,” Leo said quietly. “May the moon be the witness of this marriage and bond.”

Elle's legs gave out, and Silas managed to catch her in his arms right before she fell. She didn't fight or protest. Her mind had drifted far away from this dreadful, hurtful place, which had already deprived her of everything. And now it took something greater from her—freedom.

Silas took her out of the bonding hall, and a gust of wind hit her face. But Elle hardly felt it. Her body was numb.

Silas Weston was her husband, and she was now bound to him for life. Marked as his mate.

The outcast was now the Alpha's mate. It would have been a funny irony, had it not been such a nightmare.

Silas took her to a big house that Elle was unfamiliar with. It had to be his house. The Alpha's place of residence. And as they approached it, two figures came out of the shadows. Even though Elle had not seen them in eight years, she knew them the moment she saw them. They were his younger brothers.

Rael, with his light-blonde hair and his blue-green eyes. Javi with blonde hair so light it was almost white, and dark blue eyes that were full of anger.