More Than Collateral

On her eighteenth birthday, Vida is sent by her father to Alpha Marcus's bed to settle a debt. For three years Marcus keeps her close, and she mistakes his attention for love—until the mate he lost five years ago, Serena, returns. Cast aside and ordered into the maid's room, Vida learns she was only a gift bought to pay what her family owed.

Bound to Marcus because only he can fund her mother's treatment, Vida endures Serena's cruelty: a staged fall into the lake, a public shaming, and nights of wolfsbane and silver needles that leave no mark Marcus will believe. When she finally tries to expose the truth, he warns her it is the last time.

Then, at the crematorium, Vida sees a familiar face among the bodies, and the nurse beside her will not stop speaking.