MATE CONTRACT
The words sat at the top of the page in bold letters like they were perfectly normal, like people signed contracts to become someone's mate every day of the week.
Below that were terms and conditions laid out in neat paragraphs.
Party A (Kade Blackwood) and Party B (Sage Monroe) agree to enter a mate bond for a period of one (1) year.
Party B will live in Party A's residence and present as Party A's mate at all pack functions. In exchange, Party B's debt of $500,000 will be cleared in full.
She read it again to make sure she was not imagining things. Then she started laughing, the kind of laugh that comes out when something is so ridiculous and your brain cannot process it any other way.
A mate contract. He wanted to buy her like she was some kind of commodity, like he could just write up paperwork and own another person for a year.
She crushed the paper in her hand and threw it across as it bounced off the wall and landed in the trash can.
Then she poured herself a glass of wine and tried to figure out what the hell she was actually going to do, because the mate contract wasn't an option and neither was finding half a million dollars in the next forty-eight hours.
She sat on her couch until midnight thinking of other ossibilities in her head, and every single one of them ended the same way.
She was screwed.
Yellow tapes were across the door of the clinic when she got there in the morning.
CLOSED BY ORDER OF THE HEALTH DEPARTMENT
There was a notice taped to the glass listing violations she knew for a fact didn't exist, it stated inspections that would take weeks to resolve.
This was Kade.
The realization hit her and suddenly she wasn't confused anymore, just furious.
He couldn't even wait the full forty-eight hours before he started destroying her life.
She got into her car and drove straight downtown, to the address on his business card, not caring that she was still in jeans and a t-shirt, not caring about anything except making him undo whatever he'd done.
Blackwood Tower was all glass and steel, she parked illegally and went inside where a receptionist tried to stop her with a smile that was probably supposed to be polite.
"I need to see Kade Blackwood."
The receptionist's smile got tighter. "Do you have an appointment?"
"No."
"Then I'm afraid…"
Sage walked past her toward the elevators and heard the woman calling for security but she didn't care.
She jabbed the button for the top floor and watched the doors close on a security guard who was running toward her but didn't make it in time.
The elevator climbed and her heart pounded, she tried to figure out what she was actually going to say when she saw him, but all she could think about was Mrs. Chen who needed her diabetes medication and the Rodriguez kid with asthma and all the other people who were going to suffer because Kade Blackwood wanted to prove a point.
The doors opened to another reception area and another woman tried to stop her, but Sage was already moving towards the only set of double doors she could see.
She threw them open without knocking.
The conference room went silent.
Twenty people in suits turned to stare at her, and at the head of the table Kade sat perfectly still with an expression that gave away nothing.
"We need to talk," Sage said. "Now."
Nobody moved.
Then Kade spoke. "Everyone out."
"Sir, we are in the middle of…"
"Out."
They left without another word, walking past Sage like she was contagious.
The doors closed and suddenly she was alone with him in a room that felt too big and too small at the same time.
"You shut down my clinic," she said.
He leaned back to his chair. "Did I?"
"Don't play games. Health inspectors do not just show up with a list of violations that do not exist. You could not even wait two days?"
"I was motivating you."
"Motivating?" Her voice went up despite her best effort to stay calm.
"I have patients who need care. People who can't afford to go anywhere else."
"Then sign the contract."
"That contract is insane!"
"It is a fair offer." He stood up and buttoned his jacket, then started walking around the table toward her. "One year of your life and your debt disappears."
"You want me to pretend to be your mate like I'm some kind of…"
"Not pretend. Be." He stopped in front of her. "There is a difference."
She stared at him and tried to find some hint of humanity in his face but all she saw was cold calculation.
"Why would you even want this? You could have anyone."
"I don't want anyone. I need a mate." He said it like he was explaining something simple to a child. "Pack law requires the Alpha to be bonded.
You need money. I need a mate. It's just business."
"Business." She wanted to laugh again but her throat felt too tight. "You're talking about a year of my life."
"And I'm offering you half a million dollars for it. Most people work their whole lives and never see that much money."
He checked his watch like they were running out of time.
"Sign the contract, Sage. Your clinic reopens today. Your debt disappears. Everything goes back to normal."
"Nothing sounds normal to me anymore."
"Twenty-four hours," he said, and she realized he'd changed the deadline. "That's what you have left. Sign or lose everything."
"You said forty-eight!"
"I changed my mind." He walked back to his seat and picked up a file like she wasn't even there anymore.
"Twenty-four hours. Use them wisely."
She wanted to throw something at him or do something that would make him react like an actual person instead of a machine.
But she knew it would not matter, nothing she said would change his mind because men like Kade Blackwood didn't care about things like fairness or compassion.
So she left. Walked out of that conference room towards down the hall and into the elevator with her whole body shaking from rage, helplessness and fear.
For ten minutes seated in her car, she tried to breathe normally before she drove herself home.
Her apartment looked the same, small and barely furnished. But it was hers and that mattered.
She tried to think clearly about her options but kept coming back to the same conclusion.
There was no way out nor a miracle solution.
She was still trying to decide when someone knocked on her door.
Sage got up and looked through the peephole, three men she had never seen before standing in the hallway. Something about the way they stood made her panic.
"Who is it?"
"Friends of Marcus." The voice was rough. Mean. "Open up."
She stepped back from the door. "I do not know you."
"Your brother owed us money. Twenty thousand. We're here to collect."
Her mouth went dry. "I do not have such an amount."
"Yeah, we figured." There was a pause. "Open this door, or we break it down."
Sage stretched to get her phone but before she could dial anything the door crashed open, the lock broke, and the three men walked in like they owned the place.