The Heat #WATTYS2019

Prologue

I stared at the ceiling as a mated bitch over seventeen—mated bitches were all over seventeen—poked and prodded at my abdomen, trying to determine if my heat would come this year.

My golden eyes were glazed over as I went through the process that had occurred every year since my fourteenth birthday, the age at which females started to have their biannual heats. Their last chance to burn up was during their seventeenth birthday's year. If they still did not have their heats, they were deemed unworthy and got rejected by their pack. They turned into rogues, or died of the isolation most Wolves could not bare.

A particularly sharp prod made me jerk as I sucked a deep breath in to stop from crying out in pain. And then a sudden and intense heat took hold of my body as the yell I had been trying to keep in escaped through my mouth. The agony was unbearable, though it lasted merely a minute. It was then that the bitch uttered four words that made my heart stop and a buzzing to worm into my ears, as though I were underwater.

"She's ready to go."

"No!"

I fought against the ropes that had me tied to the bed as I tried to escape my fate. Suddenly five burly mated males barged into the room and got to work on my bed. I yelled and howled as they rolled me down to the shifting rooms, those tight cells made of reinforced concrete laced with silver that were occupied by the female contestants of the Heat—the males were not aloud to mate them, despite the strong pull, until the Heat—as well as newly shifted Wolves.

I screeched and snarled and clawed and scratched at the males when they unbuckled the heavy leather girths that were maintaining me in place on the bed and deposited me with the greatest of cares on the bloodstained carpet of the no-bigger-than-me room. I shifted into a lithe gray wolf as soon as my feet touched the floor and pounced on the males. In no time they had me pinned on the ground, struggling to overturn the giant of a male that had his mouth agape with an angry snarl rumbling out of it from deep in his chest.

"Stop," the Command in his tone almost made me cower down before him but the wild in me snarled threateningly and I resisted, fighting harder, desperate to catch flesh between my awaiting teeth.

"He said stop, bitch. You can't damage yourself or no male will want you," repeated another male, glaring at me with one corner of his lips raised to reveal a sharp silver canine.

I shifted wild with anger.

I snarled, "Then that's exactly what I will do! I don't want to be raped by a male full of hormones!"

The second male growled out a warning.

"Jake, here's the shot," he turned to me, "We don't need a feral female in the Heat. This will calm you down."

He talked to me as if his voice were soothing, when in reality it sent sparks of disgust and rage sizzle down my spine like a thousand uncomfortable pins. I bristled in anger and shifted again, my hackles failing to rise visibly because my back was pressed on the crimson-splotched carpet. I fought against the huge male pinning me down, attempting to sink my teeth into his flesh and clawing at his muscles.

When I saw the large needle filled to the brim with a clear liquid, I bucked, desperate to flee. I didn't want to be taken advantage of and raped while I was defenseless or worse, half-willing because of the pain I would be in. But it was too late as the sharp tip of the needle descended on my neck. The male on top of me was pushing my head to the side to give the second male better access for the shot. I growled and snarled and half-howled, but their was nothing I could do against five, well trained males. Then the needle plunged into my neck and a blinding pain exploded in me for a second before I couldn't feel anything. The drug travelled fast, already I could feel the fight leaving my body as my limbs refused to obey my commands and stopped flailing about. Finally I shifted back into my weak human form, naked as the day I was born.

The male rolled off of me and glanced at me appreciatively.

"You'll have males tracking you left and right at the Heat. This is good."

I couldn't even muster the strength to twist my face into a sneer of disgust. I was not some kind of property. I was a she-wolf with dreams and desires and fears and dislikes. I had a spirit.

Then, the male who'd injected me spoke up, "Alpha will come see you in a bit. By then the drugs will have worn out some and you'll be able to talk. A team of bitches is coming right now."

Then the five males left, abandoning me at my weakest point in a cell with no defense.

Soon after, like the second male had said, a small pack of five bitches arrived, arms full of clothing and jewelry and expensive make-up. I needed to look my best for both the Alpha and the Heat, though for the latter it wouldn't matter too much— I was going to shift anyway. The clothes would be ruined and so would the make-up.

They dressed me in two long and narrow strips of a sheer white color that barely covered my chest and bottom, rejoining at the waist thanks to a golden belt that went over my butt and southern lady parts. I looked like a whore. Then a bitch started to paint my face with a thin layer of make-up while another took care of my hair. The last three started tracing in black paint the ritual tattoos that asked for the blessing of the Moon Goddess so that I would find a strong, dominant male who would put me in my place and make me carry his pups. I hated this.

When a booming knock sounded on the reinforced door, the bitches sat me on the chair in the middle of the room and buckled the straps around my middle, my forearms and my shins. Already I could feel my strength seeping back after the two hours it had been in my system. I could now move my mouth and I used it to spit on the Alpha's face as he entered the room and stopped right in front of me.

He wiped the spit from his face calmly, "I am sure you will find a male to stop these bad manners, female."

In Wolf culture, names were used only by family and close ones.

"I doubt it. I'll kill them before they can get within touching distance of me," I snarled, the fine hairs at the back of my neck bristling like hackles.

"No, female. You will not. You are weak and easily defeated. You will let yourself be mated in the most honorable way— from the back during your heat to favor pregnancy. If not, I will either personally mark you a traitor or I will sell you to a Feral."

I went completely still. Ferals were no joke for a female. They accumulated the she-wolves and had several mates at a time to favor the chances of having a litter of pups. Most would rather die than be a mate to one.

But I hardened my golden eyes, so close in color to those of most Wolves, and said, my voice full of venom, "I don't care. I'll survive the month without mating to or being mated by a fucking male."

Alpha narrowed his own yellow eyes and stared at me, judging.

"If you are so certain, do it. Survive the month without being mated and impregnated, and no female from my Pack will ever be forced to participate in the Heat against their will."

"Prepare to lose, Alpha. I will not back down."

He gave me a pointed glare and turned on his heels, exiting the room and leaving me alone.

A/N) So here's the first official part of the story. As always, vote, comment and notify me of mistakes, it's very appreciated.

     I decided that my posting schedule for this book would be on Thursdays and maybe Mondays, if I'm in writing mood. During vacation or when I have less work, you'll get a new chapter on Thursdays and whenever else one comes along.

— Lexie