Luna of the Alphas

Chapter 3

Chapter 3

One of the aunts asked, "Oh, do you want a slave, sweetheart?" I promise you that we have a great range of virgins.

Because it was hard to be sure a girl was pure, certified virgin slaves were hard to come by. Werewolves didn't know much about how humans work, and they didn't want to take the time to check each of us out. But the girls at this shop were taken from The Cell, a place where people under the age of sixteen were locked up until they were old enough to be released.

There wasn't any way for most of us to mess up. And for most of us, it had been ten years since we had seen a real boy.

I was taken to The Cell when I was thirteen years old. I was locked up there for three years before being moved here to AllYours Botique, a small slave market in the market area. Slaves could not be bought when they were sixteen years old. Instead, that was when we started our first lessons. We learned for the rest of our lives how to serve our masters well, take care of them, and make them happy. The aunts wanted us to be ready before we turned eighteen, which was the legal age to sell. In the end, the most important thing about a slave was how they treated their boss.

This hasn't been done since the new Alpha took over. Slaves had to be eighteen years old before they could be sold. The other slaves saw this as a good thing. But I didn't see much kindness in it.

Possible bosses watched our storefront with hungry eyes, looking at girls like they were meat on hooks. At least we were safe in The Cell.

As the Alpha's eyes bore into me, I tried not to look into them. If I looked him in the eye, I was afraid my face would turn red with anger.

People thought he was very lucky, so if he really was that lucky, he would have ended slavery for good. He wasn't any better than them.

We didn't see him as a hero.

The Alpha looked over my shoulder at Aunt Mason. "Where does she come from?""Why?" he asked.

Aunt Mason, of course, thought he was talking about Ashley. People loved slaves with light hair and eyes like her.

"Oh, you like blondes?" This is one of the new girls. "She was sent here by cell phone only a week ago," Aunt Mason said. "I promise you she's clean. But I think there are better girls in the back of the store. We don't show them off until it's time for business. I'll show you—"

"No," the Alpha replied. "This one." His cold eyes slid over to me and pricked me in the face like thorns. I didn't know I was looking right at him until that moment. I quickly turned away as I saw a growl go past the window to get a worm out of a puddle. My heart sank.

I thought, "Lucky worm." I would give anything right now to be picked up and eaten by a bird.

Aunt Mason said, "Oh." "Well, I have more people just like her." I am going to get one of a better breed.

"No," the Alpha replied. "Tell me about her. What do you mean by "good breed"?"

Aunt Mason stuttered, "I'm afraid she's not clean." They were thieves," she said as she stepped closer and jerked my wrist up to show The Alpha the band I was wearing.

The sign of filth.

Being dirty meant I was connected to one of the many crimes that were done against werewolves during the war.

But this was not true.

When wolves killed my parents without any proof or pause, they said horrible things about them. I wore the band even though they weren't crooks and my parents weren't criminals. It was stuck to my wrist; I couldn't take it off no matter how hard I tried. The metal chain had joined together. It would only be broken by my future boss.

Wolves saw this wristband as a sign that I wasn't good enough to be bought, but it could also be used as a sales tag to let them know that I could buy something for less than the other girls. Still, no one was interested in me.

"I asked you what her background was," the Alpha said quickly.

Aunt Harper offered, "I'll go get her records," and she ran to the back of the room.

Aunt Mason told the Alpha, "We keep track of all the girls." "Our policy is to be open."

Aunt Harper quickly ran to a locker in the back of the room and opened a drawer that was full of neatly arranged papers. A few of her other aunts flew over to help her. They were so disorganised that I had never seen them that way before, but I thought that was normal. For every customer, time was of the importance, but the Alpha was different. They would be in bad light if they kept the Alpha waiting.

Plus, this was his first time ever going to the shop. It could be the only chance the Aunts had to make a mark on him, which seemed impossible since they were all so nervous.

I thought it was all pretty funny. I could have quickly told them my name, where I came from, what happened before I got to the Cell, and who my family was. It was against the rules for slaves to talk in front of buyers, and I would have died if I did that in front of such a famous wolf.

Harper was yelling, "Number one-two-seven...number one-two-seven..." After that, she took a file out of the drawer. "I found it!" One, two, seven!She walked across the store with the file spread out in her hands. "One hundred twenty-seven." Lucas, Evelyn. During the second raid on the human town of Westshield, which is fifty miles from Orheroad, her parents were killed.

The word "executed" made me flinch. At the thoughts of my city. At home. I looked down at the floors under my feet.

"What did it mean that they were put to death?"Why?" asked the Alpha.

"This is what they were accused of..." she paused and turned the page to another. "They were charged with..." There was a pause. Aunt Harper then said, "Missing."

"Not there?"Why?" asked the Alpha. "What does it mean to miss?""

Harper said, "It's not here," as a drop of sweat appeared on her forehead. She turned over and over and then looked up with a blank face. "The charges against her parents are not in the records."

I took a deep, painful breath. There was no choice but to laugh or cry. What a silly idea. No one had been charged with the crime my parents had committed yet, and it had been years since they were killed.

It didn't make sense. Every person who was found guilty of a crime had a charge and a punishment. So many things could get you in trouble for crimes against wolves, like killing a werewolf, fighting one, or taking part in a plan to hurt wolves. No matter what the reason was, wolves always made sure that people got the worst sentence possible. They were cruel in how they sentenced us.

But they weren't the smartest race. There were a lot of mistakes in the court system.

Werewolves didn't think it was anything, not even a mistake that should be looked into. But for me, it was my whole life. My family was there.

The Alpha's shadow went across the floor near me. I saw that he was getting closer. They want to look at me.

But he didn't say anything.

I thought that was the end.

I felt his fingers under my chin all of a sudden. He took my eyes off the floor and put them on his. He was strong but gentle.