CHAPTER 2
1195 Words
The people were gathered on the streets and booed as we passed. They even threw rotten fruits at us.
Some, not all of them. A handful of them looked at us with empathy, something I didn’t quite expect from people who raided our home.
Despite the civilization I thought we had at home, this place was exceptionally large and beautiful, with streets which were paved and interconnected.
“Move it, will you?!” the captain barked at us, and we waddled even faster.
I continued to clutch the necklace to my chest.
My throat burned from thirst, my stomach churning after days of starvation.
We passed through their market, and I caught sight of my kind. The men were carrying heavy loads, and the women were forced to showcase exotic acts to entertain crowds.
Finally, we entered a quiet street, and stopped before an auction house, the signpost before it giving it away.
They moved us inside through the back door. One after the other, we entered the hall.
It finally got to my turn.
“Please, don’t leave us, Princess!” My people wept. I broke into tears all over.
“The moon goddess watches over us. Do not be discouraged and I assure you one day we shall see home again.”
They cried. I cried.
While uttering profanity, the enemies snatched me away from them. They shoved me into the larger room, up a stage, to an all-male audience.
A stout man stroked his moustache and grabbed my hand. I tried to yank free, but he gripped me tighter.
He must be the auctioneer.
“And now here is their princess,” he said, eyes gleaming with excitement. “Look at her beautiful caramel skin sparkling under the moonlight!” He grabbed my face and grinned. “Don’t you all love how those brown eyes twinkle with so much youthfulness and charisma?”
“Three hundred!” the first person hollered, and the man sneered.
“We certainly can do better.”
“Three hundred and fifty!” another person from the audience barked. Tears rolled down my face.
“Four hundred.” Another voice joined in. “Four hundred and twenty!”
The auctioneer glanced at the Captain and they exchanged a knowing smile. With their highest sales tonight being at two hundred and sixty-five, this no doubt, was about to be their biggest sale. “Did I hear a four hundred and fifty Sterling?”
“Four hundred and fifty!”
“Five hundred!” another countered.
“Oh, keep them coming!” The stout man spun me around. “Behold the curve of her form! Imagine the pleasure of bending such a body to your will.” He spun me around again to face the audience. Then grabbed my hand and opened my palms to them. “A rare jewel, both for service and for indulgence. Do I hear an eight hundred?”
“Eight hundred!”
“Eight hundred and fifty!”
“Nine hundred.”
I refused to let them see me break. The bidding continued, before stalling at a thousand.
Suddenly, a rough looking man jerked to his feet. “One thousand, five hundred and fifty,” he grunted, and the men with him giggled.
Silence fell in the room. My breath caught, dread settling in the pit of my stomach.
No! May I not be sold off to them.
“One thousand, five hundred and fifty Sterling! Astonishing!” the auctioneer rasped. “Any challenger in the house?”
Another hush.
“Going for one thousand, five hundred and fifty Sterlings. One, two, three... Gone!”
The bell rang.
Something shattered inside me.
I watched the auctioneer unlock my chains and shove me to the Captain for the rest of the transaction.
My new captors paid and dragged me with them out of the auction house, down a lonely street.
“Walk fast, would you?” the leader snapped. He was the one who stood and made the offer.
They all reeked of alcohol.
I followed obediently.
“I want to be the first,” another said, and the leader punched him hard in the face. The fellow fell to the ground, and coughed blood.
“I told you she’s mine. MINE!” the leader thundered. “Until I’m done, only then can you idiots have her,” he said, and grabbed my hand again. He glared at me and tugged me down the street again.
The rest of them followed.
I wanted to yank my hand free and run, but waited for the right moment.
My heart raced as they took me with them down another lonely street before stopping in front of a cottage.
The leader released my hand as he fumbled with his pockets for something. “Fvck!” he groaned.
“What is it?” another asked.
“I think I have lost them! The keys!” he snarled and looked at the rest of the four men.
“One of you should go back and get it,” he commanded and I held tightly the keys in my hands.
Goddess help me. I’d be dead meat if he found out I’d snatched the keys from him during the brief fight back there— when he punched his fellow gang member. “I must have dropped it at the Auction House. Go find it,” he added.
An argument ensued on who should go back.
It quickly escalated into a fight and soon, they were throwing punches at one other.
I lowered my gaze to the floor, and pretended to know nothing.
The moment their leader stepped in to separate them, I seized the opportunity, and ran.
I'd taken only five steps when a growl tore from the leader’s lips.
“Stop it, you morons! She’s getting away!!”
The first thing I heard was the cracking of bones. Before I could look back, a Lycan clawed at my back so hard that the force slammed me to a wall.
A devastating groan left my lips.
I crashed on the floor, and flung around as the lycan shifted into the leader of the gang.
He grabbed my hair. “Where did you think you’re going, b*tch?”
A stinging pain radiated from my left cheek.
I let out a deafening cry at the slap.
“You steal my keys, then you try to run away!” he barked, and I received another blow to the face.
Boots met ribs. Fists met flesh. I lost count after the fourth strike.
I sought for a chance to escape, but found none.
Sobbing, I curled in on myself and held onto my mother's necklace.
Dear Moon Goddess, do not let me die.
I felt my necklace go warm.
Then a loud howl broke out in the air.
“What the hell!” My abusers stopped and began scanning the environment. I joined them.
“Did you hear that?” one of them asked, and the others nodded. We all searched for where that was coming from.
The shadows rippled… then emerged the largest lycan I had ever seen, its silver eyes locking onto mine.
- Writer
