Reclaiming Herself—Completed

Chapter Twenty-One

Danielle.

Watching the lights flash, Danielle’s nerves heightened exponentially. It meant that the auction was going to begin. It meant that the women she had desperately tried to protect would be sold off to heartless men. It meant that she had failed again.

“Like you failed us…” a voice said.

She jumped in fright and quickly looked around for the voice; however, there was no one. Richard had briefly left her to attend to a few things before taking the stage and welcoming his guests.

Letting out a shaky breath, she told herself to keep it together. Danielle had a weak plan to disrupt the auction, and she needed to keep her cool in order to attempt it. She knew that it was dangerous, but she’d rather die at this point than stand by and do nothing. It had already been a week of Richard forcing himself on her in the blood of an omega he’d kill viciously in front of her. Each time, Richard said it was her fault for not marking him. She wasn’t sure where her resolve came from. In a way, he was right. Those slaves would have remained alive, at least for a little while longer, if she had only marked him.

“Get ready, Luna,” a worker barked at her.

She jumped again, wearily watching the man pass by her.

“Alpha Richard said you’re going on in a minute,” he continued, his eyes lingering on her for an uncomfortable extra moment.

She nodded silently, her mind racing. This would be her chance. Richard had mentioned her joining him on stage to open the auction, and she had decided that this would be her only opening to disrupt the festivities.

Danielle then stood up from her wooden stool, preparing to smooth out her dress. A rush of dizziness and nausea overtook her, and she swayed.

“Ay!” the man shouted, catching her before she could fall. “Knock this s**t off.”

“S–sorry,” she mumbled, holding her head in her hand and reaching for something to prop her up.

Her forehead felt hot to the touch, and she swiped away several beads of sweat. She really wanted to vomit.

“Get your f*****g hands off her!” she heard Richard roar.

“M–my apologies, Alpha. She was gonna fall, and I–I just caught her. N–nothing goin on here,” the man stumbled over his words.

Richard approached her and roughly grabbed her out of the man’s grasp. The jostling only upset her stomach more. He crushed her wrist in his grip, and his breath fanned hotly over her face.

“Stop pulling these tricks, Luna. We’re about to go on. Ugh, why are you so sweaty?” Richard spat at her.

She swayed once again to the side in his arms. She blinked up at him, the world still slightly spinning. Pain was creeping into every fiber of her being, and she felt hot. So hot.

“Come on,” Richard said, pulling her with him out onto the stage.

Polite clapping welcomed them, and she tried to slap a smile onto her face, wondering if she would be convincing anyone that she was happy to be there. She was surprised to see so many faces looking up at her.

Once the room was silent again, Richard began, “Over a decade ago, I had a dream as I was sleeping one night. In that dream, I was surrounded by beautiful women, but there was one woman in particular who stood out from the crowd. And when I woke up, I asked myself why I couldn’t make that a reality? I asked myself why I couldn’t find her? So, I began to create a business model that would allow anyone to indulge in the finer things in life and buy the perfect woman. The woman or women,” he chuckled. “Of their dreams. The Moon Goddess has blessed us men with an insatiable thirst for beautiful things and excellent p***y. So why not take what’s rightfully ours, eh?”

The room erupted in laughter and a smattering of applause. Danielle was sick from the mere thought of anyone agreeing with this idea. Women had not been created merely for men’s pleasure, and they certainly shouldn’t ever be treated in that way.

She felt Richard press her closer to his side, as if challenging her to refute his speech.

“Today, I welcome you to take your fill and satisfy your urges, which is our right as the males of our collective species. We have 50 women for you today. They will come out in groups of five so that you can see the inventory before making any decisions. They are all numbered, so remember which ones you liked. Once finished, we’ll then begin the auction, and you can collect your purchases once finished. Each will be wearing a choker, such as this one,” he paused to tilt Danielle’s chin up, showing off hers.

“And once you pay, we’ll brand the collar with your initials, showing that she has been spoken for. If you have any questions, there are attendants around who can answer you. Without delaying any longer, let’s begin!”

Walking off the stage as the audience cheered and clapped, Richard deposited Danielle back onto the stool, where she wobbled. She gripped the sides of the stool to brace herself. She then lifted up her hair, wrapping it around her fingers in a bun to let the air hit the back of her neck. It felt nice, but it only revealed to her how much the top of her sundress had soaked through with her sweat. It clung to her body. She barely watched as the women were paraded past her onto the stage, shown about in their sheer outfits, and then escorted off. She barely heard the whoops and hollers from the audience. She barely saw the worker from earlier slowly make his way towards her.

“You smell so nice, Luna. I’m sure no one will notice if I just take a sample,” he said, grabbing her shoulder and jerking her backwards.

As she fell into him, she looked up into black pupils. The worker was a werewolf, and she recognized the hungry and lustful look in his eyes. She couldn’t understand what was happening, just that she needed to get out of this situation before someone else took advantage of her.

Without thinking, she launched her fist up and into his jaw, jarring him just enough to take a step back and loosen his hold on her shoulders. Danielle ignored the crunching sound that came from her hand and the pain that engulfed her. She then pushed off of him, using the momentum to fling herself forward. She fell into the arms of another worker with the same look. Feeling his hands elongate into claws, she cried out as he tore at her dress, trying to get at her. Danielle used all her might to shove him away and stumbled onto the stage, knocking into one of the women, who caught her before she could fall. Both workers lunged after her, snapping their jaws.

“Give her to me!” one of them growled, licking his lips. “She’s mine tonight.”

Richard flew into a rage, watching his Luna practically get assaulted in front of him, and knowing that this was happening in front of everyone at his auction. He grabbed the worker closest to him by the neck and threw him off the stage. He growled at the second, who didn’t seem frightened.

Danielle’s yelp of surprise brought his attention onto her. Someone from the audience had crawled onto the stage and was making his way toward her and the other woman who was holding her. He then took a moment and sniffed the air. The most mouth-watering scent filled his nostrils and immediately made him hard. Lust filled him, but he shook his head. Now wasn’t the time to lose his senses.

Bounding forward, he blocked the guy from reaching for Danielle, delivering a punch into his stomach. He noticed that the pupils of the audience members were completely black.

“Daniell,” he said harshly. “You need to mark me right.”

“What?” she called out, backing away from everyone.

“You’re in your f*****g heat,” he snarled through his teeth. “If you mark me, it’ll be over immediately. This place is about to erupt in chaos as every unmated wolf, including myself, tries to mate with you.”

“M–my heat?” she gulped nervously. “But–but I haven’t even shifted in over a year! H–how is that even possible?”

Richard inwardly kicked himself. The witches had mentioned that this could happen. In order to encourage the bond to break, her heat might activate so that she would mark him. The witches had assured him that it was highly improbable. He made a quick note to deal with them once he got everything back under control.

At this point, several more audience members were climbing onto the stage. One leaped through the air, landing dangerously close to Danielle. Richard made his way towards her, knocking off several clients, now turned into their wolf forms. Danielle tried to fight off the man next to her, but he pinned her to the ground easily, his greedy eyes taking her in.

Out of nowhere, a blonde-haired man bashed his head into the floor and pulled him off of her. He then yanked her into his arms, throwing her over his shoulder into a fireman’s carry, and took off for the side of the stage.

Richard howled in fury as he chased after them, watching as Danielle struggled to escape his grip.

“Let, let me go!” she yelled, banging her fists into his back.

She knew that her former strength had been sapped and that it was more uncomfortable than the actual pain she was delivering to his well-muscled back. Strangely enough, she found herself not as afraid of the man as the others. When he touched her, she felt a weak spark. It then dawned on her.

“P–patrick?” she whispered.

“Yes, love. I’m here, and I’m not leaving without you this time.”