TheAuction
There was no point crying anymore. No point praying to a Moon Goddess who clearly didn’t give a damn. I knew I was going to be sold tonight…. Sold like some f*****g object.
The silver chains around my wrists burned against my skin as they dragged me onto some raised platform in the center of the underground hall.
Wolfsbane smoke filled the air, thick and bitter. It made my wolf weak, quiet and almost dead.
The place was huge, expensive, dark. With crystal chandeliers above, velvet seats below. Wealthy Alphas and men in tailored suits, their eyes glowing faintly gold in the shadows.
Fucking Predators, every single one of them.
I stood under the harsh white light, barefoot, bruised, wearing nothing but a thin black dress that barely covered my thighs. The cold air bit at my skin, but the stares were worse. They weren’t looking at me like I was a woman. They were looking at me like i was some f*****g meat.
I straightened my spine anyway. Let them stare. If I was going to be humiliated, I would not f*****g tremble.
The auctioneer stepped forward, smiling like a damn snake.
“Ladies and gentlemen,”
He drawled smoothly.
“Tonight we present something very rare.
A pure-blooded she-wolf, unmarked, unmated, and very much untouched.”
A low murmur rolled through the room. I swallowed every bit of it.
My pack had been slaughtered three weeks ago. I still hear the screams whenever I try to sleep or close my eyes.
I was the last surviving daughter of the Silverclaw bloodline. Apparently thats what makes me so valuable.
“Starting bid,”
The auctioneer continued,
“At five hundred thousand.”
The card lifted instantly.
“Five fifty.”
“Six hundred.”
“Seven.”
The numbers climbed fast like I never thought they would.
I stopped listening at some point. Instead, my eyes locked on the man sitting in the front row.
Wearing a black suit, with broad shoulders, dark hair pulled back, his face was calm, too damn calm, like he was bored.
But his eyes… His eyes were steady on me, not my body, Me…..his gaze was cold, sharp, and calculating.
He hadn’t lifted his card once, yet.
My wolf stirred weakly inside me.
The bid passed one million and my stomach twisted, so bad.
Who the hell pays that much for a person?
“Two million.”
The voice came from the back of the room.
Everyone went silent, even my breathing stopped for a moment.
He stepped out of the shadows slowly, tall and massive. Power rolled off him like heat, not flashy, not loud, just controlled, deadly controlled.
His suit looked simple, but it fit him like it was sewn on his body. His jaw was sharp. His expression was unreadable. But when his eyes met mine, my heart slammed so hard it hurt.
It wasn’t fear; it wasn’t attraction,
It was something else.
Something that made my wolf jolt awake.
Mate.
The word echoed in my skull like an electric shock.
No….No f*****g way.
My mate would not be here.
My mate would not be bidding for me.
The auctioneer cleared his throat, feeling excited.
“Two million from Alpha Kael Nightbane. Do we hear higher?”
The name rippled through the room.
Nightbane.
The most ruthless Alpha in the north. The man who crushed packs and took their territories without blinking. My blood ran so cold. No one dared to outbid him.
“Two million going once… going twice… sold!”
The gavel slammed down. Just like that, I now f*****g belong to him.
Kael walked toward the stage slowly.
No rush, no smile, his boots echoed against the marble floor. As he walked closer to me,
My pulse pounded so loud in my ears.
He stopped right in front of me.
Up close, he smelled like cedarwood and iron. And power. So much damn power.
He didn’t touch me, he didn’t even look at the chains, he was looking straight into my eyes as mine held his.
“You’re coming with me,” he said quietly.
Not cruel in a cruel way, not kind either, just certain. My chin lifted.
“Go to hell,” I spat.
A flicker of something crossed his face. Amusement?
The guards unlocked my chains and shoved me forward. I stumbled, but he caught me before I hit the ground. His hand wrapped around mine. The contact exploded through my body as My wolf roared inside me.
He felt it too.
I saw it in his eyes, the flash of gold, the tightening of his jaw.
But then, it disappeared as quickly as it came. He immediately went back to being cold and controlled.
He released me immediately like I burned him.
“Don’t misunderstand this,”
He said low enough that only I could hear him.
“I didn’t buy you because you’re my mate.”
My heart dropped immediately.
“Then why?” I whispered. I hated that my voice shook.
His gaze darkened.
“I bought you,” he said,
“Because my pack is the one that slaughtered yours.”
The world just stopped, my lungs forgot how to work.
“What…?”
The word barely formed out of my mouth.
His f*****g expression didn’t change one bit.
“And if I hadn’t bought you tonight,” he continued calmly,
“My Beta would have, and he wouldn’t have kept you alive.”
The ground suddenly felt unsteady beneath my feet.
He leaned closer, his voice brushing my ear.
“You should hate me, Lyra.”
My name on his lips felt so wrong that I felt like giving him a hard punch in his f*****g face.
“You will,” he added.
Then he straightened himself and turned to leave, expecting me to follow like I had no choice, which I didn’t.
As he led me out of the hall, I glanced back one last time, and froze. Because the man from the front row, the quiet one who never bid. He was standing now, and his eyes were glowing silver, not gold, silver…..
Silver like my bloodline. And he was smiling at me. Not a friendly smile. Like a knowing one.
Like this was exactly how it was supposed to happen. My stomach dropped, because silver eyes meant only one thing…. Royal blood. Which is Impossible.
The Silverclaw royals were extinct.
I was the last one, hold on a minute.…or wasn’t I?
And why the hell did he look at me like I belonged to him?
Kael’s grip tightened around my arm.
“Don’t look back,” he ordered.
It was already too late.
The silver-eyed stranger mouthed two silent words across the room.
“You’re mine”
And suddenly, I wasn’t sure which of the men I should be more afraid of.
