The city never slept.
It breathed.
Slow… heavy… dangerous.
And tonight, it was hunting.
Rain poured over neon-lit streets, washing blood into the gutters like it was nothing more than spilled wine.
Inside the underground auction hall, silence ruled.
Not fear.
Not respect.
Something worse.
Anticipation.
“Next.”
The single word echoed through the room.
Chains rattled.
A figure was dragged forward.
Thin wrists. Bare feet. Bruised skin.
But the moment he lifted his head—
The entire room shifted.
“…An omega?”
Whispers spread like wildfire.
Not just any omega.
A rare one.
His scent—muted, controlled, but still there—was dangerously sweet. The kind that could drive alphas insane if unleashed.
And yet…
His eyes.
Cold.
Defiant.
Wrong.
The auctioneer smiled nervously.
“As you can see… a special product. Untouched. Unmarked. No bond.”
That was a lie.
Not completely untouched.
The omega lifted his chin, revealing faint scars along his neck.
Old bite marks.
Removed.
Burned off.
A dangerous silence fell.
Only one kind of omega had their bond erased.
The kind that survived an alpha.
“Starting bid—”
“Fifty million.”
The voice cut through everything.
Low.
Calm.
Absolute.
Every head turned.
And then—
Fear.
On the highest balcony, sitting like a king among wolves, was the man no one wanted to cross.
The Black Serpent.
An alpha whose name wasn’t spoken—
Only whispered.
His gaze locked onto the omega below.
Sharp.
Possessive.
Unblinking.
The omega felt it instantly.
That pressure.
That pull.
That suffocating, instinctive recognition.
“No…” he whispered under his breath.
Not him.
Anyone but him.
Because that alpha…
Was the kind that didn’t buy omegas.
He owned them.
Broke them.
Kept them.
Forever.
“Going once—”
“Seventy million.”
Someone dared.
A mistake.
The alpha didn’t even look away.
“One hundred million.”
Silence.
Absolute.
Final.
“Sold.”
The gavel slammed.
And just like that—
The omega’s fate was sealed.
But as guards dragged him away, he smiled.
Small.
Sharp.
Terrifying.
Good.
He thought.
That’s exactly where I needed to go.
Because this wasn’t a rescue.
This wasn’t survival.
This was revenge.
And the most dangerous man in the city…
Had just bought the one person destined to destroy him.