An Unwavering Promise--Completed

Chapter Thirteen

Eleanor’s POV

I grimaced at Dominic’s words. This definitely posed as a complication to our plans. If he was going to stay close to me, then I’d need to figure something else out. Perhaps there was a way for me to dissuade him from pursuing me. It wasn’t like I was interested in the idea.

“That may be the case for you; however, it’ll be fruitless for you to continue on this path. I’m happily committed to someone else. You’ll have better luck with an easier target,” I said coldly.

Dominic only gave me a wry grin and tilted his head to the side. “That may be the case for now, but–”

“It’s going to be the case later too. Honestly, I’ve seen the way most of the women here have looked at you or thrown themselves in your direction. You could have your pick, so choose one of them instead. You’ll get better results,” I interrupted.

“If I can have my pick, as you’ve said, then I choose you, Eleanor.”

Resisting the urge to both smack him upside the head and roll my eyes, I gave him a waning smile instead. I couldn’t cause a scene here. Candy would be furious if I did anything stupid, such as ruining a potential partnership with the scumbag hitting on me. I really wanted to pour my drink on him, but doing so would literally be the situation I was told to avoid at all costs. I had a mission, which was to save my mate and the orc. Deviating from that would be devastating, because who knows what would happen next?

“You can have your pick of any single woman who’d want you back,” I sighed in response.

“Are you saying that you aren’t even a little curious about me? About what I can offer you? Do you really not want me?” Dominic asked, his voice husky in my ear.

This i***t could not take a hint. “That’s exactly what I’m saying.”

Instead of pulling away and looking surprised like I expected Dominic to do, he let out a hearty laugh. Tears even pooled in his eyes, and everyone’s attention suddenly turned to us. I received many sullen looks and cold glares from the women interested in our host.

“Perhaps that’s why I want you so much.”

I groaned. “So, let me get this straight. There are plenty of women here who’d love to bed you and do whatever it is you want. But, that’s not good enough for you. You want the one lady who doesn’t want anything to do with you? The one lady who has literally said ‘no’ several times? The one lady who’s in a happy, committed relationship? How the hell does that make sense?”

Dominic shrugged at me, while I shook my head at him.

“I’m not used to hearing anyone say ‘no’ to me, so it’s both refreshing and a challenge. I like your status and the way you carry yourself. I like that you think you’re in a committed relationship and want to stay true to your partner. I like that you haven’t fallen for my wit and charm instantly. Eleanor, you have too much going for you, so how could I possibly ignore you?”

“What do I have to do in order to get you to leave me alone and find someone else?” I asked, almost desperately.

Dominic pretended to think it over for a few moments before answering, “Be mine. In every sense of the word. I want you. I want you on my arm, I want you in my bed, and I want what you can offer me in a financial sense. I can already tell that you are business-savvy. I’m interested in seeing how you could help my business ventures expand and what sort of empire we could build together.”

I was aghast, caught off guard, and totally flabbergasted. “What world do you live in?”

“One where I get what I want.”

“You know nothing about me? How can you say all this when we’ve only just met?”

Dominic chuckled. “I have a file on everyone who steps through my doors. Of course, I know about you and what you’ve done. I wouldn’t make this decision lightly. Meeting you only confirmed what I had read.”

My stomach tightened at his words and an uneasiness swept over me. Suddenly, this party felt and looked forced. There was no way that he knew about me and Alexander, right? How could he? We had never announced ourselves. Not even the werewolf world knew about us. I glanced around at everyone sitting at the tables. They were politely listening to the auctioneer prattle on about the various items that would be for sale. No one was really paying us any attention anymore, but I could feel Dominic’s eyes boring into my head, studying me, and wanting me. It was not a good feeling and felt very ominous.

“And without further ado, let’s begin!” the auctioneer shouted excitedly, grabbing my attention.

The auction began as normally as any other I’d witnessed or had seen on television. Priceless artifacts were shown as well as pieces of art and jewelry. Nothing sold for under one million, and I did my best to keep myself in check. I also did my best to ignore Dominic, who hardly paid any attention to the auction or the money he was making. He continued to scoot closer to me, his arm draped across the back of my chair. My shoulder was now firmly pressed against the side of his chest. I attempted several times to escape from him, but he followed me around the table each and every time. I got a few looks from Candy, and tried to plead with her for help, but she probably didn’t know what to do anymore than I did. Dominic was clearly very pleased with his home court advantage. As the host, he knew that I couldn’t really say anything against him.

About twenty more minutes passed with uneventful items being auctioned off. We then took a small break for our meal to be served. Someone placed a plate of baked vegetables with chicken and mashed potatoes in front of me. Dominic got the salmon with similar side dishes. I ate politely, but my appetite was gone, so I mainly just pushed the food around my plate.

Once the auctioneer returned to his platform, my heart sped up. I knew that this was when things were really going to pick up. I could even sense Dominic’s anxiety level going up. I thought it was odd, since it was his auction after all, but perhaps there was something I was missing or something he was waiting for.

“Honored guests. Dearest ladies and gentlemen, it is my pleasure to present to you the reason why most of you are here this evening. At this time, we will segway away from the items portion of the night to the…more humanoid portion. Please don’t be alarmed when the container holding our specimens comes up. It is fully oxygenated, and all creatures have been given a supplement to make them more docile. There will be no touching, as the container is made of glass. But we do encourage you to get up from your seats and look more closely if you’d like. Please keep in mind, though, that not all of the creatures process the drugs equally, so some may be more awake than others. Shall we begin?” he said cheerfully.

A sounding applause answered him, and he grinned at us and pressed a button on his podium. The ground in front of him began to open. A giant, wooden paneling on the floor was sliding back and up from the floor, a large, glass cage came rising up. It looked like a big, glass box. Once it had settled, we could see a small child. She was pale and had long, silvery hair, and with my truth-sight, I could tell that she was Fae. She was totally passed out, and lying on her side on the ground of the cage.

“As you can see,” the auctioneer began, “We have a very rare, female Fae child. Not many have been born in the last three decades. It took us quite some time to procure her. What do you say? Let’s start the bidding at $500,000?”

I clenched my jaw and knew my entire being was shaking in anger. She was just a child. I had no way of knowing who would buy her and what he or she would do to her. People, even people of different races, still deserved their rights and still deserved to be treated as a person instead of as some thing. I didn’t care that Dominic was openly staring at my reaction. I knew that this was an underground market. I knew that he sold people. But I hadn’t been ready to see it.

After a couple more minutes of the auctioneer taking down bids, he finally hit the gavel for the last time, saying “Sold! To the gentleman in the back with the orange pocket square!” This girl had just been purchased for 3.2 million dollars. I was feeling myself unravel, and if it hadn’t been for Candy’s sharp look, I would’ve lost it. Rae was begging to come out and wreak havoc on these people, and on Dominic most of all for allowing this and profiting from it.

“Not a fan, I see?” he asked cautiously. “You knew what this was before coming here, didn’t you?”

“Yes,” I said through gritted teeth. “But it’s different to see it play out before my very eyes. It’s disgusting.”

I watched him as he pursed his lips and frowned. “Disgusting?”

The glass cage sank into the floor once more, and I turned to face Dominic.

“Yes, it’s disgusting watching rich people buy others, like cattle, and think nothing of it. These people have rights, and they deserve their freedom. You stole all that away from them,” I spat.

“That child was the mate of the werewolf who purchased her. He was simply getting what was already his. How is that disgusting? Isn’t that what werewolves do?” Dominic retorted.

I bit my lip to keep in the first thought that came to mind. “Werewolves shouldn't buy their mates,” I said evenly.

“Then what would you suggest?” Dominic asked, genuinely interested.

“Well, first he should wait. She’s clearly a child. Let her live her life a little. Then, secondly, talk with her, get to know her. You can’t just buy people! That’s not the answer! She may not even want the mate bond! You can’t force someone into a relationship simply because you want it. I feel like I shouldn’t have to explain that,” I stated.

Dominic rested his elbow on the table and then put his head into his hand. “What if he doesn’t know any better?”

“You can’t be serious,” I stated rather than asked.

“I am. What if he’s so far out of touch with people and reality that he doesn’t realize he should have acted differently to the lady he likes?”

I shook my head. “I have a hard time believing that someone can be that clueless.”

“What about me?”

I frowned. “What about you?”

“How could I get on better footing with you? I mean, I haven’t purchased you, but we aren’t, I don’t know, where I’d like us to be.”

I sighed. “That’s never going to happen.”

“And why not?”

“We’ve been over this, Dominic. Like I said–”

He interrupted me with a sly smile. “Call me Dom, not Dominic.”

“I don’t want to do anything that entices your belief that this will lead anywhere,” I replied.

“I doubt there’s anything you can do to get me to stop. You see, I’m already pretty infatuated at this point.”

I rolled my eyes and turned back towards the floor, where the cage was rising once more. It was time for another action to begin. After the cage settled on the floor, a light turned on and shone down onto Brit. She had her wrists tied together with rope that extended from the top of the glass cage. She was lying on her side on the cage floor. Her outfit had all the men’s attention. Her hair was clean and flowing around her and her dress, if one could call it that, was made of sheer fabric that did little to disguise what she had to work with. Two large strips of the sheer white, gauzy cloth covered her breasts and attached at the waist, and then flitted down her body to gently rest on her legs and feet.

Dominic gave me a questioning look as I sucked in my breath. Knowing that she and my mate were actually here filled me with as much dread and as it did adrenaline. As soon as it was Alexander’s turn, things would go into action.