Marked For His Salvation

Chapter Four

Chapter Foureee

The room went silent.

Not one whisper. My bargain and Kael’s had shocked them all. The girl I’d chosen wasn’t even among the girls on display on stage.

“I’ll pay twenty million for that one," I repeated as I rose slowly from my seat.

I didn’t blink. I didn’t care about the stares or the sudden shift in energy. My eyes were locked on her, the girl who served drinks to me.

The note was small, folded once and attached to the base of the glass with more skills than I expected from someone serving drinks.

I waited until the girl had moved away before unfolding the paper. It held two words.

Buy me.

I read it twice. Then I folded it and tore it up. The mere fact of a slave making such move irritated me and I decided to pay no heed.

I picked up my drink and stared at the stage, assessing the women until she returned.

My eyes followed her, watching her every step to see if she’ll pull anymore funny games. As she leaned across to serve the man who sat two seats away from me, her uniform shifted at the shoulder and that was when I saw it.

Faint, half hidden behind the fabric. The crescent shaped mark.

My hand tightened around the glass and I made to move.

“Don’t,” Blake, my wolf cautioned.

I had done this before. Twice. Women with marks that looked right in poor lighting and turned out to be scars or old ink or desperate wishful thinking on my part. Hope was the most expensive thing I had ever spent and I was nearly bankrupt from it. The curse was cruel, it had seen to that I’d have no heir, no mate, no legacy. One of my warriors had killed a pregnant woman during a war I led and the Moon Goddess had made me pay for it in the most devastating way. Every woman who had ever come close to breaking it had either died or gone barren.

My bed had become a graveyard.

I stared hard at it again, my heart racing with each passing second.

It looked real enough. The crescent shape was exact. The faint glow that came with it was present.

The Mark of the Moon Goddess.

Could it be?

I clenched my jaw.

But I would take my chances

The blind seer's voice from three years ago filled my ears. “She will carry the crescent mark. You will know it when you see it. And when you find her, do not let her go.”

"You're not hearing me," Kael said, his voice bringing me out of my reverie. "She belongs to me. Pick someone else.”

"Thirty million."

He stared at me for a long moment. I met his eyes and held them and did not look away because Kael Draven understood one language better than violence and that was money.

The room stirred and the murmurs grew louder.

Some of the other men started bidding too, amused by the show. But they weren’t serious. I could see it in their eyes, this was sport to them. But not to me.

“Thirty million.”

“Thirty-five.”

“Forty.”

I didn’t stop, my voice cut through the room when I said “Fifty million.”

The bidding died. The room fell silent again. No one dared to challenge me further.

Kael's eyes narrowed. I could see the greed in them but also couldn’t miss the curiosity in them.

He smirked. “Fifty million? For a slave?”

I held his curious gaze. “Take it or leave,” I said, hoping he accepted because if not, then it would be a blood bath in here soon. Nothing was going to stop me from leaving with the girl.

Without another word, a sinister smile crossed his lips and he nodded slowly. He snatched the cheque from my hand, checked the amount. Then motioned to his men, gave it to them to confirm and after he was certain, he motioned for them to bring the girl closer to me.

“She's yours.”

Just like that, the deal was done.

Without another word, the girl walked in front of me as we made our way out of the room. We got into the car and the driver immediately ignited the engine.

In the car I assessed her properly for the first time. She didn’t look like anything special. In fact, she looked pathetic. Too frail to be the one I had been searching for; the descendant of the first werewolf priestess. An Alpha-blooded female marked by the goddess herself. She looked like she'd break if the wind blew too hard.

She exhaled slowly, like she'd been holding her breath the entire time. Then she straightened and looked at me directly with a fake smile.

"I want to thank you for buying me,” she said, her voice steady. “And I intend to repay you for it someday." She paused, holding my gaze. "But I should be clear. I have no intention of being your slave or your s*x toy or whatever else men at auctions buy women for. I asked you to buy me so I could get away from Kael. That's all. So if you could just, let me go. We can call it even."

A loud chuckle escaped my lips at her words. What delusion.

“Let you go,” I repeated.

“Yes.”

“Because you asked me to buy you.”

“Yes.”

I leaned back into my seat, studying her. “You think I spent a fortune on you because of a piece of paper that had two words on it? You really think I would spend that on something as raggedy looking as you because you asked me to?”

Her gaze turned cold, her anger evident. “Then why did you buy me?”

“What’s your name?” I asked ignoring her question.

Her lips parted, her eyes still burning with that fiery expression, as if she wanted to curse me out but then something flashed through them and her mouth curled.

“Li…” She started. “Katie.”

A lie. It was clear in her voice, even though she tried to hide it. I saw it in her eyes as well. But I didn’t care.

The name didn’t matter, only what she carried in her blood, and whether she would survive long enough to prove it.

I gave a curt nod instead. “You have just one month. One month to prove your usefulness to me.”

Her glare contorted into a frown. “For what?

“Lower the strap of your dress,”

I said instead of answering her question.

Her eyes narrowed at me, as if trying to understand my words.

“Now!” I thundered, not caring how she felt.

But she remained still, not moved by my words. She shook her head. “No!”

Without another word, I pulled down the strap of her dress despite her struggle and I assessed the crescent mark for a few seconds. It looked real enough. Everything the seer had described.

I had searched for years. Raided packs. Taken women. All to find the one with this mark, and all I found was failure. Some died after sleeping with me. Others went barren. Now here she was before, angry and frightened, completely unaware of what she was carrying on her shoulder.

With a brief nod, I said, “You can pull it back up.”

Her lips pressed into a thin line and her throat bobbed as she swallowed.

As I watched fear creep into her eyes, something strange stirred in my chest. Like a thread being pulled. Like something deep inside me recognized her as something more.

Blake went very still.

It wasn’t possible. The curse didn’t allow for it. If she were my mate, she’d already be dead. That’s how the curse worked and had always worked. I had watched it happen and I had carried that weight ever since and I was not going to make that mistake again.

I shut it down completely.

"You still haven't told me the main reason why you bought me?" She pressed, her voice harder than before. I could see the defiance in her eyes as she looked at me like I was just some beast without teeth.

I looked away. I assumed she should know the answer already. I didn’t owe her an explanation but I felt a force compelling me to talk to her.

“I bought you because I need something from you,” I said flatly. “And if you fail to give it to me, you’ll wish you had never been born. Perhaps you haven't heard of me. But I'm worse than Kael Draven. Even Kael wouldn't try to cross paths with me."

Leaning back into the seat, I straightened my shirt. "Very simple," I said, voice low. "All I want from you is for you to warm my bed whenever I request.”

Her lips parted. Her breathing changed.

"And if I refuse?" she asked. Her voice filled with anger I couldn’t explain.

“I won’t kill you,” I said. “I’ll make you beg for death. But I won’t give you that mercy.”

She held my gaze and despite my irritation, I couldn’t immediately look away.

“You chose me,” I continued. “Out of every man in that room, you choose me yourself. I hope for your sake, you do not regret that decision.”