Buying the Slave Alpha

Chapter 1

Averil had a dream two nights ago.

She could barely even remember what it had been about but it had caused her to wake up in cold sweat and with a splitting migraine. All she recalled were lifeless, green eyes, staring straight at her and then right through her, the figure giving away the fact that the person was indeed male.

Still, what stood out the most to her were the chain cuffs that wrapped around his two wrists as he held an engraved knife. Every other feature she tried to recall about this male was blurred out in her memory, leaving only one clue. This male was a slave.

See, mother always told her she had a brilliant and special ability. She had gone to meet the Grand Sage, an omega blessed with the greatest psychic abilities, at the age of 5. The omega had only tried to determine why she had such abilities and what they were for but Averil didn't have much memories of before the day she presented as an omega wolf either ways, so she never remembered what the Grand Sage had said.

She rarely seemed to have dreams, but when she did, they either revealed some part of the future or someone of important value that she was bound to meet sometime in the future. Like the time she had dreamt of her beta father's death and another time where she had dreamt about being poisoned by a maid.

Her mother only related her abilities to her having a strong omega's will, even though neither her mother nor her omega siblings or friends had such ‘abilities.’

Besides, the dreams she had had throughout the years were such vivid ones that there was no way she could have doubted that they weren't real anyway. Just like this one was.

Which was why Averil had ended up here at the only slave auction in the city.

It was a secret, ‘strictly by invitation’ auction for high-ranked nobles that she had discovered through black markets while trying to look into finding said slave from her dream. It would bring dishonor to a noble's name if they were exposed for attending one of these auctions especially since they mainly sold alphas. Still, there was no doubt that the majority of people who patronized slave merchants were nobles.

She put on the mask she had bought on the way here and walked over to the short, but growing line of people. It led to a closed gate that opened each time someone slid the invitation envelope past a slotted peephole. She had gotten her's off the black market at a pricey amount of two hundred gold coins.

What am I doing? She thought to herself, clutching on to her own envelope. What if he wasn't a slave at this auction? What if her gift had proven to be wrong this time and said male was only a made-up face?

She soon reached the front of the line at the gate. The peephole slid open once more, the person inside eyeing her up and then down. “Invitation, Miss,” he said in a low, bored voice. She slid her invitation in and the door opened to allow her in.

It seemed like a simple gambling house. With the cheering and laughing groups of common folk, gamma and delta wolves playing cards and rolling dice in front, you wouldn't have thought it was home to several slave auctions. However, there was a dark area at a corner on the left side that looked deserted and distant from the rest of the house. Maybe if she went over there—

“I shall escort you,” a beta male server said before she could take a step, bowing to her. He held a small lantern as he gestured for her to follow him while moving towards the dark area. She could see a stairwell of spirals without railing that led downwards and into an unknown, dark abyss. Although hesitant for a short while, she finally gave in and followed the beta.

The smell of the few beta and omega wolves hit her as she entered the larger than average room. They sat as far away from each other, wearing quite extravagant clothing and all donning masks or cloaks to cover their faces.

There was also a distinct smell of something she couldn't place. Perhaps, alphas? Her mother had described their smell as a ‘foul stench of low, rotten creatures.’ Of course, that was the grudge of several years ago speaking because all she could smell was a subdued rot wood scent mixed with different old herbs, which wasn't as bad as she would have expected.

She had never smelled an alpha's scent before now. They were a class of wolves that weren't allowed to associate with common or noble folk due to their maltreatment against other wolves many years ago. The freeborns usually stayed in hiding, using scent concealing pills or perfumes until they were caught and kept caged, used for experiments or even killed.

“Please raise your numbers and state the amount you're willing to pay once you find a slave you're interested in buying. The auction will begin in a short while.” She heard as soon as she had found herself a seat, also trying her best to maintain a distance. No matter how powerful her mother's status was, there was no saving their reputation if she got caught here.

The auction started soon enough as a chained female alpha was brought up to the stage wearing ragged clothing.

“We'll start with a solid 1,000 gold!” The auctioneer called out, presenting the female to the audience. The bidding began immediately, ending with a whooping bid of 5,000 gold.

Next was a beta male, also wearing similar ragged clothes but only covered by a flimsy pair of pants even in such a chilly night.

The bidding quickly ended, with a bid of 2,000 gold.

The auction continued with five more slaves called onto the stage. Two female alphas, a male gamma and two female betas.

Finally, the last slave was called in. He only had on flimsy, tattered pants just like the rest of the male slaves that were brought on stage did. His upper half had several scars, fresh wounds that refused to heal and discoloration that spread down even to the parts covered by his strides.

Dark brown hair. Drooped, spiritless, green eyes that had lost their shine. A piece of cloth tied over his mouth. His eyes stayed focused on the ground even as he was pinned down onto the stage by several beta wolves, while still being handcuffed in chains.

“Our last slave for the night is an alpha male, the rarest of his kind. His martial art skills are quite outstanding and he is able to withstand wolfsbane for longer than five minutes.” Murmurs filled the hall after the auctioneer's last few words.

Of course he was an alpha, Averil had somehow hoped otherwise. It would have been easier to take him to her pack house if he had been a beta, her mother would have been more tolerating. Her mother loathed his kind just as much as most of the world did.

“We shall now demonstrate,” he said, gesturing towards the restrained alpha.

There was a hint of sudden awareness and then defiance on his almost expressionless face, struggling fiercely as he was fed a drop of wolfsbane poison. They dug knives into his already scarred body as the cloth tied to his mouth muffled his screams of pain. Blood oozed out of several parts of his arms and stomach, beads of sweat forming on his body as he writhed in the arms of his restraints.

Averil gasped, looking away from the gruesome sight. She knew alpha cruelty was bad but she never expected him to actually get fed wolfsbane. She struggled to grab hold of her paddle, hands slightly shaky. “10,000 gold,” she huffed out, feeling breathless as she finally lifted up the paddle. It was the highest first bid for the night and even she had surprised herself. She knew it would be difficult for someone else to bid such a high price for a slave.

“10,000 gold! We have 10,000 gold! Is there any other bidder?” She heard the auctioneer shout out, eyes still refusing to look back at the stage.

“20,000 gold!” a female voice from the other side of the room yelled out. Perhaps she was wrong, the slave in question was an alpha male afterall. They were known to be rare and were frequently used for menial tasks or even worse, s****l activities.

“30,000 gold.” an older male voice spoke this time. The amount was increasing to quite a high price and Averil could see the female waver slightly before finally dropping her paddle.

“60,000 gold!” Averil said out loud once more. It was a hefty amount but it wasn't quite enough to put a dent in her family's treasury.

She had thought that would have been enough to drive the old man away, but she could see him raising his number paddle once more, not willing to back down. “A hundred thousand gold coins!”

“G-Going for 100 thousand gold! Is there anyone else?” The auctioneer stuttered, a little flustered by how high the bid was going. A few seconds later, he went on to start the countdown.

“Five…”

If Averil went past a hundred thousand, the pack would definitely notice. It wouldn't be considered a lot by our family's standards but it was still enough to catch her mother's attention, which she absolutely did not want.

“Four…”

She looked at the alpha, who looked to be panting for breath under the cloth around his mouth. Although he still looked weak, he had probably been given some sort of antidote already because his wound seemed to slowly be closing up now.

“Three…”

Averil wasn't sure why she felt the need to buy a slave, or even an alpha one for that matter, but a nagging thought at the back of her mind felt like she was missing something important. She always went by her gut feeling so it wasn't so difficult to choose between practical reasoning and a simple thought.

A simple thought could lead to either life or death.

“Tw—”

“Five hundred thousand gold coins,” She interjected, quickly raising her number paddle.

The auctioneer seemed bewildered by the amount of money once again. He tripped on his words, “F-Five… Five hundred thousand gold coins! Going for five hundred thousand! Are there any other bidders?”

Averil saw the man drop his paddle to the side and she knew she had won the bid. At the lack of response, the countdown began again.

“Five… Four… Three… Two… One…”

***

After the auction ended, she was escorted by a different server to claim her bid. They offered her a neck collar, which she was sure she definitely wouldn't be needing, so she refused as quickly as she could.

She had no plans to keep him locked up like some kind of watchdog or exotic pet. She had no intention of making him work like a slave either. But to do that, she needed to find a way to make sure the pack house or anyone else wouldn't know what he was.

The server stopped at a human sized cage, which contained the male alpha she had bought. The server unlocked the cage and then motioned for her to go in before excusing himself.

The rot wood and cinnamon smell evaded her nose before she could even enter the cage. She scanned the man before opening her mouth to speak.

“What is your name?” She asked him, eyes fixed on the alpha.

Said alpha sat still, wrapped into himself, eyes to the ground and refusing to look at her or answer her question. He still had wounds that had refused to heal, festering from the lack of care.

“I'm the one who paid five hundred thousand gold for you, to save you from this place. I believe I deserve that much of an answer, don't you think?” She chided, a little ticked. She wasn't trying to scare him or make him feel wary of her, in a way she wanted him to know that he was safe with her. However, she needed to be in control of his activities from now on to make that possible.

She bent down to his level, raising his chin up with a finger. His curious, green eyes locked with hers this time, they seemed to be searching for something, just like hers were. Quickly breaking eye contact, she resumed assessing his face, moving it from side to side.

What in the world made him seem so special?

“Name?” She urged, trying to get an answer again.

“Cyan,” He muttered, his head lowered and his eyes fixed downwards once more. “It's Cyan, Mistress.”

She took her hands off his face and stood up from her crouched position, satisfied. Her mother and siblings would hate the fact that she had bought an alpha to bring home no matter how useful he would be as a personal guard.

Looking closer at him, she could see the fear and hurt in his eyes. There was also the innocence to him to stood out as well. Something she didn't wish to acknowledge.

He definitely needed a scent concealer.