Chapter 3

BRYNN•

.

…

"Wake up girl" A cold splash of water on my face woke me up as I opened my eyes in a panic to see myself in the dark space of a tiny, rundown wooden cabin surrounded by the three men from the roadside and Damon nowhere in sight.

Oh, moon, what if they have killed him? I thought as my body shivered violently from the cold air that surrounded me. I couldn’t move my hands freely as I was bound with a zip tie.

"Who are you? Let me go! Where is Damon?"

"Pleasure to meet you, Brynn Kelly, the jewel of alpha Ezra and the Goldcrest pack ain’t that right sweetheart," the rouge says, which catches me by surprise.

"What do you want from me? Is it money? I’ll pay you all the money you want; I’ll double the price you’re asking." I called in a panic, and as I was talking, another person was brought into the room with his head covered, but I could recognize the clothes Damon was wearing earlier; it had to be him!

My kidnapper then raised a gun to Damon’s head, with his fingers jarring at the trigger, as he stared at me, and I started screaming, No, I can’t have another person I care about dead, and Please, please don’t shoot!" I urged, "I’ll do anything," and the bastard dared to smile as he called one of his men over to me.

He was holding a piece of paper and a small ink print. "What is all this?" I ask, confused, as they bring the paper closer to me.

"Well, sweetie, I want your fingerprint on that; that is what I want. I will let him go," the rouge wolf says as he pushes the gun on Damon’s head.

I immediately reached for the paper with my shaking hand, dipped my hand in the ink, and put my fingerprint on it. I was so desperate to save Damon that I couldn’t even read it: Here, take it! Just please don’t kill him!"

The rouge took the paper and handed it over to one of his men. "Take it to the boss," he uttered to the younger rouge, who nodded and left. "Take it to the boss," he uttered to the younger rouge, who nodded and left. "Well, sweetie, I have to say you did a good job, so I’ll let you see your Damon," he muttered as he opened up the black bag covering Damon’s head, but I froze as I saw the face underneath.

It wasn’t Damon.

It was someone else completely. Well, princess, you just signed your whole birthright and inheritance off to my contractor, he chuckled as he released his man, who was the one wearing Damon’s clothes.

"Where is he? Tell me where he is!" I shouted as the man came forward to grab my hair.

"Shut the fuck up!" he snarled at me as his painful grip tugged hard on my hair. He was so close that I could outline the scars that ran across his face as well as his one good eye that was so cold. "You don’t seem to be getting the bigger picture, sweetie; you have been tricked, sweetheart, by your so-called boyfriend."

My world stopped after hearing, "What?"

"Didn’t you hear that your boy and his family planned all of this? He played you like a fiddle for your affection, and Boom! You surrender your whole inheritance to him!" He chuckled darkly. I just couldn’t believe this; Damon would never! No! No, he can’t betray me!

"You might wonder why I’m telling you this; well, it’s because you’re going to be dead now," he muttered with a grin as he stood up and reached for his gun. "No hard feelings, ok? Goodbye princess".

And all I could do was close my eyes and feel the cold barrels of the gun on my head. I heard the gun click, and there was a loud gunshot, but instead, I felt a warm liquid splash on me. I opened my eyes to see the rouge and his men had been shot dead, and his blood splattered on me while five men in suits stood over their bodies, saying, "Fucking hell, you made a mess."

"This is what they get for betraying the boss, this greedy spineless fool; they went off and collected a contract to fill in their greedy pockets without telling the boss," one of them spat out. "Where is the last guy?"

"He isn’t here; don’t worry, he is a small fry; we will find him," a man who was their leader says as he faces me. They had finally noticed me.

" Oh? And who might you be?" The scary man asks me as he kneels and pushes my face up by my chin for me to meet his gaze, "Oh? You’re a beauty," he muttered to me as he looked at my body. I jerked my face from his hold as he smirked.

My wolf trashed to the surface as my eye changed color to a golden hue. Feisty, I like that, but a beautiful wolf like you can’t be wasted; from your eyes, I can tell, you’re a rare beauty ripe for the market and will fetch me a lot."

What market? I wondered as I gave him the deadliest glare I could muster, "Let me go; I’m innocent; these men took me away".

"What’s your name, girl?" he asks me.

Brynn, "I mutter quietly as I withhold my last name since these people don’t know me, and that may get me into worse trouble." So let me go; I’m no one, and I won’t say a word about this. I urged the older man, who just hummed in reply before replying.

“No, I can’t do it, and by the looks of it, you are about to be killed by him, so unless you want to be dead, you will come with us!" He threatened me, as I had no choice before I was led into a black van. And anything I thought of as freedom was snatched from me.

The car ride for hours as I could hardly keep my eyes open and fell into a deep sleep, I was getting farther and farther away from my home, and I couldn’t trust these people, and I had no one; even if I called home, it would be Damon or the Cole family that would get a report on me and will try to kill me again,

Damon, I just couldn’t believe it; he betrayed me; he didn’t care for my life one bit, and I couldn’t help my tears flow hotly from the betrayal to the thought of my dead father and the fact I was alone now. I cried for how miserable my life had become in a span of a few days.

I felt the car stop finally, and footsteps fairly approached the van door as it slid open. I had to. I squinted at the bright eyes of their torchlights. You are right!" A female voice uttered as she handed a briefcase to the man who brought me here.

"See, I told you, as she is a rare beauty, she is all yours now," she called as he checked the case and gave me one last look. "Try to run away, girl, and you’re dead meat," he warned before I was dragged out of his van, and he zoomed off, leaving me with the older woman who had gray hair and stared at me with cold eyes.

She wore a black suit, and her hair was packed back in a high-slit ponytail as she smoked a cigarette. Popping smoke from her cherry-painted lips as she peered down at me, I looked around to see five other females who were her bodyguards.

"‘Where am I? Let me go."

Oh, you’re in a good place, pretty girl; I’m going to make you up so nicely, baby girl," she said to me as she signaled her girls, "Take her away and dress her nicely; we have an auction in a few hours."

Auction? What the heck was she talking about? I wondered to myself as two tall women walked over to me and pulled me up. They led me into a large mansion and down the stairs to the basement, where different doors were lined up. They took me to the last one in the middle, which turned out to be a bathroom. My clothes were already so bad and ruined that I’m sure I had been covered in dirt and rags for a day or two.

"Miss Dorothy!!" One of the guards called to an older woman who was dressing up a girl who didn’t look a few years older than me, "We have brought a new girl; we need her dressed up and ready for tonight".

"That fast? I’m surprised she just came today; most girls spend a week or more here".

"She is a rare one, so madam wants her ready for tonight's auction." My body stiffened after those words; there was no way I was going to be sold off like an animal.

"I’ll see what I can do," she urged before she took me away. My clothes were removed until I was stark naked and faced Dorothy; thankfully, there was no male here, but I was still embarrassed as my hand flew to cover my private parts and I gave her a glare.

"Your evil eyes will do nothing for you here, girl," she says to me as she scrubs me clean of any dirt. I was led out to another room, where I was dressed in a silky midnight blue gown with a thigh-high. My hair was plaited into one single plait that ran across my back. My neck and ears were left bare of any necklace. "You speak only when you’re allowed to, unless you want your tongue to be cut off. Do you understand, girl?"

She called to me as she added me to the line of nine other girls who were dressed. In clothes similar to mine but different colors, they all looked scared out of their minds, and I was too. We had then been marched out to a bigger hall, and I could hear whispers from the other side of the large curtain.

One girl had begun crying quietly but cleaned her tears before the curtain had rolled up and we were led into a stage of bright light facing us and loud cheers from our spectators.

“Welcome, gentlemen, to the blue moon night; today is the auction you have been waiting for! And it starts now!"

I just couldn’t believe it. I was in an auction house, and I was about to be sold off to the highest bidder. And in the middle of all that chaos, my eyes met with a pair of Emerald orbs behind a dark mask that stared at me intently, making my heart skip a beat.

Just who were these people, and who was this perfect stranger that sent a shiver up my spine with just one look?