To Be Sold As A Breeder

Liliana’s POV

Spending thirteen years planning my escape under a delirious Alpha’s den only to learn I will be sold out as a breeder today is not exactly how I planned my Twentieth birthday.

“You need to stop throwing that, or they’ll know you’ve been training, Liliana.”

I hear aunty Maerra say, but I don’t look back. Cold adrenaline bursts through my veins as another dagger leaves my fingers and cuts through the air with a satisfying whistle. It lands on the board’s dead center.

If it were up to me, that blade would be buried deep in Alpha Kol’s chest.

Aunt Maerra sighs behind me. “You are angry.” She knows me too well.

“They are selling me off as a breeder today.” I remind her. The words taste like rot, making my stomach twist anxiously. I motion forward to reach for the dagger, pull it back, and return to aim again. I keep throwing till my arm aches.

The board's surface is now scarred. Holes layered on holes- like me.

Silence stretches behind me. Then her footsteps approach.

“You’ve lasted thirteen years here,” she says. “That’s more than most humans ever get. You’re lucky…”

“Don’t, aunt Maerra.” I interrupt her as I pivot to face her.

Luck wouldn’t be a man forcing himself on me night after night since I turned sixteen. Luck wouldn’t leave bruises that never quite fade on my skin. Luck wouldn’t sound like my silence while he tried to break it out of me.

“Saying I’m lucky when it comes to that bastard makes me nauseous,” I add, my voice tighter now. “You know what he’s done to me.”

Aunt Maerra smiled, “Turn around. Your hair is not so presentable.” I know what she’s doing, but I turn anyway. She’s trying to make me feel better, like she always did.

She is like a mother figure to me. The only warmth I’ve ever known in this hell. Even though she is also a victim of this cage like me.

“You have survived thirteen years in this den,” she says gently, as she braids my hair into one long root.

“Wherever they take you next, try your best to stay alive,” She keeps braiding. “Choose your battles.” Her voice hitch. “You haven’t come this long way to die.”

My chest tightens. It feels like the right time to open up to her about something I’ve kept to myself for a long time. I don’t know when I would see her again. “Aunt Maerra, I have a secret…”

“Keep it to yourself.” She cuts me. I frown, then turn around after she drops my hair.

“I’m done.” She says, smiling. I think she doesn’t want more of me to avoid missing me more.

My eyes sting. I’m not ready to depart from her, but I have a mission- To plan my escape from my buyer and find my sister. She was taken because she possessed something my parents’ killers wanted. I still remember. I can only hope she’s still alive.

I force a smile that I have no doubt looks sad at Aunt Maerra. “I will make it out alive and come back to get you out of here. I promise.”

“Focus on yourself and survive.” Her hand squeezes mine.

—

The auction room reeks of power and decay. I step inside and my stomach churns instantly.

Omegas and slaves are lined up on a raised table- some naked, some barely covered, displayed like objects waiting to be claimed.

Men in expensive suits circle them slowly, their eyes nothing short of predatory perusing.

My pulse pounds as I imagine myself up there. Exposed too.

“And there she is. Your human slave is here, Alpha Soren.”

My head snaps toward Alpha Kol. He’s looking directly at me. He just referred to me as… Wait… Alpha Soren?

He’s Kol’s best friend. He comes here often and watches me closely whenever I’m within his sight. He had even touched my chest before while passing, and it had taken every ounce of self restraint not to slap him hard in his face.

Disgust coils tighter in my gut. No. He can’t be my buyer.

I refuse to look at him as if that would miraculously change my fate. Instead, my gaze drifts back to the table- Just in time to see one of the men grab Lena’s naked breast like he’s testing meat.

She stiffens and tremble, but doesn’t fight.

Because she knows better. If no one buys her…She dies.

“You. Move.” A rough hand grabs my arm and shoves me forward.

“Strip. Get on the table. You’re next.”

I steady myself before I fall, then step back instead. “No.” I say.

I didn’t plan to resist, but the view before me is not what I expected. It makes me angry.

“I’ll stand here. Whoever wants to buy me can see me well enough.” I let my eyes dart across the shocked faces around the table. Even the omegas look scared on my behalf.

But I am too pissed to care. My gaze meets Alpha Kol and his jaw clenches like he could rip my head off any moment from now. He is capable of doing so.

A sharp slap meets my cheek and throw my head to the side. I feel pain, but it doesn’t outmatch the intense disgust I feel.

I refuse to give Beta Garry the satisfaction of seeing the hurt in my eyes after hitting me. I don’t look at him. My eyes return to that table. It keeps my anger burning alive.

“How dare you…“

“Leave her.” A voice I know too well interferes. Alpha Soren. “I bet her feistiness would serve me well at night.” He says beside Alpha Kol. His gaze drags over me like I’m already his as he approaches.

He looks no older than thirty five. Tall and lanky. I’ve heard of how dangerous he is. Aunt Maerra told me.

Alpha Kol glances at him. “You still want her? I can discipline…”

“I’m taking her.” He says without hesitation.

“I like her exactly like this. She can withstand torture.” The back of his hand runs across my face and I almost vomit. But I do nothing. Since it’s my lack of obedience he seems to be pleased with.”.

His lips curl faintly and my stomach drops.

“Then she’s yours,” Alpha Kol says with a smirk that makes my skin crawl.

Without warning, Alpha Soren grabs my hand like I’m his prize. I flinch.

“I’m sure this one won’t last a month before you kill her, Soren. She doesn’t strike me as a submissive.”

But Soren doesn’t look at them as he leads me out of Scarlet Pack House.

Cruel anxiety wounds through me as I follow him towards the unknown. Immediately we’re alone in his vehicle, his dark eyes turn to me.

I swear if he touches me…

“You are exactly the kind of girl I’ve been looking for to embark on this mission.”

I blink, confusion setting in. “What do you mean?”

His upper lip tilts upward. “I will get you into an academy. All you have to do is to kill their future Alpha. Xaden Draven.”

My eyes narrow at him with more confusion, expecting him to take his words back. But he doesn’t.