Five

LIRA

Lady Selena’s grip on my arm felt like iron.

She dragged me through the crowd and everything blurred. I stumbled to keep up. My feet barely touched the floor before she stopped short.

I almost crashed into the table.

General Knox was thrusting roughly into a servant's mouth whose face was wet with tears. His hand was tangled in her hair, forcing her head down, lifting it again when she gasped like he enjoyed watching her struggle to breathe.

My vision swam. My stomach dropped so hard I thought I might be sick.

Selena purred, “General, I have something special for you.”

She shoved me forward.

My knees slammed into the floor.

“This one’s weaker than your usual,” she said lightly. “Wolfless omega.”

Knox leaned back. His eyes dragged over me. Then he laughed.

“Ah, I was wondering where she was hiding. You spoil me, my lady,” he said to Selena. “Perfect for my den.”

He shoved the other girl aside. She collapsed, coughing. She wiped her mouth with the back of her hand. When our eyes met, something like pity flickered there before she looked away.

“Let’s see if you’re worth two hundred coins.”

The way he said it made my skin crawl.

He stepped closer. Too close. I smelled stale breath. “Eyes up.”

I obeyed.

There was nothing human in his stare. I looked away fast.

Selena laughed behind him. “You must take her to your den right now.”

Knox’s hand hovered near my left breast. I flinched before I could stop myself.

“I need to see everything,” he said. “So I know what I’m buying.”

Then, calm as anything, “Strip.”

My heart pounded so loud it drowned everything else.

Tears burned. My hands shook as I reached for my shirt.

“Good,” Knox said, leaning in. “Keep going.”

The tears spilled.

Selena wrinkled her nose. “She even stinks.”

“My taste exactly,” Knox said, amused. “Dirty little things.”

“Take your filthy hands off her.”

Selena’s smirk slipped.

Knox froze.

A commanding presence pressed down on the room. I looked up. The warlord alpha stood there. His eyes locked on me and my pulse spiked so hard it hurt.

“Alpha Kain,” Knox said, forcing a smile. “The girl is mine. What would someone like you want with this?”

Another voice cut in. “You heard him. Touch her again and I swear—”

“That’s enough, Jax,” Alpha Kain snapped.

My knees almost gave out.

Lady Selena’s mouth fell open.

“My lords. There are better girls. The general already paid for this one. I can arrange trained ones to serve you.”

She turned to Kain and smiled, coy. “Anything you want.”

“Respect yourself,” Kain said.

Alpha Garrick appeared, his wife draped on his arm.

“There you are,” Garrick said pleasantly. “Everything to your liking?”

“I want to buy,” Alpha Jax said, pointing at me.

Garrick’s smile shifted.

“Interesting choice.”

Selena scoffed. “General Knox was going to buy her. Two hundred coins. Wolfless omega. That’s her value.”

“I’ll pay three thousand.”

Alpha Garrick gasped.

I looked up without meaning to.

Three thousand coins.

My head spun.

Selena laughed. “Is this a fetish?”

“Well,” Garrick said smoothly, “I’d be foolish to refuse.”

Coins exchanged hands. My stomach sank.

Garrick turned to Kain. “Perhaps we can discuss trade later.”

“We’ll see,” Kain said. “Though I wonder why your pack starves.”

Garrick paled.

The pale-eyed alpha stepped forward.

“Strip.”

My breath caught.

I hesitated.

“Now.”

The command landed like a lash. I looked between them, all three of them now staring at me with hunger.

“Don’t make me repeat myself,” the alpha said.

My fingers barely worked. I pulled the torn shirt over my head. Cold hit my skin. Then the thin undershirt. My arms tried to shield me.

Tears slid down my face.

Their eyes moved over me, over the shallow rise of my breasts, down the trembling plane of my stomach, lingering on the jut of my hips, then lower. 

The pale-eyed alpha stared longest. Searching for flaws. 

He stepped closer. 

“Turn.”

I turned my back to them.

Garrick laughed. “Barely any hips to hold onto.”

One of the triplets said, “There’s nothing.”

He stepped back.

I dressed so fast I tore a seam. My hands would not stop shaking.

“Are you satisfied?” Garrick asked.

“Yes,” Jax said.

“Good! My wife will prepare her.”

Lady Astoria smiled tightly. “Come, Lira.”

I followed her, numb, my body still burning where their eyes had been.