Sold to the North

CHAPTER 5

Avery’s POV

I opened my eyes to a white ceiling.

For a moment the light was too bright. I blinked, turned my head, and the familiar walls of the pack house infirmary came into focus.

I had been here so many times it almost felt like a second home. That was what happened when you didn’t have a wolf.

Then the rest of it returned.

I pushed myself up too fast. Pain flared low in my belly and I flinched, one arm wrapping around my middle.

My child.

My hands pressed hard against my stomach, searching for something that wasn’t there anymore.

No.

Please.

I shook my head, tears already sliding down my temples into my hair.

“Where is my child?” My voice came out cracked and small.

Silence answered me at first.

Then soft footsteps approached the bed.

“I’m sorry, Avery.”

Callum whispered. He stood a few feet away, looking older than usual. He couldn’t meet my eyes.

“You lost the baby.”

The words didn’t make sense at first. They just hung there.

Lost it.

I curled onto my side, knees drawn up, and sobbed until my chest ached and my throat felt raw. The only thing that had still belonged to me was gone. Taken, just like everything else.

I don’t know how long I stayed like that.

Long enough for the sobs to turn into quiet, broken breathing.

Long enough for new footsteps to enter the room.

“So. You’ve lost the child.”

Luna Vivian’s voice was calm, almost polite.

I turned my head on the pillow. She stood beside the bed, looking down at me with no expression at all. No satisfaction, no ounce of pity, Just assessment.

“Things didn’t go the way I planned,” she said. “And now I have no further use for you.”

My fingers tightened in the sheet.

“What now?” My voice was hoarse. “Are you going to kill me?”

“No.” She tilted her head. “That would be wasteful. I’ve arranged something more practical.”

She clasped her hands behind her back.

“You’re going to be sold.”

The word didn’t register properly at first.

Sold.

I let out a weak, disbelieving breath. “You can’t be serious.”

“I am.”

“I’m not livestock.” I tried to push myself up, but my arms shook and I fell back against the pillows. “You could just send me away. Banish me. Anything else.”

Vivian gave a soft, cold sound that might have been a laugh.

“I considered it. But then a better opportunity presented itself.”

She watched my face intently as she spoke the next words.

“Alpha Damon Wolfsbane made a very generous offer.”

The name landed like a heavy stone thrown into a pond.

Damon Wolfsbane.

The Alpha Slayer.

The one the southern packs spoke about in hushed voices. The one they said could end another Alpha without breaking a sweat.

My stomach turned.

“Why?” The question came out thin. “Why him? Why go this far?”

Vivian’s expression didn’t change a bit.

“Because it solves more than one problem at once.” She glanced toward the door as a knock sounded. “And because you were never going to stay here quietly after this.”

She looked back at me.

“Consider it a final kindness, Avery. At least this way you’ll still be breathing.”

The knock came again, firmer.

Vivian smoothed her sleeves and turned to the door. “That will be them now.”

Three women in brown leather gear walked into the room.

My pulse jumped.

Why were they all women?

The one in front had black hair and a howling wolf emblem with three claw marks stitched across her chest.

The other two stayed by the door, silent and watchful. They didn’t look like escorts; they looked like people who had done this many times before.

“We’re here for the woman,” the one at the back said.

Vivian gave a small nod. “Good. She’s all yours.”

The black-haired woman stopped at the foot of the bed and tilted her head. Her expression was completely cold, as if she were looking at prey she had just caught.

“Turn your head toward me.”

I didn’t move. I just lay there, staring at the ceiling, every muscle locked.

“I won't repeat myself.”

The second time, the order carried enough force to make the air feel heavier. A shiver ran down my spine. Slowly, I turned to face her.

Her eyes moved over my hair.

“Red,” she murmured, almost to herself.

Then she stepped closer, crouched, and without warning gripped my breast through the thin infirmary gown.

Pain shot through me. I cried out, twisting away, but her hand didn’t loosen. My body was still sore, still healing, and the touch felt like fire.

“Don’t touch me—”I groaned.

She released me just as suddenly and looked down at her hand, then back at me, the way someone might examine livestock they had been promised would be worth the price.

“Still swollen,” she said. “Good. She’ll do.”

The words landed with sickening clarity.

I wasn’t being sold as a servant.

I was being sold as a body to the Alpha Slayer.

“Deal is done,” the woman said, straightening. “We leave at dawn.”

She turned toward Vivian. As she moved, the dim light caught the thin silver line running through her black hair.

My breath stopped.

I had seen that hair before.

A lump formed in my throat. I shifted back against the pillows, eyes wide.

She noticed the reaction but said nothing. She only gave me a long, unreadable look before turning to the door.

“Restrain her. Light cuffs. She doesn’t look capable of running far, but I don’t like surprises.”

“Wait—” My voice cracked. “You don’t have to—”

One of the women was already at the bedside. The leather cuffs closed around my wrists. I pulled against them but they didn’t give budge.

Vivian watched without a single twitch on her face. “You should be grateful,” she said. “I could have left you to die in a ditch. Instead, you’ll serve a purpose.”

I met her eyes, my throat tight. “I hope the Goddess keeps a careful record of this.”

Vivian’s mouth curved, but it wasn’t a smile. “She never has before.”

The black-haired woman turned toward the door. “Rest while you can,” she said. “The North doesn’t care how broken you arrive. It only cares whether you last.”

The door shut behind them.

I sat in the infirmary with bound wrists, the silver streak in her hair still burned into my mind, and the certain knowledge that I had seen those eyes before.

I just couldn't remember where.