Chapter 3
MARINA’S POV
I finally got my wish to leave the Crystal Coast pack.
I could ignore the fact that I didn’t leave of my own volition of course. Tara announced with glee that I was being sold because I was more trouble than I was worth.
I knew she just didn’t want me anywhere near her brother even though she would be sad to let her toy go.
I had barely healed from the ordeal I had gone through and I was in no shape to be transported like a rabid animal and sold like tomatoes in the farmer’s market. I was given clothes that were just a tad better than the rags I had been living in since I became a slave.
It didn’t have any holes but was threadbare and washed out. The dress felt like sandpaper against my skin and was three sizes too big for me. I managed to find a length of rope to knot around my waist to keep it from hanging too much off my frail frame.
A man I had never seen before arrived at dawn and I was told to stand before him. He perused me like cattle, checking my teeth, eyes, and hips before he nodded at Tara.
“I like this one,” He declared.
“You should be careful with her. She looks like a broken mare but she’s stubborn as an ox, Tara sneered.
His eyes gleamed. “Oh really? I like them with a little bit of spirit. If nobody buys her, I’d be honored to break her.”
My stomach revolted in disgust. I could only imagine what a vile man like this would do to someone like me. I prayed with everything in me that somebody would buy me off his hands.
My hands were shackled and I was led to the back of a large van. The doors were thrown open to reveal women with dull eyes and garments like
men.
I was thrown in with them unceremoniously and the doors shut just as quickly, leaving us in the dark. I could hear one of the women muttering something that sounded like a prayer.
“Pray,” somebody rasped. “Pray to the moon goddess to save us.”
“I stopped believing a long time ago,” I replied.
There was a short mocking laugh. “I suggest you start believing long enough to plead to the moon goddess to kill you rather than Darrell taking an interest in you.”
“Who is Darrell?”
“Are you stupid? He’s the man who owns you now.”
With that, the vehicle fell silent. I don’t know how long we traveled. I couldn’t tell you my left from my right in the oppressing darkness; that was how endless the journey felt.
The back of the van was hot and uncomfortable, every creak and groan and stumble jarring us and reverberating through our bones. It also smelled of urine and something very foul that I refused to think about.
I tried to think of a happy memory to distract myself from whatever fate I was about to face, but my mind could not even conjure anything. Not that I had many good memories in the first place.
In what felt like an unending journey, the van finally came to a stop. I heard a door open and then shut, and a moment later the double doors were flung open. I winced as the light suddenly flooded the interior of the Van. I could see the rest of the girls stirring from their reclined positions and becoming alert.
“Look alive, it’s show time,” Darell said with a wild grin.
We were marched out of the van in a single file, the bindings on our wrists linked together. The place was quite simply put a slave market. It was bustling with activity, and I could see slaves with a similar setup as ours, led by men with greedy beady eyes.
We were led to a stage and directed to kneel and keep our gazes downcast, and our mouths closed unless instructed otherwise. There were more than a hundred slaves on the stage and seated below well-dressed older men and women perusing what was on offer.
One after the other we were asked to stand up and bids were placed on us till we were sold.
My turn was fast approaching and I was terrified.
“Stand up,” one of the guards nudged me.
1/5
8:40 AM
Chapter 3
“Young Omega. Pure and untouched. A few scars on her, but nothing too broken to be non-functional. We are starting at two hundred thousand dollars. Do I hear two hundred thousand?” The event organizer said as I rose on unsteady legs.
“Two hundred and eighty thousand dollars,” a voice rang out from the crowd.
“Five hundred and fifty thousand dollars,” another countered.
“I’ll give you One Million and three hundred thousand dollars, just give me that girl,” yet another voice declared, all while I stood there, trying to hide how my knees were knocking together in horror.
“Ten Million dollars,” a deep voice spoke. The crowd fell into a hush and seemed to part for the man who had spoken. Something within me began to stir and take notice.
Even before he took the steps forward that would bring him into view, I could tell that he would be a powerful-looking man. I didn’t know how I knew, intuition perhaps, or the way his voice had carried above the crowd.
As soon as he was close enough, his eyes met mine.
“Mate,” my wolf declared.
Ours. She cried out, yearning. Eager to be with her mate.
I wasn’t foolish enough to give in to whatever madness had taken hold of my wolf. It seemed my wolf excelled in choosing the most unlikely people. The man standing before me could never be interested in me as more than a slave.
Not only was he the most beguiling man I had ever clapped eyes on, from his artfully tousled dark hair, his eyes that were the color of a stormy sea and just as tumultuous to his imposing build, but I must have looked like a drowned rat to him.
I couldn’t even fathom him throwing so much money away at me. With that conviction, I ignored the aching hunger of my wolf to be joined to this man before us. I was tenacious, but even I couldn’t handle being rejected twice.
I cut eye contact, casting my eyes down to my bruised and dusty feet. I stayed silent while I was unchained and handed off to an older woman who I assumed worked for the man who had bought me.
Even being transported in the back seat of a nice vehicle like royalty did little to raise my hopes for my new home and master. I had been taken from one prison to another, I needed to remember that.
“Welcome to the midnight blade pack,” the woman who had been driving announced a few hours later.
I had been in a daze the whole journey so I hadn’t even realized the car had stopped moving. I looked out from the car window and gasped.
It was a truly magnificent scenery. Tall pines and hills stretched out as far as the eye could see. Only broken by the mansion that sprawled over several acres of land.
The house was four stories and looked like something from a Jane Austen book. I could count more than fifteen windows on each floor. It looked ancient and regal and blended with the rawness of nature that encompassed it. It was simply breathtaking.
A blacked-out SUV pulled up and I sat there gaping at my environment. My mouth snapped shut as soon as I locked eyes with the man who slid out of the car. He said something to the other man in the car, threw one last glance at me, and walked off.
“That’s Luther Drake, alpha of this pack,” the older woman said, climbing out of the driver’s seat. I climbed out too.
“I’m Amelia, and I’m in charge of the servants. Come on. Let’s get you settled in the servants’ quarters. I’m sure I can find you something better to
wear.”
“Orders from the alpha,” the other man cut in. “She won’t be staying in the servants’ quarters. She’s to be set up in one of the rooms on his floor and given her maid. Instruct the cook to make her something too.”
Amelia’s eyes went wide, but not as wide as mine was. What? What was happening? Was Alpha Luther acknowledging me as his mate? I fought to control my delighted smile.
I would love to be a member of this pack. It was so beautiful and calm out here. Furthermore, Alpha Luther was extremely good-looking.
“Of course,” Amelia said.
I was directed up two flights of stairs to the third floor. The room I was put in looked like something out of a fairytale.
A four-poster bed with soft white sheets, and a window looking out into the courtyard. My bathroom is complete with a bathtub.
I was too afraid to touch anything in case I got it dirty. Everything was so neat and smelled fresh, unlike the drudgery I had gotten used to.
A moment after Amelia left, a girl my age walked into the room.
2/5
8:40 AM
Chapter 3
“I’m Bree May, your maid. I’m here at your disposal for anything at all. I have a selection of outfits for you that you can change into after a shower.” She brandished an arm full of fabric at me.
“Hello, Bree. I’m Marina. You can call me Rina. I don’t need a personal maid though.”
“I’m sure you don’t think you need one. But you’ll need me, ma’am.”
“Please call me Rina.” I insisted. I was nineteen and being called ma’am by someone my age made me feel extremely old and snobbish.
“Amelia will have my head if she catches me calling you anything other than ma’am.”
“Okay then. How about when it’s just us?
?Can you call me Rina then?”
Bree grinned. “Of course, Rina. Come on. I’ll help you shower and dress up. They’re making you a late lunch as we speak. Let’s hurry so it won’t get cold.”
Bree liked to talk a mile a minute and I enjoyed listening to her. She was mouthy and fiery and full of opinions. She said she was the way she was because she was a natural redhead and was born in the backseat of a car.
It was the first time in forever that I had interacted with a girl my age. I needed a friend and it seemed I had found one. An unlikely one, but one all
the same.
Midnight Blade pack was beginning to feel like home, perhaps the moon goddess finally heard my prayers.
LUTHER’S POV
“She’s your what?!” Sean gaped at me.
I rolled my eyes at him. He had heard me, if not, he wouldn’t be wearing that look right now.
“Correct me if I’m wrong but are you saying that that little, mangled slip of a child is your mate?”
“She’s not a child, Sean.”
He scoffed. I shot him a hard look which he ignored completely.
“So you’ve finally found your mate. Honestly, I was starting to lose hope about you Luther. That permanent scowl on your face isn’t the least bit appealing and you’re half too serious.” Sean smirked. I ignored his jibe as usual.
My friend liked to act like a child even though he was almost as lethal as I was. He was the yin to my yang. The light to my dark. We were a deadly
combo.
Many people questioned why this pack was so feared and revered, well, it was because of the balance that Sean brought. While sometimes all I wanted was to rip my enemy’s limb from limb, Sean reminded me that a reputation built from blood needed more blood to thrive.
“When do you plan to announce it? I hope you’re not going to do one of those seventy-two-hour Alpha mating rituals. Just take her to bed and mark her without all the fuss.”
I turned away from the window from where I could see the mountainside and surrounding vegetation stretching as far as the eye could see.
“Oh no,” he sighed.
“What?” I asked.
“You’re about to do something stupid. I know that look in your eyes.”
I shot him another futile glare.
“She’s an Omega.”
“And?” His eyebrows ruffled in confusion.
I raised a brow at him waiting for him to understand.
His eyes went wide a moment later. “Luther. No.
Nobody else understood my ingrained hatred for Omega. They pretended to be small and fragile but were secretly cunning and manipulative. They made you feel like they were helpless little creatures who just needed someone to care for them, love them, and nurture them.
My parents had made that mistake. I was hell-bent on never letting history repeat itself. It was a goddamn irony that the fates had given me an Omega mate.
“Well, sometimes the fates were wrong Luther-”
3/5
8:40 AM
Chapter 3
“Save it, Sean. I’ve made up my mind about it.” I was going to get my money’s worth from the little Omega’s body.
From
I was sure under all that ratty fabric she wore there was a body made for sin. After all, Omega by nature was supposed to be the most alluring of our species. Made for mating and procreation.
“I’m telling you now. This is a bad idea. If you want a willing body, you have Bertha. That bitch is so horny for you I can smell it on her.” His face scrunched up in disgust.
Sean had never been a fan of Bertha. “There’s a million willing women from here to Antarctica. Turning your mate into a thing for bed sports will come back to haunt you.”
I couldn’t tell Sean that recently, even Bertha with all her sex tricks had failed to arouse me.
Every woman seemed lackluster to me these days. I hadn’t even been able to finish with my right hand.
The sexual frustration was making me unusually snappish and a little bit out of control. But as soon as I had gotten the Omega’s scent, I felt the tendrils of a sexual urge unfurling inside of me.
“Noted.”
There was a knock at the slightly ajar door. I turned to see a servant standing there. “She’s ready.”
I nodded, ignoring Sean’s drawn-out sigh behind me.
“Let Rick know that I’m adjourning our meeting. I will not be disturbed unless someone is dying,” I said before leaving the office.
I climbed up to the third floor and crossed the hallway till I stood in front of the Omega’s door. Taking a deep breath, I opened the door and promptly lost all brain function.
She had looked like a drowned rat before, clothes falling off a bony body and nothing much going on for her. But it seemed with a little effort, the unassuming Omega had transformed before my very eyes.
If not for the arousal I could feel and my wolf fighting against its restraints to be with his mate, I would have thought it was a different person.
Her hair was the color of spun gold and it fell in soft waves to just her chin. I would instruct her to never cut it again. I wanted to feel it sliding through my palm as I took her from behind.
Her eyes were big, almost too big in her face. They were the color of moss. Her skin which had previously been ashen was now just a touch pale. There was even a hint of rosiness in her cheeks.
In the pale blue dress, sitting against the white sheets and staring up at me with those eyes, she looked the very picture of innocence. For a second I had my doubts about my plans for her.
ure of i naknife.
It was that momentary hesitation that sealed the deal for me. I wouldn’t let a pretty Omega beguile me only to find myself with a knife against my throat one day. No.
“Take off your clothes,” I said gruffly.
Her eyes went saucer wide.
“What?”
“I don’t like to repeat myself as you’ll soon come to know. But I’m feeling rather gracious today so I’ll repeat; take off your clothes.”
Her lips began to tremble as she stood up and undressed to a matching white underwear set. I noted the scars on her body which I resolutely ignored.
I didn’t care. She was skinny from malnourishment and I liked my women with some flesh on them. I could see though that she had the potential to have a perfect figure.
Tomorrow, the pack doctor will come to have her tested for whatever diseases she may have contracted and then administer birth control pills.
I couldn’t touch her until then. It didn’t mean she was entirely useless for now though.
“On your knees,” I commanded.
She did as I ordered, eyes still intent on mine.
I moved forward till I was standing before her. I made quick work of my pants till my erection was
as jutting out.
“No. 1-”
“I didn’t give you leave to speak,” I snapped.
“Open your mouth and suck. If you bite me, I’ll make sure you’ll spend the rest of your life feeding from a tube.”
Her eyes filled with moisture and my wolf went feral.
“She’s our mate you fool,” my wolf declared. “Protect her.”
She opened her mouth and fainted right in front of me.
8:41 AM
