Ashley

For an underground market, everything was pretty fucking out in the open. The sun glared down on the open field where shifters roamed as tables were set up.

There were a few tents but no signs. Still, it didn’t take a genius to see that nothing here was legal. The scent of wolfsbane filled the air, along with the cackle of idiots who couldn’t wait to leave the area before ingesting the drug they’d procured.

“Stop dragging your feet,” Nick growled as he pulled me forward. I had no idea what we were doing here.

He’d woken me before dawn, pulling me off the floor and shoving the white dress at me. The chill of the air had seeped into my bones, and it had taken me too long to change out of the long nightgown into the short dress.

The bruises on my abdomen were a reminder of what happened when I pissed my half-brother off. So I picked up the pace and wondered why I had to be here while he was buying his drugs.

A strange tug formed in my belly, and I stumbled. The slippers he’d given me were worthless in the melting ice. They were also white—or at least had been when I’d put them on. Now, they were a muddied brown. I slipped again, this time falling onto the soggy grass. The hem of my dress immediately grew transparent.

“Stupid fucking bitch.” Nick hauled me to my feet.

“You’ve suddenly forgotten how to walk?”

“No, I...”

“Just shut up. It’s too early for your whiny voice.”

You’d think by now I’d have learned better than to try and talk back to Nick.

Since my parents had died, he was the one who’d raised me, fed me, clothed me. At least, that's what he sneered whenever I did something to piss him off. Despite how isolated we were, I knew he was an asshole, but I still tried to defend myself.

Maybe this was my chance to find my freedom.

The tug happened again, this time accompanied by a strange feeling that warmed my chest. Gritting my teeth against the sensation, I tried to ignore it.

I’d be damned if I had some horrible disease kill me today when I might finally break free from Nick.

“Omega,” a voice snarled, and rough hands grabbed me. I yelped just as Nick pulled me back and snickered.

“She is indeed. If you want her, you can buy her. Ten grand.”

Buy her? Wait, buy me? Nick was selling me?

“No!” I cried out and struggled against my brother. “No, you can’t do this!”

“Well, well, well. Ten grand is an awfully steep price. Most don’t go for more than five here,” the newcomer mused as he tugged at my dress.

He was a beast of a man, clearly an alpha, but he smelled like he lived in the sewers. It was all I could do not to gag.

“She’s untouched,” my brother boasted. “Never bonded with anyone. Never been bitten. Never fucked.”

“Nick, you can’t sell me!”

“It’s the underground market, darling. Where do you think all the unschooled omegas go?”

Nick’s grip tightened while the stranger pulled up my dress. With a yelp, I pushed back, but it was no use. There was nowhere to go.

“Too skinny,” the alpha grunted. “And look at those scars on her ribs. Who the fuck would want her? I’d probably get her for half of that on the block, but I’ve got my sights set on a pretty blonde who came in about twenty minutes ago. The curves on her are probably going to break my bed, and I’m gonna ride that bitch all the way down.”

His companions laughed, and Nick shoved me to the ground. “Scars, Ashley? What the fuck? I’ve never put a mark on you!”

I didn’t say a word as I pushed myself up. My chest tugged again, and when I raised my head, a man was standing in front of me.

An alpha—a powerful one, judging by how the others cleared a space around him. Dark eyes seared into mine, and I saw something akin to rage in them.

“Help me,” I whispered, my heart beating wildly inside my chest, as if reaching for him. It was a foreign feeling, unlike anything I’ve ever felt for anyone.

Hope blossomed inside of me as he took a step closer. He ignored everyone’s gazes as he bent down and whispered in my ear.

“No.”

A whimper escaped my lips, my body reacting before my mind could grasp the meaning of his words.

He moved away to meet my eyes and, with a cold expression, he murmured, “I reject you, little omega. May we never find each other again.”

Confused, I opened my mouth to question him, but before I knew what was happening, a blazing pain ripped through my chest. I gasped, trying to breathe through it, but I felt like I was drowning, tears escaping my eyes without my consent.

I must have blacked out because the next time I opened my eyes, the stranger was walking away from me without even looking back once, taking a piece of me with him.

Defeated and only semi-conscious, I couldn’t even get back up. Snarling and looking back and forth between the retreating alpha and me, Nick picked me up, slung me over his shoulder, and carted me across the field.

“She conscious? She gotta be able to stand on her own,” someone grunted.

Nick laughed. “Please, I've seen what you’ve been selling. Not that it matters. She can stand.”

My body flipped in the air, and I was back on my feet again. Tears welled in my eyes as I stared at the scene before me. We were at the end of the market, behind a small stage.

There was a small group of women before me. Every single one of them was bound, and several beta shifters circled them, keeping them trapped. Next to me was a small fire pit and a man with a clipboard tucked under his arm.

“Sylvester!” the man bellowed. Nick handed me off, and no one had their hands on me for a split second.

I didn’t hesitate. Pivoting, I scrambled for the crowd and away from the stage. Nick shouted behind me, but I didn’t even turn around.

Confusion made the crowd part for me, and I thought for a moment that freedom was right at my fingertips. I felt fast, nimble, and free, but I barely got more than twenty from my brother before I slipped and fell.

Landing on my belly, I slid forward right into someone’s boot.

“Look at that. A fucking omega already kissing my boots.” There was an ugly laugh before I was again picked up like I was nothing. Bile rose in my throat as I stared at the alpha’s sneer.

“Please help me,” I whispered. “He’s going to sell me.”

“Lucky for you, I’m here to buy.” He carried me back to the stage, and Nick drew his fist back, ready to strike me.

Ashley

“Down, beta. I don’t want anything to mark that pretty face,” the man with the clipboard cautioned him. “Now she has a reputation for being feisty. The crowd is gonna like that. You got her, Sylvester?”

A man grunted behind me, and my dress was once again hiked to my armpits. “No bite marks. No stretch marks. You say she’s a virgin?”

“Pure as the day she was born.”

“We’ll start her at three thousand. You get sixty percent of what she goes for. Sylvester, turn her around.”

Sylvester turned me as the man with the clipboard retrieved a hot poker from the fire pit.

I tried to fight, but it was useless. The man swept my hair up, and torturous pain seared in the back of my neck as I was branded. A hand wrapped around my mouth as I screamed, and when I was put back on my feet, all my fight was gone.

I swayed, not even sure I could walk. The man tossed the brand back in the fire, and I whimpered.

“Number six,” he bellowed, and Sylvester pulled me toward the other women. In shock, I stared as he looped a thick, coarse rope around my wrist and tied me to a post.

The sun had risen slightly, but I had no idea how much time had passed. What started as a small group in front of the stage grew larger and larger until the first girl walked up. Then the second and the third. Each of them was bid on before they were handed to their winners.

When I reached the stage, I thrust my chin forward and glared at the crowd. Maybe if I seemed unlikable and difficult, nobody would want me.

“Alphas, do we have a special treat for you! Number six may be unschooled, but she is also unspoiled,” the speaker began.

“Save it,” a voice boomed. “Ten thousand.”

The audience fell silent, and I closed my eyes in horror.

“Ten thousand, going once. Going twice. Sold.”

Kieran

Six Months Later

“Gurrzly!” Betty screamed. “Want Gurrzly!”

Behind me, Lucien muttered something under his breath. We all loved Betty, but the toddler phase was challenging, to say the least.

When we reached the clearing, Conrad had immediately trotted off to find wood for a fire, leaving Lucien and me with Betty.

“I know, Betty, but we couldn’t find Gurrzly,” I said again, striving to find some patience. “But we got you a friend for Gurrzly when we do find him.”

The stupid brown teddy bear was never far from her, but it had disappeared right before we took this trip. Three alphas, experts in tracking, hadn’t been able to find it, and now we had a two-year-old who would spend most of our annual camping trip screaming about her teddy bear even though we’d gotten her a new pink one.

“Bears not pink!” she shouted, putting her hands on her hips and glaring at me.

Fuck me. Lucien let out a strangled groan, and I clenched my teeth. This was our first attempt to take Betty on a trip away from the hotel, and frankly, I was rethinking that decision.

These first few hours were not going well.

“I know bears in the wild aren’t pink, but your bear can be pink.” I looked her over and frowned. “Betty, where is your backpack?”

“Gurrzly has it.”

I’d seen her backpack. It was yellow with pink flowers all over it. She’d cried for days when she first saw it on the computer and screamed with delight when I finally bought it for her. She wore it every day, and I’d packed some of her essentials into it last night: a juice bottle, her toy phone, a notebook, and, most importantly, a GPS tracker.

“Betty, it can’t be with Gurrzly. I saw it this morning.”

She blinked innocent eyes at me. “Gurrzly took it.”

So she’d given her backpack to her stuffed bear and managed to hide both so well that we couldn’t find them. This meant that she’d known where her stuffed animal was all along, and it also meant that she no longer had a GPS tracker.

I turned to Lucien. “This was a mistake. We’re going back now.”

“No, we aren’t. The therapist said Betty needs to start spending time in the woods,” Lucien reminded me.

Fucking therapist, only she wasn’t just a fucking therapist—she was a godsend. Betty was an orphan and the only beta in our pack, and we had no idea what we were doing trying to raise her.

“We have plenty of woods around the hotel."

“Which I pointed out before you planned this excursion,” he muttered. “You were the one who said we had to leave the territory. You did extensive research into this park. It’s neutral territory. We’re safe. We’re alone. And it’s okay that she doesn’t have her backpack. We’ll keep an eye on her. We’re not going to lose her.”

“We can’t even find a teddy bear that a two-year-old hid,” I snarled.

“It’s in your closet,” Betty informed me.

I glared at Lucien, and his lips quirked in a smile. Damn it, was he enjoying this? “I’m going to kill you.”

“Betty.” Lucien bent down and swooped her up. “It sounds like Gurrzly went camping with your backpack, and this pink bear is all alone. She doesn’t even have a name.”

After a moment, Betty reached out for the bear, and I handed it to her. I held my breath as she studied it.

“Candy,” she announced. “This is Candy. She camp with us.”

Great. One crisis averted. I looked at Lucien. “You did pack her suitcase, didn’t you?”

“Yes, I did. Would you relax? We’ll have to put up some tents unless you just want to be wolves the whole time. Betty might like that."

We were trying to encourage a way to bring her wolf out, but it might be years before we saw it. The therapist right—most shifter children spent as much time outdoors as possible, even as infants. It helped them understand that the outside world was their home, so when their wolf did come out, they were comfortable running freely.

Pups in the house were disastrous, but some pups were too afraid to go outside.

“Let’s stick to the plan. Betty, can you and Candy help us set up our tents?”

A scream pierced the air, and my wolf surged to the surface. Lucien swept Betty up in his arms, and we turned.

“I’m on it,” Conrad said through the bond. A few minutes later, his fury came through. “Dead woman. Killer shifter. He’s on the run. I’m on it.”

“Catch him. We’ll get the woman.” Already, I was running through protocol in my head.

We weren’t on anyone’s territory, which meant there was no alpha in charge to deal with the killer, and we’d need to inform the woman’s alpha of her death. It was hard to identify the alpha of a dead woman, so our best bet was to catch the killer and get the king involved.

Kieran

The king’s involvement was a source of irritation for me. I did my best to avoid him, which had been easy for the past couple of years—he’d been giving me a wide berth.

Following Conrad’s scent, we moved carefully, keeping an eye out for any wolves who might be lingering, until we found a woman’s prone body bleeding in the leaves. I kneeled by the body and pressed my fingers to her neck.

“She’s alive,” I muttered. Blood poured out of her stomach. She’d been stabbed.

I inhaled sharply when a different scent hit me. Panic and surprise flooded our bond, and I hissed. “She’s an omega.”

Fuck. What the hell was an omega—an injured one—doing all the way out here? My instincts to race forward and protect her warred with my disgust. I wouldn’t let my alphas get involved with another omega.

I wouldn’t get involved with an omega.

Lucien dropped down to his knees next to me. Betty was still in his arms. “No,” I growled. “Get back.”

“She’s...” Lucien whispered. His alpha genes were starting to take over. She was an omega—he was programmed to help and protect her.

An omega, like Lana. My whole body tensed and heated. Just thinking of that name catapulted me back into the past. The fury on her face. The bodies at her feet. The gunshot.

I shook myself back to the present.

“You’re holding Betty,” I said to Lucien. That seemed to break through, and he took several steps back.

“We can’t let her die,” he said tightly.

No. No matter how I felt about omegas, I couldn’t just kneel by her body and let her bleed out.

“We need to make a tourniquet,” I muttered.

“She’s been stabbed in the stomach,” Lucien said through gritted teeth. “You can’t make a tourniquet for that.”

“Then we’ll pack the wound and see if we can get her to the car.”

“Do you think she can shift? She could heal.”

Against my better judgment, I probed for her wolf. It was there, deep down. I was about to call it forward when I inhaled deeply. My wolf jerked away, and the tug on my body was so strong that I nearly lay down beside the woman and pressed my body against hers.

No. No fucking way. With shaking hands, I reached forward and brushed the woman’s greasy, stringy blonde hair out of her face. She moaned faintly, and her eyes fluttered open.

Help me.

With a snarl, I jerked back and nearly fell into the leaves. Lucien hissed and prepped for danger.

“Alpha?” he asked in a low voice.

“What is it?” Conrad demanded.

I stared at the body. It didn’t even seem possible that she could be here, five hundred miles from where I’d last seen her.

Help me.

She’d haunted my dreams. Ever since I’d first laid eyes on her and felt the pull of our mating bond, I’d been haunted by her and the words she’d whispered to me.

She’d begged for help, and I’d turned my back on her. I’d fucking left her there because what the fuck else was I supposed to do? She was an omega.

It was a cruel fate—maybe everything I fucking deserved and more. Omegas were rarely mated, yet one would be fated for me after everything I’d done—and hadn’t done.

I’d failed to keep my pack safe. I hadn’t protected my wolves. They were dead, and this was how I was being punished—with a mate I’d never be able to trust.

So I’d turned from her and left her to whatever darkness had led her to the underground auctions. Drugs, most likely.

Omegas were pampered by nature, spoiled brats taken straight from the omega schools and crowned princess of whatever pack had shelled out the thousands of dollars to buy them. That kind of life had consequences. She wasn’t the first omega I’d heard of who’d turned to drugs.

Her blood had been with her. I sensed the beta standing next to her and the connection they shared. He’d been there to help her, and she’d tried to run. It was nothing I’d been willing to get involved with. I’d been there for one reason, and one reason only, and it had nothing to do with a mate.

Fate had a twisted sense of humor—here she was, right in front of me.

Dying.