ALLISON

I woke up exactly at 3:35 AM, heart hammering against my ribs. I hadn't slept deeply. Boy, I couldn't even sleep a wink for fear of what would happen to me if I did, but the little rest I managed had felt like an hour of peace before the war.

I moved silently, so as not to alert my father or my grandmother of my presence. I gathered a few important things I owned: a worn book, my diary, a few pieces of my underwear and the same hairpin I used to defend myself against Mr Blaze. I didn't bother to take my clothes. It's not like I had much of it.

At exactly 3:55 AM, the cheap phone vibrated in my palm. It was Elliot.

"Time to go, Allie. Start coming. We need to leave as early as possible."

A fierce energy pulsed through me. I didn't hesitate. I climbed onto the windowsill, the cold air biting my skin. The drop wasn't far, but the jump was dangerous, but I didn't care one bit.

To me, freedom from this hell hole and from Mr Blaze was worth any risk.

I jumped down, landing awkwardly in the wet grass. The pain was minimal compared to the promise of a future. I ran immediately, not daring to look back at the dark, old house that had been my prison for twenty-two years.

A laughter escaped my lips as I raced down the street. I was finally free. Free from my father. Free from his mother and Mr Blaze. I was fucking free. My lungs burned, but I dare not stop to catch my breath. I finally stopped when I reached a corner, so I could send Elliot a message.

But there, parked a little way off the fence line, was Elliot's familiar beaten-up sedan.

My heart swelled with such overwhelming happiness and relief that I almost sobbed. He was here. He did keep his promise. He was my savior.

I ran straight to him and launched myself into his arms. I clung to him, inhaling the clean scent of his cologne, feeling safer than I had ever felt in my life.

"Elliot, thank you so much. Thank you so much." I whispered, tears of gratitude stinging my eyes. "You have no idea, but you just saved me. You really saved me." I wanted to tell him about the baby.

But he pulled away quickly, his eyes scanning the deserted street nervously. "Yeah, yeah. Of course, Allie. Now get in the car. Hurry up. If your father notices you're gone, he's going to chase after us, and I don't want to deal with Orion."

His rushed manner and slight distance stung a little, but I immediately rationalized it. He was focused on our safety. He was being responsible. Therefore, I decided to wait a little longer to share my news. The time for joy and big announcements was when we were truly safe, when we're truly away from here.

If my father notices that I've left the house, he won't hesitate to inform the police and they'll search for me and bring me back to him. That would mean my death. And that's the last thing I wanted.

"Okay," I agreed, sliding into the passenger seat.

He didn't waste a second. He pulled out onto the road, driving fast, but with precaution at the same time. The dark streets began to give way to the more commercial part of the city. I leaned back, closing my eyes, feeling the tension drain away with every passing mile. We were free.

I brought my hands to my flat stomach and caressed it gently. "We're free, baby. We're free. I'll take care of you. I'll make sure you get all the love in the world. I'll make sure of that." I muttered under my breath. Thankfully, Elliot didn't hear me.

"Are you hungry?" His voice dragged me back to reality. And that was when I realised that my hands were still on my belly. He must have seen the action as hunger. Nevertheless, I nodded slowly. I didn't want to tell him about the baby now.

He threw a wrapped box on my lap and immediately, I opened it. It was a box of chocolates.

"Thank you." I whispered and he nodded. "Anyways, where are we going?" I asked, a hopeful smile finally touching my lips. "I'm ready for whatever you've planned, Elliot."

He didn't answer immediately. His jaw was set, and he was gripping the steering wheel so tightly his knuckles were white.

"Elliot?" I repeated, my tone laced with tentative worry. "Are you alright? Why are you driving this way? This isn't the road out of the city, is it?"

The street was becoming recognizable in the worst possible way. The buildings were larger and ringed by high fences. The car turned onto a familiar dirt road, and suddenly, my entire body went ice-cold.

My breath hitched in my throat.

I knew this street. I had been dragged down this exact road months ago for the first auction. My stomach dropped like a stone, the sudden nausea of terror instantly eclipsing the familiar morning sickness.

The sweet taste of chocolate in my mouth suddenly became bitter.

"Elliot," I said, the fear rising in my voice. "Stop the car. Please, stop. This isn't right."

He ignored me. His usually kind and open face was now hard. Cold, and utterly unfamiliar. I didn't recognise who I was in the car with. This isn't Elliot. This is a beast.

The car stopped with a jolt outside a massive, unmarked warehouse. A heavy steel door stood slightly ajar.

I looked at the building, then back at Elliot, and the horrifying truth crashed into me like a physical wave.

This wasn't an escape. This was a delivery, into the place I hated most. Corner X. The auction house. The same auction house that I'd been dragged to a few months ago.

Oh goodness! No! No. This cannot be happening.

My mind raced, trying to find a way to deny what my eyes were seeing, what my gut was screaming. He promised to save me from my parents. He loved me. He was my last hope. I had jumped out of my prison only to run straight into a lion's den.

A wave of regret consumed me. I should have stayed home. I should have gladly accepted my fate, rather than coming to meet him. I would rather face Mr. Blaze than this man in front of me. The man who claimed to love me.

I should have stayed home. At least my father's cruelty was honest. All the vessels in my body screamed at me to leave the car and run, but it was as if I was glued to the seat. I couldn't run. Nor could I leave.

His face was stripped of all warmth and now it was replaced by a contemptuous smirk. "This is where your father and grandmother sent you, Allie. I was just the delivery man."

The shock was so profound it left me paralyzed, unable to move or speak. It wasn't just betrayal; it was the calculated cruelty designed to shatter my soul.

How could he do such a thing to me? I fucking trusted him. I trusted him to save me from my parents, but what did he do? He brought me here, to the one place I hated most.

The steel door creaked open, and two burly men stepped out. I recognised them. Maximus's men. They were the same men that had dragged me onto the stage that day. They walked directly toward the car and they were waiting for me to step out.

I finally found my voice. "No, Elliot! You can't do this to me! You loved me! You promised to save me."

A cruel bitter laugh that pierced my heart escaped his lips. "Love you? Did you really think I'd run off with a pathetic, worthless thing like you? Did you really think I'll love a dirty bitch like you?"

He didn't wait for my answer. He quickly grabbed my arm and dragged me out of the car, shoving me toward the terrifying men who were standing outside the car.

"Take her."

ALLISON

I was currently in the makeup room where they prepped women before the auction. The guards immediately pushed me onto a wooden stool in front of a cracked mirror.

"Sit," one of them grunted. "The makeup artists will be here soon. You have to look pretty for the men."

"No one wants to buy an ugly bitch, yeah?" the other sneered, and they both burst into laughter.

"Well, she isn't ugly and I must say she's got pretty legs too. Too bad we're not allowed to touch them, else I'd have taken her to my bed. I'll love to hear her moans."

"I bet she cries when she's been fucked. I'll give my life to know what it feels like to fuck her."

I fixed my gaze on the mirror, pretending I hadn't heard their crude conversation. That's the only way to stop myself from going crazy.

They walked out of the room and stood by the main door, as they talked in low voices about the night's profit and of course 'Me'. I wasn't surprised they'll be so shameless to talk about taking me to their bed right in front of me.

My eyes darted around the room, then back to the door. This was it. My last chance of escape. They hadn't chained me like they did the last time, and they weren't looking.

The cold hairpin I still held in my palm felt like my only friend now. It was the same thing that had saved me from Mr Blaze and I'm sure as hell that it'll save me again. I slowly slid off the stool, wincing as my bruised ribs protested, and I crept toward the door. Every nerve ending screamed at me to run, not just from Maximus, but from the horrifying betrayal from Elliot. I had to get out of all of these as fast as I could.

If not for anyone, for my baby.

My hand reached the cold metal handle, I turned to step out and as if luck wasn't on my side, I ran directly into the betrayer.

Oh goodness. I thought he's left. He was standing right outside, a cruel smirk already on his face.

"Running away so soon, Allie?" he sneered, and before I could even flinch, he slapped me, the sound echoing off the bare walls.

The slap didn't hurt as much as the venom in his eyes. Instinct took over. Driven by sheer terror and the need to protect the life inside me, I kicked him with all my strength, aiming for his groin.

Elliot gasped, doubling over in searing pain, dropping a thick baton onto the floor. It rolled toward my feet. This was my chance! I tried to dart past him, but a voice laced with mockery cut me off.

"Not so fast, peaches." The guard from inside the room was now blocking the doorway. My heart sank. There was nowhere to go.

The two guards grabbed me, pinning my arms and slamming me against the wall. Panic flared, and I sank my teeth into the arm of the nearest guard, hard. He roared in surprise and fury.

Elliot straightened up, his eyes black with hatred. He snatched the baton from the floor. "You want to fight? You little bitch, I'll teach you to fight!"

He began hitting me. Not just with his fists, but with the thick baton in his hands. He didn't avoid my ribs or my stomach; he drove the blows home repeatedly. The two guards, one now nursing a bleeding arm, joined him, kicking and punching.

The pain was overwhelming. It consumed every plea. I couldn't breathe. Nor could I fight back. I was just a weak human serving as a punching bag for three enraged, merciless brutes. And one of them was the same man who had promised to help me escape.

My boyfriend. The person I have loved and trusted with all my heart.

"Stop!" The word tore itself from my throat. I looked at Elliot's face, hoping to see a flicker of the kindness he had created for so long. "Elliot, please! Stop! I'm pregnant! It's your child!"

The confession only meant to be a plea for salvation, ignited the fire in his eyes.

He stopped hitting me for one breath, just long enough to spit out his answer. "Pregnant? You disgusting, worthless piece of trash! I would rather die than see you carry my child!"

He cursed me, insulted me, calling me a dirty bitch who deserved worse than this. Then, his voice became cold, utterly chilling. "Aim for her stomach!" he shrieked at the guards. "Aim for the gut! Kill the baby! I will not have her carry my child!"

"No. No. Please." I pleaded as I tried so hard to shield my stomach with my hands, but the guards didn't relent. They matched me with the boots while Elliott continued to hit me with the baton.

I felt a tear inside me. Then came the warmth, the heavy, undeniable flow of blood.

No. My baby. He's leaving. I couldn't protect him like I'd promised.

Tears streamed down my face, not just from the pain, but from the profound, soul-shattering realization of my loss. The blood wouldn't stop. I cried out, a sound of pure helplessness. I tried to curl up, trying to save the life that was already slipping away.

Finally, they stepped back, breathing heavily. I was left a whimpering, bloody mess on the floor.

"Clean her up," Elliot spat, throwing the baton down. "She's still going on stage."

The guards dragged my broken body from the makeup room into a darker, curtained area backstage. As they forced me into a sitting position on a crate, two figures emerged from the gloom.

"Look at her," my grandmother, Ellen, tutted, shaking her head in mock pity. "Did you really think we wouldn't find out your little secret, Allison?"

My father, Orion, stood beside her, beaming at Elliot. "Our boy, Elliot. He's been so helpful, hasn't he? Feeding us every information, every plan of yours. Did you really think he was going to help you escape from us, huh?"

The horrifying scope of the plot slammed into me.

The reason my father never stopped me from going to meet Elliot. He stopped me from making friends in the neighborhood. He fucking stopped me from attending school, but he turned blind eye the day he saw me with Elliot. I could remember vividly how my heart skipped a beat the day my father saw me standing with Elliot.

I thought he was going to scold me and ask Elliot to leave the way he'd chased my friends away, but he didn't. Instead he just smiled at Elliot, greeted him like he was an old friend of his.

He never stopped me. He hadn't needed to.

I stared at Elliot, who had a huge smirk on his face. He had sent me right into their hands. He had given me fake hope to maximize the pain of the fall.

Betrayal surged through my veins, giving me a reckless burst of strength. I lunged at Elliot, my hand striking out blindly.

"How dare you, Elliot?"

Smack!

It wasn't Elliot who hit me this time. Nor was I the one who hit him. It was Orion. My father slapped me across the cheek, sending me reeling back onto the crate. "Know your place," he hissed.

"If only you had agreed to stay back and serve Mr Blaze, you wouldn't be here." My grandmother stepped forward and tried to touch my face, but I turned my face away. "Poor baby. Look at you. Mr Blaze would have treated you well. Who knows, he'd have made you his wife."

"I hate you all." I cried bitterly. Because of them, I lost my baby."

"You have no idea how much we hate you too, Allison. You should have just died." They watched for a few more minutes, reveling in their victory, before Maximus's men came back and dragged me away.

I was hauled onto the brightly lit auction stage. I lay there, helpless and broken, the pool of blood beneath me a clear testament to the beating I just received. I saw the other girls. Some terrified, some resigned, being bid on and selected. Their numbers kept dwindling.

But no one looked at me, simply I was stained, bruised, and clearly dying. They clearly won't want to have anything to do with me for fear that I'll die on them. I closed my eyes, praying. Please, let no one buy me. Let me die here. Let me leave this world. I can't do it anymore.

The stage was almost emptied, indicating that the sale was over.

Maximus's heavy voice boomed across the hall. "Get this filth out of here! I told you, no dying goods!" The two guards who had beaten me started toward the stage, their intent clear: to finish what they'd started. That was a rule in the auction house. If no one buys you, then the guards were free to do whatever they wanted with you.

The only reason I wasn't killed the last time was because of Mr Blaze. Yes. Mr Blaze. He asked the auction officers to let me be. He had to pay the sum of $20,000 to free me.

Now three months later, he wants my dad to pay up the money. He was willing to ignore the debt only if I pleased him.

Just as their shadows fell over me, a commanding voice sliced through the silence of the nearly empty hall. His voice resonated with an authority that made the very air vibrate, stopping the guards instantly.

"I'LL BUY HER."

LAZAR

I had almost accepted that my search for my mate was futile when a scent slammed into me. An intoxicating scent and somehow, I found myself visibly drawn to it.

"You have to find the source of that scent, Lazar. You have to find it. Trace it." My wolf urged me, his excitement building slowly.

My head snapped around, as I traced the scent to where it was coming from. The stage lights shone a small human woman, lying on the floor. She was stained, bruised and clearly hemorrhaging.

Mate. Mine

My heart didn't beat; it exploded into a white-hot furnace of protective rage. She was fragile, injured, and utterly precious. The animals who had done this to her would burn.

"I'LL BUY HER." I declared. My voice cut through the tense silence.

Maximus, the operator, stammered, "Sir, I must advise you, she is...."

"I know what she is," I growled. "I bid twenty thousand." Double the normal price. It shut everyone up instantly. "Sold! To the gentleman in blue!" the fool announced.

I moved with an unnatural speed, not waiting for the transaction to clear. I made my way to the stage, pushing past the retreating guards. I saw the stunned faces of the patrons, the shocked stare of an older man who shared a striking resemblance with the girl. And at once, I knew who he was. Her father.

I ignored them all, because my focus was only on the ruined woman before me.

I knelt before her, lifting her as I gently slipped one arm under her knees and the other behind her back. She was so light for someone her age.

"Hang on," I pleaded, my voice stripped to a soothing sound meant only for her. I was already dialing my Beta, Marcus, through the mind-link before we even reached the door.

"Marcus! Get the car to the main entrance, now! Emergency! And contact Dr. Ezra. Tell him to prep the clinic for severe bruises. Mate. I've found my mate. The badly injured woman is my mate, Marcus. I can't let her die."

A moment later, Marcus responded, his tone laced with shock. "Mate? But she's... a human, Your Majesty."

I cut the link immediately. I didn't have time for Pack politics. She was bleeding. I need to save her because I can't live with the thought of losing my mate immediately I found her.

I strode out to the front entrance. My black sedan was already there. Marcus held the back door open, his eyes wide as he took in the sight of the blood-soaked human woman in my arms.

"Drive. Fast, but careful," I ordered as I slid into the back seat and cradled her against my chest. I kept one large hand pressed gently, but firmly against her abdomen, trying to impart my healing energy, though I knew it wasn't going to work.

She wasn't a werewolf like me.

The drive to the Pack House clinic was agonizingly slow even though I knew Marcus drove at high speed. The scent of her blood filled the car, triggering a primal need to consume her pain and make it disappear. All of it.

"Get the nurses now. Now!" I roared as Marcus pulled the car up to the clinic entrance.

I carried her straight into the examination room and laid her gently on the table. Dr. Ezra, our head physician, a tall wolf, was already waiting. He didn't hesitate; he got to work instantly, running scans, his brow furrowed with professional concern.

"Do everything you can to save her, else I'll burn this fucking hospital to the ground." I growled as I stepped away to let him do his work.

"Alpha," with a grim voice, he finally reported. "Several broken ribs, extensive bruising. Thankfully, the bleeding has stopped, your Majesty, but...she suffered a miscarriage. The child was barely five weeks old."

The confirmation hit me, solidifying the rage that had been brewing inside me since I saw her. They hadn't just hurt my mate; they had deliberately murdered her child.

"Marcus," I called out, my voice dangerously calm. "I want the names, the locations, and the full histories of her guardians. All of them. Maximus and his operation. I want them brought in. Tonight."

My Beta didn't argue this time, because he understood the situation at hand. He just nodded. "Consider it done, Alpha."

I sent a separate detail of wolves to shut down Maximus's auction house forever. The monsters would not see morning light outside a prison cell.

Only when Ezra assured me she would live, and when Marcus confirmed the arrests were underway, did I finally sit beside her. I watched her bruised face, filled with protective fury and a profound, aching grief for the life she had lost

I was watching her pulse steadily on the monitor when her eyes fluttered open. They were warm amber, hazy with pain, but they eventually settled on me.

I stood, moving quietly to the edge of the bed. "You're awake," I said in the calmest voice that I could muster.

"Who... who are you?" she whispered.

I looked down at her. She needed to know her trauma was over. She needed to know that she was safe forever, because I'll never let any harm come near her ever again.

"My name is Lazar," I told her. "And I bought you, Allison. Because you are mine." I let the claim settle as I watched her reaction. Then, I gave her the undeniable truth. "I am a werewolf," I added. "And you are my mate."

★★

"But she's human. And the Pack will never accept a human Luna as their mate." Marcus said through gritted teeth.

"I am the Alpha, Marcus. They'll be forced into submission and accept her as their Luna. They have no choice."

"Of course they have no choice but to accept her. But what about the former Alpha, your father? Do you think he'll accept her? In fact, we both know what King Darius is capable of doing. He'll kill her."

I gritted my teeth in anger as his words washed over me. My father has always hated humans. "He won't dare, Marcus. He..."

"Have you forgotten how he hates them, especially after what happened that day?" Marcus exhaled sharply. "You better reject her and take someone else as your mate. Because the moment you take her into that Pack, you're risking her life. And yours. Mine too. In fact, you're risking the life of everyone that matters to you."

"Then so be it."