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."

ALLISON

"Thank you for saving me." I said to Lazar as he walked into the ward. In his hands was a wrapped box. And at once glance, I knew what it was.

Fruits. How thoughtful of him.

"You are welcome, Allison." He flashed a warm smile at me. "How are you feeling today?"

"I'm... I'm better." I replied truthfully. Honestly, I have no idea what the doctor had done to me, or what drugs he had given me, but one thing I couldn't deny was that it was effective. I felt better than I've ever felt in a long while. The discomfort and pain I felt in between my legs were gone. The injuries on my body were healing fast too.

"That's good to know, Allison." He took his glasses off and placed them on the table beside him. "I'm glad you're okay. You'll have to remain here until you recover fully."

I was relieved to know that. I haven't figured out what to do with my life as soon as I'm discharged. I have nowhere to go, except my father's house. And with the ugly memories the house holds for me, it's the last place I want to stay.

Since I'll stay here until I recover fully, I might as well think about what to do.

"Lest I forget, your father and grandmother are currently in jail now. I had them jailed for what they did to you. They'll have to face the law."

My brows furrowed slightly into confusion. "You had them imprisoned?"

"Yes, Allison. Both of them. I just couldn't help it. First they mistreated you. And as a result of their actions, you lost your baby."

I knew that I lost my baby and I've tried so hard not to cry about it. When he broke the news to me a few days ago, I cried myself to sleep.

But deep down I was happy that I lost it. At least my child wouldn't suffer in this cruel world. She wouldn't have a father who's a monster, a father who didn't want her. Plus I wasn't financially stable enough to look after myself, not to talk of a newborn. I can't bring him or her into this world to suffer.

"And Elliot?" I inquired hesitantly. "Was he jailed too?"

"Yes. All of them. Maximus's auction house was destroyed too. That's what they all get for mistreating my mate." He said in a tone of finality.

I've almost forgotten that he claimed I was his mate. Even though I was human, I knew about werewolves and their world. It wasn't a strange road for me, because I've been reading about werewolves for as long as I can remember.

I knew about their leader who is called an Alpha, his second in command, his Beta. And of course the Alpha's mate, Luna or the Queen of the Pack. I know how Luna must be a strong and capable werewolf else she wouldn't be accepted by the Pack.

And now, he claims that I am his mate which I feel is not gonna be possible. I was human. And he, a werewolf. There's no way in hell that I'll be accepted in the Pack. As the Alpha of the Pack, he should know this.

I took a deep breath to clear my head. "We both know that I won't be accepted in your Pack, sir." I said in the calmest voice that I could muster. "I am an ordinary human. I'm not strong like your people. I can't fight. I can't protect the Pack. I can't shift. I won't be accepted. I think we should both go our separate ways."

He leaned closer, took my hands in his and gave it a gentle squeeze. "Are you thinking of rejecting me?"

As much as it pains me, I can't bear it. He is the first person who has ever stood up for me. In fact, he's the only one who has protected me and also punished the people who hurt me. But at the same time, I can't accept him. There is no way that I'll be accepted there. Who knows what fate awaits me in the Pack?

"Im only stating facts, sir...."

"Lazar." He cut me off. "Address me as Lazar. I am your mate, your future husband. You're not my subject, but my Luna."

I felt my cheeks heat up, especially as he said he was my future husband. "Okay."

"Now, I need you to understand one thing, Allison. I am the Alpha. And as the Alpha, whatever I say stands. My Pack cannot tell me what to do or who to take as my mate. Anyone who questions my decision or the moon goddess decrees will have to be punished by me. Or worse, sent out of the Pack."

"Will you turn your back on your Pack for me, a total stranger? Will you go against the people that have been with you through thick and thin, all for a complete stranger?"

The corners of his lips rose in a smile. "That stranger is my mate. And besides, I am not turning my back on them, baby. I am only making a point. Once I've done this, no one will have any rights to send you away or ask me to send you out of the Pack."

"Are you sure about this?" I exhaled sharply. "I don't want to be the reason why everyone hates and turns their back on you, Lazar. I won't be able to live with it."

"Trust me, Allison. I have everything under control. You just sit back and recover fully."

"Yes, I will."

♤♤♤

"I just spoke with the doctor now. He says you can be discharged." Lazar announced as he walked into the room. It's been three weeks since I was brought to this hospital. And I must say this is the first time I've had real peace without anyone yelling at me or making me feel like I'm a burden.

And Alpha Lazar, for the past three weeks, he keeps coming back to the Pack, to check on me, even though he has his Pack to run and look after.

"Yeah. He told me earlier." I answered. And he nodded.

With his hands behind his back, he walked towards the window. I kept praying within me that he wouldn't remind me about what we discussed some days ago. But as if he heard my thoughts, he spoke up.

"Tell me, Allison." He started. "Have you thought about it already?"

"Of course yes, Alpha." I nodded like he could see me. "I've thought about it. And I don't think I can do it. I can't come to the Pack with you."

He finally turned to face me. "And why is that?"

"I am human. There is no place for me in your Pack. I won't be welcomed there. I can't..."

"You'll be welcomed. And trust me, I'll make sure no one hurts you or causes you any problem. That's a promise I intend to keep. Forever."

I needed no soothsayer to tell me that he meant those words. But in this life, I've learnt never to trust anyone. Especially after what Elliot did. He was the one man I trusted with everything in me. I trusted that he'll save me, take me away from my parents forever. But he did the exact opposite.

He betrayed me by selling me at the auction, the one place I hated most, without a second thought.

"You can't force everyone to love and accept me, Lazar. Can you please just let me go? I promise you I'll be fine outside the Pack. You can come see me whenever you want. It'll be better that day."

"I'm sorry, I can't do that, Allison. You're my mate. And staying at the Pack is safer for you. How will I protect you if you're far away from me?" He asked as he began to walk closer. "Look, Allison, I have enemies. Lots of them. What do you think would happen if they get to know that I've found my mate?"

"They'll want to hurt me." I stated the obvious.

"You're right. They'll hurt you. They'll do anything to get to me. So please, come with me to the Pack, so I can protect you. And treat you better. If your greatest concern is not being accepted by the Pack, then I'll arrange for you to stay away from the Pack House. How about that?"

"No. I'll stay in the Pack House." I blurted out before I could stop myself. Nevertheless, I didn't want to trouble him.

"Good." He winked at me. "The car is ready. We should leave already."

"Uhm.... What about my father?" I whispered as he helped me get up from the bed. "My grandmother, Elliot."

"They'll remain in jail until whenever I change my mind. So you don't have to worry about them hurting you again."