Someone in the crowd offered two hundred and Randle laughed. “Two hundred? Are you for real?” He put his finger to his lips, as if pondering, his eyebrows furrowed. “Oh, silly me!” He slapped his palm to his forehead. “I forgot to mention... she’s a witch.”
The cacophony of noise erupted from the crowd as the bidding began. Right off the bat, somebody offered fifteen hundred, then two thousand, three thousand, someone in the back yelled thirty-five hundred. As the prices increased, the bids started to become fewer and far between. By the time Randle announced the bidding at ten thousand, there were only three people were still making offers.
“Ten thousand one hundred,” said a voice in the crowd. Eden couldn’t tell who said it.
“Ten thousand five hundred,” said a man close to the front. This guy Eden could see. He was tall, wearing a white button-down shirt and black pants. He had his dirty blond hair styled in a sort of pushed back wave, which helped to highlight his wide forehead and strong jawline. He was too tall and muscular to be a human, but he didn’t possess any of the recognizable characteristics of a dragon or snake shifter. He was a wolf. Eden felt the unmistakable, fluttery feeling of attraction wash over her, a feeling she hadn’t felt for a long time, since before her parents died. She ignored it and focused her attention on the faceless voice in the crowd who was now offering ten thousand seven hundred and fifty dollars for her.
“Eleven thousand.” This offer came from a man standing just a few feet away from the handsome man in the nice clothes. This guy had dark brown hair, which he wore long and messy. He had a handsome, skinny face and gorgeous green eyes that Eden could spot even from a good ten feet away. Another wolf. She’d never actually met a wolf shifter. Her town had always been run by the snakes. Every once in a while, you might see a dragon shifter walking the streets but that was it. Again, she felt a strange sort of excitement at the prospect of going home with this guy, but she pushed the thought from her mind.
What the hell has gotten into you? She tore her gaze away from the latest bidder and shook her head. When did you turn into some lustful schoolgirl? These men are here to purchase you. They are not good people. They are not sexy.
“Eleven thousand and three hundred.” She finally found a face to match with the voice. This bid came from a beefy, hairy guy, with a round face. She was pretty sure he was a bear shifter, although she couldn’t be positive from this far away. He was massive, however, and mean looking. He glanced back and forth at the other two guys making offers, likely trying to intimidate them into giving up on the item.
“Twelve thousand,” said the guy with green eyes.
Eden looked from him and then scanned the crowd to once again find the dragon. He frowned and hesitated to make a new offer.
“Twelve thousand going once,” said Randle. Eden then looked to the other wolf who was bidding on her but he too remained silent. “Twelve thousand going twice.” Randle didn’t pause for long after giving the second warning and saying, loud and clear, that Eden was sold to the man with the long hair. She thought he might have done that on purpose, so as to not give the dragon shifter any more time to jump back into the bidding. She smiled at him as a silent thank you, and then allowed one of the auction staffers to guide her down the steps towards back stage, where she was to meet her new master.
Chapter Five
Witches and Wolves
Two men were waiting for Eden in the area where buyers went to pay for and claim their purchases. Both the long-haired man who officially won her auction and the taller, well-dressed man who was also making offers. The auction staffer who Eden had followed off the stage asked the green-eyed man how he would be paying for his item.
“In cash,” he said. He looked at the other man, who handed over a large wad of bills.
“The rest is in the car,” said the taller man. “I will go get it while you start counting that out. Leo, you stay here and get acquainted with the witch.”
The man he called Leo nodded and turned his attention to Eden.
“Hi,” he said. “I’m Leo.”
“Hi.”
Leo waited a few seconds and then asked, “What’s your name?”
“Eden.”
“That’s a nice name.” He pointed in the direction where the other guy was walking. “That’s Chris. He’s my cousin. We were both bidding to make sure that we wouldn’t miss the opportunity to buy you.”
“I feel so special,” Eden said, rolling her eyes and pressed her shoulder blades together, trying to stretch out the muscles that had been in the same position for hours. She was really starting to get tired of being tied up.
“Is there any way you guys could cut one of these ropes?” she asked. “Once you get me in the car I mean. It’s starting to be really uncomfortable.”
“Oh, yeah, uh… probably.” Leo looked over his shoulder and then back at her. “I’ll have to ask Chris. He’s the one who has more experience with witches.”
“He’s bought witches before?” Eden frowned. “Why?”
“Don’t worry about that,” he said. “It will all make sense soon enough.”
Eden didn’t like the cryptic way Leo said that but she decided not to push the issue. Knowing more about her fate wasn’t going to change it. She thought it was best to keep quiet and on her best behavior, in hopes they would see she wasn’t a threat and loosen some of the ropes.
She and Leo stood in silence for all the time it took for Chris to go to the car and come back with a black briefcase. He handed that to the woman who was in charge of the transaction. “It’s all in there.”
“I’m going to have to count it,” she said. “You can take her to the car and get her settled, but don’t try to leave the premises. They will stop you at the gate and ask for a proof of purchase slip. I’ll give you one of those once I’ve counted.”
“Sounds fair enough,” said Chris. He looked at Eden. “Ready to go?”
Eden didn’t say anything.
“Okay then.” He smiled. “Would you prefer to walk or for me to carry you? I saw you trying to make your way off the stage with those restraints. Looked damn near impossible.”
“Yeah,” said Leo. “About that, she was wondering if there was any way we could untie some of the knots.”
Chris laughed. “I’m sure she was, but I’m afraid the answer is no. Not until we get to the castle I’m afraid.”
“Whatever. It’s fine. And I’ll walk,” said Eden. She wanted to annoy them, to take up even more of their afternoon with having to wait for her to half-walk, half-hop all the way through the parking lot. It was petty, sure, but this Chris guy was really starting to get on her nerves. Any initial attraction she may have felt towards him had long since dissipated and now all she cared about was making the job of getting her home as difficult as possible.
“Suit yourself.” Chris started walking, his pace quick and determined.
Leo hung back and walked with Eden, having to slow his pace quite a lot in order to not get too far ahead of her.
“You’ll like the castle,” he said. “It’s really nice in there. And it’s cool inside. I don’t know about you but I hate the heat. That’s why I can’t stand coming to the markets. That and the fact that I don’t like crowds.”
“Then why did you come?”
“Chris asked me to.”
“Do you do everything he asks?”
“No!” Leo said defensively. “But sometimes it’s just easier than arguing.”
Eden sighed. “I guess I’ll have to start getting used to saying yes instead of arguing, now that you two wolves own me and all.”
Leo gave her a look. “How’d you know we were wolves?”
“I’m good at reading people.”
“If you were that good at reading people, you would realize that Chris and I aren’t the barking orders, you better obey, type. We didn’t buy you so we could boss you around and make you do the dishes or something.”
“Did you buy me for sex?”
<
br /> Leo seemed taken aback by the question. “Absolutely not! And I’m offended you would even suggest that.” He pretended to straighten an imaginary tie. “I do not have to pay for sex, thank you very much. I’ll have you know, some women have even offered to pay me for sex.”
“And did you take them up on it?”
Leo frowned. “That’s none of your business.”
Eden was surprised to find the urge to laugh bubbling up inside of her. This guy was funny, and undeniably cute. His cousin, on the other hand, seemed like a real jerk. But she could handle jerks, she’d been doing it just about every day since opening up her repair shop.
She pushed the laughter down and kept up her line of questioning. In the distance she could see Leo’s cousin leaning against a big, black SUV. “Then why did you guys buy me? I don’t frequent markets such as these, so I’m not too familiar with how much your typical witch goes for, but twelve thousand dollars seems like a lot of money.”
Leo kicked a rock with his foot and watched it skitter down the path in front of him. “That’s subject, don’t you think?” he asked.
“What do you mean?”
“Well, from what I know about human markets, which admittedly isn’t a lot, twelve thousand is a large sum of money to pay for a human, regardless of whether or not that person has magical powers.”
“Right,” said Eden. “That’s what I was thinking.”
“That being said, if you look at the situation from a broader point of view,” Leo added. “Twelve thousand dollars doesn’t actually seem like that much, considering you are purchasing a walking, talking, breathing human being. This transaction we just made basically states that your value as a person is worth less than we paid for that car.”
Somehow Eden had just lost the moral high ground, in a conversation she was having with the person who just bought her as a slave. It was a confusing moment for her, and she found herself at a complete loss for words.
“That’s a very strange argument to hear from someone in your position,” she said after a few seconds of contemplation and waddle-walking. “It’s almost worse, you being aware of how truly fucked up all of this is.”
Neither of them said anything else for the rest of the walk to the car. Chris opened the back door for her, and after a few failed attempts at hopping onto the seat by herself, she begrudgingly agreed to let him lift her up. He pulled the seat belt around her and clicked it in. “Comfy?” he asked. He seemed like he genuinely wanted to know.
“Are you serious?” Eden gave him a look that she hoped would say what her mouth couldn’t, which was “are you an idiot?”
He looked down at her still bound ankles and wrists. “Sorry,” he said. “But we will cut you loose as soon as we get home.”
Eden wasn’t sure she believed him, but what did it matter anyway? He was going to do or not do whatever he wanted and there was nothing she could do to stop him. He closed the car door and walked back to grab the pink slip. Leo hopped into the front seat and spun around to face Eden.
“I bet if we both whine a whole bunch, we could convince Chris to drive through some fast food place on the way home. What do you say?” He was grinning at her like a kid grins at the sight of a candy store.
She was shocked by how casual he was treating this situation, and bewildered by how someone could so quickly go from being philosophical and introspective to nearly jumping out of his seat at the thought of french fries. Instead of answering him, Eden pulled her legs up onto the seat and curled inward, facing the window. She stayed like that for the entire forty minute drive to the castle, crying silently and keeping her face hidden, making sure the two wolves would not be made privy to this moment of weakness she decided to allow herself.
The castle was straight out of a nineteenth century horror novel. The architecture style was Victorian, with some gothic details thrown in here and there. It was almost as if it was the designer’s intent to make the stone building look as uninviting as possible. Any hope Eden may have had about her future was dashed at the first sight of the castle.
This is where I die. She kept thinking to herself, over and over again, her inner voice muted but sure. This is absolutely where I die.
Leo opened the door for her and took her hand as she hopped down from the car seat. The stone steps leading to the two massive wooden doors of the castle were cracked and the top one broken. When they got to the first step, Leo begged Eden to let him carry her. It was going to be a lot faster than waiting for her to jump up each of the tall, dangerous steps.
“Just cut the rope off my feet already!” she said. “For god sakes, the rope around my wrists is plenty. Besides, I’m running on barely any sleep and an empty stomach. There’s no way I could break through the magic suppression of this rope, none-the-less use any spell powerful enough to incapacitate two huge wolf shifters!”
Leo looked at Chris, who didn’t offer any objections. He pulled a pocket knife out of the pocket of his jeans and bent down. He slid the blade behind the rope and sawed back and forth a few times. The rope frayed and then ripped completely, and Eden felt the sweet relief of no longer having the ever-hot magic rope digging into the skin of her legs.
She kicked her feet out to the side a few times and jumped up and down. “Whew, that feels so much better!” She held her wrists out and moved her eyebrows up and down. “Now how about you take care of these puppies as well, while you have the knife out and all.”
Chris took a step forward and took the pocket knife from his cousin. “Not until we get
inside and put a cuff on you.” He started up the steps.
“A cuff?”
“Follow me.”
Eden waited for Leo to explain, but he just motioned for her to go up the stairs before him, which she did. The doors opened for him before Chris could even reach out a hand to push or perhaps to knock. Eden wasn’t sure what was commonplace with a castle. The doors looked incredibly heavy. She wondered if a single man could even force them open on his own.
“They are automatic,” Leo explained, as if reading her mind. “There’s a camera up there.” He pointed to the top right corner of the archway above the door. “It recognizes our faces and opens the door. Pretty neat, huh?”
Eden squinted up at the camera, shrugged, and stepped over the threshold. “I guess.” She didn’t add the snarky comment she had been thinking, which was something about how their security system was cute in comparison to what she had rigged up at her shop.
The front room of the castle was breathtaking. It looked completely different from what Eden was anticipating based on the outside of the building. The walls were a light blue color, with dark grey trim around the doorways and windows. There was a staircase that crawled up the left wall and curled up into the second floor. She looked into the room on the left and found a similar color scheme and mid-century modern furniture.
“Wow,” she said. “What happened? You guys get sick of the whole brooding and dreary, ‘a vampire lives here’ aesthetic?”
“You could say that,” said Leo, leaning against the entryway to the room Eden was now walking through. “This was my grandmother’s. Her father designed it. He was a very… serious man. My parents left it the way it was, with a lot of dark wood furniture and creepy oil paintings whose eyes follow you around the room. Once they retired and started spending less time here, I asked if Chris and I could redecorate a little.”
“So it’s just you two who live here?” Eden asked. “Seems like such a waste.”
Something flew past the window facing the front of the castle, causing a shadow to darken the room for a moment, and then it was gone.
Eden ran to the window and tried to look out and up towards the sky. “What the hell was that?”
“That must’ve been one of the guards,” said Leo. “I better go see what’s up.” He hurried back through the still open front door, leaving Eden and Chis alone.
“One of the guards?” Eden said. “I don’t understand…”
“We have dragons who guard the grounds.”
Eden let a half-scoff, half-snort sound and gawked at Chris. “Oh yeah, right.” She rolled her eyes. “No seriously.”
Chris put his hands in his pockets and strode towards her. “I am serious.” He looked out the window and waited until the dragon came back into view and pointed. “There’s our head of ground security. His name’s Brack. He’s a nice guy, when he’s in his human form. But don’t get in his way once he’s transformed.”
“Wait a minute. You’re telling me that you, a wolf shifter, convinced a dragon shifter to come work for you?”
“Not just one,” said Chris. “We got about two dozen of them on staff.”
Eden shook her head, as if the movement would also shake some of her shock. “But I thought dragon shifters answered to no one.”
“That’s what some people say about the wolf shifters.”
Eden watched as the dragon named Brack flew through the sky before coming to a stop and landed on his feet in front of Leo. She saw Leo start to talk, and then it appeared the dragon communicated back to him through a series of gestures and possibly noises, which surprised her. She had always been under the impression that when shifters were in their animalistic form, their humanity was completely gone. They were just the animal and instincts took over. Then again, she’d never actually been around a shifter when he or she was transformed. She wondered what other lies she’d been led to believe about shifters over the years.
“Your room is upstairs,” said Chris. “I hope you find it to be to your satisfaction. Want to go check it out?”
At the mention of a bedroom and the suggestion that she and Chris go together, alone, Eden’s eyes widened. “You want to take me to my bedroom? Can’t you just tell me which door it is?”
Chris shook his head. “Nope. Sorry. There’s something we have to do first.” He wrapped his hand around her forearm but she pulled away from his grip.
Auctioned to the Werewolf Princes Page 5
