by Madison Faye
A cage.
Ryan’s hand on my arm tightened again as he pulled me into the hedonistic place that I never in a million years would have imagined myself in. We walked down a small flight of wide, curved, velvet-lined stairs onto the main floor and headed for the dark bar in the corner. The bar top was some sort of frosted glass, lit from beneath, sending an eerie glow up against Ryan’s face as he gruffed out an order to the bartender.
My heart hammered in my chest as I glanced around the place — it was full of younger, gorgeous women coupled with mostly older, mostly strikingly handsome and powerful-looking men. Off in one of the dark recessed booths, a beautiful brunette in a short black dress sat astride the lap of a man with piercing dark eyes, her hands stroking his chest while her lips nibbled at his neck, all while he sat there calmly sipping his drink. In another corner, on a rich looking sofa, two other girls giggled and bit their lips before they slowly came together in a soft kiss, right in front of a grinning, impossibly handsome man who nodded, stroking their arms.
My pulse pounded in my chest, my eyes widened as I took in the raw sexuality going on around the room. Ryan pressed a glass of champagne into my hand, and I shivered.
Where was I? And again, Andrea’s words came rushing through my head: there’s no sex implied.
Clearly, Andrea’s Blaine hadn’t shown her this place.
I took a nervous sip of my drink as my eyes continued to move across the room, and that’s when I first saw them.
Them.
There were three of them, and they were absolutely gorgeous. They were all three dressed impeccably in tailored suits, and they sat on a couch, drinking slowly from rocks glasses as a beautiful girl in a short white dress with long black hair danced in front of them.
The club was full of good-looking, powerful men. But as soon as I saw the three of them sitting across the room, I knew the rest of the place paled in comparison to these men.
Everyone else there worked to show how powerful and rich they were.
These three just exuded it, naturally.
They were stunningly good looking — all smoky eyes, chiseled jaws, impeccable hair, and clearly built frames straining at those suits. But beyond that, they just seemed to pulse with the type of power that dominates a room.
The type of power that demands obedience.
My breath caught as my eyes were just drawn to them, held fast by the way they seemed to pull the energy of the room around them like some sort of vortex.
They scared me. But there was something so visceral about the way they just pulled my attention. And there was something about how in a room full of the powerful, they seem to command the place in a way that sent a thrill of something…I don’t know, something heated through me.
And again, they were gorgeous.
One was blonde, with blue eyes so sharp I could see them clear across the room, and his strong, squared jaw and perfect cheekbones gave him a sort of Nordic Viking look. The man next to him, smiling thinly at the dancing girl as he sipped a glass of something had similarly piercing blue eyes, only with dark black hair and long, almost enviable lashes.
It was the last man though, that really sent a shiver of something frightening through me. Dark hair, dark eyes, and a faint stubble across his perfect jawline — his face held a sort of brooding darkness that had my breath catching in my throat and my fingers tightening on the stem of my champagne flute.
“Let’s get one thing fucking straight.”
I gasped as Ryan spun me around. “You’re here with me, got it?” he hissed. Any semblance of the man who’d smiled charmingly at me in the restaurant was gone as his eyes narrowed at me. “You’re mine tonight.”
I swallowed, wanting so badly to just run away from this whole thing, but not sure how to tell my feet to do that. I couldn’t believe I was there, and I couldn’t believe I’d let Andrea talk me into this!
“Let’s go.”
Ryan yanked me after him, my feet half tripping as he marched me to a booth of our own.
“Dance for me.”
I shook my head, stammering. “W-what?”
“I said dance for me, slut.”
My jaw dropped. “Who the fuck do you think—”
“Jesus Christ,” he growled, suddenly grabbing me and yanking me onto his lap. He started to push me down, and I stumbled as I fell to my knees in front of where he sat. Suddenly, Ryan started to reach for his zipper.
“Okay, no.” I yelled. This was my breaking point, and I was done with this bullshit. No money was worth this.
I shook my head as I started to get up. “Absolutely not! Keep your fucking money! I’m—”
I gasped as he grabbed me by the hair, yanking me back down as he started to get out of his seat.
“You’re embarrassing me, you little bit—”
“It appears we have a problem here.”
I froze at the sound of that voice — dark, powerful, supremely confident, and with almost a hint of benign humor in it.
Ryan suddenly let go of me at the sound of the silken baritone behind me.
“Keep out of this, Blackwood.”
“I’d love to — we’d love to, actually, except you’re making a scene.”
I swallowed the heat from my face as I slowly turned…
And my heart flip-flopped.
It was them — the three men I’d seen earlier exuding raw power from across the room. My eyes went wide as I looked up at them, all three men turning to let their eyes sizzle over me in a way that had my skin tingling.
If they’d looked powerful from across the room, they were demigods this close.
The one who’d spoke was the one with the dark hair and the piercing blue eyes — eyes that lanced right into me as he calmly reached down and offered a hand.
Ryan slapped it away.
“Leave it, you prick. This one’s mine.”
“That’s not how it works,” the tall, Viking-looking blonde man spoke this time, his voice steely and edged. “You know that’s not how things are done, Cunningham.”
“And you know who my father is.”
“We do,” the third man growled, those dark eyes glinting wickedly. “We just actually don’t give a shit.”
“Rules are rules, Cunningham,” the first man spoke. “You don’t bring them here unless she’s been formally purchased at the auction.”
My heart slipped again as my brows shot up. Formally purchased?! The auction?
Where the fuck was I?
The man Ryan had addressed as Blackwood reached down again. I swallowed as I took his hand, and when the contact was made, I felt a shiver of raw…something lance right though me. He pulled me effortlessly to my feet, and suddenly, I was face to face with all three of them.
It was like looking at consuming darkness.
“I believe I’d have remembered if I’d seen you here before,” the blonde man spoke, his eyes searing into mine, making my whole body warm.
“I— I’ve never, I mean—”
“We’re aware of that,” the dark haired, dark-eyed man said grimly, also eyeing me in a way that had me chewing at my lip and curling my toes.
“Which means you don’t belong to anyone,” he added.
My brow shot up? “What? Oh, no, I—”
“Yet.”
My mouth snapped shut, and my eyes went wide at the fierce look on his face.
“She’s mine, you fucking pricks,” Ryan hissed from behind me.
“Not yet she isn’t,” Blackwood growled.
“There’s an auction—”
“Tonight, we know,” the blonde man said icily. “But I know I haven’t seen her on the roster.”
They were speaking about me like I was some sort of commodity, and like I wasn’t standing right in front of them.
Quickly, I shook my head, taking a step away from all four of them. “You know what? I’m done here.”
“Done here?” The dark-eyed man said with a small smile across his chiseled, per
fect jaw.
“I— yes,” I managed to get out. “I think I’m here by mistake, actually.” I glanced at Ryan quickly, seeing him glaring daggers at me. “And I think I should be going.”
I whirled, and before they could say or do anything, I bolted.
I ran, feeling my face burn at the shocked looks from the other people there, but I didn’t care. I half-tripped up the stairs and yanked open the double doors to the deep red foyer room. For a second, the front doors didn’t budge an inch, which had the panic rising inside me. But then the interior ones did, and then they opened.
I went tumbling out, past the two men out front and ignoring whatever they were saying as I ran off into the New York night.
Tears stung my face as I finally stopped running a few blocks away, and I shook my head angrily as I wiped them away. I felt utterly humiliated, and used, and lied to.
And scared.
Whatever world I’d just stepped into, it was one I’d never wanted to peer into again. All that talk of being “sold” or auctioned — no way. Whatever that was, and no matter how gorgeous those three men had been, I wanted no part of that world.
Angrily, I opened my clutch, looking for my phone to call Andrea. My face fell as I remembered that Ryan the asshole still had it.
Fine, whatever. I could buy a new—
I never heard the footsteps until it was too late.
When I did, I half turned, the scream rising to my lips before the hand clamped over my mouth. More hands grabbed me — men in dark suits and masks yanking me roughly with them towards a dark limousine that suddenly swung around the corner.
My blood turned to ice.
I knew that limo. It was the same one I’d rode in earlier that night.
The door opened, and suddenly, a grim-faced, sneering Ryan Cunningham stepped out. “Shoulda played nice, kitten,” he hissed, reaching out to stroke my cheek. I screamed into the hand over my mouth, twisting away from him, but the hands held me tight.
“See, you don’t just get to leave the club. I may have broken the rules a little bringing you there tonight, but my father…”
He trailed off, grinning. “Well, it doesn’t matter that rules aren’t meant for men like me. Because after tonight?” His smiled deepened, his eyes lancing into me.
“After tonight, you’ll be mine. Get her in,” he growled to the two men holding me.
I screamed again, twisting helplessly against them as they tied my hands behind my back and replaced their hands with a gag before shoving me into the back of the limo. Ryan followed me in, chuckling as I tried vainly to kick at him from the floor of the car.
“Fight now, little kitten,” he smiled, chuckling. “Because after I win you at the auction tonight?”
He grinned evilly at me, and I felt my heart sink.
“After that, I’m going to really enjoy breaking you.”
The limo drove off into the night, my heart pounding in terror, my skin crawling, and my screams falling on deaf ears.
4
Mia
Strong hands gripped my arms as I stumbled down what seemed like a hallway. I’d screamed into the gag as they’d dragged me out of the car, and the sounds of the city had quickly gone silent with a click as they’d led me inside a doorway.
To here — wherever here was.
The gag was pulled from my mouth as we stumbled and walked.
“Please,” I pleaded. “Just tell me what—”
“You’re at the Auction House, luv,” a gruff, English accent rasped near my ear.
I shivered.
“And tonight,” he chuckled, the rumbling of his laugh sending an icy chill through me. “Well tonight, you’re the high bid.”
He chuckled again at the gasping sound I made, and suddenly, I blinked as he pulled the gag away.
The fear spiked in me as I glanced at the British man leading me. He was built — swarthy looking, with an evil looking scar running the length of his jaw. I glanced up, and gasped as I took in the luxurious, gorgeously decorated hallway we were walking down. It seemed like we were in some sort of opulent mansion, though there were no windows anywhere.
“You’re at the Auction House, and tonight, you’re the high bid.”
The man’s words had me terrified as he half led, half dragged me through a set of wooden doors into a small, dimly lit room.
“Sit here,” the man growled, shoving me into a high-backed chair.
My head spun at the blur of what had happened tonight — at my bizarre date that turned into the horrible time at the club, which had turned into this.
Kidnapped.
Bound.
Ready to be sold.
I wanted to cry, but I was too frozen — too numb from the shock of it all. I wondered for a minute how long until Andrea, and my family started looking for me.
I wondered how long they would wait until they figured I was dead.
I swallowed that horrible thought back down, shivering.
“Please,” I pleaded, eyes going wide in fear as I looked up at the man. “Please, just tell me what’s going on.”
That grin spread like a second scar across his face. “Rules were broken, luv. You don’t bring dates to the club, only girls you rightfully own.”
“Own?”
His eyes sparked something evil. “Mr. Cunningham’s father — well, he holds clout around here.”
“Where’s here?”
“The Auction House,” he purred, his eyes dripping down over the front of my dress and making me shiver uncomfortably. “You’ll fetch a very nice price.”
“You can’t—”
“Do this?” He grinned. “They all say that, sweetheart. And trust me, I can, and it is being done. Cunningham’s father had you pushed up in line to be the main attraction tonight, so that his son can fix his mistake and make it formal with the Organization regarding you.” He winked. “Then you’ll be his.”
A bell chimed quietly, and the British man smiled. “And here we go, luv. It’s show time.”
I started to open my mouth when he suddenly yanked me up.
“You’ll be taking that off now.” His eyes dropped to my dress, and he grinned.
“What?”
“I know you heard me just fine, luv,” he growled. “Now take it off, or I will help you.”
Cold fear lanced through me as his eyes oozed over me.
I could feel every single pulse of my heart as I turned away from him, shivering as I reached back to pull the zipper at the back of my dress. I slid it down, feeling his eyes on my naked back, before I let the dress drop to the floor.
And then I stood there in just the black bra and panties I’d worn under Andrea’s dress, my mind reeling at the reality of what was happening to me.
“Turn around.”
I squeezed my eyes shut, biting back fear as I slowly turned, my hands meekly covering myself.
He grinned. “Oh, you’ll fetch a nice price tonight, luv.”
I gasped as he suddenly pulled a piece of leather out from his back pocket.
My eyes went wide.
No, not a piece of leather…a collar, one attached to a long lead.
I felt cold as he slipped it on me, his wicked face grinning. “I’m Jorry, by the way. But we won’t speak after tonight. After tonight, you’ll do as Mr. Cunningham — and only Mr. Cunningham — says.”
“Please,” I begged, my heart pounding as I tried one last time at empathy. “Please, don’t do this!”
“See, there’s where you’ve got it wrong, luv.” He grinned. “You think you’re going to appeal to my better side, that it? You think you’re going to get to that little spot inside of me that hates all of this?”
He laughed before he yanked the collar tight and pulled me close.
“Not gonna happen. You see, sweetheart,” he grinned, leaning close. “I love all this.”
The bell chimed once more.
“Time to go.”
5
Mia
&nb
sp; The room was almost totally dark as I was led onto a small stage of sorts. Dim lights slowly illuminated me, standing alone in the darkness practically naked, with the collar around my neck.
And slowly, my eyes adjusted as I looked out. And if this was a stage, they were the audience.
I shivered, hands still meekly trying to cover myself.
The men surrounding me, dressed in suits and sitting in sumptuous chairs sipping drinks, were basically the same crowd from the club earlier. Handsome, rich, and exuding power. As the lights centered on me, they all drew their eyes to me, and suddenly I had about thirty pairs of eyes just drinking me in.
My head spun, and my eyes darted across the crowd, feeling the pressure and the fear getting bigger and bigger and bigger until—
Until my eyes came to a stop, and I froze.
Because dead center, right in front of me, were the three men from the club — the three men who’d commanded that room back there, and seemed to do the same here. The one’s who’d stepped in when Ryan had gone too far.
And I wanted to think of this as a good sign — that my heroes were here, but then the reality hit me.
Yeah, they were here alright — here at the fucking Auction House.
And looking at me like that.
Like they wanted to devour me.
“Good evening, gentlemen.” A woman’s voice purred over the room through speakers, pulling my attention from the three men.
“Welcome to the Auction House,” the bodiless voice sounded stern and yet elegant — cultured and schooled.
“Tonight, we offer a very special surprise for you all. After certain events earlier in the evening, Mr. Cunningham the senior has seen to it that a proper bidding take place for this young woman.”
All the eyes in the room turned and leveled at me.
“Mia Thorne, aged twenty-four.”
My jaw dropped.
“Natural blonde, blue eyes, feisty.”
Feisty, huh?
“Tenacity and willingness to fight.” The woman’s voice chuckled through the speakers. “A kitten with claws, gentlemen.”
