Chapter 2
Her green eyes met with a pair of stormy grey eyes; for two seconds, she could feel her anima pressing against her as she let out a mournful cry, but that feeling disappeared the second the man turned his gaze away without paying her any more attention than any other rich brat who was staring at her as if she were a good to be purchased.
"Move!"
Leah felt the auction house worker tug her restraints, and she let out a wince before walking up the aisle. She tried to behave as docilely as possible because, hey, the last thing she wanted at the moment was these people to know that she was planning an escape.
So, when they said move, she did as they asked her to.
Leah made sure that she was the perfect, obedient 'pet' that a man or woman would like to buy for the night. Her eyes, however, were another story; Even when she had her head lowered, she was still keeping an eye on all the workers and the servers who were heading in and out of the auction hall.
A left and then a right.
With so many shifters whispering, it was downright difficult for Leah to keep track of the noises and the shuffling of the feet as they headed out of the auction hall.
'But you are different.'
'Shut up.'
Leah hissed at the voice that spoke in her head. She didn't need anyone to tell her how different she was. She had known it since she was a child. Since she awakened her anima.
There was no need for any reminders.
Not about her differences and certainly not about her curse.
"Anyone?" The emcee once again appeared on the stage after Leah finished the most humiliating walk of her life. Even more humiliating than the walk that she did on the pavement of Erica after getting drunk and smashing a few of her potted plants.
"Twenty thousand dollars!"
Somewhere to her left, Leah heard a man shout. She raised her head and turned her head to the left. The man who had raised the bidding board was wearing a wolf mask, but from the cruel glint in his eyes, Leah knew that the man was just as kind and gentle as her stepmother was.
"Twenty thousand dollars!" The emcee raised his voice, sounding quite excited as he turned and looked at the crowd. "This gentleman is willing to offer twenty thousand dollars. Are there any more bidders? No. Then this bid is going for twenty thousand and one! Twenty thousand and two! Twenty thousand—"
"Fifty thousand!"
"We have another bid! Thank you, gentlemen!"
"One hundred thousand dollars!"
"One hundred and fifteen thousand dollars!"
Leah lowered her head, her gaze fixated on the heels she was wearing. She tuned out the noise that was echoing in the auction house while waiting for the bidding to stop. Her plan would only succeed when she was alone with her buyer. Her shoulders were getting tense by the minute, and then —
"Sold!"
"This young and beautiful maiden is sold for fifty whopping million dollars!"
Startled, Leah raised her head, wanting to see who was the one who purchased her, but before she could, the workers of the auction hall rushed forward and blindfolded her eyes.
The next thing Leah knew, she was being dragged and pulled.
Countless mutterings echoed in her ears along with the voices in her head as the makeup artists applied a little bit of this and that to touch up her makeup.
And when the blindfold was pulled off her eyes, Leah found herself locked in a small red room.
Finally alone.
"I never thought that you would be this useful."
Leah, who was surveying the room for an escape, whipped her head and looked at Florin, who was sitting on the couch while looking at the screen of her phone.
"What are you doing here?" Leah asked. Don't tell her that this woman wanted to witness her humiliation with her own eyes. If that was the case, then her escape was going to become a thousand times more difficult.
Florin smiled at Leah like she was looking at a child who was throwing an unreasonable tantrum. "There is no need to be upset, Leah. I am not going to stay here for long. The auction house owners just wanted to let me have a little chat with you. They hope that you understand that this auction is legal and contracted; you cannot back down now that the money is in your hand–"
"You mean in your hands," Leah corrected. Her breaths were coming out short and ragged. "You are the one who is making the profit, not me."
"I am your mother—"
"You are no mother of mine! My mother is dead because if she wasn't, then I wouldn't be sitting here like a whore," snapped Leah.
The smile on Florin's lips faltered a little. She got to her feet before saying in a clipped voice, "I am doing what I think is best for the pack. Your father, your foolish father, wasted his life away by getting addicted to something that he shouldn't have. And we need a lot of money, and as his daughter, it's only right that you understand this."
She walked over and caught Leah's cheeks between her fingers; she said to the woman in a calm yet cold voice, "Don't fuck this up for me, Leah or else I will see you behind the bars of the prison cell. Do you understand?"
This woman was mad. She was simply insane if she thought that Leah was going to let a stranger take her to this bed like a prostitute.
Florin pulled away, ignoring the glare that Leah was sending her way, and stated, "It's not that hard. Just try to enjoy what's happening to you, and everything will be fine."
After she finished speaking, Florin walked out of the room without taking another look at Leah, and the second she stepped out, Leah jumped off the bed, rushing to the only window in the room.