2. Mate

I couldn’t breathe. The darkness of the trunk seemed to be getting closer. I heard the engine crank up. It started to move forward. I turned, trying to find something that would help me get out of the trunk. The air felt thin. I felt dizzy as it got harder and harder to breathe. The car bumped and rocked. I was banged against the sides of the trunk for what felt like hours.

My lips trembled. I started to cry. I knew they had never cared about me. When I was a kid, I thought I could get them to love me if I just did everything they asked of me. I learned quickly that wasn’t possible.

I shuddered. Whoever would buy me…

The car came to a stop. By then, I felt like I had cried all I could. Now, I was just hopeless. Maybe I would be killed tonight. Maybe I would be driven crazy by whatever they would do to me.

I didn’t know. I didn’t want to think about it.

The trunk opened. The light blinded me for a moment. Before I could lift my head, one of the men covered my head with a thick cloth bag and tightened it around my neck. It felt even worse than being in the trunk.

They hauled me out of the trunk and carried me wherever we were going.

“I guess they were right,” one of them laughed. “More of a mouse than a wolf.”

Someone else scoffed. “She’s only half. Probably can’t even shift. She’ll be an easy sell. You know they like the exotic.”

I didn’t know what that meant. It only made me more frightened. He dropped me onto something pretty hard. I grunted. Other hands grabbed me, pulling at my clothes. I turned away from them. Trying to roll out of the way. Someone wrapped their hand around my throat.

“Stay still,” a woman said. I went still at the sound of her voice. “They’ll be upset if I damage you before you’re sold.”

Something heavy sat on my thighs. Then, I heard the snip of scissors. Cool air washed over my skin. My face burned. She was cutting my clothes off of me. They were more rags than anything, but still! She pulled me free of it all, then I felt something thin and slippery being slid over me. Something was tied around my neck.

“She’s ready,” the woman said. The weight lifted off me.

Bigger hands grabbed me and hauled me up.

“Still skinny,” one of them said.

“I don’t think they’ll care.”

I shivered as I felt the floor change beneath me. It turned smooth and cold like the tile in the café I worked at. Then, the air felt oddly warm, like I was standing in front of a lamp.

I couldn’t say how I knew, but I felt eyes staring at me. Hundreds of eyes just watching me. I couldn’t shy away from the attention as the two men held me in place.

“Next up on the auction block…”

Tony

I went still in my seat. I felt my brother, Matt, stiffen as well. I didn’t need to say it. He didn’t need to say it, but we both felt it. That’s the way it had always been between us. We were twins. Being both alpha werewolves only made our connection more powerful.

I could hardly believe it, but every cell in my body was screaming it. I knew Matt was barely holding himself back from it too.

Mate.

This skinny little girl, blindfolded, gagged, and trembling on stage in between these two giant human men was our mate.

I heard something rip and looked down at where the bulging muscles of my legs ripped the seams of my pants. My hand had grown fur on the back of my palm and long nails.

I had half-shifted.

I looked over to Matt and saw he was in the same state.

He grinned at me. “Not like you to lose control, Tony.”

I said nothing and looked back through the glass. My lips twitched and tried to contain the urge to charge up to the stage and take her by force. We weren’t surrounded by just humans. There were other werewolves in the crowd. It was always like that at these auctions. Everyone who attended had some tie to the underground and werewolf society.

Still, I didn’t want anyone to know what sort of effect she had on us. It was dangerous. There were members of other packs here. If any of them had even a hint of who she was to us, they would try to use her against us.

Besides, there was no need to be upset. This was an auction. I doubted anyone in this room could outbid us.

I lifted my number, signaling to raise the bid. The auctioneer nodded and kept taking bids. I kept raising the bid and paying attention to who else was bidding. There was someone else who kept bidding even as most of the crowd dropped out.

Even across the distance, I could tell it was a werewolf.

“I think Number Forty-Seven is trying to pick a fight with us, Tony,” Matt said.

I glared in the man’s direction and raised my number again.

He raised his number again. I raised mine. It went on and on until I was grinding my teeth. Who the hell did he think he was?

“Do we have five thousand?” The auctioneer asked.

He raised his number. I raised mine. Then, he turned around to scan the crowd. Our gazes met. I didn’t recognize him, but his expression hardened. His eyes flashed red with a challenge.

“Another alpha?” Matt asked.

There were only a few options about what pack he could be from. Every option pissed me off. We were on neutral territory as usual, but that wouldn’t stop us from getting into a fight if he didn’t back down.

I let my eyes bleed red as I lifted my number again.

I felt Matt growing tense beside me. I felt his irritation rising and bleeding through our bond.

“Do we have seven thousand?”

I raised my number again. He did as well. No one else was raising their number. My back started to grow tense. I felt the urge to shift and murder him start to grow. The challenge was too much. Before I realized it, I was on my feet. Matt was just behind me. The man stood and seemed like he was going to fight us. The man beside him stood as well.

Before either of them could move, Matt and I leaped forward, shifting in midair. I landed on the man, digging my claws into his chest and snapping my jaws at him.

He went pale beneath me. Many people did. Alpha twins were rare in the werewolf world. We tended to be a lot more powerful than a normal alpha.

“Raise your number again, and I will rip out your throat.”

He shuddered. His heart raced. I jerked my claws out of his chest. He hissed at the pain but said nothing. I turned back and shifted back into my human form, taking their tablecloth to drape over my body.

Matt remained in his wolf form as I raised my number again.

The auctioneer was pale. He said nothing. I growled at him to get his attention.

“S-Sold to Number Thirty-Three,” he said. “Please see the clerk off-stage to render payment and be given your keys.”

The auction hall was silent as we left to collect our mate.