Mate

LARISSA

I kept struggling even after they aggressively threw me inside and locked the door, kicking and scratching at everything in sight. I banged desperately on the windows screaming but the guards outside were undisturbed, they were talking to each other outside like I wasn't even there.

I tried with all my power to fight it, to not think about it, but inevitably it was dawning on me; Stefan had publicly divorced me, rejected me as his mate and painted me to be a shameless whore in the presence of the entire pack. The shame this would bring to my family name would be tremendous.

I sat in painful silence as the guards drove to the brothel. Some of the pack followed behind, some were just curious to see what would become of me but most of the rest followed to rain more abuses on me.

The brothel was a shady looking building in the south side of the park. It looked abandoned but I knew better. There was a shabby little house beside it with "SEXY AUCTIONS" inscribed boldly in front of it.

They men dragged me to the auction house, handed me to the patron, whispered some inaudible words to her and left.

The patron was a tall bulky lady. Probably in her late forties. She had a bitter expression on her face like she just had a mouthful of sour lemons.

There were about five more women there as well. The only difference being that this was actually their profession whereas I was here as a punishment.

The patron glared at me with piercing black eyes. The cigarette in her lips made her look even more fierce. "Your majesty." She said, bowing mockingly.

I glanced at her but said nothing.

She ignored my silence and continued, "The cheating luna. That's what they are calling you now ain't it?" She said, eyeing me in disgust. "Look, I know we all have urges, believe me I do. But what the fuck? You had the guts to cheat on the alpha? Your king? I mean, what more could you possibly want from him? He made you a queen for fuck's sake! If I had him for a husband, I'd fuck him every single night just to say thank you, and in every way he wants as well."

She giggled at her words, revealing her teeth yellowed from tobacco smoking.

I just stood there, keeping my mouth shut. I knew this was just a plan to get me into exchanging words with her but I wasn't about to fall for it.

She stared at me again, more intensely this time. The annoyance in her face couldn't be mistaken now. She walked up to me till we were face to face. She was about a foot taller than me but I still looked her straight in the eyes.

She spat out tobacco to the floor and some splashed on my shoes. Then she said in a cold voice,

"You might have been Queen Larissa some hours ago to everyone but right now you're just a whore who's gonna get auctioned for a sweaty fuck. And over here I'm the boss, so when I talk to you, you reply. Do you understand?"

"Yes." I said with tight lips.

"Good." She said and circled around me, checking me out.

Then all of a sudden she stopped and looked at the other five people in the room who had been watching in complete silence.

"What the fuck you staring at? The whole pack will be here any minute to watch this auction and none of you've picked numbers yet? Will you fucking get to work!" She yelled and all of them went into a frenzy, the room was empty in less than ten seconds.

She turned back to me.

"Follow me."

I followed her without a word into what looked like a changing room. She turned around again, sizing me up, picked out some things from a wardrobe and flung it in my direction.

"Better be quick." She hissed and walked towards the door.

"I'm not wearing this."

She whipped around in surprise like she was shocked I could say more more words than 'yes'

"What was that?"

"It's too short." I said, holding up the gown in my hand like she wasn't the one that just handed it to me. It was a sleeveless purple designer gown that would hang barely above my ass. I detested such revealing clothes.

She stared at me, first in bewilderment but slowly her countenance seemed to turn to amusement. She smiled, "You either wear it yourself or I'll call someone… or some people to help you. But one thing is for sure, you're going out there wearing that." Her voice was stern now.

"I will not wear that."

"Very well then." She said, with an evil smile. It was almost like she had wanted me to say that. She clapped her hands twice and immediately two people stepped in.

"Desmond, Jill. See to it that she gets dressed."

"Yes ma'am." They chorused.

She snickered at this and left the changing room.

Once the door was shut, they both turned to face me, "So how are we doing this?" Jill asked. "Will it be the easy way? Or the hard way?" She asked, picking up the gown.

I folded my arms," I already told you people—"

"Hard way it is, then." Desmond said and grabbed both my arms.

"What do you think you're… leave me alone! Get your hands off me!"

I went into another episode of kicking for the second or third time today but he was very strong. As he held me down, Jill stripped off the clothes I was wearing and wore me the purple gown. It all happened so fast. One minute I was being held down, the next my clothes were changed.

Jill grabbed my clothes on the floor and smiled, "Now you've got two choices; either you go wearing that, or just go in your lingerie. But you ain't wearing this again today." She said holding up the clothes she had in her hand.

I glared at both of them as anger and pain boiled inside me. But I knew I didn't stand a chance against one of them let alone two.

"Go to the lobby, you'll get your number then wait with the others till you're called." Desmond said.

I wanted to scream a big, loud 'No' but I just sighed and obeyed. There was just no fight left in me. Though it pained me to think this way, my fate had already been decided and no matter how hard I tried to fight it, the result would be inevitable.

A paper card with number fifty five printed on it was given to me when I got to the lobby. I took it wordlessly, ignoring the stares and rude remarks from the people around me. I was so tired.

There was a group of women in the waiting room. Some were fully made-up, some wore little or no clothing, waiting for their numbers to be called so men could bid for them. They were so busy talking, applying makeup, adjusting their dresses or smoking to notice me. I found a free seat and stayed there.

Occasionally, a number would be called from a speaker outside and someone in the waiting room would go outside and be greeted with cheers from the men.

I watched in dread as the number of the people in the room kept reducing as more and more women were being sold.

"It's okay to be a bit terrified."

I turned to see who spoke and was surprised to see a teenage girl not older than seventeen looking back at me.

"I know how you feel. You'll be okay. I felt the same way the first time. This is your first time here right? Because I'm not sure I've seen you before and I never forget a face, you know. I'm Trixie but Trix is fine." She smiled lightly. She had big brown eyes and a happy face.

I just stared in surprise. I had almost forgotten what it felt like to be spoken to without being insulted or assaulted.

"This is the part when you say your name." She said.

"Oh. I'm Larissa." I said, feeling a bit silly.

"Hot name. So as I was saying, there's no need to be scared. Some of the men aren't so bad, all you have to do is just do as they say and you'll be alright." She said, placing her hand on mine and squeezing lightly.

There was so much I wanted to say, to ask her but I just held her hand as a tear dropped from my eyes.

Charlotte saw this and opened her mouth to say something but was immediately silenced when her number sounded in the speakers.

"That's me." She said, standing up. "It was nice meeting you!" She smiled then bolted to the door and cat-walked outside. This was greeted with cheers and whistles.

I walked to the windows and peeked outside. The first person I saw was Katya. Though she couldn't see me, she still had that dirty smirk on her lips like she was really enjoying herself. My parents weren't there but Richard, my elder brother was and so were a lot more people.

A tall woman walked up to the podium where the announcer stood and whispered something to him. He nodded and tapped on the microphone.

"Ladies and gentlemen, now for the moment you've all been waiting for. It's time to call up royal number fifty five!"

The crowd went wild at those words and my stomach did a flip but I stood up regardless of that. I was determined not to be dragged out again.

All the noise died down immediately I stepped outside.

"Now for a night with our very hot… formal Luna do I hear two hundred dollars?" The auctioneer started.

"Three hundred dollars!" Someone in the crowd chanted.

"Three hundred going once, twice…"

"Four hundred!"

"Six hundred." Someone called and everyone gasped.

The man walked to the front and stood, staring at me.

"Six hundred going at once…"

"Eight hundred." The first man countered stubbornly. "Back off Pablo."

"She's mine, Brian." The taller man hissed, turned to me and smiled. "One thousand!"

"Sold to Mr. Pablo for one thousand!" The auctioneer announced happily. He climbed down from the stage, shook his hand and handed him a key. "Enjoy."

Pablo walked up to me, eyeing me like a new trophy. But just as he wanted to take my hand, there was a loud noise from the crowd. Literally everyone turned around to see where it came from.

A tall man in a hat stood behind the crowd with his head bowed down. The light brown hat he had on matched perfectly with his skin tone.

It was almost as if everyone was holding their breath because all the sound seemed to just disappear.

Slowly he took the hat off and lifted his face. My heart stopped beating for a millisecond when Kylian's brown eyes met with mine.

"It's Ortega! Seize him!"

In a flash, before anyone knew what was happening, he transformed into his wolf and charged at Pablo.

This caused a big commotion as everyone was scrambling to get out of the way. Pablo flung my arm away and ran for his life. The entire auction house was in disarray now and people were running helter skelter to take cover from Kylian.

Suddenly someone grabbed my arm and pulled me into a corner. I tried to shake them off but the grip was hard. The person was wearing a black hooded cloak so I couldn't make out the face.

"Shh. It's me. Joy." She whispered and took off her cloak.

"J-joy?" I gasped and hugged her. I had never been so happy to see someone in my life. I could feel the emotion welling up inside me but I checked myself.

She hugged me back like we were long lost friends.

"Kylian's distraction won't last for much longer. We've got to move." She said and grabbed my hand again.

We ran for several minutes, hiding whenever we saw people approaching ahead of us. We ran till we got to the border of the pack.

"You must keep going, Larissa." Joy said, taking her cloak off and putting it on me. "Don't stop running till you get to the forest. Just keep running.

"What about Kylian? Will he…"

"He'll be alright. He has a plan. Just go!"

I squeezed her hand one more time, then covered the hood of the cloak and took off.

I ran on and on, never looking back. Loose branches tore at my clothes, scratching my legs and arms when I entered the forest but I didn't stop going. I ran like I was being chased, and sometimes I got the feeling that someone was following me.

I looked over my shoulder but didn't see anyone. When I turned back, there was someone standing right in front of me. It was too late to stop so I bumped right into him and he caught me.

Immediately I stopped, all the stress of the day and fatigue of running for so long hit me. My head was spinning fast and I held on tight to the very strong person holding me.

I tried looking at his face but the glare of the sun hindered my view. My head spinned faster and the dizziness set in. All I saw was a pair of green eyes. They glowed when they met mine.

Mate.

My wolf whispered before I lost consciousness.