CHAPTER TWO
1139 Words
I shrank back instinctively, every nerve in my body raw, my senses overwhelmed by the thick stench of fear and sweat that clung to the auction hall like a second skin. The air was oppressive, heavy with despair and resignation. But it wasn’t just the Gamma’s presence that clawed at my soul, it was the hollow eyes around me, the girls who once laughed in the sunlit courtyards, now reduced to trembling specters of themselves.
Bruised. Broken. Silent.
This was the truth behind the sanctuary, a polished façade masking a brutal market. We weren’t students. We were livestock.
A startled cry jerked my attention forward.
A girl, young, too young, was dragged onto the stage, wrists bound, her pale skin marred with bruises, her eyes wide with a terror that echoed in the pit of my stomach.
“What do you want from me?” she whimpered, her voice brittle, cracking under the weight of fear.
The Gamma emerged from the shadows like a wraith, his gait deliberate, slow, cruel. His eyes gleamed, not with desire but with ownership. His lips twisted into a grin that never reached his eyes.
“Everything,” he said, his voice smooth as silk and twice as deadly.
“Your obedience. Your silence. Your womb.”
I flinched.
He circled her, predatory, like a wolf stalking a lamb. His hand reached out deliberate, invasive, gliding along her arm, branding her with nothing but touch.
Then, without warning, he struck.
The crack of his hand against her cheek snapped through the room like a whip, and her cry—sharp, raw—tore through me.
She crumbled to the ground, sobbing, her hands pressed to her face.
The Gamma’s laugh followed, hollow and cold, slicing into the silence like a blade. He crouched beside her, tilting her chin up with a finger.
“You belong to me now. There’s no escape.”
I couldn’t move, couldn’t speak. I was stone, a witness trapped in a nightmare with no end. My breath came in short gasps as panic knotted in my chest.
If they could do this to her…
I was next.
“Let the bidding begin!” the auctioneer shouted, his voice cruelly jubilant, slicing through the tension.
“Lot number 17. Wolfless omega. Virgin. Breeder stock. Freshly turned eighteen.”
The words hit me like a slap.
I wasn’t a name. I wasn’t a person.
I was Lot 17.
Bidding erupted, a frenzy of greed and lechery. Voices shouted numbers, hands raised, eyes gleaming as they fought to own me. Each bid stripped another layer of my humanity until I was raw, exposed, unrecognizable.
Sold.
The word shattered me.
The Gamma’s smile was victorious. He owned me. His men surged forward, hands gripping my arms like steel shackles. I stumbled as they yanked me from the stage.
A girl sobbed behind me, the same girl, now gagged, her face swollen and bloodied. Her eyes met mine.
Empty. Defeated.
A vision of my future.
“Make sure she knows her place,” the Gamma growled. “I want her broken before we reach my estate.”
Broken.
The word echoed, rattling in my bones.
“Please...” I whispered, my voice lost beneath the roar of the crowd. “Please, let me go.”
No one heard me.
Then, chaos.
A disturbance rippled through the hall. Voices hushed. Eyes turned. Something shifted, like a storm gathering on the horizon.
A figure parted the crowd, moving with quiet authority. His presence silenced the room, each step deliberate, assured.
He stepped into the light, tall, commanding, his gaze like steel.
“I’ll take her,” he said, his voice low, edged with power.
“She’s a gift for the Alpha.”
Everything froze.
The Gamma’s men faltered, confusion flickering in their eyes.
“But sir... she’s been sold.”
“I said I’ll take her.” The Beta’s voice was a blade, sharp and unyielding.
Gasps followed. Tension coiled, thick and dangerous.
The Gamma stepped forward, defiance burning in his eyes. “You’ll take her? The Alpha doesn’t tolerate disobedience, Beta. If I release her, it comes with a condition.”
He paused, letting the room lean into his words like a noose tightening.
“She must marry the Alpha... and win his heart within two moons. If she fails... she’s mine again.”
A death sentence, cloaked in a chance.
Shock rippled through the room. The weight of the ultimatum settled in my chest like stone.
Marry a man I had never met. Win him... or be damned.
The Beta didn’t flinch. He met the Gamma’s stare and nodded once. “She will stay.”
The guards let me go, and I nearly collapsed, breath trembling. My knees buckled, but the Beta steadied me.
“You’re lucky,” he murmured under his breath, low enough that only I could hear. “The Alpha takes what he’s given. He doesn’t ask for more, but he never refuses, either.”
As we approached the grand hall, the Beta’s grip on my arm tightened briefly. He hadn’t spoken much since pulling me from the Gamma’s grasp, but now, his voice lowered just enough for only me to hear.
“The Alpha doesn’t ask for gifts, but he doesn’t turn them away either.”
I swallowed hard. “Why?”
His expression remained unreadable. “Depends on who you ask.”
I waited for more, but he fell silent, his face a careful mask.
We entered the hall, and at the far end, the Alpha stood tall, powerful, impossible to ignore. His gaze flicked to me, cool and assessing.
(Beta's internal Monologue)
"A life for a life. That was the debt I owed.
Aiden saved me from execution when I put a blade through the bastard who killed my sister. I had sworn an oath that night, one I’ve never broken,:no more women will be destroyed under my watch.
And yet, here I stood, watching history repeat. Caitlyn, standing on that platform like prey, just as my sister had. The same fear in her eyes, the same helplessness. And the Gamma, that filthy excuse of a wolf, smirking like he already owned her.
I couldn’t breathe. I could still hear my sister’s screams, feel the blood on my hands, the moment I lost control. They called it vengeance. I called it justice.
Now, justice demanded another sacrifice.
I didn’t think. Didn’t hesitate.
I outbid him. Gave Caitlyn to Aiden. To protect her.
I knew the risk. The consequences. But I’d rather burn for this than stand by and let another innocent girl be slaughtered by this system.
“You’ve brought me a gift?”
“Yes, Alpha,” the Beta confirmed.
A pause. A long, deliberate moment.
Then the Alpha turned away, offering neither rejection nor acceptance.
Just silence.
- Writer
