"What creature is he, really? To which were-species does he belong?" the auctioneer pressed, his tone dripping with theatrics.
He stretched the words, savoring them, as though I were some exotic trinket on display. The crowd leaned forward, caught between curiosity and caution, their gazes flicking over me like I was a puzzle they might solve if they stared hard enough. My skin burned under their scrutiny, my identity reduced to a mystery box for them to wager over.
I glanced at her, the woman from the portrait. She leaned close to the man at her side, lips brushing his ear.
For a heartbeat, the chaos of the room fell away, and all I saw was her, the living image of a face that had haunted me in oil and canvas. Her hair slid forward as she bent, shielding her whisper from prying eyes, her hand resting lightly on the man's sleeve with a familiarity that made my stomach twist. The intimacy of that small gesture cut deeper than any spoken word could.
What did she whisper to him?
The question tore at me, louder than the crowd, louder than the auctioneer's voice. Was she warning him, urging him to act, or simply feeding him idle thoughts? Every possibility splintered into another, and the not knowing was worse than any truth could have been.
The bidding jumped to life again, a few eager voices raising the price higher, then tapering off, uncertain, as the tension settled once more.
The sound of numbers flung into the air filled the hall with an almost feverish energy, a rhythm of greed and hesitation. Wooden boards snapped upward, then wavered, as if even the bidders themselves weren't sure whether to claim me or walk away. I stood in the middle of it all, caught between being wanted and being discarded, the fragile thread of my fate tugged tighter with each rise and fall.
"Is that our final bid?" the auctioneer called, drawing out the moment, his eyes glittering with greed.
He let the silence stretch, savoring it, milking the crowd for every last drop of uncertainty. His gaze swept over the room like a predator stalking its prey, then lingered on me with a satisfaction that made my skin crawl. My pulse pounded in my ears as I waited for the final blow, for the gavel that would seal my future in someone else's hands.
Wait a minute. If I am a creature, then he has no right to sell me. I wanted to protest, but I was unable to speak or stop strutting my stuff.
"Final bid?" the auctioneer called. My heart sank when the lady from the portrait didn't bid.
The woman who under obedient spell I was came up to me. "Follow me."
I was glad to not be on show anymore. The man who won the final bid was dressed in a suit and wore a half-face mask that had a wolf print on it. "This is your master. You are to obey him at all times. Do not ever try to run away from him unless he demands you to," she said and walked off.
"Follow me," the familiar voice said. Victor. I wasn't sure if I should be happy or worried.
We got into a limo and drove off. "Nothing to say?" Victor took off his half-face mask.
I was not able to speak. I was still under the enchantress's obedient spell that ordered me not to speak. I wondered if Victor could order me to speak. I tapped on my mouth, trying to signal to him that I can't speak.
"Speak," he said.
"Thank you for buying me, I guess," I was able to speak. "The woman from the portrait was in the crowd," I added before Victor could speak.
"I know," Victor said.
"She could be my mother," I was quick to assume.
"Or your mother's sister. Twins run in your family," Victor corrected me. "It was by chance that I found you. I was looking for the woman in the portrait. Imagine my surprise when I saw you strutting your stuff. "Who do I punish for selling you to the Enhancing world?" Victor wanted to know.
"I don't know. The last thing I remember is that I was with Luca. I don't know if he is ok?" I stated, half-questioned, filled with worry.
"I am sure Luca and Xan are perfectly fine. His mother is planning their wedding, the last time I checked," Victor chuckled.
"When was the last time you saw him?" I wanted to know.
"Not since I left the Higher Council this morning," Victor said, not having to think about it.
"So Luca is at the higher council?" I confirmed.
"This morning he was," Victor confirmed again.
"And he wasn't looking worried or anything?" I wanted to know.
"Nope. For someone who cares so much about you, I am surprised that he was not the least bit concerned about you," Victor said, adding to my anger.
I could not believe Luca was not worried about me. Did he know I was sold? Did he have something to do with it? I felt betrayed.
"Put a smile on your face," Victor said.
I plastered my face with a strange smile.
"Only if you want," Victor laughed. Clearly, he forgot that I was under an obedient spell.
"Is there a way to have the obedient spell removed?" I questioned.
"Sure. I will get a shaman to remove it, but not before I have some fun with you," Victor said, his eyes on my still naked chest.
"You know you don't need an obedient spell to have fun with me," I smiled at him.
"Is that so?" Victor said with a smile full of lust on his face. He closed the privacy screen of the limo before getting down on his knees in front of me.
"Shouldn't I be the one on my knees?" I questioned when he reached for the fly of my pants.
"You should enjoy yourself," he said, taking hold of my manhood that didn't respond to the situation as it would have if it were Luca or Xan in front of me.
It didn't take Victor long to give up. "Do you think I can order it to go hard?"
"I think not," I responded with a chuckle.
"You know you look so good when you laugh," Victor said and sat back.
"I've been told," I said with a smirk on my face.
"Tell me about my mother's sister," I changed the subject.
"I only said she could be," Victor corrected me again.
"I want to speak to her," I half-demanded, zipping my fly up.
"No one speaks to her," Victor said casually.
"What do you mean?" I wanted to know.
"That woman in the portrait that Eric painted and her twin sister are considered dangerous. No one has proved, but it is believed that they are multi-shifters," Victor explained.
"Multi shifters died out in the supernatural war," I dismissed the idea.
"Well, the woman in the portrait has never been seen again after Eric painted her, and the woman we saw tonight has never shifted into anything, so there is no proof besides the fact that she has not aged a day," Victor enlightened me..
"Can't the Lycan king order a vampire to drink from her to find out?" I wondered.
"If he knew about her," Victor snorted.
"He does not know about them?" I asked in shock.
"Either he pretends not to know about them, or he knows what is good for him. You see, if they are shifters, then one of them is the true ruler of the supernatural world since multiple shifters outrank Lycans," Victor continued to explain.
"So if the woman in the portrait is my mother, I could outrank the Lycan King?" I questioned as I came to the realisation that I could end slavery for good.
"Do you think he will allow you to live if he finds out you could possibly be the offspring of a multy shifter?" Victor laughed.
"It could explain why Nebra and I have not shifted yet," I thought out loud.
"What do you mean?" Victor asked with confusion on his face.
"A multi-shifter has to kill a being to be able to shift into that being," I explained, wondering how he could not know it.
"Oh, that," Victor chuckled with realization.
"So, what is easy to kill?" I asked, thinking about killing something small like a bird.
Victor pressed the button to let the screen divider go down. "Take us to the nearest pet shop."
Victor closed the screen divider again. "So what is the plan of action. Kill something and then shift? Get killed by the Lycan King?"
"He doesn't have to know," I stated as a matter of fact.
"But then you will always stay a slave," Victor reminded me.
"I will kill something small. If I can shift into that thing, I will kill a wolf and pretend to be nothing more than a Lycan," I came up with a plan of action.