Ivy’s POV
On the day of the auction, they dress me up like a seductive lamb leading to slaughter.
True to their word, they healed all my wounds externally, but I can still feel the pain under my skin.
I saw myself in a mirror as I was led into the auction hall. I’m dressed in an outfit almost identical to the one they had me wearing at the wedding–a strappy bra and short skirt. My long auburn hair has been styled so it cascades down my face in soft, luxurious waves, and my makeup is heavy, shadowy and sultry. I look, objectively, beautiful. Seductive, alluring, even. But I also look far too revealing than I’m comfortable with.
As I walk up onto the stage, all the Alphas in the shadowy audience seating stare at me with lustful eyes that make my skin crawl. Yet, as an Alpha-blooded she-wolf, all I feel is humiliation.
My gaze lands on Veronica, arm-in-arm with Erick, seated contentedly in a side box.
Scratch that. I feel nothing but humiliation and loathing.
“And now,” the auctioneer says, gesturing towards me with a sweeping arm, “We have something truly special for you tonight! The fallen daughter of Alpha Bradley Bell, fallen Alpha of the now-disbanded Thunderclaw pack, is up for auction! She is wolfless, but she possesses unparalleled beauty.” The auctioneer leans towards the audience with a leering smile. “Could she be yours to bring home?”
All the Alphas’ eyes are glued to my body, and my stomach curdles.
“Bidding starts at $50 million,” the auctioneer concludes.
And so the bidding begins.
My eyes jump around the audience wildly, trying to keep track of what’s happening.
“$70 million!” One overenthusiastic young Alpha shouts.
A moment later, he’s usurped by an old, grizzled-looking Alpha with a nasty scar. “100 million!” he counters.
“$150 million!” A third Alpha with a huge beard chimes in.
All the while, the auctioneer follows the action, looking from Alpha to Alpha and encouraging increasingly high bids. Even though the starting price is obscenely high, the Alphas seem eager and excited to compete with one another.
I locate an Alpha sitting near the center of the audience, his gaze filled with a different desire and madness than the others, sending chills down my spine. When he looks at me, I can sense every awful thing he wants to do to me. For some reason, my intuition tells me that he must be the Alpha S that Elsbeth mentioned.
He’s among the most eager bidders in the room.
In a cacophony of noise and raised signs, the price jumps all the way up to $550 million. At this point, only Alpha S and a young man I don’t recognize in a second-floor box are bidding.
Secretly, I’m rooting for him. I can’t go back with Alpha S. I can’t.
Horrifying thing to root for someone to buy you, though. The entire situation makes me sick.
“$600 million!” The young man on the second floor calls out, causing the hall to fall silent..
Everyone on the first floor looks up.
It’s the best spot in the auction house, which means whoever’s sitting there is of extremely high status. The young man whispers to the man beside him, who’s shrouded beyond recognition. It’s immediately clear that the mystery man is the real boss.
Alpha S stands up angrily. “So what if it’s $600 million?” He shouts, furious. “No one dares outbid me for what I want!”
He strides onto the stage with powerful steps. To my shock and terror, as he approaches me, licking his lips, all the Alphas hesitate—none dare to stop him. I tremble as his obsessive gaze sweeps over me.
“Such fair skin…”
Alpha S boasts arrogantly, reveling in the fact that no one dares to stop him, his greedy eyes fixed on me. Just as his hand is about to touch my bare thigh, the young man from the second floor suddenly appears on stage and throws him to the ground with a painful crunch. The man exudes power.
Alpha S, clearly shocked by the young man’s overwhelming power, whimpers in fear. “Lycan……He’s a Lycan! There’s a Lycan here!”
The auction hall quickly fills with the Alpha’s murmurs.
“Why is there a Lycan here?!”
“Lycans are either royal warriors or royalty themselves. Who could it be?”
“Whoever it is, we’re fine so long as it’s not that prince.”
“Are they here to kill us?”
The mysterious man leaps from the second-floor balcony with a feral grace, his movements powerful and untamed. He wears a sharply tailored dark suit, exuding an air of rugged elegance and raw power. As he strides toward the auction stage, his Lycan aura surges, swiftly engulfing the entire auction house. Everyone is overwhelmed by the crushing pressure, falling into a deathly silence.
Surprisingly, it isn't as uncomfortable as I had imagined. I smell that wonderful scent from the wedding again, and this time, I know for certain it’s coming from the man onstage. I recognize him as the man who saved me at the wedding–I’m sure of it. You don’t forget a face that handsome, after all.
“Prince Spencer.” The young man–Spencer’s Beta, I guess–nods respectfully to Spencer, awaiting orders.
Everyone’s eyes widen in disbelief.
It’s well-known that the most feared member of the Lycan royal family isn’t the Lycan king, but his son, Lycan Prince Spencer. He’s considered the most powerful Lycan in history, most known for his brutal attack on rebels. When three packs joined forces to try and overthrow the Lycan royal hierarchy, Prince Spencer single handedly wiped out every single rebel member overnight. He’s not only a prince.
Many know him as the God of Death.
“No one dares to challenge you, huh?” Prince Spencer's voice drips with disdain, yet exudes suffocating pressure. “What if I do?”
Alpha S, curled up on the ground, suddenly widens his eyes and gasps, his face going pale as if facing death. His lips tremble, but he doesn't dare to make a sound.
Prince Spencer can't be bothered with him anymore, instead walking towards me.
I can't help but hold my breath as I watch Spencer break my chains with his bare hands and lift me up. The moment he touches me, a strange sensation courses through my body, filling me with an indescribable joy deep within my soul.
Moon Goddess, how can this be happening?
I carefully steal a glance at Prince Spencer. He’s undeniably handsome, but his powerful aura makes me tremble. I know that if he wanted to torment me, I would have no chance of resisting.
He may have helped me, but he’s also the God of Death.
I can’t be sure.
“Look at me,” Prince Spencer commanded suddenly.
His voice is sexual yet restrained, brushing over my heart like a feather, making it race with nervous anticipation. I hesitate, then shift my gaze to his handsome face. In that moment of locking eyes, unexpectedly, I see intense desire in his eyes.
Oh my Moon Goddess, he wants me?Ivy’s POVI wonder if the Lycan Prince can feel how much I’m trembling, because he seems to hug me even tighter. He carries me swiftly down the hallway, towards the hall’s exit. I look up at him nervously, not sure what to do–should I say something to him? Ask him questions. Every so often he glances down at me to check if I’m okay, but there doesn’t seem to be any real affection in his eyes as he does. I don’t know what to make of him.And that scares me more than I’d like to admit. Just as we’re about to leave, I hear a familiar voice echo through the auction hall, sending a shock of fear through my body. Still clutched tightly in Spencer’s arms, I look up ever so slightly to see Veronica rushing over to us. “Prince Spencer!” She calls out, heels clacking on the stage floor. My body tenses up nervously.What else can she do to me?Erick walks behind her. The two of them look up at Spencer, maintaining a polite and respectful distance, barely daring to approach. Their admiration
Ivy’s POVThe first thing I see when Spencer carries me out of the auction house is the incredible array of black luxury cars parked at the building’s entrance. Dozens of tall, burly men, all dressed in black suits, step swiftly out of the vehicles. They bow respectfully to Spencer, who barely seems to register their presence.They must all be Lycans. They have to be. After all, only Lycans could possess such a fierce, imposing presence. I know logically that Spencer, being a prince, must command entire armies of Lycans. But even still, seeing such a massive protective squad here at the auction house catches me off guard. Spencer’s Beta quickly opens the rear door of the second black luxury car in the lineup. “Prince,” he says, lowering his head respectfully Gently, carefully, with unexpected tenderness, Spencer places me in the seat. I feel dirty and impure against the sleek leather, still dressed in the horrible auction clothes I’ve been forced into. Spencer climbs into the seat
Ivy’s POVWhen I realize what Spencer is doing, my eyes snap open in shock. As his soft kisses trail along the length of my neck, making my heart catch and sputter, I glance towards the driver, worried that people may notice. Unexpectedly, the partition between the front and back of the car has already rolled up, giving Spencer and I absolute privacy. I let my eyelids flutter closed again, leaning closer into Spencer. The temperature in the car seems to be rising. My breath starts to quicken and become a bit more ragged as his kisses move unbearably slowly from my neck to my collarbone. The way he moves his lips, nipping and sucking gently, makes my heart pound in a way nothing has before. My one hand bunches the back of Spencer’s suit up in a fist, but I’m too gone to care about any consequences that may pose. I bite my lip hard, trying not to let out a moan.Just as Spencer’s lips are about to reach my chest, already mostly exposed from the auction outfit, I can’t help but gently
Ivy’s POVLuna?Is he referring to me?My heart starts to race. Startled, I wave my hands in denial, gesturing madly. “No, no, I’m not–”“She’s not my Luna,” Spencer says, glancing over at me and speaking casually. I let out a relieved breath and nod. The middle-aged man shoots me a probing look, then quickly averts his gaze and returns his attention to Spencer. “Apologies, Prince Spencer,” he says respectfully, then looks back at me. “And Miss…?”“Ivy.” I volunteer my name. “Ivy Bell.”As I speak, I can feel Spencer staring at me again. The weight of his stare upon me seems to be constant at this point, and I don’t know how to feel about it. Is this what my life will be like? “I’m Captain McAndrews” The man smiles kindly at me. “Please follow me, Miss Bell.”I look back at Spencer, wondering if he’s going to follow, but he seems to be chatting with a few members of his security detail. Silently, I let Captain McAndrews lead me into the palace. The massive double doors swing open w
Ivy's POVWithout wasting even a second, the maids push me into the washroom. “Wait!” I protest, trying to fend them off, but I’m still weak from the auction staff. “Take the jacket off,” the first maid commands.“I–what?” I fiddle with the hems anxiously. “No, you don’t understand, I–”The maids wrangle the jacket off of me. When they pull it away and reveal the clothes underneath, they burst into peals of mocking laughter. “Oh, I get it now!” The second maid exclaims. “You’re no one special. You’re just some whore who seduced Prince Spencer into bringing you back to the castle.”“I’m not a whore!” I protest indignantly. I reach for the jacket, but the maids pull it out of reach. “I’m an Alpha’s daughter.”“If you’re going to lie, at least make it convincing,” the first maid says, looking me up and down with a raised eyebrow. “You don’t even have a wolf. There’s no way you could possibly be of Alpha blood.”“I’m not a whore!” I argue again.“Really?” The second maid asks. “Which A
Ivy's POVEarly the next morning, before I even woke up, a crowd of maids rushed into my room.I gasp and sit up straight, but already the maids are tugging me out of bed. “What are you doing?” I ask, trying to pull the blankets tight and shake them off, but it’s no use.“Helping you,” one of the maids replies mockingly, pulling me onto the floor.The flurry of maids guides me through my morning routine, washing me up and dressing me in another fine gown–this one a pale green like lily pads. The bath is a bit better this time, and at least no soap bars are being pressed into my slowly-healing wounds. They’re not behaving like maids should, though–their movements are rough and pain-inducing, causing me to wince with every move they make. I have to bite back screams with every minute, knowing that any sound I make will only provoke more ridicule from the maids. I know they think I’m a whore, but I don’t think I could stand to hear it again. Once I’ve finished washing and getting d
Ivy's POV“Take off your clothes.”Prince Spencer's cold command rattles me to my core. I gape up at him in shock, touching the neckline of the leaf-green gown, completely unsure of myself. I know I might be humiliated by Spencer, but when the moment actually comes, I can’t help but tremble with fear. My hand slowly moves up my back, reaching for the delicate zipper, but I bite my lip to suppress my cry of pain as my arm seizes up. I cradle my arm against my chest, the pain from one of my wounds lancing through the limb, then reach back to try and unzip it again. I think Spencer notices me biting my lip, because he walks behind me, brushing his fingertips feather-light against my shoulder before taking the zipper from me. When our hands touch, I feel an unfamiliar sensation of pleasure start to spread through my body.I’ve never felt this way before. I can feel Spencer towering over me. His presence envelopes me as he stands behind me, an absolute force to be reckoned with. I can’
Ivy's POVI gaped up at Spencer in confusion, still trying to process what he’s said through the haze of lust clouding my thoughts.‘Hungry?’ He’d asked. Right.I nod, a bit sheepish. “It’s been awhile since I’ve eaten. I..um... Couldn’t find the dining hall.”Spencer extends his hand to me in a gentlemanly manner. I don’t quite understand what he wants from me, but I still place my hand in his. Compared to him, it’s tiny. Spencer hauls me up from the bed with ease, then reaches down and gathers my clothes from the floor. After he helps me put on my bra and panties, hands lingering on my breasts and hips, he slips the dress over my head and zips it up for me. I can’t help but feel surprised by his actions. Is Spencer choosing not to sleep with me because I’m hungry? Does it find it off-putting? He doesn’t seem angry, though. In fact, he seems to be looking out for me. As I continue to lose myself in my thoughts, my gaze suddenly latches onto Spencer’s. Maybe my confusion is too app