1. I was being sold

A long time ago, the wolf pack was divided into four packs, including the current three packs and a White Moon Pack. The White Moon Pack and the Blue Moon Pack used to be one pack. The blue moon pack possessed the strongest fighting genes and was the dominant force of the wolf pack. The White Moon Pack advocated peace, but the conflict escalated, and the leader of the White Moon Pack led their people to break away from the Blue Moon Pack. 

Although the number of White Moon packs is not large, each member is skilled in witchcraft, and each person's strength is comparable to that of an army. Their power comes from a crystal, and they believe in the Moon Goddess, praying that all parts of the wolf pack can develop peacefully. As the Blue and White Moon pack split, the whole power of the Blue Moon Pack gradually declined because their battle genes were too strong to suppress, making it difficult for them to have children, and their population began to decrease. They had to move their pack into the human world. 

The White Moon Pack, on the other hand, lives in seclusion in the mountains. It is said that the Moon Goddess sealed a part of her power in the crystal, and once there is a new inheritor, they can awaken all of their power with the crystal. 

As time flows, the Black Moon Pack has the most people and its influence spreads throughout the natural world. Blood Moon Pack is second...

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Lucy

It was exactly four o’clock. Usually, a person my age would just be getting home from high school. I imagined they would come in, grab a snack, sit down to start their homework, or goof around at the mall with their friends like Stacy did. 

Not me.

I was shining the hardwood floors of the second floor. I still had an hour before I had to make dinner. After I served dinner, I would head to my job at the warehouse. My feet ached thinking about all the work I would be doing packaging boxes all night. The work was hard, but it was better than being here. Sometimes, one of my co-workers would bring me something to eat so my stomach wouldn’t growl all night.

I was adopted by a couple when I was three years old. All I know is that he and his wife chose me out of the line of children being sent away. From the moment they brought me home, they treated me more like a servant than a daughter.

After eighth grade, I stopped going to school because they felt I had learned everything I needed. I hadn’t learned much more than how to read, write, and add because they sent me to the worst school in the town. 

Still, I was grateful because it got me away from the house. Every day I walked across town to school because they wouldn’t drive me. Every day they told me that they only adopted me so that they could have someone to do the housekeeping, and so they would be allowed to stay in town even though they weren’t affiliated. They never let me call them mom and dad. 

“Where’s dinner, girl?!”

I flinched at his voice and checked the time. It wasn’t time for me to start making dinner yet. I could only guess that he was upset about something.

“Hurry up!” His wife shrieked from downstairs. “We have guests coming!”

I pushed the mop down the hallway with a sigh. My head pounded. I hadn’t slept much the night before. I didn’t usually sleep much because of my night shifts and all the chores his wife made me do. I set the mop aside and went downstairs. 

She was standing by the table. Papers with numbers and information covered the table. He was sitting looking at a few pages in his hand. 

She turned on me and glared at me. “Well, what are you doing standing there? Hop to it!”

I looked down and turned to the kitchen. I opened the fridge only to find it as empty as it had been that morning. She was supposed to go grocery shopping. I gave her my check, but there was nothing. 

I went to the cabinets to look for something, but all that was there was a case of packaged noodles. 

I sighed again. If I lived alone, even if I didn’t make a lot of money, I knew I would buy better groceries than this. I would eat well. Maybe I’d ever get to have steak if I saved up enough money. 

I pulled out a few packages of noodles and a pot. They started arguing, but I didn’t listen to what they were saying. They always argued. They argued about money, about me, and how hard it was to be unaffiliated with the people of the town officially. We lived in the town, but we weren’t a part of it. I didn’t even know the name of the town or who ran it, but it didn’t matter. 

They didn’t care about me either. No one in the town cared about anyone who wasn’t from the area. 

I had no one, who really cared about me. I had always wanted to leave. I always thought there had to be something better for me out there. I could have run away, but I knew I would just end up back here. I was just one person—a young, vulnerable woman who could barely look other people in the eye. What was I going to do out there without anyone to help or protect me?

I was painfully shy. I couldn’t help it. Even when I went to work at the cafe, I couldn’t say much to customers, even when they were mean to me.

I shook my head at that thought. Neither of them protected me. 

I didn’t know, but as soon as I was eighteen, I could leave this place. It didn’t matter where I would go. I would somehow survive.

The doorbell rang as the water started to boil. I added the packaged noodles to the boiling water. 

“Come in here!”

I turned off the pot and walked out. There were three men there. Two of them were very large. One of them looked at me. His lips quirked. 

“She’s skinnier than you said…”

My gut turned. What did that mean? Who were these people? I tried to ask. My eyes caught sight of the symbol on the man’s tie. 

I recognized the crest. It wasn’t of a family that owned land in the area, but some other group that someone at work told me to beware of. They were up to no good. Instead of owning their own land, they had agreements with towns. They provided some sort of service to them in exchange for being able to do business in the area.

Somehow, I knew that whatever had brought them here wasn’t good.

“And, you’re sure?” The man asked, still looking at me.

“Absolutely,” she said. “She doesn’t know anyone. Not even at her job. She’s more of a mouse than a wolf.”

“We’ll see.” He pulled out a briefcase. “Here’s the advance. You’ll get the rest when she’s sold.”

My blood ran cold. Sold? Sold to who? For what? I was so scared I couldn’t move. I couldn’t think. He gestured to me. I stepped back as the two men with him walked toward me. One of them grabbed me. I tried to twist out of his grip. 

“L-Let me go,” I said. 

He yanked me around, twisting my arms behind my back. I tried to resist, but I couldn’t.

“Let me go! What are you doing?”

“Just in time too!” His wife said as she pulled out a stack of money and began to count it. “The little whelp was just about to lose any value. Don’t they like them a bit younger?”

Was she talking about me?

“What—mmph!”

A cloth gag was shoved into my mouth. I twisted and tried to get free, but they were too strong. He and his wife didn’t even look at me. She counted the money. He walked into the kitchen and came back with a bowl of noodles.

“They’re soggy,” he scoffed. “What an idiot.”

“This is the best thing we could have ever done,” she said. “We should have picked up more than one.”

He sighed. “Shame. Hopefully, the next one can make a decent meal.”

The man who had set the money on the table adjusted his tie. 

“So long as she sells for enough, the rest of your debt will be taken care of. Whatever’s left afterward will be brought to you.”

I dug my heels in as they pulled me towards the door. Then, one of them hauled me onto his shoulder. As they carried me out the door, I caught a glimpse of the calendar on the wall. His wife liked to write lists of tasks for me and stick them on the day. She would cross off the days to let me know what day it was. 

I screamed, but the street was empty in front of the house as they threw me into trunk of a car. Then, they slammed it closed over me, leaving me in complete darkness.

Today was my eighteenth birthday. Most people I knew in our neighborhood would be out with their friends, celebrating. Maybe they would be on dates or finally leaving home for college. 

Not me.

I was being sold.