Chapter 3

3

Tavi

W hen we disembarked the plane, I smelled the sea. Salt and brine. Cool and damp.

My handler was a big dragon with spiky hair, wide shoulders and a firm grip. He held tight to my leash. Even if I wanted to run away, where would I go? Not home. They would just send me back.

He pushed me to walk faster by his side and I gritted my teeth, saying nothing.

We were met outside the airport by a long, black limo. Wherever I was headed, I was going in style.

My handler sat in back with me.

"What about my bags?"

"They'll be delivered," he said.

All that I owned was in those bags. If they were lost, I would have nothing. Not that it mattered. My past was as good as erased now.

We drove on a windy, coastal road. The sparkling blue ocean stretched as far as I could see. I'd never been to the beach before outside of our town's small lake. I'd never seen so much water.

About an hour passed before the limo slowed, pulling into a huge, palm-lined lot. A giant sign said: DARAJA'S BY THE SEA. CASINO AND RESORT.

What was going to happen here?

My stomach was one tight knot. Would I be sold here? Would I be given drugs to go into heat and be immediately bred?

I didn't want to think about that. Or about the dragon society that so easily bought and sold actual people. Although my own pack had sold me, so they weren't any better.

The limo went around the front of the huge resort to a back area where there was a delivery alley, and parked.

My handler, who had never told me his name, ordered me out of the car. He tugged the leash hard and demanded I follow him. We went into a side door.

At first, when I stepped inside, everything was dark. I couldn't see. I heard a clatter of dishes from far-off, as if from a big kitchen. I smelled a variety of food aromas. Fish. Beef. Fresh bread. French fries.

As my eyes adjusted to the darkness, I saw we were in a storage room full of boxes of dried goods. I followed my handler through a series of dimly lit back rooms and hallways before we arrived at a freight elevator. We went up several flights and came out into a carpeted hallway of doors.

He led me to the second door on our left, opened it with a key, and we walked inside.

It was a hotel room. A very nice one with frilly curtains on windows overlooking the sea and a soft bed with four pillows. There was a large bathroom, a TV and a minibar with fridge.

Was this where I'd be bred? Were there already alpha dragons waiting to claim me?

My breathing came faster.

He looked at me, dropping my leash. "This is your room for the night. We lock it from the outside. The windows are locked. There is no escape."

"This is where I'm staying?"

"Until tomorrow."

"What happens tomorrow?"

"The auction, of course."

My entire body went into shock, my skin hot, then cold. I knew it would happen, but so soon?

"What about my stuff?"

"I told you. When it arrives here, it will be delivered after it is searched. Only those items deemed necessary for you will be retained. You'll get dinner delivered tonight at six, then breakfast in the morning. The room TV gets any channel you may want, but there is no Wi-Fi allowed."

"Do I get to have my phone?"

"No." He headed for the door. "Sleep well."

"Sleep well?" I echoed. But a closed and locked door was my only response.

I turned around, assessing everything. It wasn't squalor, at least. But it was captivity. And there was nothing I could change about it.

The first thing I did was take off my harness and leash. Beneath, I had on a button-up white shirt with a blue vest, and jeans worn to a powder blue. They were my best clothes. My favorite clothes.

I collapsed back on the bed, realizing only then how exhausted I was both physically and emotionally. I stared up at the ceiling and thought about tomorrow and the auction. What would it be like? Would we meet with buyers one on one or were we to be paraded in front of them all at once? Would we be clothed or unclothed?

I ground down on my teeth as I felt my eyes sting. My hands curled to fists. I refused to cry.

I sat up, searching for the remote, turning on the TV and raising the volume. At least that was a distraction from my own thoughts.

Damn it all to hell. Why was it so bad anyway to be a set-omega? It wasn't like I could help it. I'd taken the shifting classes. I'd tried to find my magic. But every time the tests came back it was negative, negative, negative.

And just because of that, I had no rights. I was seen as nothing more worthy than a baby incubator. Or, in the case of dragons, an egg layer. Because that was what dragons did, right? Lay eggs? Waited for them to hatch?

I wasn't sure how that worked when crossbreeding was involved, though. Afterall, even if I wasn't a wolf, I came from wolf stock.

After an hour, there was still no delivery of my stuff.

Dinner came. A chicken sandwich. Hot fries. A dinner salad. I could barely eat.

I turned off the TV and lay back on the fluffy pillows, exhausted from the journey. Yet I couldn't sleep.

I lay back in the darkness of the room and realized I was shivering.

Ever since I'd been labeled a set-omega, I knew my fate. But I kept hoping I was a late bloomer. Maybe at the last minute I would find my wolf, shift and all would be well.

I would be sold tomorrow, but that didn't mean I had to act like I was willing. Would they punish me if I screamed, or called them names, or cried?

I had dreamed of being sold so many times at home, every scenario my brain could think up. I'd lost sleep. Cried into my pillow. The dreams became a little easier over time. I thought up the worst-case scenarios, then faced them down.

But now I was here. In dragon territory. Far from home and feeling like all the alphas could already scent me. It was different. Now the nightmare was actually happening.

It wasn't until dawn that I finally dozed off.

After breakfast, my burly handler returned. He barely looked at me. "You're to come with me now."

"My stuff never arrived," I protested. I was wearing my clothes from yesterday. I'd showered, but I had nothing clean to wear. Did it even matter?

"It will be delivered when convenient."

How? When? Where? I didn't ask.

He led me again to the freight elevator, then through the back halls of the main hotel, past kitchens and storage rooms. He opened a locked door. Inside were about ten men, all about my age. Some sat on benches. Some stood. All wore long, white robes.

My handler picked up a wrapped package from a table by the door and shoved it at me. "You are to wear this. Nothing underneath."

He turned and left. I heard the door lock behind him.

A couple of the men whispered together. Most were silent. Staring at me. I wasn't sure what to do. Or say.

I spied a bathroom and went inside to change. The robe was crisp against my skin, not uncomfortable, but still wrong. After removing my own clothes, there was nothing left of me. Of my past. The robe came down like a curtain on a new act. None of it was in my control.

I came out into the main room, my clothes folded in my arms.

One man looked at me and said, softly, "Those go on the table."

I saw piles of other clothing and put mine next to them. The man followed me.

"You'll probably sell first," he said.

I questioned him with my eyebrows.

"That hair of yours is so shiny. Your eyes glow. Dragons like shiny things."

I glanced about. All the young men were handsome. Some short. Some tall. I wasn't sure why he had singled me out.

"I'm Hill. What's your name?" he asked.

I shook my head and turned away from him. I didn't want to talk. I didn't want to make friends with any of them. It would only make everything harder.

I found an unoccupied corner of a bench and sat. I stared at the floor.

Finally, a door opened on the other side of the room. It led to more shadows and the unknown. Several handlers came in.

The largest one, arms crossed to show off his biceps, yelled. "Line up."

I started to hang back, wanting to be at the end.

"Line up by height. Shortest in front," he commanded.

I looked around to see where everyone was and how I matched up. I gulped when I realized I was the second shortest man in the room. That meant second place in line.

I reluctantly took my spot. The handlers flanked us. The big one led us out the door.

Dust floated in the dim light. The floor was polished wood. Narrow curtains hung at angles. Metal storage containers were stacked against a far back wall. We came into more light, and I realized we were behind a vast stage.

My heart skipped a beat. I tried to see beyond yet more angled curtains to the main area. The stage itself. I glimpsed a fancy podium. And several raised daises. I heard the rumble of voices. Many voices. There was already an audience. Potential buyers. The ceiling beyond the stage was canvas. Like a big tent.

A whirl of air shivered through the curtains, tangy like the sea. I tilted my body as far as I could to see beyond. The stage seemed permanent, but I managed to glimpse one side of the audience. They stood or sat under the huge patio awning. All men. All ages. Dressed in every color from casual to formal.

I sniffed the air. Beyond the sea scents, there it was. Alpha. Like spice and heat and ash. Volcanic and burnt.

These were dragons. Every single one of them. And they were here for only one thing. To buy a set-omega to breed.

We in the lineup were no longer people. No longer free. We were objects of desire, need, rut. Incubators for eggs. Brood slaves. Sex slaves.

I could see over the head of the one omega in line in front of me.

A man in a black tuxedo, all smiling bravado, bounded up onto the stage and stood behind a podium. His voice resonated throughout the stage and patio areas. I didn't hear the first part of what he said, but I did hear the part where he said he had a group of eleven set-omegas unlike any seen before. Stunningly beautiful. All freshly come of age. All ready and pliant and expecting their heats within a short time.

"And now I won't make you wait any longer. Here they are for your examination and your delight."

At that last announcement, the burly handler ushered us onto the stage, directing each of us to a raised dais. Now I could see how many eyes were on us, ready to bid, to take, to own. Several hundred alphas stared, waiting to fight for us with their money.

We all stepped up to our places and faced them. One of the men tripped but caught himself just before falling. No one came to help him.

As we were presented in our silent row, the din of the audience softened to a hundred sighs. It was time for the auction.