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Chapter 4

Lindsey

When they came for us, I knew we weren"t going to be sitting in holding for long. Tranquilizer guns were pointed at me and the kids as the door was opened and a large tub of water was pushed inside.

They had learned that their drugs didn"t work on me. So we all knew it was an empty threat when he shouted at us.

"Strip and toss out your clothes. Clean yourself and the kids or else we"re coming in to get them once and for all."

A roar escaped me, causing them to stumble back, one into the other.

Ignoring them, I turned to the kids.

"It"s time already?" Dante asked.

I nodded. "Afraid so."

"What if we get bought by different collections and they separate us?" Maya asked after having stripped out of her clothes.

I carefully lifted her into the tub.

"I"m not going to let that happen. They"ll have to take us all."

"Promise?"

"I promise."

I helped her wash up and get out quickly. A towel was thrown inside for me to wrap her warmly into.

Dante was next as he dove right in. That boy loved his baths, though I had to remind him that I still needed a turn, too.

I hated standing there naked and vulnerable like that, but I didn't want to project my own fears and discomfort onto the kids. That wasn"t right. So I kept it to myself, relief setting in only after Dante was done and I was sliding under the water.

Years of being trapped and used as a lab rat still haunted me. They had always been watching, just as I knew the men were watching me now.

Shuddering, I rinsed the soap from my hair and climbed out to await my own towel. The man held it up and snickered.

I refused to beg for it. Instead, Dante came to my rescue.

"Here Lindsey. I"m done."

The man scoffed and held up the gun once more.

The three of us backed into the corner, well aware of the routine, and watched two others rush in and pull the tub away before clean clothes were tossed inside and the door locked once more.

"I love purple!" Maya shrieked as she held up a pretty purple dress and twirled around with it.

If she was still in her old pup cage, she wouldn"t have been able to do that. Hell, she wouldn"t even be able to stand.

The kids had far more space and advantages in here with me.

My crate was larger than most and reinforced with a much stronger metal. In my previous Collections, they found they couldn"t contain me in a smaller cage. My beast was too large and strong. One shift and I was free. But somehow, my current master had realized my weakness. It had been his idea to put the kids in with me at first. He"d soon learned the error in his decision because there was no way in hell or on Earth that I was going to allow them to remove them from me now. And he damn well knew it.

I picked up my own frock from the pile. They"d been getting skimpier with each auction. I hadn"t sold at the last three auctions, which meant that he hadn"t been able to sell either of the kids as well. But for some reason he seemed very optimistic about this one.

As he made his rounds for inspection, he stopped to stare at me just as I finished dressing, if you could even call it that.

"You are such a pretty little thing, Lindsey. It"s a disgusting shame what you are. Such beauty wasted on a hideous beast."

I didn"t react. I wanted to, but I felt the truth of his words sting my heart.

I was a hideous beast.

My head hung, but the kids rallied beside me, each taking one of my hands and giving me a squeeze of encouragement.

"You aren"t hideous, Lindsey," Dante growled under his breath.

Before long the Collector moved on and soon, others came to look and gawk at us. This was normal for an open market auction such as this.

Some auctions were held in secret where we were put on display one at a time behind a thick glass wall. Even if the glass wasn"t one sided, the lights shining in on us were always too bright to see anything beyond the confines of the box. We were instructed on what to do and, of course, to show our powers.

Before Dante and Maya came to be with me, I would often refuse, mostly because I was afraid that if I did, I wouldn"t be able to regain control over the beast. That fear was always with me.

Now, I did whatever they asked as long as it was within reason. I didn"t want to do or say anything that would jeopardize the children.

But here in Venezuela everything was very different.

I"d only gone through one open market auction before. There were only a few countries that would even allow it. But here, trafficking people was a common, every day occurrence. That saddened me more than anything.

The auction wasn"t open to just anyone. Only the top elite would have invites, but the setting was extremely different, and things moved quickly once it began.

Prior to the auction, the Collectors were allowed to stroll through the lines of cages and examine the merchandise—I was the merchandise.

They could ask questions and insist we shift or show our gifts to them. I already knew that Anastasia was here, so if we refused, she would use her own powers to force compliancy.

"Do I look okay?" Maya asked. "Do you think they"ll like me?"

My heart broke for her. This was our first auction as a unit. She didn"t need to worry about the usual stuff. I"d be there to protect her and either ensure we got a good new placement or that we stayed put and didn"t get bought at all.

A sly smirk crossed my face but was wiped away by Dante"s gasp.

"What is it?"

"He"s here," he whispered pointing.

I followed the direction. The hair on my skin rose as I looked at the man he"d drawn just that morning. He was wearing sunglasses, so I couldn"t see his eyes, but his hair was the same, and when he broke into a wide grin, I saw the dimples clearly. By Maya"s sharp intake of breath, I knew she"d seen them too.

"What does he want? Why is he looking for you?" she whispered.

"I don"t know, but I"m not sure we"re going to stick around to find out. Stay close. One error and we"re out of here, okay?"

"But how?" Dante asked.

"There"s no getting away from here, Lindsey," Maya insisted.

"I"m going to fly," I told them. "And I"m not leaving the two of you behind, so be ready."

Without another word, Maya went to the corner, picked up her backpack with all the possessions she had in the world, and put it on.

Dante nodded and retrieved his own bag.

Sadly, those kids had more than I. All I had now was these children. Nothing else mattered. I"d arrived with absolutely nothing, but I was leaving with my entire world on my back.

Now all we had to do was wait for the perfect moment.

A large cage, easily as big as my own, was wheeled next to us and the dark cover over it was removed. A man inside squinted and tried to shield his eyes from the sun. He looked like a normal man. A quick sniff told me he was a wolf. I just didn"t understand why he required such a large cage. Then again, to see me in my skin, I had no doubt everyone was asking the same question.

"Hi," I said to him.

He gave me a curt nod once his eyes adjusted to the light.

"What kind of auction is this?" he asked.

"It"s an open-air market," Dante explained. "The Collectors will come around and check on you just the same. I kind of like this better."

He seemed a little confused, and I was worried that he didn"t fully understand what was happening. Perhaps he had been in an abusive collection. I"d heard about them before but judging by his cage, that seemed unlikely.

"Get behind me," Maya said, pushing me towards the back of our cage and holding her arms out as she took on a defensive stance when the stranger from Dante"s vision started heading in our direction.

She was so small and unassuming that I couldn"t help but smile at her. Sure, I knew she was quite powerful for such a tiny witch, but to look at her, no one would see that.

"She"s a little badass, huh?" my new neighbor said. When none of us responded he continued talking. "I"m Nate. I must say, I've spent my entire life in collections but I"ve never seen an auction quite like this before. What are we about to fight, little lady?"

Maya scoffed at him but kept her eyes on the stranger.

Nate followed her line of sight and scowled.

"What"s wrong?"

"He"s coming for Lindsey," Dante whispered.

"Who?"

The boy pointed up at me.

"I assumed that was Lindsey, but who"s coming for her?"

"The man in the white shirt."

"That"s Walk-Wa-Walter Grimes," Nate sputtered.

"You know him?" I asked.

"Well, yeah. He"s my master."

"Is he a good one?" Dante asked.

"The best."

"Then why are you here?" Maya asked.

I dared a glance at Nate who had turned pale.

"Now that is a long story."

His tone told me he wasn"t going to explain further, so I didn"t bother asking.

"Why is your cage so big?" Dante questioned him.

"What? It"s no bigger than yours."

"But there are three of us, plus we have Lindsey," he told him as if that somehow explained everything.

"Like I said, Walter Grimes is a very generous master."

I had questions, but now wasn"t the time. They were getting closer and I needed a plan.

"Why is he after Lindsey?" Maya demanded. "Dante saw it in a vision. He"s looking for her. Why? What do you know?"

"I don"t know anything, kid," Nate said. "I didn"t think he'd decided on anyone yet. You know, to add to his collection. But maybe that"s what he saw."

"Yeah, maybe that"s all it is," I said, trying to ease the tension within the kids.

"He"ll take us all, right Linds?" she asked for the thousand time.

I wrapped my arms around each of them. "We leave here together," I assured her. "Be ready," I whispered.

It was time for us to get the hell out of here. I had an uneasy feeling about this guy and this place. Dante"s vision was no doubt making it worse. I"d lived on the run before with people hunting me, but there was more at stake now with the kids. They were innocents. I couldn"t let anything bad happen to them. As soon as I saw my opening, we were out of here.

*****

The mysterious Walter Grimes and the skank by his side practically draped all over him didn"t immediately come our way. In fact, they visited every other witch here before finally turning towards us.

For some reason, this really didn"t sit well with my beast, who was far more agitated than I"d ever experienced her being before. Her emotions were almost as clear as my wolf"s had once been. In some ways, it felt like I was feeling my wolf again even though I knew that wasn"t possible. They"d killed her long ago.

Still, the beast didn"t like that he was ignoring us and really didn"t care for the woman on his arm. Every time the lady looked up and smiled at him, or laughed at something he said, a terrible feeling of jealousy rose up inside me. It was the most ridiculous thing ever.

Throughout the afternoon a few came by. I was asked to show my beast and I refused. The kids stayed clutched to my side, too worried about the strange man looking for me to care about the consequences of not performing today. No doubt we were going to get an earful about it later.

"For someone who"s supposedly looking for me, he"s not very good about it, is he?" I muttered.

It was beyond ridiculous, but I felt offended by his lack of interest.

After hours and hours of stressing about it, he was suddenly there standing before me with absolutely no sign of recognition. My beast considered this a personal affront for some reason that I couldn"t understand. But the more he ignored me, the worse it got until I was ready to roar with frustration.

Dante"s visions were never wrong.

"How are you doing, Nate?"

"Good, boss. I have a good feeling about the man in the purple suit. He seems very interested."

"And you"re sure about this?" Walter whispered to him as his eyes shifted around to ensure no one heard him.

"I"m sure."

I feigned zero interest in this conversation, but while wolf shifters in general had excellent hearing, mine had been genetically modified with a bat. I heard everything.

The man in the purple suit came over and there was an exchange between the men that I tuned out as they discussed the sale and purchase of Nate.

I knew the exact moment Walter finally looked my way. His forehead wrinkled in frustration as he stared at me and then the kids.

"A mother and her two pups?" he asked. "Are they to be sold together?"

"Something like that," one of my keepers said.

"Are they all witches?" the bitch with him asked.

"Yes."

I was no witch. Not really. But I kept my mouth shut, trying to sort out the strange feelings rolling through me at the sound of his voice.

He removed his sunglasses and stared at me curiously through bright blue eyes. A smile lit his face, causing his dimples to pop, and I had the oddest desire to lick them.

That"s when I heard it. Barely a whisper from the darkest recesses of my mind.

Mine.

I gasped and stepped back, pulling the children to me like a shield.

That wasn"t possible. I had to have just imagined it.

A roar burst from me causing everyone to take a step back.

"Can you show us your powers?" the woman asked when the man just stood there staring at me.

I sniffed the air.

Wolves? They were wolf shifters and Collectors? I was beyond disgusted by this revelation.

"She needs more room," Dante said before looking up at me and giving a wink.

"Open the door and let her out," Walter surprised me by saying.

"You heard him. Do it!" the woman demanded.

Much to my surprise, the men listened and slowly opened the door. I looked around in confusion. It had to be a trap.

"Grab the brats," one of them said, awakening the beast within me.

I roared angrily and started to shift. My feet no longer numbered two as four paws hit the ground. I was as fast as a cheetah. My arms were separate though, with claws like an eagle. Piece by piece my body morphed.

"I give you the beast!" one of the men yelled.

Everyone was too in awe of my transformation to notice the kids climbing on my back as I stepped from the cage and allowed my wings to fully expand. They were more than ten feet wide.

"I've never seen anything like it," the woman said.

Walter just glared.

Mate! my beast insisted.

For a second, I froze. I never dreamed my beast would recognize a true mate. That was a part of me that I"d long since pushed aside. Who could possibly love a beast?

I roared at the thought and pushed off the ground to soar through the air.

Chaos erupted below as realization of my escape set in.

I was too high for their weapons and there was nothing they could do about it now, but as I started to fly towards the open water, something pulled me back.

Mine, my beast growled.

With a reluctant sigh, I turned back and screeched as I dove towards the assembling crowd. My front claws reached out and snagged Walter Grimes from the pack, and then I flew away without another glance back.

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