Aleida POV:
I was sitting on the couch in the living room of the Alpha's mansion when Derek came home.
I had practiced my expression in the mirror for an hour. Soft. Tired. Oblivious.
"Aleida," Derek said. He walked in, smelling of brandy and Edison's cheap cologne. He held a mug in his hand. "I brought you some warm milk. For the baby. It helps with the calcium."
He smiled. It was the smile of a predator watching a trapped rabbit.
"I'm not thirsty, Derek," I said, keeping my voice steady.
His eyes narrowed slightly. The air in the room grew heavy. A low, vibrating pressure pressed against my skull.
Alpha's Command.
"Drink it, Aleida," he said softly. "It's good for you."
My hand moved on its own. My body betrayed me, obeying the biological imperative to submit to the Alpha. I took the mug. My wolf snarled in protest, but the Command was like iron chains around my limbs.
I took a sip. It tasted sweet, masking a bitter, metallic aftertaste.
Sedatives.
"Good girl," he said, patting my head as if I were a dog. "Rest now."
I feigned drowsiness almost immediately. I let my eyelids flutter and slumped back against the cushions.
Derek watched me for a moment, then pulled out his phone. "She's out. Come in."
I kept my breathing slow and rhythmic, peering through the slit of my eyelashes.
The back door opened. Edison walked in, followed by a woman I hadn't seen in two years.
Elsa.
She was more beautiful than I remembered, but her scent had changed. It was cloying, like rotting flowers.
"Is she asleep?" Elsa asked, looking at me with undisguised loathing.
"Like a log," Edison laughed.
Elsa reached into her designer bag and pulled out a small vial. inside, a liquid glowed with an eerie, phosphorescent blue light.
"Wolfsbane Submission Serum," she announced proudly. "I had it brewed by a witch in New Orleans."
My blood ran cold.
Submission Serum was illegal. It forced a she-wolf's inner wolf into a coma while leaving the human mind awake but paralyzed. It was used by traffickers. It was used for torture.
"Will it work on a pregnant bitch?" Edison asked.
"It's better," Elsa smirked. "It heightens the nerve endings. She won't be able to move a muscle, but she'll feel everything. Every touch. Every pain. Ten times the intensity."
Derek nodded, looking at the vial with approval. "Perfect for the party. I want her frozen when I announce the rejection. I want her to scream inside while she can't make a sound."
"And the inspection?" a new voice asked.
I almost flinched. A fourth person had entered. A man I didn't know. He smelled of dirt and old blood. A Rogue.
"Go ahead," Derek said, waving his hand toward me. "Check the merchandise. If you like what you see, you can bid on her after the ceremony."
The Rogue stepped closer. I felt his rough, calloused hand grab my chin. He turned my face side to side. His other hand moved down, groping my breast roughly.
It took every ounce of my willpower not to Shift. My wolf was screaming, clawing at the walls of my mind, desperate to rip his throat out.
Wait, I told her. Wait.
"She's ripe," the Rogue grunted. "I'll pay top dollar for the first hour."
"Get in line," Edison chuckled.
Elsa stepped forward. "Open her mouth."
Edison forced my jaw open. Elsa used a swab to collect saliva from my tongue.
"I need to test the dosage against her DNA," she said. "We don't want to kill her. Not yet. We need the 'Pot of Gold' to come out first."
She pointed a manicured nail at my stomach.
Pot of Gold. That was what they called my baby. A bargaining chip.
Derek checked his watch. "Get out. She'll wake up in an hour. We need to be ready."
They left, filing out the back door like rats scuttling into the dark.
As soon as the door clicked shut, I opened my eyes.
I stumbled to the bathroom and stuck my finger down my throat, retching up the milk before the sedative could fully digest.
Then, I went to Derek's study.
I didn't need to guess. Weeks ago, when I first suspected Derek was hiding assets, I'd installed a simple keylogger on his desktop. I pulled up the logs.
I logged into his computer. I found the hidden camera feeds. He had installed them to spy on me, but tonight, they had recorded his conspiracy.
I downloaded the footage.
Then, I saw a flashing icon on his taskbar. An encrypted chat app. He hadn't even bothered to log out.
I clicked it open. The group name made my blood freeze.
"The Luna Auction."
