Chapter 17

Aurora POV

Sighing, I roll my neck and push open the door to my temporary house. I need to change into nicer clothes for dinner. My work clothes won’t work, but luckily, I have all of the new clothes Thorne bought me to choose from.

I sift through the outfits, finding a red dress that looks suitable for a fancy dinner.

Thorne’s shower is almost too nice to leave, but I climb out, dry off, and get dressed quickly, forgoing a bra because the back of the dress is nowhere to be found. It’s open, which would look strange with a bra. The dress is tight and lands around mid-thigh, thankfully.

Remembering how Thorne likes my hair, I leave it down in soft waves.

My sneakers won’t work for this, so I grab my work pumps and slip my feet into them. They’ll have to do.

Just as I grab my purse, my phone rings.

“Dad?” He never calls me.

“Aurora, honey. It’s your mother,” he rushes to speak. “There’s been an accident at The Full Moon Lounge. You need to hurry over there.”

“What happened? Is she okay? Hello?” I look down at the phone to see the call had gotten disconnected.

My mother has been working as a cleaner at the Full Moon Lounge for a while now because it pays well, but I never liked it. It’s a high-end werewolf bar and club that has more than a few unseemly rumors surrounding it.

She always argued that it pays the bills and they never worried that she was human, which is a big problem when trying to get a job in the pack.

Rushing out the door, I splurge and take a taxi. It’s so much faster than the bus. The drive there seems like it takes forever, but the moment the taxi stops in front of the Full Moon Lounge, I jump out and rush to the front doors.

The man at the door allows me in and another man guides me through the crowd of people, saying he’ll take me where I need to go. I briefly wonder if my stepfather called and told them I was coming, or if my mom gave them my description.

Soon, my guide pushes a door open, and before I can react, he snatches my purse from me and shoves me in the room. I stumble, crying out when he slams the door in my face and leaves with my phone and purse.

“Screaming won’t help,” someone says from behind me. I turn around to find several other women sitting on the floor in a group. Each one is gorgeous, dressed like she’s ready to party, and looks forlorn.

One woman, who looks to be younger than me, probably nineteen or twenty, is even crying.

“Why am I in here?” I ask, shuffling over to them.

“Were you sent here?” The oldest woman says. She looks to only be a few years older than my twenty-two.

I nod.

“Then someone sold you off to pay debts,” the dark-haired woman says. “Just like the rest of us. We’ll be taken out and shown off to buyers who will pay for a night with us.” She motions to the rest of the women. “We were all tricked into coming here. You and Alice are the newest.”

The crying girl sobs, and I realize she must be Alice.

“No, I can’t… he wouldn’t…”

I look around the dimly lit room. My stepfather needed money, but not that badly, right? He’s not vile enough to try to sell me to some club.

“Sorry, hon. I’ve been here for weeks, and I still haven’t worked off my brother’s debt,” the woman says. Bile rises in my throat, and I run back to the door, tugging on the handle and beating against the wood.

“Let me out!” I demand.

A group of sighs sounds behind me, but I ignore them. I have to get out of here. I slam my fist against the wood over and over until it starts to burn, then longer, until something slick runs down my arm, and even longer, until my hand becomes numb.

“Fuck woman. Enough!”

The door swings open, and a large man steps into the room, glaring at me. His hand shoots out, grabbing me by the jaw and covering my mouth. He’s so large that his hand spans the width of my face, and I freeze.

He’s a werewolf. There’s no doubt about it.

“Better,” he growls. “Your silence isn’t required, but if you want to keep your tongue, I suggest you sit down and wait until we retrieve you.” His eyes run down my body and an annoyed sigh falls from his lips when he sees my bleeding hand.

Releasing my face, he shoves me down to the floor and pulls a wrap of gauze out of his pocket. He quickly wraps my hand, muttering about damaged goods.

“You can’t keep me here. I belong to Alpha Thorne,” I hiss, hoping it helps at least a little bit. He’s a werewolf. He’ll know Thorne’s reputation. The man pauses for a moment before laughing.

“Right, and I’m his mother.”

He laughs more and looks at the women behind me, and orders, “Line up behind her.”

The women jump to follow his instructions and before I know it, something is clamped around my neck.

“To keep you in line,” the man says with a smirk, holding up a leash.

I don’t have time to say anything before he yanks on it and drags me to a different door.

“Like every night, you will serve the guests and when your bidding time is up, you’ll go with whoever purchases you.”

“This is barbaric, and—”

The man yanks me forward by the leash and growls, “If you weren’t meant for customers, I’d take my time breaking you in. I’d show you just how barbaric I can be, little human.”

His words send a cold shiver up my spine as he then unhooks the leash from my neck and pushes me through door. A tray is shoved into my hands as lights blind me.

“Our first beauty is new to us tonight,” a different man says, pulling me to the middle of a stage. “She’s human, but she’s feisty and has been mated with a werewolf before.”

Hoots and hollers ring through the room as my vision clears. My breath catches in my chest, my eyes connecting with Thorne’s. He’s sitting in the middle of the room, anger flaring in his eyes while he looks directly at me.

“Go serve drinks,” the man orders, pushing me off the side of the stage. I can’t look away from Thorne who is growing angrier with each passing second.

Please help me.

I want to call out to him, but I can’t speak as the announcer pulls me by the collar on my neck.

“Come to me, little human!”

“Do not move,” Thorne’s much colder and harsher words make everyone freeze. “Is this the sincerity you wanted to show me in our cooperation? You want to use these dirty tricks?”

The man who had called me over blinks up at Thorne, but Thorne just turns, holds out a hand to me, and silently crooks his fingers for me to come to him. I do. As fast as I could, I run to him, taking his outstretched hand.

The moment our fingers touch, he growls, and I sigh. He reaches up, unlocks the collar, and tosses it to the floor, gently brushing his fingers over my neck.

“Everyone wants to take you from me,” he rumbles. I don’t respond. I just sink into his side as he turns to glare at the men in the room.

“I-I’m so sorry, A-Alpha Thorne,” the man stutters. “I… we didn’t know she was yours.”

“That shouldn’t matter,” Thorne growls. “I will be dealing with you soon.”

With those last words, Thorne guides me out of the room and then out of the building. I stay silent, watching as his anger continues to grow, and once we’re outside, Thorne spins on me. He backs me up to the building’s brick wall, a growl tumbling from his lips as bright gold eyes stare down at me.

“I-I’m sorry,” I stutter breathlessly. Somehow, his presence this close is terrifying and comforting. “I didn’t… I was t-tricked into coming here.”