Chapter Seven
Kai woke with a jump, calming only when he caught Joe’s scent.
“Well, don’t you two make a cute pair?” a voice said. Next to him, Joe jerked awake, looking around in confusion.
Marcus was standing by the door, his arms folded.
“Today’s your big day. Time to get you ready.”
Kai grabbed for Joe’s hand. That didn’t sound good.
“Don’t you be worrying that pretty omega head of yours,” Marcus said on seeing Kai’s fear. “We just want to make sure you look your best for our auction. Our buyers want to see your best side. And you’re going to behave, yes?” He paused, expectantly.
“Yes,” Joe said tonelessly. Kai echoed him.
“Well then, what are we waiting for? Up.”
They clambered to their feet, Kai not letting go of Joe’s hand for even a second.
A minute later, they were back in the bathroom and left alone to shower again. After that, they were ushered into another room. A beta shifter they hadn’t seen before was standing there. He looked different to the others; tall and thin, with spiked hair and kohl-rimmed eyes.
“Well, look what pretty canvases you’ve brought me. I’m going to have some fun today. So, duckies, who’s first?”
Kai shared a look with Joe, wondering what was going on.
“No volunteers? Well, that’s easily sorted. Eenie, meenie, miney…”
Marcus shoved Kai forward with a growl.
“Enough. Start with him.”
The beta merely blinked in the face of Marcus’ anger.
“Come on, duck, and sit down in this chair.”
Kai didn’t want to move but the beta’s hand wrapped around his arm, urging him forward. He glanced back at Joe.
“Don’t worry, duck, your friend will be taking a spin in the chair right after you.”
The beta stepped back, looking Kai up and down.
“They need to be ready in two hours, Ash,” Marcus said, and he left the room. They were by no means unguarded, with two other bored looking shifters standing near the door. Joe was standing nearby, seeming more relaxed than Kai felt.
The beta, Ash, was still looking Kai up and down.
“We’ll have to do something about that hair.”
What was wrong with his hair?
“But other than that, you’re near perfect, aren’t you? You’re going to make some alpha a very happy shifter.”
Kai looked anxiously to Joe. He had an idea what Ash meant, and it wasn’t anything good.
Joe met his gaze and nodded slowly, and Kai held tight to his words from the night before. Whatever happened, Joe would come for him.
Ash got to work, attacking Kai’s hair with an array of instruments, from a spray bottle of water that dampened his hair to various combs and scissors and a razor.
“You must spend a lot of time outside, you have some gorgeous highlights in this hair of yours. If you took better care of it, you’d have all the boys banging on your door.”
Ash kept talking as he worked, but he didn’t seem to expect or want a reply. After Kai’s hair was done, the beta whisked his stubble away with a safety razor. Then he seemed to spend a long time looking at Kai’s face.
“Just a little something to bring out those eyes and cheekbones.”
Kai seemed to spend the next few minutes surrounded by a cloud of sweet-smelling powder. He balked when Ash tried to bring some kind of stick near his eyes. He tried twice more, and Kai jerked back each time.
One of the guards by the door stepped forward but Ash waved them back.
“Your help is not required.”
Kai watched as Ash’s gaze turned to Joe.
Joe seemed to understand, stepping forward and crouching next to Kai’s chair.
“It’s okay. It doesn’t go near your eye, just your eyelid. Though I’m sure it feels like it. Here, hold my hand.”
Kai felt a little ashamed that he grabbed Joe’s hand between both of his and held on tightly until Ash was finished.
“Up you get. It’s your friend’s turn.”
By the time Marcus returned, Ash was giving them one last glance. He’d handed them clothes to wear and Kai’s cheeks had burned at having to change in front of so many strangers. The clothes he’d been given didn’t help. Skin-tight pants and a T-shirt that was so see-through he wondered why they’d bothered making him wear a shirt at all. Joe was left shirtless and both of them were barefoot.
“Good luck,” Ash called as they were escorted out. They were brought back to their cells.
“We’ll be back for you soon,” Marcus promised as he left.
Kai’s stomach growled, and he peered hopefully around the room. His face fell when he didn’t see what he was hoping for.
“They didn’t leave any food.”
“I’m not sure that’s our biggest worry right now,” Joe said softly.
“I know, I’m just hungry. What time do you think it is?”
“Early afternoon, I’d say.”
They sat side by side on one of the mattresses, their backs pressed to the wall. Kai was desperate for something to take his mind off their situation.
“Can you tell me that story? The one you were going to tell me last night?”
Joe was silent for a moment, then his arm slipped around Kai’s shoulders, pulling the omega closer.
His voice was a quiet murmur in Kai’s ear, but he clung to it, getting lost in the intricate tale Joe wove, of danger, and bravery, and love.
The footsteps in the corridor signaled the imminent return of Marcus.
Joe leaned closer to him, cupping his jaw, and holding his gaze.
“Kai, whatever happens now, remember what we talked about. If you have a chance to get away, run like hell. But if you don’t, remember that someone is coming for you. Don’t give up hope.”
“I won’t, I promise.”
Joe gave him a soft smile and pressed a kiss to his cheek. “You’ll be okay. You’re strong, we both know that.”
“What about you?”
“I’m strong, too. And I know help is coming, I don’t have to take it on faith.”
The door opened and they both stood, ready to face whatever was coming.
“Gentlemen, your stage awaits,” Marcus announced, gesturing to the door. Kai took one last look at Joe and steeled his resolve, stepping forward. He was stopped just outside the doorway, feeling the now familiar pinch of a needle in his arm before his hands were bound in front of him and a hood was thrown over his head. The darkness panicked him, and he called out.
“Joe!”
“I’m here, Kai. I’ll always be right here.” Joe sounded scared too which was almost reassuring.
Hands on Kai’s shoulders pushed him forward. There were twists and turns to his journey, a brief brush of cool air, perhaps from an open window, and then there was a set of steps leading upward. He could hear a lot of noise coming from somewhere ahead of them.
Another set of stairs, only a handful, and then they stopped. There was a dull roar of voices next to him followed by a sudden hushed silence when a new voice, louder than the rest, started to speak.
“And now, gentlemen, we have two new arrivals on offer this evening; one beta wolf and one omega fox. Both young but fully mature, both in excellent condition.” There was a rush of murmurs at the word omega.
The hood covering Kai’s face was yanked away, and he blinked as he was pushed through a curtain and onto a stage. Below them, over a dozen shifters were seated. All eyes were trained on him and on Joe who was pushed to stand beside him a second later.
They were separated as Kai was shoved closer to the center of the stage, nearer the shifter who was doing the talking. The man started talking again but Kai only picked out a word here and there—omega, healthy, desirable—too dazed by the lights and by whatever they’d put in that damned needle.
A hand on his shoulder forced him to turn in a circle. There was a shout from the crowd, something about taking off his shirt.
“It’s important to leave something to the imagination,” the speaker joked, and Kai was spared the indignity of being stripped.
“Shall we start the bid—” the speaker started to say when Kai heard Joe’s voice.
“Are you sure you want to risk your money and your life on the gamble that our alpha won’t come for us? Because that’s a bet you’re going to lose. Coming between an alpha and his mates isn’t good for your life expectancy. I’m a nurse, I’d—”
One of the guards reached Joe, yanking him backward and clamping a hand over his mouth.
The speaker recovered first.
“Apologies for the interruption, gentlemen. As I was saying, we’ll start the bidding for this beautiful, desirable omega at twenty thousand.”
There was silence from the floor. Someone coughed, but no one made an attempt to bid.
“Is it true, they’re mated?” a man near the front asked.
Kai, thinking quickly through what Joe had said and drawing on the story the beta had just told him, spoke up.
“Our alpha is a wolf, part of the new alliance with the alpha of Moonrise Cove. He fought Red Fang in their own arena, and killed Zane, their alpha.”
There was a blow to the side of his head and he landed on the floor with a grunt, deciding it was safest not to move.
“I’m not touching this,” one of the shifters said, getting to his feet. “I don’t want a mob of angry wolves on my doorstep, looking for my head on a platter.”
Others agreed with him and got up to leave. The speaker tried to cajole them back into their seats, but it was clear he’d lost the crowd and interest in them was quickly dissipating. He heard a few people sharing their own stories of the wolves and of Zane.
The speaker’s voice hissed from somewhere nearby. “Get them out of here, now.”
Kai could have cried. Joe had done it, he’d stopped them being sold. But his relief faded minutes later when he found himself thrown back into his cell, alone, his arms still bound. He heard a cry of pain in the distance. Joe.