Chapter 1 Unexpected Journey

Valerie

I was dragged by the chains bonded to my waist, eyes covered with a think blinder.

It was the first time I was allowed to leave the cell ever since I got here five years ago. I had nearly forgotten the views of the outside world, like how blue the sky was or how warm the sunshine could be. The place I stayed was forever dark and cold. Sometimes, I even started to think if my old house was just my imagination and this slave cell was the actual place where I was born in.

Perhaps if the old memories were unreal, my life could be less miserable. But every time I closed my eyes, the image of that night would be replayed vividly in front of me. Blood soaked table cover, desperate eyes and Mathilda’s scream.

They were undeniably real.

"Keep moving!" A deep voice forced me back to reality as I felt a sting on my hip.

I tried to walk faster to avoid another whip, but in frog-marching posture and bare feet, my sores were burning with every step I moved.

I wondered where we were going today. It’s not ordinary for two guards to take a slave outside of the cell on such a long walk. If they wanted to torture me, they would just do it in the ward.

“It’s your lucky day bitch.” I felt a hot breath on my skin while someone was whispering to my ear.

It was Dawson, one of the guards. He’s a disgusting asshole, who caught every single opportunity to harass slave girls and took advantages of them.

“I’ll miss you little thing…” His voice sounded evil with lusts. The feel of his hand squeezing my waist made me sick. I did my utmost to move faster to get away from this assault. But then he started to trace his fingers around my neck and slowly move down.

“I know you feel it,” He teased as I shivered.

"What the fuck are you doing?" A yell halted his movement.

I recognized it from the typical emotionlessness in the tone that he was the other guard David, who’s the opposite of Dawson. David seemed always to be stern and honest, never being interested in abusing slaves to fulfil his personal needs.

Nonetheless, that didn’t make him a good guy. For me, he was just another evil creature whose hands stained with human bloods.

"None of your fucking business." Dawson spat back, "Just a bit fun before we say goodbye to her."

"You know she's going to be the one tonight. And she's not supposed to carry anyone’s marks." David stated.

I wasn’t sure if Dawson retorted back then as my mind was preoccupied with what just been said.

“What did it mean by ‘the one’?” I blurted out.

Then I realized it was a mistake. Slaves were never allowed to raise questions. And if we did, we would have to take the consequences.

I flinched back, expecting a severe pain on my legs. But they didn’t, nor did they answered my questions. We kept moving in complete silence.

David’s warning did seem to work. For the rest of the journey, Dawson didn’t even lay a finger on me again.

When we finally reached the destiny, my thoughts were still overwhelmed by the intention of this journey. I was frustrated.

I was commanded to wait before they led me onto another direction. Then I heard a creaking sound like a heavy wooden door was opening.

When the blinder was removed from my eyes, I could hardly adapted to the strong lights.

As I squinted to get a view of the place, I was astonished.

It was a fairly large room, not the kind I used to live in before the war, but rather an extravagant one you’d only see in regency movies. It was illuminated by a large chandelier with diamonds glinting from all directions. Red curtains hanging over the windows were made from velvet and draped to the floor elegantly.

"Get in." David's commanded.

I followed him until we stopped at a golden-colored dressing table placed in the middle of this room. He suddenly turned to stare at me with his intimidating eyes.

I stepped back out of fear, my heart pounding drastically.

Like all werewolf shifters, he’s tall, huge and intimidating.

The cell we lived in used to be a basement of their Alpha’s castle, where I had once seen on my ride to grandparents’ house on summer vacation. It was the most glamourous building I had ever seen in my life and I dreamt of living somewhere like that then.

But I never meant in the cell.

I used to think good of werewolves. When the world was in peace, mom and dad would sometimes bring me to visit their wolf friends. They lived with other pack members in the vicinity of a forest which took us almost three hours to drive there. They looked exactly the same with us in their human forms except being much taller and stronger.

Mom told me the wolves were always faithful and trustworthy, which now seemed to be a complete irony. When the squads came to ruin my family, they were led by wolves.

Ava was the only one who agreed on my view of werewolves and she told me that the romantic legends about werewolves were merely evil propagandas. She had once seen a werewolf in shifting. And she claimed that’s the most horrible thing she had ever watched.

Ava was an orphan. She was sent here threes months after my arrival and lived in the same ward as mine. No like me, she wasn’t actually captured to be a slave.

She chose it for herself.

“The orphanages were all closed after the war. I had no place to go and no food to eat. So I came here. At least I didn’t have to die.” When she told me about her experiences, she always said with a cavalier attitude.

It’s very true that they wouldn’t let us die, because they wanted to sell us at a good price when we reached 18.

Ava seemed always to be oddly optimistic and cheerful. “Val, I knew it’s hard.” Ava had consoled me like that, “you had a sweet family and suddenly all gone… but things will get better. You know, I’m an orphan so I might not know what the feeling was to have a dad and mom. But I believe they would want you to live and keep hopes. Trust me, there’s always a hope.”

The hope she kept with was a place called Lost Land. She told me about that place when she started to consider me as her best-friend.

“Some say it was a rumor but I believe it’s true.” She said. And she insisted that it was the paradise where democracy and human rights still existed.

“That’s possible, Val. The wolves are in full control now and they stopped killing humans who vowed to serve them at commands. The rich survived by giving over their fortune and teaching wolves how to run business. It’s possible to retrieve the old days.”

I would believe her if I hadn’t witnessed the demoralization of humanities.

“Your hands.” David’s suddenly raised his voice, stopping me being engulfed by memories.

Not understanding his intention, I lifted both hands hesitatingly.

To my great surprise, he grabbed my wrists and unlocked the cuffs.

"If you dare escape, I will slit your throat." He warned. Then he also unlocked the collar on my neck and took the heavy chains way, fettering my feet.

Fingers brushing the light bruise on my wrists, I looked at him obtusely. I was baffled.

"Slut, I told you it’s your lucky day." Dawson leaned against the door and smirked to me.

“Get yourself prepared.” David ordered as he strode to the door.

“…for what?” I hesitated before getting the courage to raise my question.

“The auction.” They answered without looking at me and left after locking the door.