Chapter 6 Let Slaves Be Slaves

• ELORA
• I opened my eyes in the carriage and sat up. My hands and feet were in chains. My sister, Olivia and our twin siblings were sitting by my side. My heart ached for them. I was deeply sorry that they had to go through this. Thankfully, they were not in chains.
• I pulled them in for a quick hug. "Are you okay?"
• "Yes, Ellie," they chorused.
• "Is Mama going to be okay?" Olivia asked, speaking for all of them.
• My heart sank as I couldn't meet their gaze. What was I to say? I reached out to wipe the tear sliding down Olivia's face but it was a futile attempt as I was chained to the carriage. She wiped it off herself. I could see the fear in the eyes of my siblings and the marks of dried tears. They had wept until they couldn't weep anymore. That had been our life since our Father had been labelled a traitor.
• I couldn't cry anymore, my rear glands had been blocked with numbness. I knew I had to be strong for them, I had to feel something for their sake but there was something being a slave did to one's emotions.
• The carriage slowed down and I moved over on my ass, my hands still in the chains that jungled as I tried to get a view of the outside. It finally halted. The men were being questioned, and I could vaguely hear their conversation.
• "Traitors, you say?" The tall dark haired man asked. He seemed much bigger than the men of Alkarod. I recognized the build, he looked like a Lycan.
• Traitors.
• "We're not traitors!" I wanted to scream. We didn't deserve this.
• "...And they have a deadly disease."
• The Lycan covered his nose and stepped back. "You could be killed for this. Drive away from the King's carriage."
• The Lycan King was in Alkarod.
• The King? My finger buzzed. I heard he was kind and good. He abolished slavery but gave the law that put my family here.
• I peeped through the window as the slave carriage began to move, watching each carriage in the King's entourage pass.
• I watched
• the
• gold plated carriage go by. It was the most beautiful carriage I had ever seem. Even in my days of being a noble, no carriage had ever caught my attention like this. For a moment my troubles were suspended. My neck ached as I was in an uncomfortable position staring at the carriage.
• Before I could turn away, my eyes caught the bluest eyes I had ever seen. It reminded me of the sapphire pearls my mother owned.
• I had read and seen quiet a number of books and portraits of the Lycan royals in the past and marveled at the beautiful contrast between their ginger hair and sapphire eyes but this was breathtaking.
• This had to be the Lycan King.
• I wasn't sure if he had seen me through the tiny window, but I knew I wouldn't forget. It seemed like I had known him from somewhere.
• I sat back and grabbed Olivia, Brian and Bennett into a warm embrace. As if fueled by the Lycan King, my heart ached.
• It was Ethan's last gift to me before he rejected me as his mate.
• He'd locked me up after the incident at the house party and dosed me with enough Wolf's bane serum to kill a wolf. My feet were still numb from it.
• I had been awoken with a bucket of water and a slap to the face. That wasn't the worst way I had been woken up. When they pulled me out of the room where I had been locked up, Ethan had already begun talking terms with the slave auctioneer just outside the manor. The Alphas had decided to auction me to a powerful Lycan merchant.
• Mother had come out, crying and kicking, and Ethan's response had been to lock her in the slave quarters. That bastard had made me watch him. Powerless as his guards held me in place. Even now as I thought of it— my heart burned.
• He'd looked at me in disdain, cut his palm open with his knife, stretched his bleeding palm towards me and recited the rejection rite. After the searing hot pain had gushed through my chest announcing the separation, Ethan had hit me across the face with the butt of the knife. My consolation had been that he carried the scar from my rampage at the house party.
• The carriage came to a halt outside the town. I heard the riders come down from the carriage and I pulled Olivia, and Bennett and Bryan close to my side. They had begun to sob softly again.
• "Are we going to be okay?" Brian asked.
• "Should we fight them?" Bennett asked. Bennett and Brian were only thirteen and hadn't yet fully mastered their wolves. They were defenceless. Their round faces and warm eyes increased the ache in my chest.
• The doors opened and more light flooded the carriage. The riders didn't say a word as they pulled us out, dragging and separating me from Olivia, Bennett and Brian.
• The chains connecting my hands and feet began to hurt as I slid off the carriage after being forcefully yanked.
• As we got down from the carriage, the riders pulled us to the opening of a cave. The surrounding area was secluded, and not a single person in sight as we dropped into the entrance of the cave descending deeper and deeper underground. Scattered along the tunnel were bones and long forgotten pieces of clothing.
• My heart began to race. With each step we took, the sound of the chatter of people came louder and louder until we got to its source. The opening of the cave had led us through the tunnel underground lined with lamps and glowing rocks that led further downwards and we got to a wooden door.
• One of the riders knocked on the door and waited. A tiny hole in the door opened up.
• "What's your access?" A deep hoarse voice asked.
• "Let slaves be slaves," both riders uttered and the door came open.
• My jaw dropped as they led us in. There were people everywhere. It looked like the largest underground room there was and at each corner, there were slaves chained at their hands and feet. Some were stark naked, some were lying on tables and being fingered, to determine if they were virgin. Their buyers watching closely as the slave masters degraded them.
• This was the infamous auction house.
• I had heard tales of its gruesomeness. Children were told its stories to scare them. I pulled Olivia, Bennett and Brian closer to my side, holding on tightly to them.
• The cave was lined with expensive walling materials, totally eliminating any traces that would make you remember it was a cave. The auction house was expensively decorated. I shivered. The resources were obviously made from the slaves. My insides churned.
• The auction house was run by slavers and slave masters. They were dressed in black cloaks, wielding swords and whips.
• The main hall where we stood had many gory sights. As we stood, I saw a slave refuse to comply with a slavers demand. She lay on the table for examination. It seemed they wanted to be sure she was untouched. He had been trying to open up her legs and penetrate her for minutes, and she'd kept refusing. She crossed her legs, refusing to let him. After the slaver had tried for a few minutes, he pulled a knife and ripped her stomach open. Her intestines poured all over the tables.
• I turned and saw Olivia shudder. I frantically tried to shield Bennett and Brian from the view.
• "It's okay, Ellie," Brian said. "We're okay."
• The other girls in the line began to wail and grab tightly to each other. They were standing in a line, and some of the buyers were standing beside the table watching and preparing to choose.
• The slave buyers easily stood out in the number as their clothes looked expensive. I could tell that some of them weren't native to Darwin pack, and many of them were nobles.
• All around the hall there were all kinds of cages and chains. It seemed even children were sold at the auction house— children of all ages.
• Slaves were being auctioned in groups depending on their use. I could see the sex wing, and slave buyers touching the slaves in all the places they could think of.
• The slaves weren't being treated as people here, I watched them lie on the tables, being prodded and fingered like pieces of meat. The slave masters were crazy.
• On another side of the hall, males were being auctioned off to do battle as mercenaries. They would be trained and used for assassinations and suicide missions.
• The boys were on their knees, with chains about their necks, and their hands cuffed. The buyers took turns walking in front of the group of boys, hitting them with their canes or fists in the bid to determine their strength. I pulled Ben and Brian close instinctively. My heart broke for all the slaves being sold, killed or tortured.
• "Ah! The girl," one of the slavers said to the riders as they approached us.
• "And her siblings. They come with the package, but they're still pups."
• "Bring her. She's been expressly offered to one of our friends at the border." The slave master said, "Man's got good money."
• As we were being led away, I looked back to see that all the males that just been brought in had been killed for their rebellion.
• We walked over dead slaves, a lot of times.
• There were tiny tents within the cave that held exclusive and important guests. I could see females being forced to have sex within some of the tents. Some of the male slaves even.
• As we stopped for a moment, one particular scene caught me off guard. The tent doors were open and the guest had the female pinned to the wall. He was thrusting his cock into her as he moaned. As he climaxed and his thrusts increased, he pulled a blade and slit her throat.
• Olivia threw up at the sight. I tried to reach her, grabbing her shoulder.
• "It's okay, Liv." I touched her as the slavers pulled us apart and kept us walking
• No one seemed to care that the slaves were being killed and maimed by the second. What was most painful was that they seemed to have an endless supply of slaves.
• They pulled us out the back door of the cave and instantly I recognized the surrounding area. We had reached the border of Hanaerum, the Lycan territory.
• One of the riders had his hand on my hair, pulling me. The pain in my scalp doubled.
• As we came out of the cave and the riders pulled us further into the night— I saw a man step down from the carriage. He walked down from the carriage and approached. He was tall and lanky. It didn't take much for me to realize he was Lycan. He walked down from the carriage and approached, walking with a cane as he limped slightly.