“You brought this on yourself.”
My dealer says as the front of his steel toe boot slams into my stomach again. I ball my body, but it doesn’t save me from the continuous force of his fist. His calloused hand grips my hair, and he makes me look him in the eyes.
“Was feeding them worth it?”
The stench of his breath forms a noxious cloud in the air, and I struggle not to vomit. He points at the terrified caged cubs.
“They are our property. That means when we want them fed”—he releases my hair and I crumble back onto the floor—“we will feed them. And when we want them starved, they will starve. Never forget that you are our property, too. You are payment for your father’s debt. So unless you want him to rot in his cell, I suggest you learn to behave.”
He grabs my arm and pulls me up to my feet. The buckle of my legs makes him dig his nails into my skin. “Let’s go!” he shouts in my ear.
My legs are shaky, but I keep steady as he escorts me to the auction block. The darkened halls of the elusive, dank building are lined with more cages containing other women and cubs. Some peer at me while others hide their faces. Loud cheers and screams fill my ears as we draw closer to the stage.
“Shift,” the man says to me. “They need to see exactly what they’re getting.”
I want to fight, but the pain of my bruised body stops me. I shift into my wolf and he nods, then trains his eyes on the auctioneer on stage.
“And now for our main event. The beautiful Karin,” the auctioneer says.
The man pushes me onto the stage, and immediately the bidders stand to their feet.
‘Karin, you’re my amazing little ballerina! Now, go on that stage and wow them like you do me every day. Oh, and if you get nervous, just picture everyone in their underwear. Wait. Never mind, that is horrible fatherly advice.’
My father’s words bring me a little peace and for a moment I smile, but just as quickly, it morphs into something dark when I remember what this stage is for, and why I’m here.
“Now do you all see why we saved her for last?” The auctioneer grins an awful grin as he strolls over to me. The clamp of the metal collar he snaps around my neck forces the first of many tears to fall. He runs his hand across the coat of my white fur.
“I’m doing you a favor, folks. I could have kept her to myself, but she’s here, ready to go to the highest bidder.”
His hands run down my legs to my paws, then make their way around my belly. He pats it and his grin returns.
“Amazing. Absolutely amazing.”
He continues his violation of my body as if I’m a show dog, and I hide my snout between my paws. I don’t want to see their eyes as they gawk at the way he touches me.
“…look at the nice round ass on this wolf. Imagine the babies she’ll be able to give you. Low fertility rates? I disagree. Hell, she could repopulate us all on her own!”
I can hear the bids.
“One thousand dollars!”
“No! Two thousand!”
“Absurd! Three thousand!”
He tugs the collar and uses it to escort me into a metal cage that sits in the middle of the stage. Its steel bars cause me to shiver. The door slams, and he waves his hand over it presenting me to the buyers again.
They don’t stop. Each number grows as he continues to show them they made the right decision about being here tonight. They talk around me as if I’m some inconsequential thing that doesn’t deserve a shred of decency.
“Come on folks, I know you can do better than that! You’ve risked imprisonment to be here, after all. If you want the babies of this fine white wolf, you’re going to have to pay!”
“Five thousand!”