Page 56 of Betrayed Auctioned Mate

“We figured, don’t worry. The others aren’t far. We split up when we deduced that nothing we said was getting out.” Percy squints at us. “Wait, what are you doing here?”

“Mercs tracked us to the safe house.” Ado cocks his shotgun. “Come on, we need to move.”

Percy seems to shake himself, then nods. “The ringleaders have barricaded themselves in the auction hall's main chamber.”

The thought of going back there makes me want to run screaming. But I know, looking at Ado, that I will never run from anything ever again so long as I have him.

The three of us move through the hallways of Border Ridge Mansion like shadows, adrenaline coursing through us as we weave through the destruction. Every room we pass tells a story of the brutal fight that’s taken place: upturned furniture, shattered glass, and the unmistakable scent of blood lingering in the air.

Watching Percy clutch at a wound at his ribs he refuses to admit is there, I wonder how much of this blood belongs to the team.

“Where are the others?” I whisper, pressing my back against a wall as we approach another corner.

“Aris said to meet at the east wing, right off the entrance,” Percy answers quietly. “Probably regrouping.”

I nod, scanning the hallway ahead. “This way. There’s a shortcut through the library that’ll take us to them. Watch out for pressure plates in the floor. Since the house is locked down now, the traps we discovered will probably be active.”

Ado gives me a look of approval, and we move cautiously but swiftly toward the library. The mansion is a labyrinth of corridors and hidden passages; thankfully, I know most of them. After what I went through here, I made sure to memorize every corner and trap they used to keep their prisoners in line.

Now, it’s our turn to use that knowledge against them.

Finally, we find Aris, Bigby, Rafael, and Byron locked in combat with a small group of guards near a grand staircase, not far from the huge front doors. They’re holding their own, but the odds are tight.

“We’re here!” Percy shouts as we charge forward, joining the fray.

Rafael grins at us as he dodges a guard’s strike. “Took you long enough!”

“Had to make an entrance,” Ado quips, delivering a powerful kick to a guard’s chest that sends him flying back into the wall.

Bigby and Aris are side by side, a wall of muscle and precision. Byron is fighting from a corner with a calm focus, his moves deliberate and deadly, gun raised in a steady hand.

With the seven of us reunited, the tide shifts in our favor.

“Keira!” Aris calls out as he ducks under a swinging baton. “We need to get to the main chamber. What’s the fastest route?”

I survey the room quickly, then point to a set of double doors on the opposite side. “That way. We’ll bypass the main staircase and avoid the traps they set up on the ground floor. There’s a hidden stairwell behind those doors that leads straight to the auction theater.”

“Let’s move!” Aris orders, and we break through the last of the guards, making a beeline for the doors.

We burst through the hidden stairwell, making our way up the narrow passage. Our footsteps echo off the stone walls, a constant reminder of the urgency driving us forward. Every second counts. Every breath is a battle between hope and fear.

When we reach the top, the doors to the auction theater stand before us. Beyond them lies the heart of everything we’ve fought against. The ringleaders are in there, waiting. The men who sold me like I was an object.

Aris gives the signal, and we burst through the doors.

I’m sure I will remember what happens next for the rest of my life.

Armed guards rush at us from all sides. On the auction stage, I spot suited men crouched over their automatic rifles, screaming orders into the fray.

This place, where shifters like me were once sold to the highest bidder, now becomes a war zone.

Ado and I move in sync. I feel the pull of it, the bond amplifying our instincts. I duck under a swinging fist, landing a punch to the side of a guard’s head. He stumbles back, and Ado finishes him with a powerful strike to the jaw.

Byron takes on two combatants at once, his movements precise and lethal. Percy is a whirlwind of ferocity, transforming in an instant, his claws flashing as he wrestles on the ground with two other wolves. A set of teeth snap millimeters from his jugular.

Aris and Bigby fight side by side, their combined strength an unstoppable force. Rafael moves like a shadow, darting in and out of the fray, his shots finding their marks with deadly accuracy.

Ado pushes me hard in the back. I stagger forward out of the way of a wildly swinging blow from a shifter with a roguish smell.

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