Page 14 of Sold Wolf Slave

“This luscious little thing is Kendra,” Lucas said. He wrapped his hand lightly around her waist as he guided her forward. “Kendra, this is Will. Your new master.”

I kept my face impassive, but I wanted to punch the asshole in the face. I wasn’t going to be anybody’s master, and Kendra was about as far from a “thing” as possible. Instead, because I didn’t trust myself to say anything, I kept my mouth shut.

“You’re lucky,” he said. “This one’s half-shifter, half-witch.” He grinned. “Think of all the possibilities there.”

“I can certainly think of some uses for that,” I said cockily, even as my wolf bristled with rage. I had to keep up appearances, but it wasn’t easy when I was inches from murdering both of these assholes for what they were doing.

Kendra’s gray eyes blazed with undeniable fury, but she kept her mouth shut, though I saw her jaw tighten.

“Go on, show your new master a bit of magic,” Lucas urged Kendra, though I didn’t miss the warning edge in his voice.

Neither, apparently, did Kendra. She glanced over at him in a mixture of loathing and unease, as if debating whether or not to defy him. After a long, silent moment, she raised her hand. A spark came, and then a handful of flame spurted to life in her hand. Heat radiated off it, brushing against my face.

“Impressive,” I said. “Though I could see that being a bit dangerous to have around, considering everything.”

“Not to worry,” Lucas said with a dismissive wave of his hand. “She’s trained. She won’t use it against you.”

I got the feeling, based on the expression in Kendra’s gaze, that she would love nothing more than to use her magic against me. But the flame evaporated, and she lowered her hand.

Throughout the entire exchange, she hadn’t uttered a single word. All of her communication had been through glares and glowers.

“Does she speak?” I asked.

“Of course she does. At least when spoken to,” Lucas said. “Like I said, she’s trained.”

I turned to look at Kendra, one eyebrow raised. “I’d like to hear it from her.”

She didn’t respond, not at first. I watched as Lucas’s hand squeezed her hip in warning.

“I speak,” she said. Her voice was light and musical, though with a harshness to her that was more attractive than it had any right to be.

“So I can just take her, then,” I said, reaching out for the chain.

Lucas didn’t hand it over. “We do have the small matter of a sort of insurance policy,” he said. “We prefer our customers to marry our women.”

I blinked, letting the words wash over me while struggling to contain my anger. The idea of marrying a woman against her will made my skin crawl with disgust. This place was horrendous. I wanted to tear it down brick by brick. The last thing I wanted to do was marry a slave.

On top of that, I could see the rage and reluctance burning in Kendra’s eyes. She hated the thought as much as I did. And she was going to hate me for this. That is, if she didn’thate me already. Which, judging by the death glare she was giving me, was almost certainly a given.

But I had to keep up with the pretense, even if I didn’t want to.

“All right, then,” I said.

Lucas nodded. “In that case, let’s begin.”

Chapter 5 - Kendra

It was strange staring into the eyes of a man you had only just met as you’re getting married to him. It’s probably also strange to hate the guy you’re supposed to marry with every fiber of your being. And yet, here we were.

Lucas kept prattling on as we stood in the middle of the pit. Will stood stiff and uncomfortable across from me, but his face remained locked on mine, as if he couldn’t help himself. Something about the intense gaze made my skin prickle, and not unpleasantly so.

I ignored it. It didn’t matter if I was attracted to him. This asshole still owned me now. Was still marrying me.

“You may kiss the bride,” Lucas said.

Something flashed across Will’s eyes. Reluctance? Disgust? I couldn’t tell. Either way, he bent down. His lips brushed gently across mine, barely touching them. It surprised me. Most of the creeps here took any opportunity they could to shove their tongue down your throat.

Despite myself, I felt my wolf stir at the small caress as if she liked the kiss, and the shifter who was standing in front of her. I tried to hide the mix of annoyance and surprise swirling inside me.

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