Page 16 of Sold Wolf Slave

Will ignored it. He crouched near me, examining the collar. This close, I could smell a mix of sea breeze and cedar. A pleasant smell, unlike the musk most shifters down here reeked of.

“What about the collar?” he asked.

“It doesn’t come off,” I said. Why the hell was I talking to him? I told myself I wouldn’t, except I couldn’t seem to help it. “It makes it harder for us to escape and blend in.”

“And this?” he tapped the bracelet.

“It doesn’t come off, either.”

“What does it do?” he asked. He glanced up at me, those piercing blue eyes deep enough to drown in.

I wanted to tell him to mind his own business, but what was the point? If he didn’t know already, he’d find out soon enough. “It makes it so I can’t hurt the slavers or my owner in any way, or use magic against them,” I said, my voice tight with anger.

“I wondered how the hell they managed to keep witches in check,” he muttered. “Can I see?”

Considering you technically own me now, I don’t have much choice, I thought, keeping the thought to myself. Instead, I held out my wrist.

He gingerly took my hand and raised it, twisting my arm one way and then the other so that he could get a better look at it. I tried to ignore the way I focused on his touch, or how my breathing had grown shallow. His hands, rough and calloused and strong, seemed to leave electricity wherever he touched.

“And I’m guessing you’ve tried taking them off yourself?” he said.

“Yup. The first night they were on. The enchantment prevents someone wearing them from magically taking them off. Some witch who doesn’t have them on has to take them off for us.”

“Fucking hell,” he said. The genuine anger in his words took me by surprise. The blue of his eyes seemed to burn white-hot. “Those assholes.”

I blinked, brow furrowing. That wasn’t exactly what I had been expecting to hear.

“I figured you guys would be thrilled about that,” I said, knowing it was a stupid idea before the words were even fully outof my mouth. “After all, that keeps us in check. It means we’re less likely to run or cause you any trouble.”

I waited for the retaliation, knowing it was going to come. Instead, he took a step back.

“I have no intention of keeping you or anything like that,” he said.

Great, I’m going to get sold again, I thought.

“Okay,” I said. “In that case, when are you going to sell me? And will you do it here or in the normal world?”

He shook his head, his hair swishing with the moment. It looked so soft. For a moment, I wondered what it would feel like to run my fingers through it, to tangle my hand in it as I pulled him against me.

I shoved the thought from my head. Meaningless, obnoxious distractions. That’s all they were.

His next words pushed every other thought from my head.

“I’m getting you out of here,” he said. “You’re not going to be a slave anymore.”

Chapter 6 - Will

Kendra stared at me for a long time, her mouth dropping open in surprise at the words. After the shock had washed off, her eyes narrowed with suspicion and distrust.

“You’re joking, right?” Kendra said. I could tell by her tone that she was trying to keep a derisive sneer out of her words.

“No,” I replied. “I’m going to let you go free.”

I would have thought she would be relieved or grateful. Instead, she stared at me, her brow furrowed.

“You know, the last guy who said that to me was the one who dragged me to this damn place to begin with,” she said. “He just laughed as he handed me over. So you’ll have to forgive me if I don’t trust the guy who just won me in a fighting pit.”

“I have no interest in slaves,” I said.

---