Page 8 of Stalking His Mate

Five hundred thousand.

I’m frozen, slack jawed as I try to keep up with the increasing bids. And I can’t help feeling like a bit of a fraud standing here in a designer dress and all the shapewear it took to squeeze into it. With my face made up to the point I hardly recognized myself. Whoever wins me, is in for a big surprise when he gets me back to—wherever he’ll take me—because as soon as he unzips this dress I’m going to bust like a can of biscuits.

“Three million-five hundred. Do I hear five thousand?” the woman calls out.

The crowd has calmed considerably since moving past the three million mark and my nerves are torn with being glad that this part is almost over and terrified for what comes next.

“Four million!” A soft voice calls out above the soft rumble of the crowd.

The woman beside me smiles and gives me a wink before lifting her arms. “Sold.”

Wait. That’s it? Isn’t she supposed to say going once…?

Her arm snakes around my waist and she pulls me to the other side of the stage where a… a minotaur is waiting to help me down the stairs.

Because, as if being auctioned for a night of sex with a stranger isn’t bad enough, I now know that everyone in this theatre is some kind of monster. Even the woman who just passed me off with a grin, shows off sharp canines before heading back across the stage for the next girl.

When I called the number on the card Yesenia gave me, all of this was explained. Including the part where these auctions are run by monsters. At first, I assumed they meant monster in a purely figurative way… but no.

“Right this way, Ginger.” The bull-man says. His grip on my hand is soft and surprisingly gentle as he leads me through a short maze to a small room lit with a red light. “Your gentleman will be here shortly.”

With a graceful bow, he closes the door and I’m left alone to think about what I’ve just done.

7

DANTE

My feet slip on the polished wood as I tear around the last corner leading to the red room, where my girl is waiting for me. Of course, she doesn’t know it’s me she’s waiting for.

With my heart pounding in my chest and my cock a steel bar fighting with my zipper, I don’t even try to stop my momentum when I reach the door. With a twist of the knob, I throw it open wide. Amy’s startled scream has my heartbeat doubling and I finally force myself to come to a stop, if only so I can savor the way she spins around and sees me for the first time outside of the diner.

Her eyes are wide as she clutches at her chest, trying to calm herself after scaring her by busting into the small room like the Kool-Aid man.

With one hand still on the doorknob and the other braced on the frame, I watch her, waiting for the moment… for her expression to change… for recognition.

And then it does.

Her hand moves from her chest to her mouth and her eyes narrow to slits when she realizes where she’s seen me before and why I’m familiar.

“You,” she whispers with a soft gasp. Her brows drop down over her eyes in a frown, “But… why?”

I can’t hide my smile when I say, “Because. You’re mine.”

She looks confused but I’m already rushing towards her, my instincts taking over even as my brain is warning me that this might not be the best way to go about explaining shifter mates to her. My long strides eat up the distance between us until my arms wrap around her waist and I’m flipping her up and over my shoulder before she has a chance to fight me.

“Hey! Wha—” she squeals the moment her feet leave the ground, followed by the clatter of one of her shoes when I spin around to race with her back into the hallway.

“Put me down!” she screams. Fists and legs flailing as she fights and squirms.

I band my arms around her thighs, breathing her heady scent through the gland behind my teeth. She’s pissed, but she’s also the tiniest bit turned on and each blow from her fists on my back has my cock jumping. It takes everything in me not to drop her to the floor and rip the sparkly dress from her, right here in the middle of the hallway, so I can bury my face between her thighs.

“We’re almost there,” I say, not sure if it’s to her or me. My hand slides up the back of her thigh to her ass before giving her a swat that makes her squeal again and her arousal to bloom. The scent, along with the way her cheek jiggles under my hand, makes me moan. “Behave, or I’m going to end up fucking you right here.”

“You wouldn’t dare,” she snarls at me.

“Test me and find out,” I warn, grabbing a handful of her ass and squeezing.

I’m practically sprinting to where our assigned room is, when the sounds of deep moans and higher pitched keens can be heard filtering out from the other rooms we pass. The couple in the room across from ours is especially loud.

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