Page 13 of Auctioned Wolf Bride

Damien snorted, his lips curling into what was either a sneer or a smirk. He took a step back.

“Your friend should have told you about it, then,” Damien said. “You buy them, you marry them. That’s the deal.”

Tannen’s gaze flicked over to me. I tried to read his expression and gauge his plan. Because there was no way he would want to go through with this.

Before I could even guess what he might have been thinking, his attention shifted to Viktor, still holding my leash. Tannen’s eyes lingered on his hold, as if deciding whether he could break it, then went back to Damien.

“She’s not for me,” Tannen said. “She’s for someone else.”

Damien raised an eyebrow. “Then he should be here instead of you,” he said. “Either you get married, or you leave without her.” He gave a wolfish grin, showing sharpened teeth. “No refunds, either, by the way.”

Tannen’s jaw twitched. He glanced over at me again, and this time I could see the reluctance and frustration in his eyes. Of course he wouldn’t want to tie himself to me more. After all, I was an absent. Granted, I didn’t want to marry him, either. But the near revulsion in his gaze still infuriated me, making those small, nagging insecurities I normally managed to hold down needle their way back into my head. That feeling of not being good enough and having to prove myself.

“Fine,” Tannen said. “I’ll get it annulled before I hand her off.”

Damien shook his head. “You can do that all you want,” he said. “I won’t stop you. But that’s not going to fix the claiming.”

The world seemed to stop. Even the trees stopped rustling in the wind. I sucked in a breath. There was no way this was happening.

Tannen, for his part, remained stoic. But I could sense the reluctance and alarm in the set of his shoulders, the way his fingers twitched.

“Claiming?” he growled.

“Again, your friend should have warned you,” Damien said almost casually. “We’ve found that when our clients are reluctant to leave their new brides, our operation remains much safer. Think about it. How much more unwilling would you be to tell authorities about us when it would almost certainly guarantee you would lose your claimed mate?”

My head rang at the word, everything swimming. Claiming bonds were the strongest bond you could have with a shifter. In fact, not everyone did it because the attachment it created was so intense. It made it difficult to be away from your mate for any length of time, enhanced all emotions, and linked you for life. It was unbreakable.

Even Rand and Astrid hadn’t done it yet, though they’d talked about it. There were risks involved, namely that if a couple decided they didn’t want to be mates any longer, it wouldn’t matter. That link would tether the two together no matter how they actually felt about one another.

And that bond was about to be forced on me.

“Like hell,” I blurted out before I could think any better of it.

Viktor snarled, jerking at the chain so the collar pressed against my throat.

“She’s just a little shocked, is all,” Damien said to Tannen. “She’ll be docile enough once the claim takes place.”

Tannen frowned. “I’m not claiming a reluctant mate,” he said. “Marriage is one thing—I can get her to tolerate that. Once she’s gotten used to her new life, then I can think about claiming her then.”

Damien’s face darkened. “None of this is negotiable,” he growled. “Like I said, it happens, or you walk and she stays.”

Tannen exhaled, his face inscrutable as he looked me up and down. I couldn’t tell what lurked behind those piercing blue eyes. Annoyance that I was making him go through with this? Resignation toward the situation? Reluctance at claiming someone against their will? Disgust that it was an absent he’d have to claim?

Whatever he thought in those handful of minutes, I’d never know. With lightning speed, Damien appeared by my side. His fingers lengthened to claws as he took my neck, one of them pressing into the soft flesh beneath my chin.

“Like I said, no refunds,” Damien said, giving a feral sneer. “But if you would rather not have her, that’s fine. I’ll sell her to someone else.”

A growl rumbled in Tannen’s throat, and he stepped forward, only for Viktor to step up as well, a silent communication that if Tannen tried anything, he’d have a fight on his hands.

I tried to keep my expression impassive, focusing on Tannen. For his part, he looked bored. Part of me wondered if that was part of the act, or if all of this was a massive inconvenience for him and he was doing it out of an obligation to Rand. “All right,” Tannen said, eyes flicking me up and down.

Damien smiled, flashing his teeth again. “Good.” His claws turned back to fingers, but he didn’t release my chin. Instead, he jerked my head upward so I was forced to look at him.

“Say I do, or I’ll rip your tongue out,” he snarled, voice low enough so only I could hear it. “You don’t have any say in this. Do you understand?”

I glowered up at him, but I knew there was nothing I could do about it. I gave a short jerk of my head.

He yanked at the chain, jolting me forward until I stood in front of the officiant, who continued to look on silently and impassively, clearly not caring that the bride was in chains and obviously unwilling. When Damien was satisfied I wasn’t going to move, he let go of the chain and stepped behind me, still within reach in case I tried to make a run for it.

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