Page 19 of A Savage Bargain

I appreciated the consideration and it hit me that was why everyone I’d met spoke English to me. I wondered idly if they really knew it, or if it was some alien translation device.

Krake gave a curt nod of his head and then led me by the elbow to the stairs on the side of the stage closest to us. “Good luck, Bailey Wicker. It has been… interesting being part of this Auction.” His eyes searched mine, but his tone sounded flat. He’d already dismissed me.

“Thank you, Krake,” I responded by rote. “I’m glad I’m not dead.” It was the best I could do.

He chirped a brief laugh. “I will be seated in the back to make certain there are no irregularities. Though I do not expect there to be any,” he rushed to add, perhaps seeing my eyes widen in anxiety at what could go wrong. With that, he spun on his heel and stalked away.

I watched for a moment and turned to face my future. The stairs were short but felt a mile long. Then I was on the stage.

“Bailey! Over here.”

I narrowed in on Olive, waving me over to sit beside her. Gratitude flooded me and I hurried to take the offered seat.

“I can’t believe it’s here,” she said in an excited but hushed voice. “It’s finally here.”

She seemed so genuinely excited that I didn’t have the heart to squash that. So instead of voicing my terror of getting someone horrible, I smiled broadly and offered a version of my truth. “I never thought this time would arrive.”

Before she could respond, a deep voice grabbed all our attention.

“Welcome to the Auction. I am the Collector.”

I gasped at the sight, though I shouldn’t have been surprised. Instead of the human female the Collector had presented as before, now a seven-foot tall violet alien with four arms, furry skin, and a swishing cat-like tail stood in front of the chairs on the stage.

The human females scrambled to sit as the Collector continued.

“Let us begin with a 54-year-old human female called Jessica.”

At the Collector’s introduction, a black-haired woman with a runner’s build stood. She moved confidently to stand beside the Collector. Without a word from our host, she stepped out of herbarely-there dress, holding her hands out wide, presenting her nude self to the assembled aliens in the audience. She turned in a circle, stuck her ass out, and looked over her shoulder flirtatiously. The Collector opened bids in a type of currency I didn’t recognize and the auction began.

Holy shit.

The night continued, but my mind went blank. Nothingness. Everything was gone. There was no way I could do this, so I accepted that after I failed to perform when my name was called, someone would toss me out of the airlock.

There was a comfort in accepting your impending death.

“The next Obedient is a 28-year-old human female called Bailey.”

At the Collector’s introduction, I slammed back into my mind and body. But I didn’t move.

“A human female called Bailey,” the Collector repeated, turning to glare purple cat’s eyes at me.

My return gaze reflected my complete disinterest in the proceedings and acceptance of my death. Or so I thought. A desire to not die surged through me. Fuck all of this lot. I’d flirt my way to the best male present and negotiate one hell of a contract.

I jumped to my feet, smiled at the Collector and assembled aliens, and sauntered to the front of the stage. The rows of chairs were not visible from where I stood. A hot spotlight captured me. I knew from watching the other women what was expected.

A slight shrug and a tug at my dress removed it with ease. I pushed my exposed breasts up and out, placed my hands on my hips, and sashayed in a circle, making certain all the males could see what they’d be getting.

Krake’s face flashed in my mind and I kicked it out. He was part of my past already.

The Collector’s voice sounded in my ears, but the words had become unintelligible, drowned out by my increasingly frantic thoughts. I stood frozen in the spotlight as the words surrounded me and fell away. I held my sexy pose, waiting for it to be over.

And then it was.

The Collector uttered the word that I’d been waiting for, that sent fear scuttling down my spine, threatening to drop me to the floor of the stage.

“Sold!”

Chapter Ten

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