Page 97 of Why Cruise

They couldn’t have her. She was mine. The bid was up to $300 now, and they bumped it to $350. A warm smile spread across her face. She thought this was flattering. She took a step towards Daryl’s pack.

Fuck no.

I looked at Theo. “We need Justice.”

Justice

I was on my feet. Theo had gone off to look for Mackenzie, and there she was in the middle of the stage. She was not okay. This was not what she wanted. I spotted Rose backstage cackling.

Aria was reading off her stats, interesting tidbits about her. First of all, none of it was true. She didn’t have a BA in Communications. Second, gross. This whole concept of auctions was demeaning and disgusting. A part of our history we should never revisit.

I didn’t want to put any more pressure on Mackenzie by storming on stage and removing her myself.

Ren was suddenly at my side with Theo. The look on his face? I’d never seen anything like it before.

“Buy her,” he said.

“What?”

“Justice, please,” Theo begged.

“No, this is demeaning and gross. I’m not participating in this.”

Ren grabbed me by the back of the neck and turned my head. “That’s her ex-boyfriend and his pack. He groomed her and raped her.”

I searched for truth in Ren’s face. He wouldn’t lie about this. He’d push my buttons, tease me, enrage me. But that was not this.

“You can’t consent during heat.” Theo hissed.

Ren growled. “She went into heat. He invited his buddies over to help.”

“You don’t know what it’s like. You’re not one hundred percent there. You’ll say and do almost anything during heat.” The look of pain in Theo’s eyes. He’d known this the whole time.

“She was fourteen when they started dating. He was already an alpha. Sixteen when she perfumed,” Ren added. “He dumped her and left her with nothing. She doesn’t have a bank account.”

“She didn’t graduate high school. She doesn’t know how to drive.” I whispered. I closed my eyes and part of my world collapsed. It happened less and less now, but there were still alphas who sought out freshly perfumed omegas so they could train them up to be little more than toys.

I opened my eyes. That pack was high five’ing.

Abso-fucking-lutely not.

“Five thousand.” I called out.

Aria’s eyes slid to me and then to Mackenzie. “Justice Twill has entered the chat.” She held the mic away and whispered something to Mackenzie. Aria snaked an arm around her waist like they were packmates.

“Mmmmm,” she purred into the mic, “so boys, who wants a chance at beating Justice Twill and taking what he wants.”

Paddles went up all over the room.

“They have Disco. They’re gonna spike her drink and bite her when they win.” Ren simmered to me.

The word “mine” echoed through my head.

Ren’s hand was on my back. “Just. bring it down a notch.”

And Aria, being fucking Aria, was eating this up. Making alphas pay for their egos was her favorite sport.

Bob, from dinner, shot his paddle in the air for $8,000. Oh, my fucking God. I should have thrown him overboard.

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