Page 1 of Auctioned to the Convicts
Chapter One
HANNAH
The hulking man with the bloody nose and bulging bi-ceps threw himself into the two guards on the shuttle. Hannah clutched her clothing sack, the last of her worldly possessions, and jumped out of the way. As one guard crashed into the bulkhead and landed at her feet. A second guard flew by, out the door. She inched away from the guard lying unconscious on the floor.
She froze at the sound of feet striking the metal deck outside the cargo hold. Fear filled her. The prisoner who’d disposed of two guards without breaking a sweat stood only five feet from her.
Handcuffed but not shackled to the floor.
With no guard between them.
The man wore boots, black military fatigues, and a basic black tee, a thin material that didn’t hide his spectacular build. Slowly, she dragged her eyes up to his muscular thighs and broad chest. Her breathing hitched at how perfectly sculpted this man was. Every square inch of him resonated with power.
Warm gray eyes swirled with anger until they caught hers. The fear she’d felt only moments ago faded, replaced with an urgency. Tohelphim.
Three heavily armed guards rushed onto the ship and headed in her direction. She’d never make it past them to escape. The way Gray Eyes had plowed through those two guards, he could escape. . . except he stepped closer to her.
“Watch out!” she warned, a fraction of a second before a guard grabbed Gray Eyes by his shoulder and spun him around.
With his hands still cuffed behind him, Gray Eyes slammed his head—his head!—into the face of the first guard, breaking the man’s nose. Using his head as a weapon didn’t slow Gray Eyes. He tucked his legs in tight against his chest and propelled the second guard into the third, sending them crashing against a bulkhead.
“Contain him!” an officer yelled from the door.
As Gray Eyes rolled to his side to rise, the man with the bloody nose kicked him in the kidneys, hard. Hannah inhaled a sharp breath.
Gray Eyes pitched forward, falling into the lap of a prisoner shackled to the floor. Four more guards raced past, Hannah, pushing her out of the way.
Raucous cheers of “Kill, kill, kill!” filled the cargo hold.
Hannah’s knuckles turned white as her fingers dug into her bag. Thirty blood-thirsty prisoners were cheering for someone todie, and she didn’t think they cared who.
Four, five more guards descended on Gray Eyes like flies on a dead velagie. She sank against the wall, closed her eyes, and shoved her hands over her ears to block out the sight and sound of the guards mercilessly beating Gray Eyes.
This was her reality now. The esteemed board of The Company was sending her to a world of Level 5s, men who’d earned their designation through violent crimes. Murder. Rape. And worse. . . The HR supervisor had emphasized that last word while inhaling a sharp breath.
The Company had lowered her from Level 1 directly to Level 5. She had never imagined she’d get caught, let alone sent to a prison colony as a 5.
Level 5.
She’d never see her home on Argus again.
Or her mom and dads.
Level 5s never returned home. Ever.
The grunts and dull thuds of fists and steel-toed boots striking flesh echoed in her ears no matter how hard she tried to block them.
“Stop!” she shouted, unable to listen to the sounds of them killing the soldier.
The guards ignored her. They used fists, blasters, and boots to beat a cuffed and shackled man. Not a single one showed an ounce of concern as Gray Eyes crumpled to the ground, his body covered in cuts and bruises. He tried to shield his face by turning toward the wall. With his hands still cuffed behind him, he had no choice but to take the beating. She winced with every blow they delivered.
The guards finally stopped. The soldier’s body lay there at an odd angle. Not moving.
The prisoners’ cheers died down, their source of entertainment gone. Hannah shivered as her eyes ran over the rows of burly, dangerous men whose unwashed bodied already stank up the cargo hold. Several of them leered at her. Quickly, she averted her eyes and sought the safety she’d felt when looking at Gray Eyes.
Except he hadn’t moved an inch. She prayed he wasn’t dead.
Three guards stood over him. One delivered another hard kick to his back with those steel-toed boots.
