One Night One Secret

by Hollie Hutchins

  As his transformation was complete he took off in the direction of buck leaving Symes in his dust. One urge would be relieved tonight, he would get his buck.

  Chapter 5

  Susie woke to early morning sunlight and a steady tapping on the window. Blinking back the light, she stretched and looked at the young woman standing outside the car. She had long dark brown hair that was full of curls, and sparkling chestnut eyes. She could not have been more than 18 years old. Her skinned was browned as if she spent each day in the sun. She looked almost regal to Susie, and made her a bit self-conscious about her own short, dark mousy hair, and too close together features.

  “Hey, hey— human—quit gawking at me and roll down the window,” the girl said, snapping Susie out of her thoughts. Quickly, she rolled the window down to face her.

  “What can I do for you?”

  “It’s not what you can do for me, it’s what I’m doing for you. They’ve already called the auction hunters. You better get out of here.”

  “What? Auction hunters? I don’t understand,” she said.

  “Of course you don’t. Look my family pack, Ashlu—we don’t mind the humans so much, at least us younger ones, but you aren’t in Ashlu territory. This is Alard land, and they’re the king’s enforcers. The townsfolk have been watching you all night, and they decided to call you in. You’re gonna be sent to the auction block. You gotta go, lady,” she said, looking around nervously.

  The auction block, she thought. No way, I haven’t even been here a day.

  “Okay, Okay, Thank you so much- I’m leaving,” She said starting the car. No way going on foot would get her far enough to escape the auction hunters. “What’s your name.”

  “Alaina, and there’s no time, GO!” she said, stretching her arm out in the direction of the road, just pulling her top open slightly and Susie caught a glimpse of the top of what could have been a tattoo, a wolf paw on her chest. Ashlu, is what Alaina said her pack was. Ashlu must be a royal clan. It’s not much, but enough to get her started. Before she could even thank the girl or ask her where her clan lands were, the young shifter was gone. Susie peeled out of the parking lot, not wanting to stick around when there were hunters after her. Even if she didn’t know exactly what that meant.

  ***

  As she drove out of the small town, her head spun with fear and ideas. She needed to find the Ashlu lands, if Alaina had a chest tattoo, according to Dr. Merkel, that meant she was attached to a royal clan. Even if the Ashlu band wasn’t red, if she could find one sympathetic shifter among their clan, they might be able to help her find Jason’s father. Alaina had said her pack was friendlier toward humans than the other pack, the enforcers, she mentioned. What was that other clan name? It didn’t matter. Since so far Susie had only seen the one road in Undervale, and the opposite way was out of the valley—she must be going in the right direction. She could only hope the hunters were looking for her the other way. As soon as there was enough distance between her and the town she would ditch the car in the woods and go on foot.

  The road was deserted, but still, Susie kept her speed at around 30mph. There were no posted speed limit signs. Why would there be? she thought. Shifters rarely use cars, right? She still wanted to avoid any undue attention.

  She noticed a rustling in the trees on the driver side of the car, slowing down a bit more just in case an animal jumped out into the road, her pulse quickened as she turned her head to get a better look and the same type of rustling occurred in the tree line of her passenger side. Looking back to the road in front of her, she screamed, slamming on the breaks. There were three huge wolves in front of the car about a tenth of a mile ahead, close enough that she saw the whites of their canines as they growled at her vehicle. Two more emerged from the woods on either side of the car.

  Fuck, she thought, desperately trying to catch her breath while looking for her taser. Dammit her window was down, she froze. The deep nasal snarl of the largest wolf grew louder as he slowly approached the car. She had never seen a shifter wolf up close before, and it was intimidating. He had gray fur that was patchy, and spiked. If she had seen him in the wild, she would have avoided him at all costs, thinking him sick and dangerous. Putting her hands out the window in what she hoped looked enough like a surrender to avoid being mauled to death, she watched the wolf closely.

  He paused for a moment, and in what looked to Susie like a grand stretching gesture, slowly morphed in front of her into a full grown man. Susie had never witnessed a shifter actually shift before. It’s rather elegant, she thought. If she weren’t so terrified, she would have had the courage to ask him what it felt like. Figures, she thought. You’re about to be captured and taken god knows where and you are wondering what a shifter feels. Get it together, Masters. The man was completely nude, and didn’t seem to bothered by it in the least. No chest tattoo, Susie didn’t know whether to be relieved or disappointed. It was foolish to think the first shifter, aside from the girl, she came across would be who she was looking for. She averted her eyes as he approached.

  All hope Susie held that this could potentially be an ok experience fled out the window as he yanked the car door open, nearly pulling it off its hinges and pulled her out, and to her feet.

  “Please,” she begged. “I know I broke some kind of law, or laws but I need help.” She could at least try to appeal to the human part of the man.

  “You need nothing, human,” he spat back, twirling her around to face the other four wolves. “Look fella’s, this one’s cute, she should fetch a pretty price at auction you think?” They howled. Their agreement disgusted Susie.

  “You don’t understand, I have a family, a son…”

  “I said QUIET human,” he growled. “Tell your problems to the auctioneer.”

  Tossing her into the back seat of her car, he walked over to the brush on the side of the road and from seemingly nowhere pulled out a well-used satchel. He pulled a dirty bandana out along with some twine.

  “Just in case you get any ideas, princess,” he snarled, tying her hands behind her back and covering her eyes. Susie wanted to resist, but instinctively she knew it was useless.

  “Where are you taking me?” she asked.

  “Keep asking questions human and I will gag your mouth,” he replied. “Have you ever had your mouth gagged? I bet you’d like it,” he said to her, immediately following his threat by shouting out the car window, “On to Tradonga, let’s get paid for this pretty princess!” Susie heard the others howl in what she assumed was agreement.

  She adjusted herself into a sitting position in the back seat as the car started moving forward. Good, she thought. At least they were moving in the same direction she was already going, deeper into Undervale. They weren’t taking her back to the border. Tradonga must be the name of a city or town. She could have better luck finding out more about the royal clans where there were more people. She was afraid, but trusted the fact that the shifter state obviously had laws. That didn’t necessarily mean these shifters followed those laws, but when her captor mentioned the auctioneer it gave her hope. If she couldn’t appeal to him, she may have luck with the authorities. Maybe?

  ***

  After what seemed to Susie like hours had passed, the car came to an abrupt stop, and her captor yanked her from the back seat by the arm. There was a solid road under her feet, and as she attempted to get her bearings she was being ushered up a series of steps and through a large set of doors. A blast of air conditioning hit her in the face, and she couldn’t help but feel a sense of relief. Civilization. There were murmurs and the bustle of what seemed like business happening all around her. She distinctly heard the sound of high-heeled shoes on tile flooring. Could they be inside some kind of courthouse or police station?

  “Tylan, you know you need to wear clothing in here,” she heard a man addressing her captor. He laughed it off.

  “Sythin, I don’t ever need to adapt to human ways. You look ridiculous in that monkey, human suit. Where c
an I take this prize?” he asked wiggling Susie’s arm.

  “I’m not a prize, I’m a person. A human being! I demand to be treated with respect!” she replied, pulling her arm out of Tylan’s grasp.

  Both shifters laughed, as Tylan grabbed her arm again.

  “They always have spirit at the beginning,” the other man, Sythin, replied. “Block 30, throw her in there. They go up in the morning, you are just in time.”

  They walked along a corridor and turned abruptly, getting into an elevator. Susie wished he would take this blasted bandana off her eyes, she wanted to see everything and get a feel of her surroundings.

  “Tylan, is that your name? Can you please take this stupid blindfold off? I’m handcuffed. I’m not going anywhere,” she pleaded.

  He didn’t respond. And as the elevator doors opened she felt the temperature drop to an almost frigid cold. As they began walking forward she was assaulted by the sounds of wailing, banging on bars, and deep throated growls from what she assumed must be shifter guards trying to keep prisoners like her inline. The enormity of her situation started to sink in. She was wholly unprepared for any scenario in which she was arrested or captured.

  She heard the beeping of electronic buttons.

  “Remember your block number is 30,” Tylan said. “Your lot number is 05. 30-05, don’t forget it. And when you use my name again princess, it will be screaming it from underneath me,” he leaned in and nipped her ear with his teeth, sending a shudder of revulsion through her. She instinctively pulled away. “I will think of you fondly as I drink your processing fee tonight.”

  He tore the bandana off her eyes and shoved her into the small, 10x15 cell. With a snicker, he was gone. Susie looked around the cell, allowing her eyes to adjust to the light. There were three other women and a man in the cell with her.

  “A real son of a bitch, that one, they ain’t all that way,” one of the women crouched in the corner said, standing up with an extended hand as she walked toward Susie. “I’m Donna.”

  “Susie,” she answered. “Do you know what is going to happen to us?” she asked, taking the older woman’s hand.

  “Oh yeah, we’re gonna be auctioned off to the highest bidder. You are a pretty, young thing—you’re what they’ll consider good breedin’ stock. Me, I’m a little past my prime, but I’m hopin’ to get in with a good family that likes humans, and I’ll convince ‘em to make me one of ‘em,” Donna said.

  “Breeding stock?” she asked, that can’t be right. Forced breeding? That was rape, no civilized nation would allow rape. Would they?

  “Yup, see there are only two ways to get a shifter, by birthin’ or by breedin’. They breed with each other, but sometimes their babies, well, they don’t come out right. Not enough variation in the gene pool, or some such science bull. So they take humans, men and women, who come here illegally, and sell them off to make babies. Once your baby ends up showin’ signs of shiftin’, then you are free to go.”

  “What about people like you, who are, um, past your prime?” Susie asked, not wanting to be rude but using Donna’s own words. The older woman looked to be about 50 to 55, well past baby years.

  “Well, we get used as staff, worker bees as it were, and our sentence will be longer usually seven years or so, then it’s BAM back to the border and on your way, sister.”

  “But you want to be turned into one? Is that even possible? You came here willingly, knowing you would get caught?” she asked.

  “Yup, I don’t want to be human. Humans aren’t free. This cage or the cage out there,” she said, waving her hands in the air. “Don’t matter, but if I can get turned, then I can roam free. They say there is a scientist here who can make humans into shifters.”

  Ah, so she was nuts, Susie thought. “So how is it that you know so much about how, well, how all of this works?” Susie asked.

  “Been through it before, kid, been through it all before. But this time is my time, I feel it.”

  Susie sank to the floor, closed her eyes—it had been a long day, she needed to try and get some sleep.

  ***

  A loud speaker crackled and a disembodied voice interrupted their conversation. “LOT 30, LOT 30 to the block.”

  “Welp,” Donna said, wiping her hands on her pants and smoothing out her hair. “Looks like it’s buyin’ time. Good luck out there, princess!”

  The other’s in their cell looked nervous. Susie wondered how she was supposed to feel. Possibly she could escape as they moved from their cell to the auction block, but that would definitely draw extreme attention to her, and she may never be able to locate Jason’s father. Or, she thought, what if she allowed herself to be bought? She could end up with a good buyer, and maybe she could get their help. If she could tell her story, it could compel the right kind of person to bid on her. What other choice did she have? She had to try.

  Before she could form a solid strategy, a shifter approached. Swiftly opening the cell door he handcuffed each of them and placing a blindfold over Susie’s eyes let them out to the auction block. What was with these shifters and blindfolds, she thought.

  Chapter 6

  Aelnoth hated the auction blocks. Despite hating what they represented, the buying and selling of free-willed people, he hated the air of excitement and the crowds. It reminded him of a medieval flogging or hanging. There were vendors who lined the streets on auction day to sell their food and wares. Packs allowed children to be let out of school. The auctions typically happened once a month. And Aelnoth tried his hardest not to despise the crowds of shifters enjoying themselves at the spectacle of the pain and suffering of others. The auctions brought out the worst of his peoples’ nature.

  He had toyed with the idea of using his Alpha status to ban any Ashlu pack member from participating. However, his mother convinced him that an outright ban could sway his pack away from him. It was important that the family kept a firm grip on pack leadership. He had to learn patience, she’d said.

  She was right, it would be better to work the problem from the top down. Once he had made himself invaluable to the king, as the new lord he would be able to use his status and influence to change the laws. He was ill-prepared for a revolution, nor did he want one. And change wouldn’t happen overnight. In the meantime, he would keep attending the auctions, if he saw a human who truly needed saving he would place a bid.

  The Ashlu funds did not allow him to purchase every human on the auction block, and he was aware that there were plenty of humans who crossed the borders into Undervale in order to end up on the blocks. He shook his head at their ignorance, most of these souls crossed the border in the hopes of being ‘turned’ into shifters themselves. Foolishly thinking it would give them superpowers or allow them to live forever. And while it was true the power and strength of shifting was awe-inspiring, shifters died just like every other living being.

  Shifting appeared to their scientists to be genetic. There was no special Native American magic, or werewolf like biting rituals. Any bullet could kill a shifter just the same as any bullet could kill a human whether it was made of silver or not. There was no way to ‘turn’ a human. He considered these desperate humans lost causes, and did not employ them or welcome them into his home.

  Walking through the center of Tradonga he purchased obligatory meats from the street vendors and nodded at the appropriate royals. The most maddening part of being a lord and an alpha, was the pretense.

  “Ah young Aelnoth, how nice to see you out and about. Adjusting to your new role well, I see.”

  It was hard to mistake the slow drawl of Lady Catori Alard. “Lady Alard, lovely to see you again,” he replied, turning to face the older woman giving her a slight bow. “What brings you to the auction block today?”

  “Ah, Tylan let me know he brought in a particularly feisty young philly this morning. He thinks she will go fast, and wanted me to bid on her for his breeding.”

  Aelnoth was barely able to disguise his disgust. Whoever she was, she was a hum
an woman and should not be compared to a horse in season. “I see, well best of luck to you both… if you’ll excuse me.”

  “Of course, my lord,” she replied, bowing slightly her voice laced with what Aelnoth thought was a slight sneer in her tone.

  Lady Alard was not his favorite wolf, nor was her son, Tylan. The Alards kept their less dominant pack members in abject poverty. Preferring to spend their family money on the royal clan in Tradonga and doing their best to keep favor with the king. They were a fighting pack and traditionally used as knights and enforcers for the king. Tylan Alard was a few years younger than Aelnoth and Symes and as a key enforcer for the Alard clan was an integral part of the human slave-auction system. He was also spoiled. If there was a woman on the auction block he wanted, Aelnoth didn’t put it past Tylan, or his mother, to do or pay anything for her.

  The sound of people moving directed his attention toward the auction block. They must be bringing out a new group, he thought. A crowd had formed as four women and a male were led onto the main block.

  The main auction block had always looked to Aelnoth like the stage of a children’s school. He would rather see performances put on by the pups rather than the spectacle he was watching unfold at that moment. The humans had their blindfolds removed, a slight gasp and eager cheer went through the crowd, as Aelnoth watched them get accustomed to the daylight.

  Nothing spectacular, he thought. The man was young and sturdy, he would probably go to one of the lower clans for breeding and construction work. Three of the women looked to be varying ages. The oldest woman, smiling, waving and looked to Aelnoth to be downright giddy. She must be looking for someone to turn her, Aelnoth thought. If the idea of being sold like cattle made her smile, there was no hope for the woman. Then his eyes found the shorter, younger woman standing closest to the microphone. She looked like she had been dragged through the woods. Her dress was torn up to her thigh, which Aelnoth noticed was toned and athletic. Her dark, short hair was tousled. She was unkempt and dirty but there was something about her that stirred something in him. This must be the woman Tylan was interested in. There was something familiar about her. Aelnoth shook his head to clear it, it was impossible, but he swore he had seen her before. If it weren’t for the shocked expression on her face that bordered on terror, he would have sworn he had seen her here on the blocks, another human looking for a chance to be loved by, or saved by a shifter, but that wasn’t it.