Chapter 2 Auction

**Caden’s POV** 16 years later I woke up in an exceptionally good mood, unsure of what it was that made me feel so good about myself this morning. I sighed, rolling off my bed as thoughts of my childhood love, Brynlee, crossed my mind for the one millionth time this week. It immediately dimmed most of the happiness I felt because I missed her. Terribly. I had always missed her ever since sixteen years ago, when I had left the orphanage without saying goodbye; and for the thousandth time in the last twenty four hours, I couldn’t help but think about what she could be up to at the moment. As soon as I got out of bed, my fiancée, Harley, got up too, with a small smile gracing her porcelain face. She was beautiful, but at the same time, I’d hate to admit that her beauty still wasn’t enough to rid me of thoughts of Brynlee, even after these past few months of our relationship. “Good morning.” She drawled sleepily, and I smiled, placing a soft kiss to her lush surgically enhanced lips. In return, she regarded me with a grin. “Good morning, my princess.” I greeted back, ruffling her already tangled hair and strutted off to my bathroom for a very warm shower, warm enough that it slightly burnt my skin. Today was going to be a long day, I could already feel it… *** I scrunched up my nose in disgust at the smell of booze wafting through the air as I pushed my way through the crowd of excited men shouting amongst themselves in groups. “King Caden!” Winifred, my business associate, called excitedly as soon as he laid his eyes on me. He quickly walked up to me, and to my surprise, engulfed me in a warm hug. “What the hell is this place?” I asked Winifred in anger as I slowly sat down on one of the chairs behind me. I was glad at least that he had chosen a space for us at the extreme end of the wide room. “It’s an auction house.” He answered slowly, looking around. I was about to make a sarcastic comment about the place when he quickly interjected me, “I chose here because it’s one of the most discreet places I could find in such a short notice.” He said, and I nodded in understanding. “What do they sell here?” I asked slowly, watching closely at the crowd of excited men who yelled at the top of their voices. “Well…” Winifred drawled, “they sell girls, or girl slaves, depending on what the buyers decides to use them for.” He replied. I immediately felt disgusted at the thought of buying a person for my personal pleasure. The idea infuriated me so much that I had to clench my hands into tight fists to prevent myself from pouncing at someone. Winifred easily shifted my attention from them though, and a few minutes into the meeting, I was seemingly unaware of my surroundings and was so engrossed in what Winifred had to propose that I at first didn’t notice the sweet smell that wafted through the air, and into my nostrils. “What is that?” Jax, my beast yelled in my mind. I felt him begin to prance around in my head uncontrollably but I ignored him, refocusing my attention to what I was doing earlier before the interruption. The mouthwatering smell attacked my nostrils again, and this time I had no other option but to look around frantically, in search of what it was that was causing my discomfort. “Are you okay, king Caden?” I heard Winifred ask in worry beside me, and again I ignored him, looking around the wide room. A figure at the podium caught my attention. She was so beautiful, she looked like an Angel fallen from the sky, she had this strange thing about her that attracted me, drew me in until all of my attention zeroed on her beautiful face. From the discomfort I felt, I instantly knew that she was my mate, but that wasn’t the main challenge I had right now. Something about her felt familiar. I wasn’t sure if it was her wild ginger red hair, or her glassy green eyes, or the kind of aura that surrounded her that felt familiar, but I instantly knew that I knew her, and that I wanted her to myself. “Twenty one year old Miss Brynlee Levine is next for auction…!” The auction host screamed excitedly, making the crowd erupt in a wild frenzy. Immediately the name left his lips, I felt my body freeze up in shock. He had to be kidding me! I blinked my eyes severally, but each time I looked at her, I saw the uncanny resemblance she shared with the Brynlee I knew and loved. How did I not notice at first glance? I heard the host scream out something, but I paid no attention to it until he screamed out something else that caught my attention. “…bidding price starts at five thousand US dollars…!” He yelled, making me glance up suddenly to stare at the crowd of leering men who were openly ogling at her beauty. “Seven thousand dollars!” One of the old folks yelled from the frontline, making me grind my teeth in anger. They really wanted to buy her! “Ten thousand!” Another yelled, and I growled lowly in my chest as I felt a pang of anger rise up my chest.

“Twenty five thousand dollars!” Came another voice. I felt my anger skyrocket as the bidding continued, with each person calling a price higher than the last. “Are you okay king Caden?, you seem carried away.” Winifred asked, but I brushed off his question by a wave of my hands. “Fifty thousand dollars!” Someone yelled in the crowd, making my heart race momentarily. I wanted them all to name their prices before I named mine. Wanted them all to be carried away momentarily before I struck. I gnashed my teeth together as the prices continued skyrocketing, and a lot of bidders had suddenly lost interest. They probably felt she was a little too expensive. The last two girls were bought for prices way below a hundred thousand dollars, and so they probably felt she would be the same. “One million dollars!” The guy who said three hundred and fifty dollars earlier yelled, and this time, I stared pointedly at him in annoyance. Almost immediately, our eyes met, and then he flashed me a grin, a proud grin, it made me want to snap his head into two. The crowd had long gone silent. The prices were fast becoming outrageous, but I didn’t care. I desperately wanted to see the end of this, moreover I couldn’t allow one of these scumbags to buy my mate. “Five million!” The guy from earlier, the proud one yelled. From the look on his face I knew he couldn’t go further, and so I decided to strike. “Five million!” The host yelled happily, casting a proud look at Brynlee who stared into nothingness like someone who had been drugged. “Brynlee Levine going for five million dollars!” He yelled excitedly, “going, going…” “Twenty million dollars!” I yelled suddenly, making everyone in the room turn to look at me. I smiled inwardly as the microphone literally dropped from the host’s hand and the proud guy stared at me with a look of disdain on his face. “Brynlee Levine going for twenty million dollars! Going, going… gone!” The host yelled, making the excited crowd erupt suddenly in wild cheering. “Miss Brynlee Levine is sold to Mr…” he stopped suddenly, throwing an apologetic look way; “oh my God I’m so sorry, to King Caden Pierce for the sum of Twenty million dollars!” He said, making everyone yell out excitedly. Before Brynlee was ushered away from the podium, our eyes met and held. Green eyes met Gray eyes. For a moment I could almost swear that I saw recognition flash in her eyes, before it simply fleeted away, like it never happened. At this point I didn’t really care if she recognized me or not, all I cared about was the fact that I had finally found her after so many years of searching…