I

Gerthel’s eyes grow wide upon hearing what the man had just said. The word 'auction' rang in her ears.

“What are you talking about? What auction?!” she spat at the man beside her.

“Wealthy Masters, or even Kings and Princesses, will bid for you. You will be sold as a bed warmer,” the man sitting on the executive chair replied and then evilly laughed while his eyes raked over her body.

Gerthel’s soft cat hairs stood up in fear while looking into the laughing man with shock.

Suddenly, they heard a loud voice. “There is no need to include her in the auction tonight. My Boss would definitely like this woman. How much is her price?”

With her head almost spinning, Gerthel turned her head to check on the man who all of a sudden spoke at their backs. The man seemed to be in his late thirties, tall, brusque, and with a brown complexion. He cannot be said to be handsome nor can be condemned to be called ugly. Ordinary might be more appropriate for him.

Creases on her forehead became visible as she deeply looked into the man. “I am not for sale!” she retorted with annoyance.

Silence ruled after she almost snapped into the man, who just barged inside. Thereafter, the middle-aged man sitting on the executive chair cleared his throat and made a loud chuckle. His eyes pierced all over her with a hint of mockery before he speaks. “Well, lady, you are wrong. You are absolutely for sale now."

“No!” she screamed in utter disbelief.

“Yes, you are! Be ready, you are sold now!” It was the middle-aged man who snarled at her.

A grim smirk flashed before the thick lips of the man, whose Boss wanted women as beautiful as Gerthel. “So, how much is the price for this fine lady?” he asked again.

The middle-aged man grinned satanically per Gerthel’s observation. She judged him as a Satan now, who will be turning her life into hell.

“She is all yours for Ten Thousand Dollars,” the middle-aged man blurted out with excitement.

“What?! you are selling me like a bag of fruit? How dare you! I repeat, Sir, I am not for sale!” Gerthel moved with intent to march out from the room and outside of the big, luxurious building, which she surmised to be actually a prostitution den when the two brusque men who grabbed her in the street took each of her arms and pinned her in between them.

“Let me go! You idiots!” she shouted at the two men while taking her full strength in order to get away from them. It was futile, however.

II

Gerthel wanted to shift into her wolf form, but even if she will do so, she could feel that the men around her are not humans too. They are either wolves or worst dragons and vampires. She will be nothing compared to them. She closed her eyes and thought to play well with their games. It is better to fight with one man than with four of them. So, she decided to be sold to the stranger who just barged into the room to buy her.

As she entered the highly expensive car of the man who bought her, she was welcomed by a lavender scent, which made her fall asleep after a few seconds of taking her seat inside the car. She did not know what happened next. When she woke up, the car was at its halt already and they were somewhere that she did not know.

She immediately fixed herself and glanced at the man beside her. “Where are we?” she asked in a low voice. She does not want to sound arrogant and she does not want to anger the man.

“You will know later on. May I know your name?” the man asked her.

Gerthel frowned but still, she responded. “Gerthel.”

“Gerthel, I am Gab, the right-hand man of the owner of this mansion,” he said in return.

She just gave the man a short nod and then she lets her eyes roam around the premises. She noticed that she was being brought to a big and luxurious mansion. The place screamed luxury, elegance, and wealth.

“This is your room, Gerthel. You will stay here from now on.” Gab said before he left her alone in the room.

Just like the other part of the mansion, the room assigned to her, was big and luxurious, starting from the carpeted floor, the vanity mirror, the side table with a golden lamp, and the bed, which looks like a Queen’s bed.

She walked near the window and opened it. She looked outside and was in awe to see the beauty of nature around the mansion. As she looked down, a sudden smile crept through her lips. Near the window is a big tree, leading down the ground. If she wanted to escape, she can use the tree and it will be easy to find a way to jump out of the tall fence. Her wolf can already help her do that. Hope suddenly overwhelmed her.

She closed the window and then she tested the softness of the bed. It was so soft that suddenly made her yawn. And then sleep, slowly cradled her.

A knock on the door awakened Gerthel. Dragging her feet out of the bed, she approached the door and opened it. It was an old lady wearing a maid’s uniform.

“Miss Gerthel, I would like to inform you that dinner is ready. If you are hungry already, you may go down to the dining area and we will serve you. If you wanted to eat in your room, we can also bring your food in here,” the old woman said.

“I prefer to eat here for tonight. Thank you,” she shortly replied and the old maid smiled at her.

“As you wish, Madam. Your food will be here in a minute.” The old woman thereafter left Gerthel.

When the old woman returned, she was already carrying a tray with food on it. Gerthel could not find any complaint about the food. The steak was soft and perfectly cooked, the mashed potato has an aftertaste effect after melting into her mouth and the strawberry juice seemed to be freshly made from a juicer. The chocolate cake was just perfect for her liking. She rated the food a perfect ten. However, it does not make her change her mind to escape from the place.

That night, she tried to escape from the mansion. However, she lost her balance while climbing down from her window to a big tree that would lead her down to the ground. She closed her eyes and attempted to shift into her werewolf form to avoid injury when she fall to the ground.

Before she could shift into her werewolf form, however, someone grabbed her and she found herself in the arms of an almost seven-footer, a well-muscled man whose golden eyes flickered with amusement as he carried her just like a doll without any weight at all. She is five feet and seven inches tall but she felt like a dwarf compared to him. She was truly mesmerized. Her heart pounded while the wolf inside her cried out, MATE!

Did she just find her second chance mate? She thought.

I

Her heart went wild, and so with her wolf inside. But the gorgeous man just looked at her with cold eyes. There were no traces that he felt what she felt. Her mate's pull toward her seemed to be not working. Until she realized by sniffing at him that he is not just a wolf. He is something more!

“What are you doing in that tree at this hour?” his voice was colder than his eyes.

“Err, I am sorry,” confused and rattled, she said. She will not of course admit to the man that she was trying to escape.

He was looking at him intently. The light post nearby made her see how gorgeous the man could be. She had seen handsome werewolf men, but this one is far above them. His aura creates an illusion for someone who will see him that a Greek God just came down from the sky.

“You better return to your room. Escaping is useless,” he said after a while, which brought scarlet color to Gerthel’s face. He easily sensed her plan of escaping, which has been a failure. Thanks to that tree and to him.

Just nodding, she immediately ran toward the main door and head straight to her bedroom.

The man followed her running frame with his squinting golden orbs before he moved, walking around the premises of the mansion, as if he was a night guard, roaming around.

Inside her room, Gerthel could still hear her erratic breathing. She placed her hands on her chest as she tried to pacify her emotion. “Moon Goddess, I was just rejected by my mate, but here you are again, giving me a second chance mate, who is as cold as an iceberg,” she said whining. She dropped her body lazily on the bed and hugged the pillow beside her. Her plan of escaping was useless. She sighed as the image of the man who caught her escaping but save her at the same time from being crippled if her body hits the ground, suddenly flashed in her mind.

“Mate! He is ours!” her wolf shouted inside her mind, making her sigh once more.

"Hey, we were just rejected, stopped claiming that man now. I cannot accept another rejection, you know?" she retorted to her wolf, who introduced herself as Thella.

She closed her eyes and the last thing that was in her vision before she dreamily drifted into her dark zone was the gorgeous man with golden eyes looking at her intently.

Outside, the man with golden eyes looked up into the window near the big tree and chuckled. He walked to the main door of the mansion and decided to retire for the night seeing that everything on the premises seemed to be completely alright.

II

On the second night, Gerthel was informed that she was already arranged to please the Boss.

“Miss Gerthel, please be ready by eight o’clock in the evening. You will be brought to the Boss as his new bed warmer. Please let me know if you need help,” a different maid came, which Gerthel guessed to be the Chief Maid, told her. She was tongue-tied, even when the Chief Maid left her room.

After regaining her senses, she shook her head as if trying to forget about what the Chief Maid told her just a while ago. She sat on her bed thinking. She had already taken a bath and she will not repeat bathing for the sake of that man, they called Boss. “What if that Boss is a violent man? What if he will hurt me physically? What if he is an old evil Lord? Gosh, if I need to transform into my wolf form I will just so I can defend myself and my purity,” Gerthel thought while her fists clenched both in anger and nervousness.

She looked at the clock and noticed that it was already past seven o’clock in the evening. She only has less than an hour before she will be brought to the room of that evil man, they called Boss.

She stood up and opened the wardrobe cabinet, which according to the maid was for her. There inside the cabinet, she saw a lot of dresses, seductive nighties of different colors, pieces of underwear that mostly are thongs-type, brassieres, and others. She frowned seeing what type of clothes were inside the cabinet. They are all to be used to please or seduce the Boss, and she wanted to puke by just thinking of having s*x with an old evil man. She then grabbed the most decent dress that she could find inside the cabinet. It was a pair of tight-fitting jeans and a blue-green blouse, which made her frown too because of its low neckline, exposing almost half of her cleavage.

“Urgghh, these dresses are disgusting,” she whined as she threw the clothes she chose to wear on the bed and search again inside the cabinet, but alas, she cannot find any more decent clothing inside that dressing cabinet. “At least with tight-fitting jeans like this, it will be hard for that old evil man to remove it from my body. I will definitely kick his ass before he could even try to remove my tight-fitting jeans,” she thought with fierceness in her eyes.

She wore the tight-fitting jeans, that naturally showed off her curves and the low neckline blouse. She did not know how she could be able to cover her cleavage. Frowning, she opened the cabinet again and saw a white cotton spaghetti strap tight-fitting upper garment. She got it and wore it first before wearing the low neckline dress, thereby making her cleavage not visible anymore to those malicious eyes that would surely feast on looking at it if exposed.

While waiting for the eight o’clock time, she walked to the window and opened it, hoping to see again the man who caught and saved her from falling a night ago. Sadly, she could not see even a shadow of him, and worst, she could not even escape from this room now since she could not see a way out, except for that tree near the window, which she tried last night but failed.

When she heard knocks on her door, her heart suddenly palpitated out of nervousness. Trying to calm herself, she made a deep breath in repeated manners. When the door opened, she was already a bit calm and braver.

“Miss Gerthel, it is time to go to the Boss’ room. He is waiting for you already,” the same maid came to her room and guided her to the Boss’ room.

The Chief Maid knocked thrice first before opening the door, which seemed to be left unlocked. “Please get inside, Miss Gerthel,” the maid said.

Gerthel swallowed hard her saliva as she could feel her throat starting to dry up before her feet moved to get inside the room.

The room was dimly lighted and all Gerthel could see was the back of a tall frame near the closed window. She kept her silence. “I hope you will not face me, it will be much better, I can run now, going out of this room,” she thought frantically. However, it seemed like the Moon Goddess did not hear her prayer.

The man slowly moved his body until he faced her.

“You?!” To her shock, she even pointed her finger at the man, while her eyes were wide as the full moon.

"Yes, it is me. What is so surprising?" the man's eyes squinted as he made a few regal steps until he was almost an inch away from Gerthel.

I

With his penetrating eyes, the Boss looked at Gerthel from head to foot and then he smirked. “You looked so conservative, huh,” he said with a lifted eyebrow. His hand reached for her chin and forced her to look at him.

Swallowing her saliva, Gerthel looked into his eyes and try not to bat. “Indeed, I am a conservative woman. Is it not obvious?” she retorted with bravery. She could not bear not to answer him back. If she can prolong the time in order for the Boss to forget about the real agenda why he called her to be in his room, it will be much better. There was mixed emotion in her, excitement and fear unlike her wolf inside who seemed to be purely excited to meet again their second chance mate.

“I can guess that you did not prepare in coming to me tonight.” It was a statement rather than a question which the Boss let out in a disappointed tone. His eyes never left her.

“My apologies. I was dragged in here without my consent. You see, Sir, I was a free woman, I have my own home when robust men forcefully brought me to that prostitution den, and then here comes your trusted man, buying me off from them just like a bag of fruit,” she said not hesitating to let out what was in her mind. “Let this egotistic Boss know that not all women come to his room to please him,” she thought while trying to never still bat an eye.

His eyes narrowed while looking at her as he let loose his fingers on her chin. “So, you mean, you were just forced to be here?”

“Yes!”

“A lot of women use that alibi to pretend to be hard to get. Your cost was not simply commensurate to a bag of fruit. You are definitely expensive for Ten Thousand Dollars.” His voice has that sarcasm that made Gerthel flare up.

She removed his fingers from her chin and with fiery eyes, looked at him. “I am not pretending. I can return your Ten Thousand Dollars if you will just allow me to go home now,” she said with confidence. “I can definitely pay you that little amount,” she further stated with her chin up.

His laughter filled the four walls of the room. “If you are not ready yet tonight, alright, I will let you go for now. But remember, you cannot use alibis the next time. Get out of here before I change my mind,” he sneered at her, his haunting eyes pierced into her like she was easy prey.

Gerthel practically ran out of his room, when he motioned for her to go. It was a chance that she will never let go without grabbing. She locked her door the moment she entered it, for fear that he might change his mind and follow her inside her room.

She was gasping for breath as she sat on her bed. “Until when could I get away from him?” she thought with a feeling of hopelessness.

II

For around two days, Gerthel felt relaxed. She did not notice the Boss, straying around his mansion.

“Hmm, Mr. Gab, where is the Boss?” she simply asked the Boss’ right-hand man, who looked at her with a malicious grin.

“Why are you asking, Ms. Gerthel? Do you miss him so soon?” he asked with such a malicious grin on his face, unfading.

Gerthel rolled her eyes and gave the man a quick shake of her head. “I just asked, nothing more.”

“Ohh, he is out of the country. He might be back tomorrow or maybe the next day.”

“Really?” she asked while a sigh let out from her mouth. She then smiled at the Boss’ right-hand man and let out a sigh again.

With a raised eyebrow now, Mr. Gab eyed her seriously. “Do not let the Boss ever feel that you are happy that he is not around. Do not let him feel that you do not like him or wanted him. Do we understand each other, Miss Gerthel?”

“Err, alright. My apologies,” she said, as she automatically erased the smile flashing on her face. She excused herself from Mr. Gab and walked fast to her room.

Knowing that the Boss was not around, Gerthel decided to succumb to the inviting water in the swimming pool after a few minutes of having her light dinner. She grabbed the two-piece swimming suit inside her wardrobe cabinet, wore them, and covered her body with a white bathrobe. But then, she opened the cabinet again and got the white shorts she saw, which she put on over her sexy bikini swimsuit. She then walked toward the recreation area quickly, not wanting the guards around to look at her while she was just in her bathrobe.

She sat on the lounge chair first nearby the pool and watched the rounded moon shining upon her. She remembered her best friend Karla, her Aunt Laura, and Uncle Tony and she was not able to control the falling of tears from her eyes. She suddenly missed Karla and her parents, the people she considered her only family. Now, no one is left with her. She is alone and worst, being held captive inside this place. She wiped her tears and stood up slowly from the lounge chair.

“So, I will be having a companion here?” Gerthel’s silence has been broken by such a male voice, which was so familiar now to her.

Gerthel immediately turned around, surprised. In a panic, she hastily covered her eyes with her hands, to the laughter of the Boss, whom she never thought would be arriving so soon. He even came closer to her and hold her hands covering her eyes, then removed them therefrom. She outrightly closed her eyes not wanting to see his almost naked body.

Still holding her hands, he whispered near her right ear. “Open your eyes, and look at me,” he said, his warm breath tickling her.

Slowly, Gerthel opened her eyes and looked at his face. She dared not to look down. “Why haven’t you put on your bathrobe at least while wandering around? You know, the wind is cold, you might catch some colds,” she said in an almost shaking voice.

“So, you care for me eh? Don’t worry even if I am naked in front of you the whole day, I won’t catch a cold,” he said while looking at her with mischief that made Gerthel’s heart spin rapidly.