Chapter 8

A stretch of silence followed Nolan’s words. Asher dropped his gun on the polished mahogany tabletop, his laughter shattering the tense silence, his men at ease at his reaction.

“I would have never taken you for a sore loser.” Asher taunted, chuckling.

Nolan gritted his teeth, he had hesitated for a moment after Asher had bid such a high price without warning, and now he was paying for it. That moment of contemplation had cost him the one Omega that had sparked his interest. “It’s a yes or no answer, Asher.”

This silenced the other Alpha, his dark red hair looking bloody in the dim light of his office. “No. Now fuck off.”

Nolan looked like he would like to say more but he didn’t, silently rising to his feet and heading out without another word.

“Boss?” The Beta from before appeared at his side.

Asher clenched his teeth, fangs flashing as he picked up the gun one more time and shot the glass that Nolan had drank out of, the crystal exploding with a loud sound, the amber liquid spilling onto the table. “Keep tabs on that bastard as best as you can.”

“Got it,” The Beta languidly replied, slipping out.

Asher watched his right-hand man stride out of the room, he could count on Jael to do such a dangerous job but that wasn’t even one of his worries.

He couldn’t make out why Nolan had shown up without warning while making such a lame excuse. *Was it possible that he was genuine about the deal?* He scrapped that thought as quickly as it came, Nolan’s blood was made of gasoline, he cared about nothing but power.

It didn’t matter if he had been, Asher had no interest in giving away the Omega. He just didn’t like the implications that Nolan had something up his sleeve and that he couldn’t figure out what it was.

For the rest of the night, he was distracted, barely focusing on the people he had to deal with, so much so that he had to consider leaving early…

+

Celine woke up a few hours later, rousing reluctantly. It was rather surprising to wake up to complete silence considering that the last time she had woken up, she had been in front of a hall full of people, their voices rebounding off the bars of her cage.

Her memories soured the more lucid she became, *how had everything managed to go wrong from the moment she left Moonstone?*

She stared up at the ceiling, and then looked around, taking in her surroundings. The bedroom looked straight out of a celebrity magazine, and the floor-to-ceiling curtains that covered half of the room had Celine wondering if it was all windows behind it.

The room was dimly lit even with all of the visible lighting because most of it were backlights. The warm tone of the lights further highlighted the warmth of the gold-themed bedroom, making it difficult to tell exactly what time it was.

It didn’t feel like she had slept for long, and a glance down at herself told her that she was still wearing the clothes from the auction… *the auction*… *had she truly been sold to some rich stranger?* Surely, this had to be illegal! Maybe if she explained her situation to the person that had bought her, this would all be resolved.

Celine’s face crumpled at that, *of course, that wasn’t going to happen.* She was in a Mafia City! In her bid to avoid being part of a Pack, she had gotten herself into this mess.

She shook her head to dispel her depressing thoughts, she couldn’t afford the time to sulk yet, the room she was in was empty and she wasn't cuffed or tied up. Instead of beating herself up, she should focus on trying to get out of her predicament.

She shot to her foot, noting that she was barefoot, the wispy white dress she had on skimming her thighs. It had a corseted bodice and although the sleeves were long, they fell down her arms, revealing her shoulders.

Celine didn’t remember owning an outfit like this, so it must have been put on her by the people who had taken her or those running the auction. She tried not to think too hard about the implications of that.

She walked to the curtains as quietly as she could to peek out, and just as she feared it was still night. It would make things more difficult for her as she didn’t have money or her phone on her but she couldn’t remain here.

She hadn’t seen the face of the person that had bought her and she hadn’t been told anything because right after she was sold off, she was knocked unconscious again and when she woke up, she was in this lavish bedroom.

Celine felt her eyes sting with tears, the helplessness of her situation starting to get to her. Her tries to escape was just something that she felt she needed to do, she had no plans and she had no idea what to do after she got away, if she managed to get that far.

She got to the door and gingerly tried it, pleased to see it unlocked, the heavy mahogany door swinging open silently. Celine poked her head full of pale blonde waves outside the door, her confidence growing at the sight of the empty corridors. Luck had to be on her side because everything had even going so smoothly so far, heart pounding, bare feet inaudible against the carpeted hallways, she managed to make her way outside the house.

She had used a service entrance, out of breath because the house had turned out to be far bigger than she had imagined. She couldn’t even call it a house, it was a mansion. The cover of night proved to be invaluable when she left the mansion because if it weren’t for the darkness, she would have been found out right away.

The more Celine saw of her environment, the more she was certain that she had been bought by someone extremely important, considering the blatant opulence of the mansion and the tight security.