Sold to the Highest Bidder

9. Allies or foes?

I was grateful for the server interrupting us and calling us for dinner. I had a lot to think about. Could I really think of the Claw brothers as allies? They had bought me and then taken me to their house where I was a prisoner, but I had to acknowledge that I was more at risk if I left. Not only I didn't have much with me, but I had no one to help me. I could ask them to take to another country, but I had no idea if the elders had contact with other communities around the world, what if they did and they found me? I would be alone, with no one to help.

Dinner was delicious, and the brothers went over mundane topics, trying to engage me in idle chat, but I barely responded to them, they respected my position and left me alone with my thoughts. I had to recognize they were being incredibly thoughtful. I was starting to think that they were good guys, but I couldn’t let my guard down just yet.

After dinner, I asked to be excused, and Dillan walked with me to my room.

“I’m really sorry about the circumstances, and I know you may feel trapped like this, but believe me, it’s as much for your security as it is for our own good. Tomorrow, when you feel up to it, I'd like to talk to you about how are we to move forward. We need to take you to the doctor, and go over our options.”

“It’s been a few difficult days for me, I just want to rest for a while before we go over my value as an incubator.”

“We don’t have to go over that part just yet, but you’ve been hurt, and they need to make sure you are healthy,” he took my hand and then traced a few bruises over my arm. They were faint, because as a shifter, I healed fast, but the fact that they were even there was a testament to how bad they had been.

“I’m okay, really, all I need is rest,” I insisted.

“Still, tomorrow we need to talk. I hope you realize I’m on your side,” he kissed my hand and opened the door for me. But no matter how sweet he was and how luxurious my room was, the heavy lock was a loud reminded that the situation was bad.

I couldn't sleep, between the drug and the nap, I had already been asleep most of the day, so I walked around the room until late at night.  I looked out the windows, and I noticed a light in the distance.  Was there another house?  Even if there was, I couldn't know if they would be willing to help me, and after hearing the brothers talk about the situation, I wasn't sure if there was a way to help me.  Many mountain lions were after me, they all wanted pure cubs and I was their best chance.  I was something they wanted, and they wouldn't let me go easily.  And the more I thought about it, the more I was convinced that the other families wouldn't give up so easily, they would start pressuring the elders to allow them a turn with me.  If I didn't have the Claw brothers enforcing the contract, then I would let myself open for others to try and take advantage.  It was a really difficult situation, and I needed to make a decision fast, if I wanted to trust them or not.

So much had happened in a short period of time.  A month before I wouldn't even think about having to escape yet again, I had been so comfortable in the wolves' territory, but now that I had seen how far the Elder was willing to go, I realized that they had been right in keeping away from my trouble.  They were so focused on having new shifters, than they were willing to go to severe extremes.  I even considered that the other elders could have been involved in softening some of the clauses in the contract, if the Elder had been the only one involved, then I could have been forced to have a cub per year for the rest of my life. 

The wolves legend of fated mates sounded so sweet, I wish that was the same for us, but maybe that wouldn't help.  Even if I had a fated mate, how could that help me?  The Elder could even kill him if that interfered with his dream of pure blooded cubs.  It was such an impossible situation. 

I had no idea when I had fallen asleep, but I was woken up by the lock on the door.  Nela entered the room and looked surprised that I was still wearing the same clothes from the night before, I hadn't even changed before going to bed.

"Good morning.  Mr. Claw wants to know if you wish to join him for breakfast."

"Which Mr. Claw are we talking about?" I asked.

"Mr. Dillan."

"Yes, just give a few minutes to change," I said, going over my bag. I could tell by the quick glances at the closet that Nela wanted to remind me that I had a whole wardrobe just on the other side of the door, but I wasn't ready for that.

It only took me a few minutes to get ready and follow her to the dining room. I knew what Dillan wanted to talk about, and after a lot of thinking I had decided that it was best to get it over with, just so I could have a better idea of what he was thinking and to see if it would work in my favor.

When I arrived, they had already prepared a buffet style breakfast. Dillan was the only one there, but it looked like there was enough food for him and all his brothers.

"Good morning, how did you sleep?" he asked politely.

"Not very good, I had a lot of things on my head," I answered sincerely.

"Yeah, I can imagine. I also did a lot of thinking. But first, let's enjoy breakfast, feel free to take whatever you want."

"Aren't we going to wait for your brothers?" I ask, looking at all the food.

"No need, they went back to their houses last night," he says.

"I thought they lived here with you."

"No, you know just how territorial our animals can be. Our territory is vast, so we all have houses here, far enough that our animals can shift and run without problem. They went back last night after we talked a little. You can trust in them, they are your allies and have promised to protect you from other families that could try to take you away."

"Do you really think that's a risk?" no matter how I wanted to deny it, it was really possible for them to try something. Was I really safer with the Claw brothers?

"Maybe not right away, but as time starts to go by and there is no sign of a cub, then yes, I think different families are going to start trying to get to you.  But don't worry, we are safe, at least for the first two years, but that means that you will have to get pregnant after a year, if we want to take into account the pregnancy and some time for the baby to be born."

"I really don't want to think about it," I said.

"We need to if we want to start planning and have options," he sounded a little exasperated, but he wasn't raising his voice or being aggressive.  "I have to admit I'm attracted to you, and my brothers also think you are beautiful.  We would love for you to give us a chance, to even marry one of us eventually, but we won't force you into anything.  If you..." he seemed to be having some trouble talking, and he was avoiding my eyes, "If you don't want to have s*x with us, we can't look into artificial insemination.  We even could search for a surrogate to carry the baby if you can't bear to carry the child.  The elders don't even have to know about it."

"You would do that for me?" I asked, a little skeptically, it was too much to do for someone they didn't even know, especially since he had already paid a lot of money for me, and he wasn't going to take advantage of that? 

"Yes, I don't think is fair to ask so much from you.  The elders are worried, our kind is kind of disappearing, but I don't share their views that we should forget that we are all individuals.  They say it's a sacrifice for the greater good, but they are not asking, they are forcing you to give up your life and your freedom for this.  There's not much I can do, but at least I can try to make it as easy for you as possible."

"And what do you want in exchange for your help?  I can't believe you are willing to go through so much trouble and spend that amount of money just because," I said.

"Well, it's not like I'm, I mean, we are not getting something out of this," he replied, and for the first time during the whole conversation he stared right at me.  "We are going to get pure blooded cubs."