Theron Destiny (Brides of Theron) (5 page)

The women just sat and stared at each other in disbelief. Some started crying others just drew a blank look on their face. They were being sold to a race of men they had no knowledge of until today. They could only speculate what was going to happen to them.

Chapter 5

Avery sat on the sofa and watched as one by one the other women were led away. Gracie was still with her and holding her hands, both were terrified of what was to come. Every time the door slid open the pair of guardian warriors would walk into the room and approach the next woman that was to be auctioned off. Most of the women went quietly.  There were a few that went out the door kicking and screaming at the top of their lungs. Fighting didn’t help them in any way.  The men would just pick them up and carry them out of the room.

The time came when it was just Avery and Gracie in the room.

“Avery, I’m really scared. I feel like I am about to be sick.”

“I know. I feel the same way. Maybe this will turn out good. I mean they wouldn’t be going to these extreme measures to obtain mates if they planned on hurting us, right?”

“But to be put up for auction? How degrading is that? They are selling us to the highest bidder!”

Right when she finished that statement the door slid open again and once again the two warriors came into the room, approached them, and looked at Gracie.

“I guess it’s my turn.” Gracie said to Avery. With a forced smile, she gave Avery a quick hug then stood up and walked out of the room with the men.

Now Avery was all alone and the time seemed to drag by. How long was she going to have to wait in order to find out her fate. Did minutes or hours pass before that door slid open for the last time? However long it was, it was her turn now. She watched as the warriors came towards her.  Her heart was beating a mile a minute. They must have been informed of her injury because one of them bent down to scoop her up into his arms.

Just as all the women before her, they exited the room. They walked down the same long green corridor and at the corner, turned to yet another corridor. They walked until they reached an open archway that lead down a narrow walkway. As they got closer to their final destination, voices could be heard coming from somewhere ahead of them. Finally reaching the end of the walkway, they entered into a brightly lit room that was packed to over flowing with many with more of the warrior men.

“Oh dear God, Help me.” Avery held on tight to the warrior who carried her but soon enough her grip around his neck was no longer necessary and she was deposited onto a stool that sat on a platform in the center of the stage.

Zeb was the first to enter the bar room where the auction was to take place. While he waited for Zane and Brylon to show up, he sipped at the drink he had ordered from the bar. Slowly but surely, the bar started to fill up with eager warriors like himself hoping to win a mate. Zeb only had one female in mind. He wanted her and he was going to bid as high as he needed to in order to win her. He just hoped that Lars was not recovered enough to be able to attend the auction. He knew exactly who Lars was going to bid on. One of his other warriors had overheard him talking in the infirmary while he was getting his eye attended to. Lars was going for the woman that had caused the injury to his eye and his reputation. He said he was going to make her pay for what she did.

When Zeb was informed of Lars’ intentions and he took it upon himself to make sure that he won the female at all costs. If Lars got hold of her he was going to kill her. He was sure of it.

He wasn’t just bidding on her to protect her from Lars but also because he had felt something stir inside him while he had carried her. She felt so small and warm in his arms and the way she looked at him made his blood start to boil. None of the other females they had taken from earth had had this effect on him. He felt a great need to have her, to make her his in every way possible.

Zeb slammed back the rest of his drink and ordered another just as his two best friends showed up.

“Which one you going to bid on?” Zane asked Zeb.

“Do you really have to ask? Take one guess.”

“Avery, the one you carried into my infirmary.” Zane replied with a broad grin.

“Give the warrior a drink. Of course I will bid on her. She has my blood boiling for some reason and I tend to find out why.”

“Sounds like someone has been bitten by the gig bug.” Laughed Zane.

“And which one are you gunning for Mr. Gig bug?” Zeb asked Zane.

“I liked the auburn colored hair female. She’s tall, got those eyes that see right through you and she’s just damn sexy. Who are you going for Brylon? Or are you going to try and stay immune from the effects of the Earth females?”

“Shut up Zane, you crazy fool. I should give you a run for your money and go after the female you want. But lucky for you the first female we took is quite interesting to me. She seems very quiet like she is hiding something and I want to find out what it is. Not to mention, that I find the fact that her hair is the color of the night sky on Theron a plus.”

“I just got to hope that Lars doesn’t show up. I’m hoping his eye hurts to bad to come.”

“Zeb,” Zane interjected, “I don’t know how to tell you this, but I had to remove Lars’ injured eye. Whatever she used to stab him with created a lot of damage to the tissue in the eye and it was beyond repair. Lars is not a happy man right about now. I released him from the infirmary about an hour ago and I am sure he will be here, bent on revenge, no less.”

“Great, that’s just great. Now there is absolutely no choice but to win her. I had thought that if I won her, he would leave her be.  Now, I know he won’t leave her alone until he gets his revenge. I’m getting him off the ship as fast as I can. It is now my top priority after this auction.”

“Do you really think he is going to risk harming a female?” Zane asked while taking a sip of his own drink.

“I would bet my life on it. We all know how Lars is especially when he has it out for someone. Remember what he did to that young warrior cadet when he accused him of stealing his knife? The cadet barely survived that beating. Lars is a ticking time bomb.  This might just be the final straw that finally sets him off.” Zeb glanced around the bar room to see who had entered in the past few minutes while he had been talking.  His eyes came across a figure sitting at a corner table with a few other men. Zeb knew it was Lars.

Lars was laughing and carrying on with the men at the table seated with him, buying a round of drinks. A patch covered his right eye and a bandage was over the gash, an injury that was inflicted by his Avery. Lars was so sure of himself, too. Zeb could tell by the way he was acting that he was confident that he was getting the female he wanted. Little did he know, he was going to have some competition.

Avery felt as if her heart was going to explode. Staring out into the sea of unknown faces, she wondered if this was really happening to her or if this some sort of a really bad dream. The crowd of alien men were waiting patiently for the auctioneer to start the final auction of the day. She looked out over the crowd to see if she could find the last man in the world that she wanted to see much less bid on her. She silently prayed that he wasn’t there. Being bought by anyone but him would be a blessing. She could only guess what he would do to her if he ever got his hands on her again. The men were all talking quietly to each other in their own odd language.  She did not have the slightest idea what anyone was saying. She thought to herself how awful it was to be in a room full of people and not understand a word that was said.

One of the men came up behind her and started speaking in the alien tongue. The crowd quieted down and then became silent as they turned their full attention to the center of the stage in the room where she was sitting on display.

Out of the darkness in corner of the room came a voice that made her blood run cold. She knew it had to be her attacker. She strained her eyes to see exactly where he was in the room.  She found him when he sauntered out of the darkness with a creepy smile plastered over his face. He started to approach her but the guardian warriors assigned to protect her stepped up to block his path. He stopped about ten feet away from her and stared at her with eyes so full of anger that she had to look away and take a deep breath.

The auctioneer stood next to her speaking to the crowd and started to hold up his fingers one at a time. She figured that this was the countdown to the final bid. She was afraid she was going to be sold to him with no problems. Terrified that one bid was all it was going to take.

When the second finger went up, she started to panic and tried to get off the stool. But the men guarding her seized both of her arms and held her in place. Then unexpectedly, another voice came from the back of the room and all heads turned to see who the voice belonged to.

Coming forward through the crowd was the man who had carried her on board the ship and to the infirmary. She took a small deep breath and closed her eyes for a second to regain her composure. She sucked in her bottom lip and started to chew on it, watching as the two men started to go back and forth. Maybe she would still have a chance of being sold to someone other than the one eyed man.

“One thousand kryins.” Zeb countered back to the auctioneer.

Lars spun around to see who had out bid him and was shocked to see it was his commander. “What are you doing? She is mine. I will have her.”

“Not if I can help it, Lars. We all know why you want her. You didn’t even try to bid on any of the other females so that leads me to one conclusion.”

“We’ll see about that. Two thousand kryins!” Lars countered back.

“Five thousand kryins.” Zeb countered back.

Lars was becoming frustrated and more and more angry by the moment. “Six thousand.”

Zeb had enough of this bidding war and of Lars so he shouted, “Twenty thousand kryins.”

Murmurs could be heard throughout the room and men started to shift in their seats as their commander firmly stood his ground in front of Lars and announced his bid. All of the combined winning bids for females didn’t even reach that amount. Their commander was willing to spend a fortune on the female. Their attention now slid over to Lars who was standing completely still and was so red in the face that he looked as if he was about to explode. His fists were clenching and unclenching but he remained silent.

The auctioneer started the final countdown once again. “Twenty thousand, going once.” He looked at Lars and waited for a counter bid. When none came he continued, “Twenty thousand, going twice.” Again he glanced at Lars and waited. No reply again so he said loudly enough for the whole room to hear, “Sold, for twenty thousand kryins to Commander Zeb.”

“NO! She is mine!” Lars shouted and lashed out to grab hold of Avery. The guards let go of her arms in order to grab hold of Lars.  Lars was running on adrenaline now and tried to push through the guards to get to Avery.  More guards had to jump in to try and subdue Lars before he could get to Avery and cause her any harm. Tables flipped and drinks spilt everywhere as Lars and the guards fought each other. Lars managed to break free of the guard’s grip on his arm and reached out to grab a chair. He got his hand around the leg of the chair and was able to lift it partially off the floor when someone in the crowd was able to stun him with one of the electro stun guns that were kept behind the bar.

Lars dropped like a dead weight when hit with the electrical current. When the stun gun was switched off, the guards were then able to flip him over and handcuff his hands behind his back. As soon as he was secured, four of the guards hauled Lars to his feet and carried him out of the room.

Avery couldn’t believe what had just happened. It all seemed to transpire in slow motion. Lars coming at her, guards everywhere, objects flying around the room and then finally, her abuser was pinned to the ground. She let out the long deep breath she was holding as she watched him being carried away from the room and out of her sight.

The next thing she knew was that she was being picked up once again.  This time, it was by her original carrier, her new “mate”, the man with the purple eyes. He took her out the same way she entered and back to the elevator.

Inside the elevator Avery leaned her head against his massive chest and let out a shuttering breath. He looked down at her and said something to her, causing her to look up and notice small smile spread across his handsome face.

The doors to the elevator opened again onto a floor that she had not yet seen. This floor of the ship reminded her of being in a hotel. The walls had pictures on them and the hallway was covered in a taupe colored carpet. Every so often a door could be found set back into the wall. They passed a couple of doors on either side of the hallway. They finally came to stop in front of a door that had an insignia of some sort engraved into the door.

Her new mate placed his hand on a red panel on side of the door and the door slid open like all of the others she had seen. As he stepped into the room beyond the door, Avery was able to tell rather quickly that this must be his living quarters.  Lights turned on automatically as they strode further into the room.  An L-shaped sofa was set up against the wall with part of it facing a wall of curtains.

He placed her on the sofa against the wall and left her to go into another room. He was only gone for a couple of minutes.  When he returned he had something strange in his hand. As he came back around the sofa to where she was sitting, he pulled with him a cushioned ottoman and placed it right in front of her. He then sat down on the stool and motioned with his hand for her to come forward. She followed his instructions and waited to see what he was going to do next. He started speaking to her and showing her the object in his hand but when he leaned forward and tried to brush her hair behind her ear, she pulled back in a state of uneasiness.