Auction

Mattias and Elias pull me back a few steps, then turn the machines on that will broadcast the mercenaries all over the city.

"Why are the people rioting?" I whisper the question to Mattias.

"The sheriff was evil, but he held the factions in check. They were too afraid to fight one another. Now they are not. Now order will have to be restored again. More bloodshed. More lives lost."

And it's all your fault...

He doesn't say that out loud, but I can hear it anyway.

"They liked him?"

"Crowds like men, even evil men, who keep them safe," he explains as gently as he can. He told me that the sheriff's death would not solve my problems, and it seems he was right. I killed one man, and now thousands cry out for justice. If they get into this place, we will be overrun. Even the most skilled mercenaries can't slaughter a thousand people—or can they? And what if they do? How much blood will be spilled in the wake of my actions?

I suddenly feel nervous and guilty. This is my fault. This crowd is here because of me. I don't regret what I did. The sheriff deserved to die. But I wish these weren't the consequences of my actions.

"Greetings!" Tore booms the word across the raging crowd. Speakers echo it across the open space where they have gathered, and beyond. When the sheriff spoke, he made sure everyone listened. Now Tore has the ear of the city.

"Your sheriff is dead!"

After the brief moment of silence, a howl of furious rage rises. That is not the news they wanted to hear. He may have been a brutal dictator, but he had plenty of support from the populace.

"There will be justice! We stood witness to his death at the hands of a woman."

The screams continue as my blood runs cold. I thought they were supposed to protect me, but Tore just told thousands of furious men that this is my fault.

"Yes, yes!" Tore's deep voice booms, the sun glinting off his dashing pale hair. "He was struck down by one wild little wench, a girl who has never in all her life been tamed."

"What the..." I look around at the others, my face a mask of pure betrayal.

"Don't worry," Mattias murmurs. "He's doing the right thing."

He is absolutely not doing the right thing.

"He died, because he forgot the one thing you and I never would: women cannot be trusted!"

With that, the crowd breaks into cheers. My eyes narrow, my heart pounds angrily in my chest. How dare he? I was protecting myself! I was trying to live the same kind of life any of the rest of them get to live without being worried that they're going to be captured and put into a breeding program.

What the hell is going on?

He turns his head, his eyes meet mine, and he booms dark words into the microphone. "Bring me the woman who took the sheriff's life! That little hussy who deserves to be punished for her crimes!"

"What? No!"

It takes four of them to grab me and bring me forward into the shot, still naked as ever. Pharaoh, Keanau, Cowboy, and Zen hold me high, the cameras panning over my naked body.

The crowd goes utterly wild. They scream and shout and cheer. They respond to me as if I am a trophy on display. The disbelief they had expressed just minutes ago that a woman could kill their sheriff is gone, lost in their visceral reaction to my body.

"This woman is wild," Tore repeats. "She is a virgin. Never touched by a man. But she must pay for what she took from us all. A great man lies dead by her treacherous hand..."

I curse and try to twist out of the mercenaries' grasps, but I can't.

"Calm down," Pharaoh whispers in my ear. "This is just for show."

Just for show? Tore is blaming me for everything just for show? I don't think so. I believe him, and so does the crowd.

"You will see justice done here, today. Now. You will see this woman pay for her crimes. I will take her virginity. I will breed her in the name of the city, and she will be broken beneath our cocks!"

The cries grow louder and louder.

"No!" I squirm.

Tore turns toward me, shuts the mic off for a second.

"You don't know me," he says. "And you have no reason to trust me. But I need to fuck you. Now. And I need to make it look good. This isn't how you wanted to lose your virginity. It's not how we wanted you to lose it either, but that's the only card we have to play here."

"I'm not going to..."

"Yes, you are," he growls. "You're going to give me that pussy of yours, and I'm going to fuck it nice and hard. I'm going to make an example of you. I'm going to teach you a lesson—because the alternative is that crowd coming up here and eventually doing it themselves."

"I hate you," I hiss.

"Hate me all you want," he says. "You killed a man. There are consequences."

I narrow my eyes at him. "If I killed one man..." I let the threat linger. "Ow!"

Mattias' hand comes down hard on my tender bottom.

"Enough," he says sternly. "Tore is right. And you are going to stop threatening to kill people."

"Let me talk to her..." Silver interjects.

"That crowd is not going to wait forever."

"I know, just give me a moment."