Chapter 3 Sold

**Brynlee's POV**

I stood quietly like a zombie while one of the big guys unclasped the handcuffs around my wrists. I still felt a little dizzy though from the after effects of the drug they had injected me with earlier to prevent me from escaping.

"What're you trying to do?" I asked in frustration when I felt him try to replace the cuffs around my wrist with a dog leash, and instead of giving a reasonable answer to my question, the tall bulky guy pushed me forward, out of the room and into a dark corridor.

"I am proud of you." I heard him say to me, but I kept my mouth shut, unsure of the reason he would even be proud of me in the first place.

Mistaking my silence for curiosity, he continued, "Do you know how much that young King paid for you? He paid a whopping sum of twenty million dollars!" He said excitedly. At his statement, I turned to stare at him in shock.

Why would anyone pay that unreasonable amount of money to have me?

Ignoring the shocked expression on my face, she continued anyway, "ever since the history of this auction house, no one has ever bought any of our girls for that outrageous-"

I blocked out the rest of his sentence, thinking of what he had said about someone buying me for twenty million dollars. The price was outrageous. Crazy. I wouldn't even buy me for that sum of money!

My train of thoughts were suddenly disrupted when he pulled at the leash around my neck painfully, making me yelp.

I wanted to squash his head, and feed his remains to ventures, wanting to squeeze him until every drop of blood seeped out of his body.

I knew I had the capabilities to do so, but I wouldn't, I couldn't. I had made a promise several years ago to a woman I had accidentally killed that I wouldn't take the life of another.

The thought of the middle aged woman brought fresh tears to my eyes; and I wept quietly, with my thoughts in a mushy disarray as I allowed the bulky guy drag me away like an old rag doll.

Maybe this was my punishment. This was what I got for murdering an innocent woman all those years ago.

I was immediately snapped out of my reverie when I was pushed into a black sleek car with tinted windows.

Looking around, I immediately came face to face with the face of a handsome young man. He looked to be within his mid twenties and had this really intense look on his face that had me squirming in my seat.

"Good afternoon." I said awkwardly, looking around the car but avoiding his brooding gaze altogether.

"Brynlee..." he said softly, with that look in his eyes that was making me quite uncomfortable.

"That's my name." I replied, tilting my head at him. He suddenly looked away from me to talk to the driver, and I sighed, happy that he had finally looked away from him.

I could smell the intoxicating smell of our mate bond, I could feel it from the way my skin tingles and from the way he acted towards me, but something felt off...

Something felt different.

There was this aura about him, this familiarity that I couldn't quite explain.

I turned to look at him only to find him already staring at me. I squirmed again in my seat and looked away, suddenly feeling the weird tingles of a blush creep up my cheek and ears...

***

The drive to wherever it was that he was taking me was quiet and quite uncomfortable.

I literally sprained my back from trying to sit up during the entire course of the ride, while the young man, the source of my discomfort, sat majestically beside me with his attention drawn on his phone.

After a few hours of the silent ride, the sleek car came to a halt in the driveway of an extremely beautiful mansion. It looked exactly like something that had fallen out of a Disney movie.

I immediately caught myself ogling openly at the ginormous house, and quickly recomposed myself.

I breathed in his heady smell when suddenly, he hovered over me and slowly took out the dog leash from my neck at a really slow pace, it almost seemed like he was caressing me.

And then suddenly, he moved away from me, so quickly, I almost felt like I had imagined him touching me. He flung the car's door open and stepped out quickly, slamming the door in my face.

In near shock, I gingerly stepped out of the car too, trudging after my mate on wobbly legs, but he was too fast, I couldn't possibly catch up to him.

From a distance I saw my Mate conversing with a group of people who looked like pack warriors from the way they were dressed.

They seemed like they were involved in a heated argument, but from this distance, I still didn't miss the obvious fear in their eyes as they bowed slightly at him.

"Who was he?" I asked myself, staring at the obvious show off of wealth in awe.

I waited for him until he was done talking to the warriors, and as soon as they had finished talking, I followed closely behind him until we arrived at the living room of his mansion.

I gasped in pure awe. The interior looked Royal-like with its high ceilings and golden walls. A majestic chandelier hung from the middle of the room looking like a monstrous beauty due to its size.

I gasped again, this time in shock when I noticed a very large beautiful painting occupying most of one of his living room's walls.

In the painting was a child, a beautiful young girl not more than six years old. She had glassy green eyes and wild ginger red hair that looked like a mane over her head.

She was extremely beautiful; and in a way, I was drawn to her beauty.

I slowly walked towards the painting, rubbing my hands slowly down its length.

It drew me in, mesmerized me, but something else about the painting shook me to the core. It was the fact that the child in it bore a striking resemblance to me.

If I had given birth before, I would've sworn that she was mine.

I turned to look at the young man who brought me here, only to find him already staring at me with a weird expression on his handsome face.

"Who is she?" I whispered slowly, pointing at the beautiful painting hanging on the wall.

He seemed taken aback by my question, and tilted his head slowly to the side, as if in confusion.

"You really do not know her?" He asked. His voice sounded incredulous. It made me wonder if the child was someone I really knew.

"No." I answered defiantly, looking up at his confused stare.

"How do you not know that that girl is you Brynlee?" He asked softly, staring down at me like I had suddenly grown two heads.

I took a step back in confusion. That couldn't be me!

"That isn't me." I said indignantly, staring up at the painting that seemed to draw me in the more at every glance I threw at it.

I glanced at the young man to notice a look of confusion on his features. He looked like I was telling a lie, and couldn't believe it.

"That is you, Brynlee." He whispered, but I shook my head indignantly as I took more steps backwards.

"Are you trying to say that you do not remember this?" He asked, pointing to the painting, "Do you not recognize me?" His voice sounded incredulous. It confused me.

"No." I said again. I was beginning to really think he was crazy until I noticed him staring at me as if I was crazy as well. I sighed.

"It's me Caden, Caden Pierce." He drawled, taking a few steps towards me, in fright, I stepped backwards and shook my head.

"The name doesn't ring a bell." I replied dryly, staring up at him in confusion. My response made him stop abruptly in his tracks, and he looked down at me in a way that I couldn't quite comprehend.

"You do not remember being at an orphanage, do you?" He asked suddenly, making me snap my head to look up at him.

Me? In an orphanage?

"Hell no! I've never been to an orphanage!" I snapped fiercely.

I noticed a wild look suddenly cross his features and almost immediately, he held my face in a tight grip, making an array of different wild sensations run up my face at his touch.

"You really do not recognize me?" He asked again, and in response, I shook my head.

"What about now?" He asked again, this time, bringing his face forward in a way that we breathed in the same air. I immediately shook out of his hold, seemingly uncomfortable with the way he was making me feel.

He immediately let go of me, his expression sad.

I looked on in confusion as he walked away from me suddenly as if I had a plague, and walked up a flight of beautiful stairs without looking back.

Something from his behavior made me realize that he probably knew me, but regardless of how hard I tried, I still couldn't recollect ever meeting someone like him...