Bought by the Lycan Lord

Alaric rubbed his forehead and sighed irritably. He had grown weary of the man’s fawning from the moment he had stepped into the building, and with an impatient grunt he held up one hand.

“Enough. Show me the slaves.”

“Of course.” The old man bowed low and pattered down the long narrow hallway. “Forgive me, my lord. It is not often we have someone of your stature visiting.”

They walked out into the courtyard and the man stopped short, staring suspiciously at the large horses hooked to an empty wagon. There was a young man and a small girl sitting on the seat of the wagon and they stared back at him.

He glanced up at Alaric. “My lord, how many do you need?”

“I require six.”

The man led him across the yard toward a second building. As they walked by the wagon, Alaric stopped and held his arms out to the young girl. She was no older than seven, and she hesitated briefly before allowing him to pull her from the wagon seat and set her on the ground.

“What are we doing here?” she asked.

“We’re hiring some staff for our new home, as well as a nanny for you and your baby brother.” Alaric smiled down at the girl.

She didn’t return his smile, staring solemnly at him for a moment. “I can take care of Theo.”

“I know you can, my love. But I think it would be best if you had some help.” He squeezed her hand encouragingly as they approached the building. “I could use your help in picking out the right nanny. What do you say, Mirella?”

She nodded, watching curiously as the small, dirty man in front of them pulled out a giant ring of keys from a pocket hidden deep within his coat. He thumbed through them until he found the correct one and unlocked the door. Its rusty hinges squealed, and the little girl cringed but followed her father into the building.

They walked down the hallway. The man flipped a light switch on the wall and the overhead lights buzzed on weakly.

“You have electricity here,” Alaric said.

“Aye, some days. We’re close enough to the city to latch on to their grid. But it goes in and out.”

The man led them down the hallway to another door. This too was locked, and they waited patiently as he picked out the right key and unlocked the door. He ushered them into the room and shut the door behind him as Mirella peered from behind the safety of Alaric’s legs.

The room quieted as the women in the room stopped their chatter and stared at the two strangers. Alaric grimaced. All of the women were dirty and unkempt, their hair uncombed and their clothing ripped and stained.

He swore softly and gave the man an undisguised look of disgust. “What kind of facility are you running here?”

The man bristled. “I can assure you, my lord, that our slaves are of the utmost quality. Just because our facility is not as proper as you are undoubtedly used to, does not mean we don’t offer excellent services.”

Alaric rolled his eyes. “I’m sure.” He eyed the women in the room with suspicion. “How many of them are suffering from the sickness?”

“None of them!” The old man puffed himself up, trying to match Alaric’s formidable height. “If they suffer from the sickness, we banish them to the outskirts immediately.” He paused. “Perhaps my lord would prefer to go somewhere else?”

“You know very well your facility is the only one within fifty miles,” Alaric said. “Enough idle talking. I require a nanny and a house staff. Who do you recommend?”

The man didn’t reply. Instead he hobbled toward the group of women and began pulling a few of them to the front. Out of the nearly fifty women in the large room, he separated fifteen of them into two groups before returning to Alaric and Mirella.

“They have experience in both cooking and cleaning.” He pointed to the ten women on the left. “They have experience with child rearing.” He waved his hand at the other five on the right.

Alaric moved forward, Mirella trailing behind him, and looked over the ten women. He stood in front of the oldest. “What’s your name?”

“Astrid.” She kept her gaze on her bare feet.

“What experience do you have?”

“I was the head of the household for the Ashred family for more than fifteen years. Perhaps you have heard of them?”

“I am not from here. Why did you leave their employment? Were you fired?” Alaric asked.

She shook her head. “No, m’lord. Mr. Ashred grew ill and died. Mrs. Ashred could no longer afford my services and sold me to pay some of her bills.”

“How long have you been here?”

She squinted in thought. “Not long, m’lord. Six months perhaps?”

He looked behind him. “I’ll take this one. Who among this group of women would you recommend, Astrid?”

She hesitated. “How many do you need, m’lord?”

“Five, including yourself.”

She pointed to four of the other women. After questioning them, Alaric agreed to the ones she had chosen. He turned to Mirella, crouching beside her and patting her back awkwardly.

“Mirella, would you like to help me pick out your new nanny?”

“Yes, Papa,” she replied.

Alaric stared at the women critically as he and Mirella paced in front of them. “How many of you were nannies before?”

Three of them raised their hands and Alaric glanced at the other two.

“You’re dismissed.”

They melted back into the crowd of women as Alaric questioned the remaining three women.

Mirella clasped her hands behind her back and stared at the group of women behind Alaric. There was a flash of color to her left, and she glanced over at the woman standing next to the window. Her long red hair glowed in the late afternoon sun and Mirella edged closer, fascinated by the red strands.

The woman smiled at her in a friendly manner as Mirella stopped in front of her. “Hello, little one.”

“Hello,” Mirella whispered.

“Your name is Mirella?” At Mirella’s nod, she smiled again. “That is a very pretty name. My name is Elowyn.”

“Elowyn,” Mirella repeated, and the woman nodded.

“That’s right. This is my little sister Seraphine.”

There was a petite blonde woman standing behind Elowyn and she peeked around and smiled just like Elowyn.

“Hi, Mirella. I like your dress.”

“Thank you.” Mirella ran her hands over the stiff fabric, wincing when it rubbed painfully against the cut on her finger.

“Are you hurt?” Elowyn crouched in front of her.

“I cut my finger.” Mirella showed her the long cut on the pad of her index finger.

“Ouch.” Elowyn frowned. “That looks very sore.”

“It’s not healing very well,” Mirella said. “Torren says if I don’t make a better effort to keep it clean, he’ll have to cut it off.”

“Well that won’t do.” Elowyn smiled at her. “Shall I kiss it better for you? When Seraphine and I were little, our mother would always kiss our owies.”

Mirella stared at her. “I like your hair.”

A strange look crossed Elowyn’s face, one that Mirella didn’t understand, before she smiled at her.

“Thank you, honey.”

“Can I touch it?”

“Of course.” She tipped her head forward so that her long hair fell over her shoulders, and Mirella rubbed it between her fingers.

“It’s so soft, so pretty,” she whispered. She ran her fingers down the strands and Elowyn smiled again at her.

“I’m glad you like it, Mirella.” She captured Mirella’s hand in her own. “Shall I give your owie a kiss?”

Mirella hesitated and then nodded. Elowyn bent her head and placed a gentle kiss on her finger, directly on the cut. Warmth surged down Mirella’s finger and through her hand. She gasped and pulled her hand free, staring down at her finger.

He frowned when he realized she was no longer at his side. He glanced around the room, his scowl deepening when he saw her standing in front of the Red. The Red was holding her hand and when she kissed Mirella’s finger, he stomped over to them.

“Get away from her.”