Page 1 of Dark Sold Mate

Chapter 1 - Silas

Silas Weston had been watching this operation for six whole months. And this was the night he got what he wanted. The warehouse was based on the outskirts of the city. It appeared quite normal on the outside. But when you went in, there were rows and rows of folding chairs, and they all faced was a stage which had been hastily put together.

The ceiling lights reflected brightly on the concrete floor, and the warehouse reeked of foul scents, which were getting under his skin and made his wolf uneasy.

He had selected a chair close to the exit where he was in a position to watch the room, without being observed. The device pressed against his chest, hidden underneath his chest, which was built by one of his younger brothers, Rael, hid his scent but allowed him to smell others. To the rest of the people in the room, Silas appeared to be a human being.

This operation began several months back, when they discovered some evidence indicating that Starville pack had been involved in some illicit activities, such as raping women and selling them off.

The women were being taken out of cities across the country, and then they would reappear in areas that were operated by shifters. And the strange thing about it was, every time they looked into the issue, it happened on Silas' territory.

That was a bloody lie. He valued the reputation of his pack, and someone was intentionally trying to destroy it.

The reputation of a person was of great importance in the world of shifters. People were now beginning to turn against one another. They were considering not trading with the Silas' pack, and other Alphas did not trust him. They believed that since he took over as Alpha after his father's death, he might be up to something.

Silas has no choice but to locate whoever is performing such vicious and disgusting acts and clear his pack of the accusations. He simply could not allow things to get any worse.

So he and his brothers went out hunting. Rael, his younger brother, was an expert in tracing money and uncovering evidence on the internet. His other brother, Javi, worked in the streets, and he befriended other individuals in other locations in the shifter world. Silas applied the lessons that he had acquired during his black ops: watching people, sneaking into places, and collecting information.

Tonight was when it all made sense. He eventually discovered one of the auctions that he was hunting.

He looked at the crowd around him. The number of men was high, and the number of women was low, but all of them were shifters. Silas scrutinized them all. There was a bear shifter he recognized from a nearby territory, some members of a wolf pack, and a fucking fox.

His mind was like a camera. It photographed the faces of people and took note of their scents and watched how they interacted with each other. He captured every minute detail.

He listened to those who were seated together as well as those who did not even glance at one another. The bear shifter was wearing an expensive suit. The wolf shifter seemed very energetic. The fox continued to look at his phone repeatedly. The bear shifter seemed to have no reservations, like a person who acquired items here regularly.

This was it. The moment he had been waiting for. He was not only going to collect information, but also seek patterns. He had to read people in the room in order to determine the predators and their desires. This was what he was best at—gathering information.

Another wolf shifter wearing a nice tailored jacket made his way onto the stage, and the entire crowd went quiet. “Good evening, ladies and gentlemen,” his voice was fairly composed and self-assured. “We’ve got a few good things to show you tonight. We have five people who are uninformed about our world, which is good.” His lips curled into a smirk. “Which means that we will not have any problems.”

A muscle ticked in Silas's jaw, though his face remained expressionless. He could not do anything now, despite how angry his wolf felt at the moment.

“Let us begin.”

A side door opened, and a frail young girl appeared. More like someone pushed her out.

Her blonde hair was messy, cuts were scattered all over her body, and her eyes were swollen and reddish. Probably from crying.

“The bid starts at five thousand dollars.”

Then it continued increasing after that. Silas watched the crowd. It simply went up and up until she was sold for twenty-two thousand dollars.

The handlers appeared on the stage and took the woman away. Silas got a glimpse of the backstage area, mentally filing away its appearance and the number of security guards.

Three more women came after that.

Whenever there was an auction, Silas learned something. He recalled the appearance of the purchasers; he saw the manner in which the handlers moved about. He listened to the way the auctioneer spoke. He had been trained that traffickers tend to give away more than they want to when they believe they are safe.

They were wrong.

One of the wolves in the row bent over to speak to his mate. The companion laughed. Silas took note of the wolves' scent and what packs they belonged to. He wanted to know, so that he could trace them in case he had to.

“Now,” the auctioneer continued. “Last gem of the night.”

The side door swung open once more, and Silas's world completely tilted. The scent hit him. Faint. Barely there. Like a voice on the other end of a wall. Something warm and sweet among all the fright and sweat and the smell of the warehouse, something that bypassed his training and his discipline and reached some primal part of him.

His Alpha instincts were not simply aroused. They detonated.