The times of black slavery had long gone by the time I was born. The field I worked in didn't take me because of the color of my skin, or the thickness of my lips, or the kinkiness of my hair—women and men of all races were shoved or born into it. They took me because I was beautiful, because I was chocolate personified. They took me because I was a woman, and a foolish one at that.
Born to a mother who earned a living as what I am now, I had more freedom than most in my position. The daughter of a whore and a nameless aristocrat, I grew up around sex, although my mother tried her hardest to keep me from it. I heard the grunts of men, smelled the heady scents of coupling, cried enraged tears of ladies whose bidders got carried away, and worried that one day soon, I too would be drawn into such a dangerous world.
And drawn I was. Because of what I was.
When I was nearing twenty years, another rich aristocrat by the name of Mercury paid a high price to keep me as his own. I was bid as a naked virgin, untouched and whole, by my mother's buyer, and I stood proud with hateful eyes and a stubborn chin as man after man pinched my ass, caressed my thighs, groped my breasts, and ran their fingers across my pliant lips.
'She's too sullen, too wrathful,' they said, their eyes filled with lust and regret as they walked away. 'She won't be controlled. Curb her, and we'll see.'
Curb me, they said. As if I was a common bitch.
And then Mercury came, silver eyes boring into mine, their yellow edges filling me with fear and disgust and want. He was one of my kind, and he knew what I was.
He bought me at the highest price ever recorded at an auction, his strong jaw clenched and his bright eyes murderous as he pushed his price higher, felling out all other bids. That night, he took me home and lay with me, bringing my body to blinding climax again and again. He whispered to me that no woman should ever be brought into this trade a virgin, and as he stroked his fingers inside of me, my hips arching to meet his hand, I knew that I could love him, given half the chance.
A week later, I was upon the bidding stage, standing naked in front of a crowd, my eyes glittering in anger, my chest heaving, my willful chin raised defiantly, as men raked their gazes over my body. My dark skin and luscious hips were repulsively coveted, my thick lips and strong thighs imagined to be wrapped around some man's sex.
The truth was, very few men could handle me, and usually only those of my kind. My sex was angry, passionate, and foreword—apparently, men didn't usually like that, preferring to leave all the control in their own hands.
I wouldn't have it.
And so Mercury was forced to bid me to only special crowds, and those men were the ones that I was standing before today, my dark eyes meeting those of every man watching me, my muscles tensed, my body humming with need.
Not the need of sex, but the need of escape. After four years of this, I was done.
The bids began to go up, and my pussy was sold off to three different men. My mouth was next, followed by my hands. Men paid hundreds of dollars reserving parts of my body to mark as they fucked me, laying what they thought was their claim.
Foolish men, I thought, my lips parting in disgust. I would be sold off to a new group of men within the month, to be 'owned' and marked by their lecherous grins and wanting hands. No man could lay full claim to me, not even the one who owned me. But these feelings of strength had a downside: my daring refusal to be docile only drew the men, challenged, to see if they could break me. This angered me, but I said nothing because both I and Mercury were becoming rich off of this.
One day, I'd buy my freedom.
One man's request drew my attention away from thoughts of liberation. He laid claim to half of my body, the right side, and I winced. Those men tended to be rough with their fucking, leaving finger bruises and tender bite marks. Although hitting and abusing were strictly forbidden, accidents happened, and many women ended up seriously injured—some even died—from their partners. Those men who went overboard paid lost wages to the owner, were blacklisted, and banned from future auctions.
My nostrils flared in anger at this man who'd bought exactly half of me, and as my eyes looked down at him coldly, he gave me a slow smile, sucking his bottom lip into his mouth. Suddenly, Mercury walked onto the stage with me, his thick-soled boots making crisp thuds on the polished wood. He placed his hands onto my shoulders, pressing his groin into my bare behind.
"I bid for her ass," he said loudly, his voice commanding, "outranking all amounts."
There was an immediate outcry of rage, and I stood there, shocked. Mercury never bid on his own slaves; in fact, owners rarely did. It devalued them, especially since it brought suspicion that the slaves had been lain with even when bids weren't being thrown.
One man, the same who bought ownership to the right side of my body, spit complaints venomously, pointing a guilty finger in Mercury's direction.
Glaring, Mercury moved his hands down to my hips and pulled me into his raging hard-on. Leaning down to kiss my cheek chastely, he literally growled. "I can outbid this room ten times over." He slapped my ass, and I bit my lip to keep from crying out in pain. "Sovianne's ass is mine."
I turned my head to the window, suddenly tired and overwhelmed. Four years in this miserable business, pulled where I didn't wish to be taken, born into a life that I didn't want to live. I loved sex when it was done right, and sometimes there were men kind enough to pay attention to your needs. Since my first time with Mercury roughly four years before, I could count on one hand the number of times I'd crossed paths with those men. This business was poison, and as my mind was suddenly made up, my eyes flashed a pale, brilliant yellow.
My body tensed, and for a brief second I felt Mercury's grip tighten on my hips like iron. Then I was sprinting, angling across the bidding floor as I ran towards the window. My stride lengthened, and I jumped, the glass window twinkling like tiny crystal shards as I crashed through it. I felt my body shudder, and a hushed groan escaped my lips as I flew through the air.
I ignored the dozens of men suddenly exclaiming loudly behind me, and pushed through the dizziness of my body. Standing on all fours, I took a few teetering steps, gave my dark coat a shake, and then loped quickly into the woods.
All that the bidding men saw was the quick flash of a wolf tail before I was swallowed by darkness.
***
Mercury had seen it—had known it was coming. It was why he had moved onto the stage with her, as her dark seductive eyes began to grow edgy and impatient.
Bitches were rare in the world that he dealt in, and it was with only one misgiving in mind that he bought Sovianne from her mother's owner. She had been so expensive, Mercury had wondered if she was worth it. Being around a lover as beautiful and alluring as Sovianne, the challenge in her eyes even up to the moments when her body shuddered beneath him as he took her again and again...well, he may have had her for only one night, but that woman had been worth every damn penny. She was worth even more.
