I look over desperately at the Aurelians. They stare back at me. It’s uncanny – almost as if they’d been waiting for me to make eye-contact with them.
I take a deep breath, and I stare into their slate-grey eyes, and I will them to bid on Danielle. Any fate is better than being forced into servitude to a Bullfrog.
But those disgusting, warty creatures don’t stop bidding. Every time a human raises his hand to claim Danielle, the leader of the Bullfrogs croaks and warbles a higher bid to the auction master.
Eventually, Danielle is sold – and that’s when she snaps out of her stupor.
She weeps openly as the guards drag her down to her new masters.
I want to help her – Gods, I promised I’d help her – but it looks like I now have my own worries.
The leader of the Bullfrogs barely looks at his new acquisition. Instead, he sets his eyes on me.
His foot-long, slobbering tongue darts out of his huge mouth. It slathers his bulbous, drooping bottom lip; drooling saliva onto his jewel-adorned vest.
I shudder. The leader of the Bullfrogs is staring at me like he wants to gobble me up.
The auction master – a heavy-set man twenty years my senior – has a cruel gleam in his eyes as he approaches me to drag me to the auction block.
“I think that frog likes you,” he laughs, and reaches out to grab my wrist.
I struggle, but he forces me to the steps of the block. Reluctantly, I walk up them – and as I reach the top, the spotlight blinds me.
There’s a quick click. I feel tightness around my wrists.
I’m trapped.
The auctioneer is right, too. That Bullfrog does like me.
He idly pats Danielle with his warty hand, and I shudder as I watch her cringe. She can’t get away from him. She’s leashed to his wrist.
I’m horrified by the idea, but there’s one silver lining to all this.
If they do buy me, then I can at least help Danielle. Think positive, Ashley.
The pleasure dress shivers against my nipples. It teases me between my legs, the material gently contouring to the curves of my body. I shift uncomfortably, but the damned dress has a mind of its own. Little lightning caresses of pleasure tease me and I find myself staring at the three Aurelians – all of whom look right back at me.
Then, to my shock, the leader of the Aurelians raises his hand for the first time.
This whole time – during the entire auction – they’ve sat still. They haven’t bid on a single woman.
Not until me.
The auctioneer sees his chance to create a bidding war. “Our guests from out of town have finally seen something they like! Shall this beauty go to a human, Aurelian, or a Bullfrog?”
The leader of the Bullfrog snarls and raises his warty hand, croaking out a higher bid. It’s four times the amount that the leader of the Aurelians had just placed on me.
This Bullfrog is serious.
I groan. I can’t stand the feeling of this pleasure dress tantalizing me while I look at the Bullfrog leader. There’s too much contradiction between the forced arousal, and my absolute disgust.
So, instead, I force myself to stare at the Aurelians – silently begging in my mind for their leader to place another bid for me.
It feels disloyal – an absolute betrayal. I know that I should hope to go with Danielle – to support her, if I can’t save her…
But I’m only human. I simply can’t imagine what would happen if I wound up in the personal harem of those beasts. I have to remind myself that the Aurelians are just as bad as the Bullfrogs on the inside.
Just because, on the outside, those three aliens look like towering sculptures of muscled perfection – it doesn’t change the fact that they’re rotten, disgusting, slave-trading pigs on the inside.
The leader of the Aurelian never takes his eyes off me. It’s so unnerving to be under the heat of that slate-grey gaze. All of their species have the same cold, dead, emotionless eyes – like those of the statues they so resemble.
I shudder, imagining how those eyes would stay so dull and flat as this beautiful beast of a man fucks me for the first time – not caring about my feelings or dignity as he steals away my innocence.
I feel an icy chill down my spine as the alien warrior raises his hand silently. He’s bidding on me, but before I can feel a moment of relief, the Bullfrog jumps to his feet.
“Double!”
I can’t believe the huge Bullfrog has just made such a bold bid. It’s almost as if he takes it as a personal insult that the Aurelians are trying to steal the purchase away from him.
Enraged, the Bullfrog pulls on Danielle’s leash, rearing to his webbed feet. Poor Danielle gasps for air as the unthinking monster yanks at her collar.
The Aurelian doesn’t flinch, though. He raises his hand again, and the Bullfrog snorts in blubbering frustration, pulling on the leash of his three new slaves as he storms out of the auction.
I watch – at first with astonishment and relief, and then with sadness as I see my best friend dragged away. Guilt swells in the pit of my stomach as I realize that, deep down, I couldn’t bring myself to hope that I’d share her fate.
I feel awful. I promised to protect Danielle – and now she’s the property of that disgusting Bullfrog, and I’ve been bought by…
By…
I turn, and see that the leader of the Aurelians hasn’t changed the stern expression on his face, even as he slowly lowers his hand following his triumphant bid.
There’s sudden silence in the Amphiteatre.
“Going once… Going twice… Sold!”
The auction master’s voice resonates around the chamber as he unclips my handcuffs. He gives me a leer as I lower my arms, rubbing my aching wrists.
“I knew you’d be the belle of the ball. You just earned me an excellent commission, baby.”
I cringe at the thought
