Submitted by Leann Ryans

Chapter Four

Scarlett

By the time Sindari began pulling her from the dance floor, Scarlett was ready to take a break and get off her feet. Plopping down in the booth, she downed her drink in one swig.

“It’s time for the other surprise,” Sindari yelled over the music.

“Let’s go freshen up first,” Marisha said, nodding toward the bathroom.

The girls finished their drinks and wound around the dance floor, slipping past the reaching hands and low calls without a blink. They had done enough partying to know better than to give the men any attention, lest it make things worse.

Blinking the sting from her eyes as she stepped into the brightly lit bathroom, Scarlett made her way to the sinks. Splashing water onto her chest and neck to cool off, she checked her makeup for any smudges.

“So, what is this second surprise?” she asked, meeting Marisha’s eyes in the mirror as several of their friends claimed stalls to relieve themselves.

Smiling, Marisha moved closer to Scarlett’s back.

“Oh, you’ll find out soon,” she said, wrapping her hand around Scarlett’s tail and giving a tug.

Eyes popping open in surprise, Scarlett spun to get her tail out of reach as a trill of sensation skated up her spine. Marisha knew how sensitive her tail was and enjoyed teasing her regularly.

Letting out a fake growl, Scarlett lifted her lip and scowled at her friend.

“Keep teasing me when I’ve been drinking, and I might just decide to drag you to bed with me tonight.”

Laughing, Marisha turned away and pulled open the door, waving a hand for Scarlett to go through ahead of her. As close as they were, they’d never crossed the line past platonic friends.

“Oh, you won’t have any time for her tonight if things go our way,” Sindari quipped as she slipped past Scarlett and out the door.

Brows drawing together, Scarlett curled her tail around her leg where Marisha couldn’t grab it again as she passed her and followed Sin.

“What is that supposed to mean?”

Sindari and Marisha shared a mischievous grin as the other girls chuckled behind her.

“You’ll find out soon!” Marisha said.

As they headed towards the front of the building, Raquel grabbed Scarlett’s elbow and pulled her to a set of stairs she hadn’t noticed before. Flashing her wristband to the guard standing at the base, Sindari waved them past him and up to the second floor as she had a few words with him.

Walking through a set of doors at the top of the stairs, Scarlett was surprised at how quiet it was in the hallway once the doors swung closed behind them. It was almost as dim as the club below, but the sconces spaced every few feet on the charcoal-grey walls gave the impression of sumptuous luxury.

They walked for a little way before they came to another set of doors with a guard waiting outside. Sindari spoke to him in a low voice that Scarlett strained to catch but was unable to make out over the quiet conversation of the girls behind her.

“Follow me, please,” the guard said, turning and opening the doors he guarded.

The opulence of the room they stepped into took Scarlett’s breath away. The walls were black, rich tan curtains hanging from the ceiling interspersed with elaborate sconces. Tall tables were scattered across the back of the room while buttery suede couches were arranged on the black carpet facing the stage ahead of them.

The wall behind the stage was the same shade of tan as the curtains and couches, while the floor was a polished black with veins of glittering white, like the outer walls of the club, that shone under the bright lights flooding it.

The guard walked to two of the couches in the center of the stage and held out a hand to the one on the right. It wasn’t until then that Scarlett realized the rest of her friends besides Marisha and Sin had disappeared.

“This couch is reserved for your group. The door to the right of the stage leads to the waiting area. Enjoy the evening, and good luck.”

Marisha gripped Scarlett’s hand, pulling her to the couch with Sindari. A waiter arrived, but Scarlett was still too preoccupied with looking around the room to pay attention to what her friends told him before he slipped away.

“Where are the others?” she asked once she could get a word in.

“They’ll go back down to the club to wait for us. This part is just for you,” Marisha answered.

They weren’t the only ones in the room. A couple of the other couches already had people lounging on them, and more were trickling in. Almost everyone she saw was an alpha, and a steady flow of them moved through the door the guard had indicated.

Finally drawing her attention back to her friends, she leaned closer to Marisha.

“What’s going on? Is this some kind of show?”

After the deafening noise of the club, this room seemed too silent as Scarlett’s heart fluttered in her chest. She knew there were clubs that catered to alphas, but the stage confused her.

Sindari gave her a wink.

“There’s a special auction happening tonight. We thought you might enjoy it. They have some… choice specimens you may be interested in.”

“What? What kind of auction?”

Both girls chuckled and shook their heads like she was missing something obvious. She was growing suspicious and about to ask more questions when the lights above the audience dimmed, the stage lights flared, and an Ikavuan man made his way from the back.

“Good evening, and welcome to the Omega Market’s most exclusive auction. Only the finest alphas are invited to peruse the rarest of the sweeter dynamic. There is something for every taste here, so without further ado, let’s see our first jewel up for bid.”

As he waved toward the curtain, a male stepped out from behind it. He was tiny, but the erection tenting the little cloth he wore around his waist immediately drew Scarlett’s attention. She could have sworn she could smell his arousal all the way from where she sat, and she knew the man was an omega before the announcer began to rattle off his details.

Eyes glued to the show, Scarlett barely heard the auctioneer as he had the omega take different positions on the stage, the scrap of a loincloth barely covering the important bits as he rattled off the bids. It seemed like less than a minute before the man walked offstage again, having been sold for a shocking amount of money.

Scarlett glanced at her friends, sure her surprise was clear as they grinned back at her. As odd as it was, watching the auction was exciting, and the energy in the room made her skin tingle as the next omega was brought onstage.

Caught up in the show, Scarlett found herself enjoying it far more than she’d ever thought possible. It was interesting to see the different ways the announcer showed off each male, highlighting their assets to the audience, but despite them all being omegas, she wasn’t drawn to any until the second to last came out.

His pale lavender eyes stood in sharp relief against his ebony skin. An omega from Tullar, he stood over six foot tall, typical for his race but unusual for an omega. His shimmering white hair was cropped close on the sides and longer on top, pulled back to showing off his pointed ears and the tiny ridge of horns along his hairline. Long and lithe, his body was bare but for the scrap of fabric that left little to the imagination.

Mouth watering, Scarlett leaned forward and took in a deep breath, trying to catch the omega’s scent as a low rumble began in her chest.

When he strode to the center of the stage, his beautiful eyes caught hers. Kneeling as he was directed to, his gaze seemed to tug at her, and her core clenched at the sight of his stiff cock beneath the rag attempting to cover it.

She was almost too distracted to notice the look Marisha and Sindari shared before smiles broke out across their faces. Her eyes remained locked on the male the entire time he was onstage, a fierce bidding war going on over him for several minutes before the winning bid was announced for a jaw-dropping amount.

Scarlett couldn’t explain the disappointment she felt when the omega was directed to stand and leave the stage, and she stared after him for several long moments before collapsing back into the couch, choking off the growl she hadn’t realized she was emitting.

Clearing her throat, she turned her head to see both of her friends staring at her with wide grins stretching their lips.

“What?”