Raines, Elizabeth - Sold [Wicked Missions 4] (Siren Publishing Ménage Everlasting) Read Free Page A

to escape. Surely, she could get a message to Hannah Bates. Her friend owed her a favor, and since she was a bounty hunter, Hannah knew ways to get in and out of places undetected and had connections. Perhaps she could even find a way to travel at restricted speeds.
    I’m not spending my life on Pagonna .
    Lyrianna picked up a pale shade of powder, rubbed a small brush over it, and took Simone’s chin between her thumb and finger to hold her still. She gently applied the powder, added a touch of blush to her high cheekbones, and then gave her a dusting of light blue eye shadow. “There. Nothing too showy. Clean and pretty.”
    “Pretty? Really? Will one of… them think I’m pretty? Pretty enough to buy?”
    “Yeah, honey. Pretty enough to buy.” Her heart was near to breaking for the fear and longing inside that young woman. Please let someone kind buy her .
    “Now, I’ll do you!” Simone reached for a bottle of thick, beige liquid.
    With a shake of her head, Lyrianna said, “You can do my face, but only the way I did yours. Okay?”
    Simone nodded as Lyrianna took the bottle from her fingers and handed her the powder.

    * * * *

    Simone hadn’t let go of her hand from the moment they’d been ushered off the ship like animals being herded into a stockyard. Normally, Lyrianna avoided a lot of physical contact because it made the other person’s emotions next to impossible to ignore. But right now, she was clinging to Simone’s hand every bit as tightly as the girl gripped hers.
    They were pushed aside to wait in a large fenced pen just off an enormous wooden platform. “Can you see anything?” Simone asked.
    Lyrianna craned her neck, trying to get a glimpse around the taller girls. “There’s a big crowd. All men. The auctioneer is on the platform. He’s speaking English.” Were most of the Pilgrims from Earth? She’d heard that once upon a time but couldn’t remember where. Earth was a hell of a long way from the Tadoorni System.
    Two men opened the door to the pen, reached in, and grabbed the arms of the woman closest to them. The other girls started fleeing, shoving and pushing to the other side of the pen, and Lyrianna feared some of the women would be crushed. “Stop! Ladies, please! Just stop!”
    As the first woman was dragged out of the pen and the door was shut, the rest of the women stopped shoving. Dozens of pairs of eyes fixed on Lyrianna. Someone had to take charge here. The fear she saw in those faces washed over her in a wave threatening to drown her. She thrust their emotions aside, trying to dredge up something resembling courage.
    Taking a deep breath and squeezing Simone’s hand, she tried to bring some calm to the situation. “We can’t stop this, but we can keep our dignity. Are you going to let these men see your fear? Are you going to give our captors the satisfaction of knowing they’ve broken you?” She straightened her spine and raised her chin, pleased to see Simone copying her actions. “Show them you are not easily tamed. Show them that you are not what they think they’ve come here to purchase! No matter what these men believe, we are not whores.”
    “That one.” The “sergeant” was back and pointing his gnarly finger right at Lyrianna. “She’s next.” When the two men came for her, the women backed up, clearing a path directly to her.
    Once the men stood in front of her, she directed her hardest glare at them both, daring them to touch her. They didn’t. Instead, one motioned with his hand. Trying to keep herself as composed as she could manage, she walked the path to the platform.

    * * * *

    Carter Verdel sucked in air for a good five seconds when he saw her. As she turned to face the crowd, her smoky eyes settling on each of the male faces shouting their approval, he couldn’t breathe at all. One by one, the rowdy men quieted as her gaze settled on them. When those eyes caught his, his heart kicked into a higher gear, slamming against his rib