Disclaimer: This story is fiction. All the characters are fictional with borrowed names to comply with the fan fiction genre. They should not be confused with any person living or dead. I am not now nor have I ever been affiliated with any professional wrestler or wrestling company. No disrespect intended.

My new rough draft. I hope you enjoy it. This will be an AU fiction. I'm playing around with something new. I'm not sure how it will turn out so let me know what you think. :)

Chapter 1

It was cold. She could no longer feel her fingers, her toes, her face, her entire body actually. She wanted to close her eyes so badly, but sleep was forbidden and the only good thing about being so cold was that she no longer felt the pain from the dozen or so lashes her owner had dished out earlier that day and she wasn't ready for a repeat.

Both Mya's hands were tied to a large wooden post and she stared vacantly ahead while others were looked over by shoppers. She was an Ivex. An animal. Actually, the Ivex were treated worse than animals. The humans loved their little dogs and lazy cats while the worked the Ivex until they collapsed.

"You are human. Never forget that." Her mother's words always reminded her, but it was hard to believe that she was just as good as her owners. She was the daughter of a prostitute and a thief. Convicted criminals sentenced for their crimes. In the new world, there was no tolerance and no chances to redeem one's life. Even the smallest infraction was heavily punished and the sentence was life. Serving, working, bred and sold like live stock. And she, the offspring of the criminals was destined to a life of slavery. She had lived and worked for one family since her birth, long after her mother had been sold. Now, she too was for sale.

"I told you," Roman's best friend Randy laughed as they browsed the rows of bare wooden tables at the flea market. "You came too late."

He was probably right. Roman needed help with his land since his wife died. Courtlin may have been an arranged replacement for his parent's first choice, but she had been handy in the fields and hand kept a clean house, but he felt guilty that he had never loved her.

"A pet would be good for you. Maybe it would get you out of this depression. People around town are starting to call you a hermit." He was in mourning and most thought it was for Courtlin, but actually he mourned another girl, his best friend. The girl his parents originally chose for his bride. He had been happy with his bride to be, which was rare because of a law meant to preserve morality. Perhaps her death had been his punishment.

"I don't want a pet. I need a work hand." But pickings on decent Ivex were slim. Most people were already loading up their wares. Handmade crafts and unused items they no longer wanted had been picked over by the days customers and they were all ready to head home.

"There's a couple." Randy pointed to the end of the row to a few male Ivex who were being led by their leashes unto the back of pickup truck.

"Their sickly looking." They all coughed and they had snot running from their noses into their beards and they looked underfed.

"Well, that's all you have to choose from." Randy laughed again. "Maybe you could nurse one back to health."

"I'm not wasting money on an animal that will probably die before I get it home." Roman growled, but a small heap caught his eye. Tied to a thick log he saw a tiny pair of hands. He tilted his head and walked closer. The animal's face was covered by her wild, tangled locks and she was hugging her knees as best she could. The Ivex wore very little mostly, but this one was completely naked and she was freezing sitting in the three foot of snow.

"It's a shame how people treat their animals." Randy sighed. "That one won't make nightfall."

She did look awful.

"Take it if you want it." A woman shouted as she loaded boxes into her truck. "Might as well. I'm not taking it home with me."

Roman tilted her chin up. He felt so sorry for it. He swept its long hair away and inspected its back. Several lash marks, some fresh, some healing were present from her neck all the way down and far as he could see. The tell-tale marks of a disobedient beast. Ah, hell. He thought. It was free, so he took a knife out of his pocket, sliced through the ropes with one swipe and picked the poor animal up in his arms.

He and Randy walked back to the dirt parking lot to Randy's truck and it felt cruel to put her in the back so he sat her in the center of the seat in the front.

"It stinks." Randy complained.

"It'll die for sure if I put in the bed." Roman told him. "If I can get it healthy again I can at least sell it if I can't use her."

"True." He took the paper the woman had handed him out of his pocket and read it. "Damn, it's a lifer."

"Are you kidding?" Lifers were considered more valuable because they were usually taken away from their parents and trained before they could pick up thieving ways, but this one was so small there was no way she could be good for more than household chores. She was probably the product of fertility drugs used to make the Ivex produce more than one fetus. A common practice on farms that made their money solely by raising Ivex. A runt, probably struggled to survive all her life. He had seen them before. The smallest of four or five. Sold cheap for house labor. Or perhaps she was the offspring of a petite mother. It's not like the animal could tell him.

Roman took the animal home and ran a hot tub of water. It needed a bath terribly. He wondered if she had ever had one. Her eyes opened after a few minutes of sitting in the water and then she started to sneeze. Some people would have been scared they would catch some disease, but he wasn't concerned. He gently wiped away all the dirt from her face, then she surprised him by sitting straight up, hugging herself and staring blankly at him. He laughed and offered her the sponge. She took it from him and he left her alone to do the task herself.

He heard her emerge and she stepped out shaking with a towel wrapped around herself. Modesty was something rarely exhibited by an Ivex. He didn't know if her trembling was from the hours she had been in the cold, or from fear. Maybe it was a combination of both.

She had definitely been someone's pet once. There was no doubt about that. He stepped forward and swept the hair out of her face and his heart beat erratically. She was beautiful. Damn, the world was cruel to him and love was an ugly word.

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