Sold as the Alpha King's Breeder
Chapter 1020 - 83 : Dangerous Encounters

Chapter 1020: Chapter 83 : Dangerous Encounters

*Sasha*

Lucas.

He was there, just twenty feet in front of me.

Automatically, I smiled at him and started toward him. Relief swept through me, seeing him alive and well. He didn’t look wild, crazy, or dangerous like I’d expected him to.

The bond between us was still strong. I knew he felt it too. The look on his face told me he felt exactly what I felt.

Each step felt like I was floating toward him, my entire body aching to be in his arms.

Just as I got close enough, he scoffed and shook his head.

Waving at me dismissively, Lucas turned and walked down the path.

My smile faded and my wolf whined.

“Hey, wait.” I tried to run after him and catch him.

Lucas ignored me completely. He didn’t even look in my direction.

“Wait. I’m trying to talk to you. Look, I know this is awkward but we have something to talk about.”

He still ignored me, turning down a side street. I wasn’t familiar with this city, but I wasn’t going to let him get away.

“Get back here!” I hurried down the street after him, shouting.

People started to stare at us, and I hoped it would make enough of a scene to get him to pay attention.

“Where are you going!? We need to talk!”

I caught up to him at the end of the street and grabbed his arm.

Lucas growled and shook me off. He glared at me.

“Leave me alone! I don’t know you. We have nothing to talk about!”

I recoiled, gasping. “Hey, you don’t have to be so rude.”

Lucas paused and his scowl softened slightly. He crossed his arms and looked me over, his eyes running slowly up and down my body.

I caught the look of appreciation in his eyes. He even circled around me, assessing me head to toe, front to back.

“What are you doing?”

“I’m trying to figure out why a nice girl like you is so insistent on running down a stranger in the streets.”

“How do you know I’m nice?” I glanced over my shoulder at him.

Lucas scoffed and came back around to the front. He still had a scowl on his face.

“You called me rude. Therefore, you’re used to being treated better. Hence, you’re a nice girl.”

“Oh well, that’s an odd way to look at it.”

It was like talking to a stranger. I felt like I’d never met this man in my life. But the mate bond was still so strong and he was definitely Lucas.

“Now, I’m sure you have a real interesting personality and all, but I don’t spend time with nice girls.”

It was clear to me that Lucas didn’t remember anything about me. If I started telling him about alternate timelines and magical powers, I had a feeling this would be a short conversation.

“Nice girls usually have families. Don’t you have a nice family you should get back to?”

I crossed my arms and glared at him. “Don’t you?”

Lucas snorted and shook his head. “Who the fuck are you?” His tone became harsh and edgy.

“My name is Sasha. I saw you at the Winter Moon mansion and I... felt the mate bond.”

I looked at my feet, feeling heat spread over my cheeks and down my neck.

“Oh, that? Is that why you’re running after me?”

I nodded slowly and looked into his eyes. Lucas looked bored, uninterested. He seemed completely unaffected by the mate bond, even though I knew he felt what I felt.

My heart clenched when I looked into his eyes. How could he so easily ignore it or treat it like something casual that happened every day?

“And you thought that because of the mate bond, you should run after some strange man and hope it had a happy ever after?”

“Well... not exactly.” I bit my lower lip and rocked back on my heels. It was confusing talking to this version of Lucas. I never knew what he was going to say or how he was going to respond.

“Look, this isn’t some romantic fairytale where our eyes meet and suddenly, we’re madly in love. Don’t get the wrong idea just because some feelings twitched when you first saw me.”

“I don’t understand. Why are you saying these things?”

It was too much to hope that Lucas would remember me just from seeing me. The last time it wasn’t until I kissed him that my memories returned. This Lucas didn’t seem willing to let me get that close.

He was so rough and cruel. It was going to take more than a little conversation to get through to him.

“I don’t want or have time for a mate. So, do you want to reject me or should I reject you?”

“What!?” I gasped. My eyes snapped to his face.

“I really don’t have all day here. This would go a lot faster if you just told me what you want.”

“I don’t want you to reject me and I don’t want to reject you.”

“Sorry, girlie, but you have to choose one. I’m not going to live the rest of my life with some invisible thread connecting us. That’s just... inconvenient. See, I like to have fun with women and a mate bond would... hinder that.”

I shook my head in disbelief. “I don’t want either.”

Lucas scoffed. “Alright, your problem, not mine.” He shrugged and started walking away.

I stood there, too stunned to move. Lena and Maeve had warned me, but I never imagined Lucas being like this.

I almost prefer Stone to this Lucas, I thought.

Eww, I did not just think that....

“H-hang on.” I ran after Lucas and grabbed his arm.

He growled but he didn’t shake me off this time. Was that progress? I hoped so.

“What more do you want me to say? I have no use for a mate. If you’re not going to choose, then we can just go our separate ways and neither of us has to think about it again.”

I couldn’t help the tears that sprang to my eyes. I blinked them back because I knew this Lucas would get even more annoyed. He might even patronize me more than he already was.

“Most shifters are happy when they find their mates.”

“I’m not most shifters.”

I bit my lower lip and bowed my head. My fingers slipped from his arm and I just stood there, too lost to come up with anything else to say.

Lucas sighed heavily and I looked at him. At least, he had the decency to look apologetic.

“I know this isn’t what you wanted. I’m sure you’ve had fantasies of finding your mate your whole life.”

“This isn’t what I expected,” I admitted.

“I’m sorry that you got stuck with someone like me, truly. Really, you’ll be a lot happier with someone else. I wouldn’t wish me on anyone that I truly cared about.”

I furrowed my brow. That was a weird thing for him to say, almost like he didn’t think he was good enough to have his mate, and he had to settle with someone else because he didn’t want to hurt his mate for being who he was.

That sounded a little more like the Lucas I knew.

“Are you... are you with someone now? Do you... have a girlfriend?”

Lucas gave me a ‘is that any of your business?’ look. Quickly, he wiped it from his face and nodded.

“I do have a girlfriend. And she’s not a nice girl.” He smirked like that was somehow better.

“Oh.”

My chest flared with jealousy and I clenched my fists. There was no way I was going to let Lucas end up with some hussy in this timeline or any other....

“See. I’m not someone you want and I already have someone. You should just forget about me.”

I scoffed. It was hard to tell if he was saying that as a way to get me to leave him alone or if it was true.

“You’re nothing like I imagined. What happened to you to make you push those closest away? What is so awful about your life that you’d settle for someone you don’t care about rather than your own mate?”

Lucas’s eyes popped wide and he took a half-step back. He grimaced like I’d physically struck him.

“Goddess, I thought you’d be noble, strong, and... a decent guy.”

Lucas sneered. “Everyone’s a critic.”

“Well fine! If you want to live a meaningless life without anyone to care about you....”

“That’s exactly what I want!”

I shook my head. “You’re such a liar. My advice to you: when someone reaches out and offers a hand, don’t slap it away.”

Lucas opened his mouth to retort and then closed it quickly. He obviously had no good comeback.

I took a step toward him but something flickered in the corner of my eye. I froze and glanced to the side.

The immortal shifter was standing on the other side of the street.

A bolt of fear went through me. My legs trembled. All my confidence evaporated in an instant.

This guy was here to kill me. I knew he was.

The Immortal stepped off the curb, getting closer. He moved slowly and deliberately, his form menacing. I hadn’t seen him in so long I thought that maybe I lost him in time.

No such luck–he’d been following me through the timelines.

“Shit!”

“Um... was there more you wanted to say?” Lucas asked behind me.

I didn’t respond. Closing my eyes, I called on my power. It had been a few timelines since I’d accessed it, but it was the only thing I knew of that would throw that guy on his ass.

I reached for my power but nothing happened. I tried again and still couldn’t feel my power.

“Crap!”

The Immortal kept getting closer and I was powerless....

I knew he’d kill me if I gave him the chance. He’d been trying to orchestrate my death for a while. Whoever he was, there was no doubt he’d have his memories from timeline to timeline.

“Sasha?”

Under any other circumstances, I would have been happy to hear Lucas say my name. This was not the time.

I doubted Lucas would defend me against some unknown adversary. He was trying to get away from me as quickly as possible, and he made it clear he was willing to reject me, so he probably didn’t care if I died.

Without my magic, I couldn’t take on The Immortal. I just had to get away from him.

“I... uh... I gotta go!” I turned on my heel and ran.

“Sasha! What the hell?”

I ignored Lucas’s calls and took off into the woods. The only way to save myself was to distance myself from The Immortal.