Sold as the Alpha King's Breeder
Chapter 1106 - 17 : Complicated Choices

Chapter 1106: Chapter 17 : Complicated Choices

*Rion*

Brutus, it turned out, was all bark and no bite. My crew and I waged war and raised hell against his equally sizeable but otherwise underserved men. Our claws and teeth were no match for outdated sabers.

Blood and iron arced as we fought. My claws ripped into Brutus’ flesh and his blood splashed against my fur. He screamed and swung a blade that ended up sailing over my head as I ducked.

He was not a skilled fighter, but rather a bar brawler. He was built for beer-fueled battles, screaming matches, and bullying those he perceived as lower than him.

I made sure to remind him of this by diving into his neck and clamping my jaws. My teeth sunk into the tightly bound muscles of his flesh. Blood exploded into my mouth as I clenched, unrelenting.

I felt his fingers fly around my fur and his sword flung around, useless, as he lost control of his motor skills. Soon he would be too weak, too oxygen- and blood-deprived, to do much other than flailing around like a winded runner.

He shrieked; the sound of surrender would not be too far off. I only bit him to teach him a lesson and not to mess with us again, so I relaxed my jaw.

He stumbled and fell on his backside. His eyes were wide, looking up at me towering over him. Blood dripped from my teeth and claws, warning him without words that he had no place interfering with me again.

He scrambled to his feet and swayed, bleeding all the way down his shirt. One of his arms, the one on the side of the body that I bit down on, was limp.

He used the other arm to whistle through his fingers at his men.

“Let’s get out of here!” he screamed at them. He pointed to me with his good arm. “This isn’t over yet.”

Like hell it wasn’t over, but I couldn’t tell him that as I had not shifted back yet. He and his men fled from us, back toward the tunnels, hopefully, to never cross paths with us again.

As my men howled with victory, I glanced around and saw that the princess was gone.

Rain pelted from the sky, making any trace of her from her footsteps or her scent nearly impossible to find.

We shifted back to human form, quickly put our clothes back on before they got too wet, and I instructed my men to track down Brutus and his men before they got too far into the tunnels.

I knew that if word got out that the princess was seen there, that only meant more trouble for me in the future.

I didn’t like that Brutus had created another loose end for me to tie up, but I couldn’t be bothered with that at the moment. I had to go.

I set off on my own to find the princess. I ran through the forest and found footsteps and marks in the mud that became what looked like someone slipping and taking a tumble down a hill. They were fresh enough to be hers, so I took a chance and followed it, then more footsteps appeared in the mud.

Sure enough, I found her leaning against a tree about a twenty-minute jog from the battle site. She shivered and huddled in on herself, her head down, not even noticing me until I approached her.

I laid a hand on her shoulder but she took a swipe at me. Her fingernails brushed my chin and scraped me. I winced, but the wound she inflicted healed as quickly as it came.

“Hey, I’m just trying to get you out of the rain,” I growled, still feeling a little bit feral from the fight.

She shivered in response and her hand slowly drifted away from me.

Her eyelids drooped, and I touched her forehead with the back of my hand. She was burning hot with fever.

Great. I really didn’t need her getting sick on me on top of all the things that had already happened. The fight put us behind schedule, and this would cause us to backtrack further.

I looped my arm around her backside, and when she didn’t resist, I scooped her up into the crux of my elbows and carried her away. Rain poured onto her midsection where it bent, pooling near her stomach, but she didn’t respond.

I knew of a cave system nearby that would offer shelter. It was closer than the tunnels, which I assumed was her destination, but she probably got turned around.

It wasn’t too long of a walk. I trudged through the rain until I came across it and finally got us to proper shelter.

After I entered the cave, I laid her against a wall near the entrance and let her rest. She shivered violently and I knew I’d have to make a fire, regardless of how long we stayed.

I grabbed a few stray pieces of wood and some dried leaves to make a fire, the entire time watching her from the corner of my eye out of habit.

Not that she could run away in this condition as she obviously wasn’t faking it, but it was still a stressor. I collected twigs and shredded them to make kindling starters. She didn’t move the whole time, but she watched me through drowsy, drooping eyelids.

I struck a pair of rocks on the sinewy twigs and I let a few sparks fly before fanning them. A flame started, good enough for me.

As I finished setting up the fire, I got to my feet and saw her eyelids drooped and she continued to shiver violently.

I sat down in front of the fire and faced her. We were silent for a few minutes. She continued to shiver, but I figured that the fire had not yet done its work and that she would stop soon.

In the ensuing silence, my mind wandered. We were well off the mission schedule at that point. Even if we ran to the destination, we would have to travel at night or run as a pack just to get there by the deadline.

It all seemed so hopeless the more I thought about it. We hadn’t even entered the woods yet, and we were already behind. There was almost a guarantee that a few other mishaps would happen between now and then.

I never feared for my safety, but I did fear the consequences it may bring to Eva if the timetable ran out. The witch hated waiting on anyone or wasting time, and she would let the offender know.

The fire crackled and snapped, bringing me out of my thoughts for a moment, and I glanced over at the princess, who still shivered. I grabbed a nearby stick and stoked the fire a little to spread the heat.

My thoughts resumed their worrying despite my efforts to stay in the present. She was shivering too much for how hot the fire was getting. I even moved her closer to the fire, but still a safe distance from the flames.

I considered just dropping the whole mission to take her to a hospital. But that backtrack alone was a great risk that would endanger the mission and cost a minimum of two days going in the opposite direction.

I sat there by the fire, thinking of the consequences of abandoning the mission versus letting the princess get sick. I couldn’t just let her die out there in the process of getting her to to Hestia’s follower.

But I couldn’t just drop everything for a woman I barely knew. Her family had already ruined my and Eva’s childhood. They forced me into the streets of the seedy side of the capital with little remorse or retribution.

My thoughts ping-ponged back and forth between the two choices.

After much rumination, I decided that Eva came first. She would always come first. I couldn’t abandon her and I wouldn’t ever do that, no matter what.

As the fire roared to a proper height, I glanced over at the princess to find her shivering still. I stood up and laid down next to her, wrapping her up in my arms to try to warm her.

Both of us were still damp from the rain, but it was the best I could do to keep her warm.

My thoughts moved away from the current situation to the past, and a particular memory rushed in.

It was a long time ago, but I remembered it like it happened yesterday. There was a little kid involved. He had been caught stealing from a band of thugs.

The kid was no pickpocket or ordinary thief. He had been caught up in desperate times, just trying to put the loaf of bread he stole on the family table.

His father had been out of work for so long that his mother was getting worried that their savings would deplete soon. The threat of eviction loomed over their heads.

The kid was just doing what he thought was necessary for his family to survive in the cruel world.

I had been minding my own business at the time, sitting in an alley counting the change I just earned from a side gig I was doing in those days. I was young and did what I had to.

But that was when I noticed a group of thugs cornering the kid at the other end of the alleyway, the loaf of bread behind his back. He whimpered, unsure of what to do.

I jumped in between the kid and the thug. A big thug nodded his head at me, condescending. He outweighed me, but I was lean muscle.

“Get out of the way and let us finish up our business.”

“You have no business with the kid,” I said. “I’ll compensate you for whatever he stole.”

The thug took out a baseball bat.

“Run!” I yelled to the kid.

He wasted no time and took off with the bread.

“You shouldn’t have done that,” the thug said, and he recoiled to strike me broadside with the bat.

I grabbed it mid-swing and forced it back his way.

The metal sang against my skin and stung me, but I gripped it as hard as I could until it cracked against his jaw and forced him to fall.

He slumped over to the side, wailing and clutching the side of his face. The others just stared at me for a few seconds before they took off running. The big guy wasn’t far behind.

I took my things and left, but ever since then, the people of that neighborhood started treating me differently, giving me everything from free meals to shouts of praise and thank-yous. I secretly adored it.

As the memory swept away from me, I noticed a movement at the mouth of the cave and flinched, only to find it was Jasper.

“Hey boss,” he said.

He was dripping wet but otherwise looked fine. I got up and walked over to him.

“Where’s everyone else?”

“I broke from the crew to track you down and found you here. Half the men went to finish off Brutus and his guys.”

“Good,” I said, but my thoughts surrounding the situation were complicated.

While I was certain that my men could handle someone like Brutus, the current matter concerning the princess muddied the waters.

“She’s sick,” I told Jasper, nodding to the princess. “She’ll get sicker if we keep going. But I don’t want to drop this whole mission just because she’s sick. I’m not sure what to do.”

“Let her go,” he said. “We can get Eva back some other way. Those wicked witches just aren’t worth the trouble.”

I sighed, knowing Jasper meant well, but he didn’t know the Hestia that I did. In fact, no one knew Hestia quite like I did.

“My sister can’t be gambled away. I simply can’t do that. Send a scout ahead to let Hestia’s followers know we have been delayed.”

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