Sold as the Alpha King's Breeder
Chapter 1107 - 18 : A Safe House

Chapter 1107: Chapter 18 : A Safe House

*Daphne*

That night as I shivered in my sleep, Rion’s memories haunted me again. They were vague, but I knew they were not my dreams but an invasion of his thoughts he had put to rest, but still bothered him. I knew this with just how grueling they were to watch.

It was like watching a car crash happen over and over. The same brutal scenes opened up my eyes to another person’s life, someone who had such a rotten childhood compared to mine.

I had been lucky.

His memories made a night of marching through my subconscious until they had had enough and slowly disappeared like fog wafting off the shores of a placid ocean. They were filmy and ethereal that night, or at first, they were.

I waded through his dreams and sunk deep where I melted into his old-world reality. The visions were closer to waking nightmares. I found it hard to keep up with his speed in some of them, but the vision memory always tugged me along for the ride.

I watched as older people forsook him and while younger people bribed or tricked him out of his money. He learned quickly and adapted–he had no other choice than to do so–but it saddened me all the same that the only way he knew how to live was through violence.

I felt the need to let him know that that was not the only way to live. But I didn’t exactly know how to break that to him during his waking hours.

He was a stoic individual with a large wall put up around his heart. With such a childhood, it really didn’t surprise me. I knew from the visions that I had a part to play in his life, though what part I was still figuring out.

The answer would come to me in time. I was sure of it. I just had to be patient.

The smell of smoke and burning wood woke me up, but my eyes refused to open. My eyelids were heavy and drowsy from the previous night. My fatigue from running through the woods for so long had finally caught up to me. The rain had just pushed it over the edge.

My mouth tasted and felt like I had eaten a mouthful of sawdust. My skin was dehydrated. My body demanded more rest.

My clothes were damp, an uncomfortable detail that I instantly hated, but they seemed to be drying from a warmth coming from the distance. I blinked, and my eyelids finally peeled open. I glanced around at my surroundings and found most of it to be rocky walls.

It confused me. I looked over and found a large hole in the rocks where I saw trees and silvery strands of rain drizzling from the hole and realized where I was.

I was in a cave.

A crackle startled me, and I looked over and found a fire. Laying down between me and the fire was Rion, fast asleep. His snores were soft and rumbled. His arm was against my shoulder.

He was so close to me and his presence was so warm.

I carefully drew closer to feel more of his body heat. I knew the fire was not so far away, but it was always nice to bask in a warmer body’s heat.

For a few quiet moments, I had the chance to watch him sleep. I watched the rise and fall of his chest and listened. It reminded me of the pull and push of ocean waves against a beach. His breaths came in easy and relaxed, unlike his usual sleeping self, which was always ragged.

It bewildered me how he had seemed a little different then. Normally, his dreams caused him to become stressed even in sleep. He normally breathed erratically and tensed his muscles.

But at that moment, he was peaceful, and it confused me because I had just had a vision of his memories, none of which were particularly pleasant.

I wondered for a moment if maybe the dreams were a fabrication of my mind since he seemed so calm at that moment. But I couldn’t be sure. Maybe when I woke up, his fitful dreaming cycle had ended.

It was possible. But it was equally possible that all of the memory visions were just my mind falling apart from the circumstances. I had been dragged from everything I knew and forced to walk in uncharted territory.

Still, I wanted to believe that these vision memories were real. And, more importantly, that they were a sign that I was contributing something useful to his life, that I was intertwined with his destiny.

I was unsure why I wanted that, but it was a strong feeling nonetheless and left me with a hefty sense of obligation. It felt like I had an actual mission and goal for the first time in my life. It felt good, it felt wholesome, and it grounded me.

His breathing suddenly stiffened and he groaned. I broke out of my thoughts and looked down at him. His eyelids blinked open and looked around the cave ceiling until they wandered and found mine.

It was quiet between us as he and I shared each other’s gaze. I had no idea what he was thinking, but I didn’t want the moment to end. I got lost in the cold pools of his eyes, in the stony gray.

I wanted to stay in those eyes for just a little bit longer and bask in his warmth, but my mouth made the decision to change things for me.

“Thank you for getting me to safety,” I blurted out. “I don’t know what could’ve happened to me out there in the rain. I already feel so sick.”

I coughed. The dehydrated feeling made my skin feel sensitive and achy. I was reminded just how sick and unpleasant I felt, and the magic of the moment slowly melted away from us. He spoke with that low, husky voice men get when they just wake up.

“It was nothing.”

By the look in his eyes, it didn’t seem that way. He hid some angst about something that I had no idea about. Whatever it was had been bothering him.

He looked away and got to his feet.

“There’s a safe house not too far away from here,” he said, and he glanced out the cave entrance.

Rain continued to pour down in heavy streams. Some of it splashed into the inside of the cave’s mouth but never got too far.

“We’ll wait for the rain to stop before we head out,” he added as he noticed my look of concern. He walked toward the entrance. “Stay here, I’ll go get some food.”

He dashed into the rain before I could protest. I waited for him in the silence of the cave. After a few minutes of waiting, I crept closer to the fire.

I warmed my hands and took off my socks and shoes to warm my toes, wiggling them near the fire and jumping back from the sparks and embers flying up.

I thought of Rion’s memories and how I was able to see them. If I had access to my palace’s Royal library, I could have found the answer, or if I could speak to a council member... anything.

But I had no resources out in the wild. There was only my body and brain, and the former was too tired to do much else other than wilt.

Still, I wanted to know why my mind could perform this kind of task. It always happened on contact, so there was at least a pattern that I could designate to it.

I stewed in my thoughts, trying to remember if I had read about or learned about this kind of ability but always came up short. My body aches gave me brain fog.

I sighed and laid down on my arm so the front of my body could warm up and hopefully dry my damp clothes. My eyelids were heavy from the warmth, and I fell asleep.

Within what seemed like seconds later, Rion returned.

He shook me awake and showed me some food. I was groggy and hungry and ate what he gave me.

“The safe house isn’t too far from here, but I can’t have you walking all that way in your condition,” he said while I ate.

Then, I paused as an inkling of panic made its way into my mind. “So how am I getting over there?”

“I’m going to shift and carry you. It’s not too far.”

I remained silent as I took a few more bites of the food. I was beginning to get some strength back, and it felt good to have something in my stomach for once. I drank some water he had gotten for me.

I wanted some cold medicine for the cough, but out in the woods I could only ask for so much.

“Are you ever going to take me home?” I ask after a short round of chewing.

“No.”

My teeth clenched. It already seemed like I had been kept in those woods forever. I worried that I would forget all about Rhys and my family. I was quiet, stewing in my thoughts, when I remembered the visions.

He was a young boy with his sister in the palace. Even then, when they were at their most desperate, I had helped them.

Maybe it was fated for me to continue helping him. Maybe this was what I was meant to do. I nodded and bit into my food. It was almost gone.

Once I had finished eating and had some more water, I felt strong enough to stand. I was on my feet when I noticed him taking off his clothes.

“Hold these for when I change back,” he said. “I can’t guarantee that there will be spare clothes at the safe house, and I’m not running around naked. The Selenite pack is generous, but I can’t go expecting that, especially with the situation we got going on with you.”

I nodded, trying not to get distracted by his rippling chest muscles. I took his shirt and turned around, feeling warmth come to my cheeks that I didn’t want him to see. His shadow cast onto the cave wall in front of me slowly changed into a large wolf.

I turned around and walked toward him, though I felt a little apprehensive getting on his back.

He seemed to look at me impatiently, which silently goaded me onto his back, where I used his clothing as a saddle and to keep it from flying in the wind if he went too fast.

I rode his back to the Selenite pack and tried to come to terms with these being the last days of my life.