Sold as the Alpha King's Breeder
Chapter 1111 - 22 : A Deal with His Ex

Chapter 1111: Chapter 22 : A Deal with His Ex

*Daphne*

I woke up to Rion shaking me awake the next morning. It was still before dawn and dark enough to see a few of the stars in the gray sky. I shivered in the cold as I looked up and saw the tips of the trees, then remembered I was back in the woods.

I groaned, already missing the bed that I had grown so accustomed to. It had been so cozy sleeping in the house, and the woods seemed so uncomfortable in comparison.

“Come on.” He shook me again.

I grunted as I shifted in my sleeping bag.

It was so warm, I didn’t want to move.

“We need to get moving,” he said. That time he spoke in a warning tone that sent a shiver down my spine.

I rolled over and got up on my hands and knees, but remained in the sleeping bag. I wanted to stay in it for as long as possible.

No such luck–he grabbed me by my shoulders and hoisted me up so I was on my feet. I tugged myself out of the sleeping bag until I stood outside of it. He gave me a dirty look.

“Okay, okay,” I said, then I looked around.

Everyone else remained sleeping.

“Come with me, and be quick about it,” Rion told me.

I looked at him. In the dark, it was hard to see his facial expression, but something in his voice rubbed me the wrong way at first.

“What’s going on?” I asked. I sensed a trap of some kind but didn’t want to voice that fear.

“It’ll be fine. You’ll be safe with me,” he said, and he took my wrist. “Come with me.”

I followed him, still shaking off the last bits of sleep, through the trail we had walked on the previous day, or what I assumed to be the same trail since it was so hard to tell with how the forest was laid out. I could see myself getting easily lost if I wasn’t paying attention.

“So where are we going and why isn’t the crew coming with us?” I said as we walked.

The sky was becoming brighter with each passing moment, but it was still dark enough that it was difficult to see.

I didn’t want to ask about bringing another flashlight. He held one on a dim setting and used it as a guide.

“Don’t worry about it,” he said.

“I don’t feel very safe,” I admitted.

“You’ll be safe with me,” he repeated as though he was tired of repeating himself.

I got the feeling that he was nervous and wondered why.

I hoped he wasn’t planning on murdering me. I began to panic when we diverted off the path, but I didn’t say anything. Even if he did plan on killing me, there was little I could do about it. It was still too dark for me to run away.

It felt like I was running out of time, that sooner or later he would shift and tear me apart. But I kept following him, hoping that he wouldn’t do such a thing.

We began walking away from the dark forest. I noticed that there was another trail coming out of the woods we had just left.

It led into a clearing and in the distance, I saw a house all by itself. I hoped that would not be the place he chose to murder me.

He had been silent the entire walk. He seemed preoccupied with something but I couldn’t tell what, and it made me nervous.

Still, I didn’t want to question him and let him know I was suspicious of his intentions with me. I had no idea what his reaction would be, and it kept me in a state of fear as we crossed the open valley wedged between two swaths of the forest’s edge.

We came to the cabin in the middle of the valley. I wondered if we had double backed on our trail, but I realized the surroundings were different. He stopped and knocked on the door.

The air was crisp and fresh surrounding us. It smelled like mountain air, not the dull air surrounded by dormant trees.

The door opened and a young woman stood there. She glanced with piercing blue eyes from Rion to me, then back to Rion.

“Hey,” he said.

“Hey, yourself,” she spoke with a special kind of acid reserved for ex girlfriends, but I didn’t want to pry. I wasn’t sure what to expect from her.

“I need some help,” he said.

She sighed and widened the door. “Come in.”

The cabin was cozy. There was a fire crackling in the corner of the house from a wood-burning stove. Its door was closed, but the smell of the smoke coming from it was inviting. There was minimal furniture.

“I’m going to need a big favor from you,” Rion said.

I had never seen Rion behave with such a small amount of confidence. It was striking.

She went over to the kitchen and took out a loaf of bread and some butter. “What is it, Rion?”

She busied herself with buttering the bread when he began speaking again.

“This is the missing princess that I’m sure you’ve heard about,” he said.

She paused but didn’t look up. “I’ve heard about her.”

“I took her and was going to make an exchange that I arranged with Hestia’s followers. The princess for my sister. I’ve... changed my mind.”

I glanced at him, but he didn’t return the gaze. My heart pounded and flooded with an intense feeling of hope and joy. Rhys’ face popped into my mind and the thought of seeing him again, along with the rest of my family, almost brought tears to my eyes.

But I kept calm. I didn’t want to ruin that.

The ex-girlfriend still didn’t look up from buttering her bread. She turned around and filled a glass with some amber liquid from the fridge.

“And I care because?”

“There’s money in this for you,” he said.

“I’m listening.”

“If you act as a decoy, which means I bring you with me to Hestia’s followers for the exchange, I’ll give you the ransom money from the Queen and King once this is all over.”

She grinned in a way that made me uncomfortable and looked at Rion. “If they can top a million dollars, I’ll take the job.”

“That’s a little hefty. You can have all the ransom money.”

“Ransom plus half of that from your end.”

The woman drove a hard bargain, and it made me nervous for my fate.

“Fine,” he groaned.

I tried not to let out a sigh of relief at how lucky I had gotten.

“She’s going to have to be held captive here, though, or someplace I can keep an eye on her.”

“That’s fine,” Rion said.

While I was relieved that this whole ordeal was going to be over with the decoy, I still couldn’t help but be uncomfortable by having to still be held captive. I didn’t voice my discomfort, though. There was no way I was going to ruin this golden opportunity.

“Okay,” she said. She handed him a glass of the amber liquid.

“We should meet up later at the Bucking Centaur Inn. It’s not too far away from here and it’s a pretty good location for our needs. Also, I prefer to do business in a public place,” she said, looking at me with narrowed eyes, “just in case things don’t go as planned.”

“I’ll cooperate,” I said.

She didn’t respond other than an elongated stare that made me uncomfortable before she turned her attention to Rion.

“Meet me at the inn at nightfall and we’ll discuss payment more in detail there. I’ll set you up with a room for the night. Do you need directions?”

“No, I know where it’s at. I have my men with me,” Rion added.

“It’s an inn. There’s plenty of rooms available for them.”

“Right,” he said and he moved away from the kitchen counter where she nibbled on her buttered bread.

Rion and I left without a word and were back outside.

“You’ll do everything she says,” he said after the door was closed behind us.

I felt woozy and nervous, and I knew at that moment why he had been so tense earlier.

The situation would be precarious and risky.

“Okay,” I said.

We walked back through the open valley and back to the encampment, where all of the other crew members sat around the fire and talked. Although it was noon by the time we got there, they used the fire to roast meat over it.

“We’re leaving for the Bucking Centaur Inn tonight, so get your rest.”

We waited until the afternoon to make our way over to the inn. We took another route that sidelined the cabin where the ex-girlfriend had been, followed the curve of the forest, and went up a hill where the inn was at the top.

The inn was only two stories high, but the amber glow from the lights inside was a welcoming signal in the growing darkness of the woods surrounding it.

We walked in. The scent of spilled liquor, sweat, and urine hit my nostrils hard the moment we stepped inside. The place was stuffy and filled with raucous people of all shapes and sizes. It was intimidating and dirty.

I followed Rion until he stopped to survey the inn, and I found where he held his gaze. His ex was at the bar, rubbing down a section of it, distracted by her work. I followed him over to her, but his crew remained behind and dispersed themselves into the crowd.

“Hi,” he said.

She glanced up and recognition flashed, and then she looked at me.

“You two ready?” she said.

“Just so we’re clear, I pay half of the Queen and King’s ransom after the ransom is paid,” he said.

“My parents will pay anything,” I said, then quickly added, “within reason.”

“Within reason,” she scoffed. “What kind of job do you think this is? It’s not exactly easy or safe what I’m doing. I need a retainer at the very least. I can’t have you running off with my money.”

She sent a heated glance at Rion, but he only grunted in response and said, “I’ll pay what I can now and send you the rest once I get back to the capital. My money is all there.”

She sighed. “Fine. Go get yourselves something to eat, on the house. We’ll move out tomorrow. I don’t travel at night unless I’m forced to.”

Rion nodded. “Fair enough.”

Rion and I ordered some food and turned toward the tables, where we sat with his crew.

I ate solemnly as I counted how many drinks Rion and his crew were consuming. By the end, Rion was so intoxicated that I had to help him to our room. When he was settled on the bed, I wondered if the plan to use the ex in my place would work.

And if it didn’t....

The more I thought about, it the less confident I felt. I had a feeling that we all would die if we went anywhere near Hestia’s followers, including Eva if they did have her and she was still alive.

“I need to use the bathroom,” I told Rion.

“Okay,” he mumbled.

“I’ll be right back,” I said, taking a step back just as his head hit the pillow and he seemed to pass out.

I passed the bar again on the way to the bathroom and caught his ex’s glance.

“Where’s the ladies’ room?” I asked her.

She pointed and I hurried along. I slipped into the bathroom. There was only a toilet and a window. There was no lock on the door.

Rion was passed out and his men were drunk. I only had a half second to think before I decided to take my chance and leave. Whatever happened, I could call the palace as soon as possible and get Royal help for Rion and his sister.

As soon as I opened the window, the bathroom door swung open behind me.

I heard his ex’s voice speak in a gravelly tone.

“I’m not one to let a bag out of my sight,” she said, and she grabbed me by the hair and yanked me backward.

Tears spilled from my eyes as she spun me around and bound me with rope.

She was quick, too quick for me to resist. She then stuffed a damp hand towel into my mouth before she clasped her hand over it and dragged me out of the bathroom.

The bar came into view as we emerged into the darkened hallway. I kicked and screamed to get their attention, but they were either too drunk or too loud to hear me.

She tugged me all the way to the back of the hallway. There were no lights, and the only source of illumination came from the entrance of the corridor where the edge of the inn’s lights reached.

No one could see or hear me.

A metal rattle caught my attention and I turned to find a closet door flung open. Inside it was dark, but judging by the musty smell, I guessed it was a closet.

She pushed me in.

As I struggled to get to my feet, I stopped when I heard a snap.

In the dark, she grabbed my hair and stuck something into my mouth, then covered it with something sticky that I assumed was tape.

“That’ll teach you to run on my watch,” she grumbled and then stormed for the door.

I groaned through the gag and tried to get up, but she shut the door and locked it before I could stand.

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