Sold as the Alpha King's Breeder
Chapter 1131 - 42 : Stop the Madness!

Chapter 1131: Chapter 42 : Stop the Madness!

*Daphne*

I could hear the chanting and feel the whoosh of air as the blade came down, but that was it. I peeked my eyes open as the chanting came to a stuttering halt, only to see a big, strong hand wrapped around Eva’s wrist, the blade a mere inch from my throat.

“Eva, stop this madness!” Rion yelled, standing above me, faced off against his sister.

Her assembled followers cried out in shock and indignation.

Eva’s mad hiss was the worst of the reactions, however. “How dare you. How dare you!” Her face contorted with rage at being defied. “You were my brother! How dare you ruin this moment?!”

Rion was unmoved. I could tell because I’d seen that expression time and time again–when he’d kidnapped me... when he’d brought me back to the inn, and when he’d rebuffed my pleas for help every time he brought me food.

Yet now that expression was reserved for his sister, not me. Tears of shock and awe leaked from my eyes as their argument continued.

“You can’t do this, Eva,” Rion said. “I won’t have innocent blood spilled, no matter whose it is.”

“Innocent? Innocent?! She’s a Crimson, you dolt!” Eva screamed. She struggled to remove her wrist.

“You will have to kill me before I let you hurt her.”

My heart froze as I waited for Eva’s response. They stood face to face, locked in an impasse, and everyone in the room knew Eva had the power to destroy us all in the next breath.

Finally, Rion squeezed Eva’s wrist harder and the knife clattered to the stone next to my head and flipped over onto the ground.

“The promise must be fulfilled!” Eva whimpered as if confused as to what to do next.

“I don’t care about any promise. We’re not fulfilling it this way,” Rion said firmly.

Eva wrenched her hand away and dove for the knife, but Rion grabbed it first and tossed it far away.

With a scream of rage, Eva stabbed a finger in Rion’s direction. “Get the traitor!” she shouted to her followers.

The witches sprang to her defense, but Rion was faster. He shifted with a groan and roared, pouncing on the nearest followers and tearing them to shreds.

Eva stumbled back, staring in horror as Rion mowed through her followers. She weaved her hands in the air, beginning to cast a spell, but Rion grabbed one of the witches in his jaws and threw him in Eva’s direction, knocking her off her feet.

She fell back, banging her head on the floor. She was knocked out cold.

The others tried to rally, attempting spells of their own, but Rion interrupted them with a good mauling, a tossed body, or simply death.

In the chaos, Rion backed to the altar and slashed my bonds with his claws. He shifted back and pulled me off the altar and into his arms. His naked body was covered in blood, but I didn’t care. I was saved.

“We have to get out of here,” Rion said. “Can you walk?”

I tested my feet against the ground and nodded as he quickly put his clothes back on.

“Can you run?” Rion asked as the remaining witches cowered back from Rion and tried to revive Eva.

“As far as we need to go,” I promised.

Rion nodded and grabbed my hand, pulling me behind him as he went into a dead sprint, spells hitting the ground and trees around us.

We weren’t far before we heard Eva let out the most unholy scream I’d ever heard and told her people to follow us.

By some miracle, we kept evading our pursuers. We ducked under branches that were magically weaving together to form barriers and jumped over weeds that twisted like vines out of the ground. My feet were torn and bloody, I could already tell, but we had to stay ahead of them.

I made myself go on. I told myself I could make it. I forced myself to ignore the pain in my legs and feet and the air that burned in my lungs.

Then, suddenly, I collapsed.

“Fuck!” Rion yelled, wrenched back by his grip on my hand. “Fuck! Daphne, are you okay?!”

I nodded, then struggled to get to my feet, the howls of Eva’s followers echoing behind us. But I couldn’t. My legs had given all they had, and would give no more.

Rion scooped me up, torn and muddy dress and all, and took off running again. I looped my tired arms around his neck and clung to him for dear life.

I couldn’t imagine what kind of pain Rion was in from running like that, but eventually he, too, stopped. Rion leaned back against a tree, panting, even while the howls chasing us grew closer and closer.

“We have to keep going,” I said regretfully, shaking his shoulder.

“I need... rest,” Rion gulped. He looked around, then up. “Daphne, get on my back.”

I knew there was no time for argument, though I had no idea why he wanted me to climb on his back. I did so, my legs wobbling to hold me long enough to move around him.

Rion began to climb.

I wasn’t much help, just wrapped around him as I was, a burdensome weight.

“Stay here and out of sight,” Rion said firmly, settling me on a high yet sturdy branch hidden from view by the foliage.

“Rion?” I asked, but he was loping back down the tree. He hit the ground and took off running into the night.

I soon heard Eva’s followers beneath the tree, whuffling the ground. I held my breath as one of them howled and took off in the direction Rion had gone, the others following behind.

It must have been an hour before I saw Rion’s wolf limp back to me carrying his clothes in his maw. He shifted back to human and dressed slowly, before struggling to get back up the tree and sat on the branch next to me behind the foliage.

“Where did you go?” I asked, noting the healing scars all over his face and arms.

“They’re going to be chasing their own tails for hours,” Rion panted.

“You left a false trail,” I inferred.

“I did,” Rion said. He put an arm around me and pulled me into his side. I briefly wondered why until the chill wind wafted across me as well.

We sat there quietly like that, hearing frustrated howls in the distance.

Finally, Rion turned to me and took my hands in his. “Daphne,” he whispered. “I’m sorry. I’m so sorry. I’m sorry for all of it.”

“It’s really okay–” I began.

Rion shook his head vigorously. “No. There’s nothing okay about it. None of this is okay. But I swear, I swear to you, Daphne, I’m going to protect you from now on.”

Something warm fluttered in my heart, and I was glad the light from the Blood Moon was so dim, or Rion might have seen me blushing. “Thanks,” I said.

“It’s the least I can do,” Rion sighed. “After all the mistakes I’ve made, starting with poisoning you and kidnapping you in the first place....”

I patted his arm. “Don’t worry about it. Let’s... let’s just rest. Maybe get some sleep if we can. If we have a few hours, we might as well use them,” I pointed out.

“Good point.” Rion settled back against the trunk of the tree and pulled me into his lap, leaning me into his chest. “You get some sleep. I’ll keep watch.”

“Rion....”

“I won’t hear any arguments on the subject. You get those legs going again so we can start running when we need to,” Rion chided me.

There was logic in that statement.

“Okay,” I murmured. I couldn’t help but snuggle into his warmth and I closed my eyes.

Drowsy as I was, I felt him stroking my hair.

Rion’s breath tingled at my temple, stirring the baby hair there. “Daphne,” he whispered.

I blinked my eyes open and looked up at Rion. “What’s the matter?” I asked.

A bone-chilling howl answered my question for me, even before Rion said, “They’re coming.”

We scurried down the tree, my legs feeling sore, but at least carrying my weight. The Blood Moon had set, so I couldn’t see a thing.

“Hang onto my clothes,” Rion said, then shifted.

I put his clothes beneath me as I sat on his back and tangled my fingers in his fur.

With his wolf vision, Rion was able to run through the darkness.

Occasionally, a twig slapped me in the face and I grunted, but otherwise, Rion took good care of me. The only problem was, from the sound of it, the witches were gaining on us.

Rion began to lope then, and after I dug myself into his back and held on tight as he started to run.

Again, the dead weight that was me meant he couldn’t quite outrun our pursuers, but at least we were making more headway than before.

“Rion, you can’t keep carrying me,” I said in his pointed ear. “I’m going to get us killed.”

Rion’s ears flattened in displeasure and he let out a bark that I interpreted to mean, “Shut up and do as I say.”

I chewed my lip anxiously as the howls of Eva’s followers just kept growing closer. Soon, they’d be upon us, or at least close enough to shift and cast spells again.

“Rion,” I tried again.

Another bark, this one more forceful, had me shutting my mouth. He had decided that whatever our fate was, we were sharing it.

He wasn’t going to run off without me.

My heart swelled, and a few tears dropped down my cheeks. I pressed my cheek into his fur. “I guess if I have to die, I’m glad it’s with you,” I said softly.

Rion snorted. He didn’t seem to think we were going to die.

With how close Eva’s followers were, I was starting to think he might be delusional.

I gasped as cool water splashed onto my legs and realized Rion was crossing some sort of stream to throw them off our trail.

“It’s not going to be enough–” I began.

Then the water got deeper, and deeper still until I was up to my neck in it and Rion was swimming.

“Okay, I could have been wrong,” I said, clutching his clothes in one hand, suppressing a shiver from the cool water.

Rion snorted and continued to paddle through the deep water.

After quite some time, I felt the water recede again. I clung to Rion’s wet fur as he hauled himself out of the water, shaking out his fur. He kept walking–not running, but walking.

“Can you shift back? You must be cold,” I stuttered in his ear.

Rion stood still a moment so I could slide off his back, then shifted. He shook himself again even though he wasn’t in wolf form anymore, sending water droplets everywhere.

I looked in my hands to see that I’d lost his shirt but still gripped his pants and handed them to him.

“That ought to buy us a lot of time,” Rion said, shakily putting them on, his own teeth chattering. He put his arm around me and I huddled into his side, both of us seeking warmth.

“We need to find shelter soon,” I mumbled. “Make a fire or something.”

“I’m sure we’ll find something,” Rion responded.