Sold as the Alpha King's Breeder
Chapter 1196 - 107 : Strange Behavior

Chapter 1196: Chapter 107 : Strange Behavior

*Rion*

My feet felt as if they were made of heavy metal as I walked up to the door of my home. My mind reeled as I mulled over the past week that I’d spent away from Daphne and my children.

It had been a successful trip, filled with promising allies and promises of support from new friends should we need it. It brought me some semblance of peace knowing that we were continuing to make good relations with our neighbors.

My successful trip didn’t make being away from home that easy, however. I missed my family while I was gone.

I was filled in on the fact that my daughters were growing at an accelerated rate. They were changing and maturing by the day. It had made me reluctant to leave, but I felt as if I had no choice if I was going to keep the pack and my family safe.

The fact that large, significant fragments of my memory were missing continued to drive me mad each day. It did make my duties as Alpha difficult as I constantly had to be filled in by my men on different issues or affairs of Thorn Forest. Thankfully, a tiny bit of my memories seemed to return with the more information provided to me.

What made the memory loss unbearable was not being able to fully remember my own family. While I was starting to remember pieces of my relationship with Daphne and the twins, but it just wasn’t enough.

I longed to remember everything concerning my family as I held them. I wanted that foundation in our relationship.

My spirits were lifted slightly as I was reminded of the passionate night that Daphne and I had shared before the battle against Gareth. Even without all my memories, it was as if my body remembered everything about Daphne’s. We moved as one, despite the rift between our minds. It was at that moment that all doubts about her completely flew out the window.

She was mine. I could feel it.

I quietly entered our home, instantly relaxing as warmth surrounded me. It was late, the sun had set over an hour ago. The children were likely all tucked in by now. I made my way up the stairs and was surprised to see that Daphne wasn’t in our bedroom. I poked my head into the nursery to find the kids all sleeping peacefully as I had predicted.

But where was my wife?

She couldn’t have known that I would be returning today. I wasn’t due back until the following night, but it still felt cold to not be greeted immediately upon returning.

Finally, after a few more minutes of searching, I saw that there was a light on inside of the office that she and I used to organize pack affairs.

It felt inappropriate to knock for some reason, even though that would have been the polite thing to do. So, instead, I just shoved the door open.

Daphne had been hunched over the wooden desk in the corner of the room and jumped when I opened the door. I immediately regretted it when her wide hazel eyes focused on me, fear in them. She relaxed immediately when she saw it was me and quickly stood up from the desk.

“Hi, you’re home early,” she said casually, coming up to me.

I smiled gently at her and nodded. “Things were going so smoothly that I figured I didn’t need to stay any longer,” I told her.

I couldn’t help but frown slightly when Daphne stopped a couple of feet away from me.

“That’s good. I’m glad it went well,” she said, her eyes moving slightly. Her lower lip slid between her teeth, and she quickly ushered me toward the door. “You must be tired. Why don’t you get ready for bed? Have you had dinner yet?”

I felt my eyebrows furrow. “I’m not really hungry,” I told her.

I blinked as she shut the office door once we were in the hallway. I took her hand and led her up the stairs to our bedroom.

We entered the spacious room together and started to quietly get ready for bed. I set my bag down in the corner of the room.

I watched Daphne as I took off my travel clothes. Her back was to me as she took off the thin blue dress that she was wearing so she could change into a night dress. My eyes roamed freely over the smooth skin of her back and shoulders. I sauntered up behind her and put my arms around her waist causing her to jump.

“You’re beautiful,” I murmured in her ear.

I frowned when I felt Daphne stiffen against my chest. I dropped a kiss to her bare shoulder, smirking slightly when she shivered.

She turned in my arms, and I was surprised to find she looked almost apprehensive. “We don’t have to do this now,” she murmured. “I’m sure you’re exhausted from your journey, and I’ve had a tiring day as well. Is it alright if we just go to sleep?”

I tried to mask my disappointment, understanding that maybe her pregnancy was making her uncomfortable, and I nodded, tugging her toward the bed.

I pulled Daphne close to my chest as we settled beneath the blankets. I let out a long breath, marveling at how well she fit against me.

I was asleep within minutes.

***

I had assumed Daphne was truly tired that night and things would return to normal the next day, but that just didn’t happen. Daphne buried herself in pack affairs, which couldn’t be considered a bad thing except for the fact that she was acting strangely toward me.

She wasn’t cold exactly—just distant. She responded to my touches when I would give her a quick hug or a peck on the cheek. She would smile up at me like she always had but the corners of her mouth didn’t quite reach her eyes. Her hugs were just slightly stiffer than normal.

She seemed distracted.

For the first couple of days after my return, I tried not to worry much, concerning myself with my own projects around Thorn Forest. There was still much to be done with pack security, as well as organizing the finances of the pack with the growing businesses around the community. I had a plethora of errands to concern myself with.

But as Daphne and I became more distant over the following days, I could no longer stand it.

“Is everything alright?” I finally asked when we were getting ready for bed one night.

I felt my lips tighten when I watched Daphne’s whole body stiffen at the question. She turned and offered me a small smile. “Yes, of course.”

I didn’t believe her for a moment. I crossed the space between us and put a hand up to her cheek, caressing her smooth skin. “Are you sure?” I pressed, looking directly into those vibrant hazel orbs. “You’ve been acting strangely ever since I returned last week. Are you not feeling well? How is the pregnancy? Are you still in pain?”

That would have explained it. I wouldn’t put it past her to downplay any pain or discomfort she was in so that I wouldn’t worry. She was that selfless of a person.

“No, I’m really fine,” she said firmly. She reached up and grabbed my hand, slowly pulling it away from her face. “I’m sorry if I’ve been acting strange. Things are just busy.”

She looked at me when she spoke, but she wasn’t looking me directly in the eyes. That was troubling to me. I searched her face and saw the stubborn tick in her jaw and realized that even though something was clearly bothering her, she wasn’t going to tell me tonight.

It took all my self-control, but I let it drop and nodded my head, leading her to bed. I held her more tightly than normal, running my hands up and down her body, needing to feel her and to assure myself of her proximity.

She fell asleep in my arms, but I stayed wide awake for a while, worried about her. I couldn’t shake the feeling that perhaps my missing memories were the cause of Daphne’s strange behavior. Maybe she was realizing that she couldn’t handle it.

Maybe I wasn’t the man that she wanted anymore.

***

*Daphne*

I needed to be more mindful of my mood when I was around Rion. He was starting to become concerned for me, and I couldn’t risk him finding out what I was trying to do.

I told Jasper my suspicions about the Lycaon leader and convinced him to wait until we got more information before springing it on Rion and Eva.

I gritted my teeth as I strode through the gates of our community, my eyes immediately finding who I was looking for.

The man was standing in the shadows of the trees, clearly waiting for someone. He looked up as I approached and nodded politely at me.

“Princess Daphne,” he said as I approached. “There have been quite a few developments since our last meeting.”

I would have corrected him and insisted that I was Luna Daphne now, but this man was a royal informant. He often worked for my parents to sniff out enemies of the kingdom. So far, he had proven that he deserved the status of royal informant.

He had already given me valuable information on the Lycaon leader, who had been in the extremist faction for over twenty years and had already recruited dozens of children in that time.

“Sometime in the last year, two young boys have been named as his successors of the faction,” he told me now.

I felt my eyebrows go up in alarm. “Can you tell me anything more about the boys?” I pressed, a bad feeling settling in my stomach.

The man nodded. “They seem to hold some kind of supernatural ability. Reports came back claiming the children are impervious to illness and heal at an alarming rate.”

My heart was pounding now, and I knew that my expression must have been grave. “Do whatever you can to get me pictures of these boys as soon as you can.”

My informant nodded seriously, and we parted ways, my mind reeling from the news.

As I returned home to Rion and our children, I forced myself to calm down. I would need to have a convincing mask if I was going to continue to keep Rion in the dark.

It wasn’t that I didn’t trust my husband with this, but I didn’t want to tell him anything until I was absolutely sure that these two boys were in fact Eva’s sons.

My heart ached for Eva. If these were her boys, then it was amazing that they were alive, but she would be devastated to learn that they were currently in the clutches of the Lycaon leader. I reminded myself that there was a real chance that these weren’t her babies, but then I thought about the fact that these children possessed Rion’s abilities.

No, I couldn’t tell Eva or Rion until I was absolutely certain.

I took a huge breath as the mansion came into view. I had told Rion that I was going to run a quick errand for the academy.

It was getting dark, and he had insisted that he go with me, but I asked him to watch our children. It was rare that they had time alone with their father. His eyebrows had furrowed with real confusion and concern, but he reluctantly let me go.

I took one more calming breath and forced a smile onto my face as I pushed the front door open.

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