Sold as the Alpha King's Breeder
Chapter 1215 - 126 : Find a Way Out

Chapter 1215: Chapter 126 : Find a Way Out

*Rion*

I squinted one eye open and watched the rooms change. Varge’s puppets carried me down the stairs and to the basement door. There were only four of them now. Varge and the others were far away. The odds were considerably in my favor.

They took me down the basement stairs and I knew it was now or never. They were off balance, and it would take longer to call reinforcements.

I struggled against their grasp, kicking my legs out.

One of their guards lost his grip on me.

“Hold him! Hold him!”

I kicked out again and hit something soft with my heel.

“Oof!”

I clawed at the arms that held me, too.

“Let me go!” I demanded.

“Stop!”

I didn’t know which one had spoken, but the two that still held me slammed me into the rough basement wall.

My lungs seized and I gasped for breath, the wind knocked out of me. My arms went limp, and I felt my legs give out. I still wasn’t fully recovered from the earlier fight.

“Don’t try that again,” someone growled in my ear.

They all took hold of me and dragged me the rest of the way down the stairs. I kept trying to take in a full breath, but my chest ached and all I could do was gasp. The edges of my eyes blurred and my mind spun.

I barely noticed when they got to the bottom of the stairs and brought me to a cell. The four guards threw me inside.

I landed hard on my side, my elbow digging into my stomach.

Groaning, I rolled over just as they slammed the cell door shut with a loud clang.

“Get used to the accommodations, Brat!”

“You’ll rot down here forever.”

The guards laughed.

“Don’t worry, we’ll come by to keep you company.”

They laughed again and I heard something cracking, like knuckles. Their laughter faded, along with whatever light they’d brought with them.

I could finally breathe again, but my stomach stung from the jab of my elbow.

I sat up and looked around. It was a standard cell—no windows, no lighting, a bucket in the corner and some filthy rags against the wall for a bed, of sorts.

The bars were wide and spaced farther apart than usual, not far enough for me to squeeze through, of course, but I still tried. I pushed my body between the bars until it felt like my organs were rearranging.

No, I decided. There was no way I could get through.

I felt around the outside of the bars for the lock. It was a very sturdy padlock and required a key, or bolt cutters, to get through it.

In my position, I could barely reach it, let alone find a way to snap it.

I took my clothes off and folded them in a neat pile on the floor. Yeah, like that would keep them clean. I rolled my eyes at myself.

“Alright, let’s break these bars down,” I muttered to my wolf.

He eagerly agreed and I shifted. The bulk of his size made the cell feel so much smaller. A swishing tail tossed the bucket across the cell.

We threw ourselves at the cell door.

“AWOOOO!”

White hot pain struck my side. It seared fur right off and burned into my skin. My wolf howled and whined rolled on the floor of the cell.

The burning pain spread, and I smelled charred flesh.

In agony, I shifted back.

“Dammit! They reinforced the bars with silver.” I clutched my side, a prominent burn across my ribs. I should have suspected something like that.

In my head, my wolf still whimpered in pain. I didn’t blame him. That was horrible. I winced and held my side tighter.

Varge had everything so carefully planned. There was no way I could break out of here.

I slipped my clothes back on and sat on the dirty rag pile. I wrapped my arms around myself, clutching my knees to my chest, and I bowed my head.

It was the perfect ploy—get our own people to turn against us and unlock the door for the enemy.

Our own people... my own wife.

I thought of Daphne. Seeing her under Varge’s control was painful. I should have tried to kiss her. Didn’t fairy tales say that the kiss of true love could break curses?

Sighing, I hugged my knees tighter. If nothing else, I had to free Daphne. I had to break the spell over her so she could rescue our daughters. I was useless here in the dungeon, but I couldn’t leave them on their own.

I stood up and went to the cell doors. There had to be a way out of here. I just needed to think and be smart. Varge was smart. He’d planned it all so carefully. I had to be smarter.

Later that day, well, I thought it was later—without a window there was no way to tell what time it was or how much time passed—the basement door opened again.

I heard the guards’ laughter down the hall and saw the bright light of a flashlight.

They had said they would come and keep me company. I was still weak from fighting and getting burned by the silver. If they tortured me, and I knew they would, it would make escaping that much harder.

These guards weren’t Varge. They were his puppets. They were the weak link.

The beginnings of a plan formed in my mind, and I smirked. I flopped down on the floor and closed my eyes.

“What is this!?” The guard’s voice was right outside my cell now. “He’s asleep?”

“Wake up!” They banged something heavy against the metal bars.

The bars clanged and the reverberation vibrated the entire basement. My brain rattled in my skull. My wolf whined, my sensitive hearing overloaded for a moment.

I stayed unmoving; my eyes closed. I didn’t want them to think I was asleep. I wanted them to think I was unconscious.

From what I could tell, there were only two of them. That would make this easy.

“Why isn’t he waking?”

“Maybe he’s unconscious.”

“No, we can’t have that. Varge wants him awake. We need to get him up!”

I heard the rattle of keys and some fumbling around, probably with the lock. It clicked and I waited... waited... until the cell door creaked open.

I jumped up and launched myself at the guards.

“What the...!”

“Close the door, close the door!”

I grabbed the guards by the front of their shirts and slammed them together. Their heads slammed into each other and lolled to the side. Both of them crumbled to the floor.

I grinned and grabbed the keys. “Too slow, boys.” I tucked the keys in my pocket and headed toward the dungeon door.

The dungeon was a lot bigger than I expected. I didn’t make it more than a few feet before I heard some voices echoing through the dark corridors.

The echoes made it hard to pinpoint where the voices were coming from.

The beam of a flashlight came down the corridor, and I ducked into a corner. I stayed low and held my breath as two guards walked by. They were completely silent, just walking along and looking straight ahead.

These were Oliver’s men, still under Varge’s mind control.

It was the Lycaon followers that gloated and taunted me. They were the ones I had to watch out for most. I really didn’t want to hurt any of Oliver’s men, or my own, when they weren’t responsible for their actions.

The guards passed and I moved on. A little closer to the stairs, I heard voices. Those were Varge’s loyal followers. I looked at the nearest cell. I had the keys and could easily lock myself in and hide. They wouldn’t be checking cells they thought were empty.

No, I decided. I wanted to even the odds a bit. I crouched low and snuck down the hallway closer to the voices. They were laughing and gloating about seeing Thorn Forest warriors walking around like mindless ghosts.

I gritted my teeth and clenched my fists. Staying low and out of their flashlight beam, I snuck up behind them. Taking a deep breath, I planned my stealth attack.

I jumped on the guard to the left, landing on his back and pushing him into the floor. He groaned and grunted.

“H-hey!”

Before his partner could respond, I slammed him into the nearest wall and held him by the throat. My wolf rose in my eyes. He was just under the surface, ready to break free.

“S-spare me, please,” the Lycaonian begged. He trembled in my grasp.

I snarled and licked my lips. “The way you spared my family and friends?”

“I—”

I didn’t wait for him to finish. Grabbing his shirt, I shoved him against the wall. His head cracked against the stone and his legs buckled. I let him fall to the floor in an unconscious heap.

“Two down.”

“Guards! Guards! Prison break!”

“Shut up!” I looked down at the guard I’d jumped on. He hadn’t been hit hard enough, apparently. I slammed my boot heel into his face. Blood spurted from his nose. He gurgled and fell silent.

The dungeon filled with the echo of hurried footsteps. This wasn’t good.

I ran. I had no idea where I was going, but I knew I wasn’t at my peak strength and I couldn’t fight off all the dungeon guards at once. I took turn after turn, the sounds of shouts and footsteps constantly closing in around me. The echoes made it sound like they could jump out at me from anywhere at any moment.

My heart raced but I kept running. My lungs stung and my calves burned, but I didn’t let up. I thought of Daphne and our daughters, and I knew I couldn’t let them capture me again.

The dungeon was like a maze. No matter where I turned, I hit more cells and more corridors. I had no idea where the stairs were, not that I wanted to go upstairs right then, anyway. Everyone would be on high alert.

Finally, I turned down a hall that had a door at the end. I could barely see it in the darkness, but I knew it was a door. I pulled the keys from my pocket as I went.

I tried a key in the lock. It didn’t even fit.

“This way. I think he went this way.”

“After him!”

Those voices were close.

I tried another key. It went into the lock but wouldn’t turn. I growled and yanked it out, moving to the next key.

Flashlights bounced off the wall further down the hallway. They were going to be here any moment.

“Come on, third time’s the charm.” I tried the third key, and the lock gave. “Thank the Goddess.”

I threw the door open and ran out into a courtyard. It was surrounded by a hedge, and I dove into the nearest one. With any luck, they’d think I ran off and wouldn’t look far for me.

I hunkered down and kept an eye on the door, ready to bolt if the guards got too close.

Once they gave up the search, I’d have the advantage to get to Daphne and the twins.

‘Rion?’ Daphne’s voice came to me through the mind-link.

Immediately, I blocked her out. Varge could be using her to find me.

‘Rion, I’m not under Varge’s control anymore. The twins broke the spell.’

The sound of her voice, even in the mind-link, made my heart swell. More than ever, I wanted to hold her in my arms and see my girls again. But could I trust her?

‘I wouldn’t be able to reach you through the mind-link if I wasn’t free. Eva tried before and couldn’t.’

Sighing, I knew I had no other choice. ‘I’m here.’

‘Oh, Rion!’ I heard the desperation in her voice. She quickly caught me up on everything that had happened.

‘We need to break the spell Varge has on all the men. That’s the only way we can get out of this.’ I told Daphne.

‘Eva agrees. She has the dampening bracelets and wants to put them on the boys.’

‘Alright, I will get Aster and Tarik. You, Eva, and the twins meet me there.’