Sold as the Alpha King's Breeder
Chapter 532 - 35 : She Doesn’t Know What She Can Do

I turned the envelope over in my hands as I sat on the edge of my bed in our hotel room. I hadn’t opened it, not yet. I already knew what was inside. I had something nearly identical back in my apartment near campus, but it didn’t matter. Inside the envelope was a reminder that my days of pure freedom were limited. George had asked what I was doing in Crimson Creek over the mind-link, but I hadn’t given him the answer he wanted. I’d only begged him to leave it alone, to say nothing. He’d likely planned a trip north to Red Lakes to deliver the envelope to me before he went back east. What would he say when he returned home? And to who?

“Back to reality,” I murmured, slipping the envelope into my backpack just as Xander opened the door to our room, without knocking of course. I’d avoided him all evening. He’d gone downstairs for dinner, and hadn’t mentioned me joining him. Whatever spat we’d had back at the estate wasn’t over, but neither of us were willing to be the bigger person and apologize.

There was a lot Xander wasn’t telling me, but there was also a lot I wasn’t telling him. That made us even, right?

Xander met my eye, giving me a cold, dark stare as he dropped a to-go box on the dresser. I chewed the inside of my lip as I watched him walk across the room and sit on the other bed. We stared at each other for a moment, each of us throwing daggers with our eyes. It was incredibly immature, I can admit that, but I wasn’t in the mood to play games. Not tonight.

“Eat something,” he said curtly, motioning with his hands toward the to-go box. I swung my legs into bed and covered myself with the quilt in response, turning my back to him. I heard him growl, low in his throat, but I ignored him.

It wasn’t even nine o’clock. Xander rarely slept, and I found it unlikely he was going to bed so early. I knew he was still staring at me. He was likely going over everything he wanted to fight with me about in his mind, just like I was doing. But in the end, I heard his bed creak as he rose and walked back across the room, slamming the door shut behind him as he left.

***

*Xander*

She didn’t need to know. She really didn’t. I didn’t have a reason to feel guilty about leaving out some small, but very important, details about what exactly had been going on in Crimson Creek.

But I did feel guilty. I felt guilty for snapping at her. I felt even worse now that she was giving me the cold shoulder.

Nothing good would come from telling her what I’d learned about this place and its people. Lena was somewhat submissive and reserved, yeah. But she was stubborn, compulsive, and indignant as well. She’d take what I knew and turn it into a crusade, and I wasn’t going to let her risk her life again.

Thankfully, with George now having come and gone, it felt like this Chapter was finally closing for good, at least I hoped.

I had nothing else to do but leave our hotel room and go for a walk. I couldn’t just sit in there with her while she pouted. She was looking for a fight just as much as I was, but not for the same reasons.

She was angry with me. I was only angry with myself.

Goddess, I’d almost done it. I’d almost put my mark on her. I should have, looking back on it, but something inside of me hesitated, the only part of me that had a shred of will power against the rest of my mind during our throws of passion.

Everything going forward would have been easier had I done it. We would’ve been linked, tethered together, and she would have had no choice but to come with me, to my home, to my lands.

But I was realizing I felt much more for her than I’d anticipated. Marking her wasn’t enough. Being her mate in name only wasn’t enough. I wanted her heart, and her soul, forever. But she wasn’t yet twenty-one.

I knew she was born sometime in the spring, but that was it. I didn’t know the exact day she’d turn twenty-one and come into her powers, and that was if she was like the rest of us. I’d heard rumors about her before even knowing of her. I’d heard the tall tales told in pubs and the whispers in churches as I had made my way north to Morhan University.

I thought I knew what I was getting myself into. But I wasn’t prepared for Lena.

I told her I loved her during an especially terrible feverish night in Gideon’s run-down farmhouse. I was sure she was dying. Looking back now, I believed she only had seconds to live. She was in so much pain, and I would have done anything to take her place. When I said it, I meant it. I hadn’t ever been more sure of anything in my life.

But now I couldn’t find the nerve to say it to her face.

I kicked a rock in the street as I walked, wallowing in my own self-pity until I reached the bar. Bethany was supposed to come down to the village to get the truck back from us, but I hadn’t heard from her all day. I had something I wanted to ask her before we left for Morhan. At least I had a few more days to do so.

I was crossing in front of a narrow alleyway, my thoughts finally giving me some peace as I imagined a frosted pint of a rich, golden ale, when someone grabbed me from behind, nearly knocking me to the ground as they tried to drag me into the alley. I swung blindly, my fist meeting with my assailant’s jaw.

“F*ck, man!” Ben cried, letting go of my arm and holding his hand against his face.

“Ben?” I said in shock, then fury as my vision went red. I shoved him deeper into the alleyway, pinning him against a wall. “What the f*ck are you doing here? Where have you been?”

“I’ve just been to Gideon’s,” he said, a little breathless, “and he told me you knew–”

“Oh, you’re right, I do know, and you better f*cking explain where the hell you’ve been–”

“I know where Elaine is,” he said, his voice suddenly choked with emotion. “I’ve been looking for her. I went... God, Xander, I don’t know how to explain this to you.”

God. Not Goddess. I let Ben go, shoving him against the wall and then flexing the hand that had met with his face. “You’re one of them–”

“No, I’m not. I’m not one of them. My mother was,” he said hurriedly, exhaling deeply as the words left his mouth. “Most of us are like that in some way, hybrids–”

“You’re a f*cking hybrid?” I made a move to pin him against the wall again, but he shoved me away, shaking his head.

“Listen to me, man. Okay? I’m trying to explain!”

I took a step away from him, leaning my weight against the opposite wall in the alley. He clenched and unclenched his fists, flexing his jaw before spitting blood onto the stone pavers.

“There are two kinds of hybrids. Those like me, who were born this way, and those like Jen, who were... turned. I can’t shift, not like you can. I don’t have the same abilities as typical wolves. Powerless, actually. But I... you know.”

“Yeah,” I breathed, running my tongue along my lower lip. “Who else?”

“Practically everyone in Crimson Creek. Elaine, Bethany–”

“Bethany?”

“She’s a little different. I don’t know how to explain it–”

“Is there a problem here?”

We turned to a warrior from Breles who was standing on the sidewalk, his arms crossed over his chest as he peered at us with a look of disdain sharpening his homely features.

“No,” Ben said, but I shushed him, taking a step toward the warrior.

“No problem here, sir. My friend was mugged, though, just up the road. We stepped into the alleyway to get him cleaned up.”

The warrior looked as if he didn’t want to believe me. He was likely bored out of his damn mind and looking for any excuse to rough up what he thought were a few locals. I pointed north, toward the hotel.

“The guy stole his wallet,” I lied, trying my best to look concerned.

“There’s a curfew in place now, you know. Everyone has to be off the street by eleven,” the warrior said sharply.

I nodded, looking down at my watch. “Well, we have an hour to get a pint, don’t we, Ben?”

Ben nodded, looking a little flushed. The warrior looked us both up and down before walking away, and I let out the breath I was holding.

“Come on, we need to talk,” I whispered, and Ben followed me out of the alleyway and into the bar.

The bar was nearly empty save for the group of elderly gentlemen that seemed to permanently inhabit the booth in the farthest corner of the bar. I gave them a once over, our eyes meeting for a fraction of a second before I slid into a booth near the window, Ben taking the opposite bench.

“Where is Gideon? Is he coming here?”

“He told me you were staying in town. That’s why I’m here. He didn’t say anything about coming–”

“I assume he told you about me?” I said, but then the waitress came to take our order–two pints, no frills, no food.

“He did,” Ben nodded after a pause, watching the waitress as she walked out of earshot. “You know how to close these things, then.”

“It’s not that simple,” I breathed, shutting my eyes for a moment before opening them back up and taking in Ben’s face. A bruise was already forming on his jaw. I knew my knuckles would be swollen and bruised as well. I thought about apologizing to him for a moment, but the waitress coming back with our beers pushed that fleeting thought out of my mind.

“We have to,” he urged. “There has to be some way–”

“There’s only one person who can do that,” I said, my low and edged with warning, “and she doesn’t know she can. Okay?”

“You’re talking about–”

“Yes,” I ground out, taking a long drink from my pint, “and I won’t allow her to get involved. It’s dangerous.”

“Elaine is... she’s there. She was lured in. He used my image to lure her in.” Ben looked extremely distressed, his eyes creasing as he tried to prevent tears from spilling over his lashes. I took a deep breath, clenching my hands into fists on the table as I watched him continue to crumble in front of me.

“Take a drink,” I urged, thankful the beer was strong enough to numb some of my own anxieties. He did as he was told, and nearly choked on it, but he drank the entire pint down nonetheless.

“I have to get her out,” he said in a desperate whisper.

“There’s nothing I can do about it. Not now.”

“I don’t think she has much time!”

“Do you realize what we’re up against?” I hissed, leaning over the table so he could hear me without our conversation being heard by others. “The second we intervene, it’ll be a full-scale war. Do you understand? Every single f*cking Alpha will be involved.”

“What’s one man to a hundred Alphas?” Ben whispered, his voice breaking with sadness.

“This isn’t a man,” I replied, then drained the rest of my beer. “This is a god. We don’t stand a chance, and I need to get Lena out of here, and safe, before anything is done.”