Sold as the Alpha King’s Breeder

“Horace, of course. He’s dead.”

When was the last time I thought about Horace? He was incredibly old, and had battled with Romero in

the tower dur ing the invasion. I wasn’t surprised he was dead.

Rowan was looking from Hayden to me, trying to make sense of our connection. I sucked in my breath,

turning to Rowan, holding my hands out in surrender as I decided to ex plain, in detail, why we should

have killed Hayden seven years ago.

“Hayden used to be part of our… gang. A crewman. A use less one, but we thought he didn’t have a

family. He uh… lied, obviously. There weren’t women or girls in our crew. The fe male orphans formed

their own groups around the islands. It was safer that way, for all of us. Keaton’s sister… her name was

Michelle… she was the only girl we allowed in our crew. And Hayden… we mentioned what happened to

her.”

Keaton spit on the floor, the substance landing just in front of Hayden.

“What did you do when it happened?” Rowan asked.

I felt the tension in the room starting to lessen, our com munal adrenaline and hatred ebbing as I shook

my head, thinking back on that day.

“Which part?” Keaton hissed.

“We beat the living hell out of him, and sent him off in a rowboat,” I said, glancing at Keaton.

“Why not just kill him?”

“Because Michelle didn’t want us to be tortured and exe cuted by Damian’s warriors,” I answered, closing

my eyes against the memory of the seventeen-year-old girl with thick golden hair. Michelle had only been

a year younger than me when she died, and only a few years younger than Keaton. Keaton had raised

her since she was a year old, when he was just a child himself.

“He slit her f*cking throat,” Keaton’s voice was a strained

cry.

1

I felt myself on the edge of tears.

“Why?” Rowan asked Hayden.

Hayden shrugged. “I didn’t want to be a dad to some sea scum’s baby-”

Keaton lost all control. He had Hayden on the floor in an instant, smashing his head against the wall.

None of us moved to stop him this time. Even Rowan had his hands. balled into fists, his eyes glossing

over with the fury we now all shared.

Whatever this was, was justified.

“If you kill me, you’ll never find Tasia before it’s too late. And Carl. He’s-he’s almost worse than-”

Hayden’s eyes rolled back in his head.

I stepped forward, placing my hand on Keaton’s shoulder. “Stop,” I whispered, the word disobeying what

I actually want ed him to do.

“What is Tasia planning to do?” Rowan asked.

Hayden moaned, reaching up to touch the back of his head as Keaton rose, reluctantly backing away

from him.

“Kill, and kill some more. Take over Valoria, then the west. The Isles are currently of no interest to her.

She can place an Alpha of her choosing-”

“I am the Alpha of the Isles-”

“And yet you are not there, are you Troy? Damian’s do main, it was. My parents perished in the battle

that took place in the forests north of here, did you know that? All I had was my decrepit old great-

grandfather. That was it. Do you know why I joined your little gang of beach rats? I was sent there, to

watch over you, Troy, to make sure you didn’t know who you were until the time was at its most

advantageous.”

“For Damian to use me to take down Drogomor? I know that now. But he wouldn’t have known about

Tasia then. He couldn’t have.”

“Tasia was always too much for her pack. Too powerful. They tried to subdue her, to make her fall in line.

Control her powers to their own gain. She sought out Lycenna as a girl, connecting with Alpha Julien

through her dreams. That’s how it started, you know. When the rest of the pack lands enjoyed

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ALT

their peace time after the war, the people of Lycenna suffered in silence. They are the true descendants

of Lycaon and his mate. Not those born of the whore Diana, the Daughters of Artemis. Frauds, that pack.

Lycenna knew they wouldn’t find support in the packs that pledged their loyalty to the High Council, or

packs that recognized the White Queens as equal leaders. No. They sought out the rulers of the Isles to

help bring their prophet home.”

“They see Tasia as a prophet? What does she want?” I al ready knew the answer, but I needed to hear it

out loud.

“Lycaon was the rightful heir to his mother’s creation. The son. The Alpha. He should have gotten the

stone while his sis ter settled into a life of submission to her own mate. Instead, he was banished. And

Tasia holds the powers of Lycaon now. The only one. That is, until Hanna came out of the woodwork. But

Hanna is a halfling with a powerless father; her blood is mixed. She is not a true descendant for that

reason.”

“This happened thousands of years ago, if it happened at all!” Rowan said sharply, growing annoyed and

angry at the mention of his mate.

“It’s happening again now. Don’t you see? Tasia is on a pil grimage to the cradle of our kind. There, she

will start the world anew, the world of which Lycaon should have been master-”

“I’ve heard enough.” I licked my lips, looking over my shoulder at Robbie. “Get him out of here.”

“And take ‘im where?” Robbie looked at me skeptically.

“Anywhere. Somewhere off the castle grounds. Leave

him.”

“What?” Keaton growled, looking from Hayden to me. “Leave him?”

“Troy’s right,” Rowan said, nodding at Robbie as Robbie reached down and pulled Hayden from the floor,

slinging him over his shoulder. “Don’t be seen.”

“What the f*ck-” Keaton stepped forward, but I blocked him from finishing what he started with Hayden.

“You can be the one to kill him, I promise you,” I said un der my breath to Keaton, catching Rowan’s

gaze.

He nodded shortly. Hayden was useless to use in this cur rent situation. We couldn’t kill him in the middle

of a gala. We had to let him go.

But Hayden was a stupid and proud man. He would flaunt what he thought was his prowess over the fact

that we hadn’t killed him. Call us cowards.

He would be easy to find if he stayed in Mirage. And he had just given us the most useful information we

currently had about the moonstones and Tasia’s true desires.

He would lead us to her.

But for that, we needed Ethan.

Robbie left the room with Hayden. A silence fell over me, Rowan, and Keaton. I could hear Keaton’s

heart pounding against his ribs, his breath coming in rasps. He turned on his heel, leaving the room.

“We need to talk to my parents,” Rowan said softly.

I nodded as I looked down at the bloodstain on the car

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pet.

Everything seems to be coming to a head now…. This would all be over soon, and either we would find a

way to de feat Tasia-or we’d all be dead.

Maeve

“You just let him go?” Dad’s voice would have been a boom had it not been for the three infants sleeping

on the bed in what used to be Troy’s old room, the shared door slightly ajar.

Troy nodded gravely, looking Dad straight in the eyes.

“Why the hell didn’t you get me?” Dad was still dressed in a tuxedo, and the party was still going on

downstairs despite the hour. It was close to three o’clock in the morning now.

“He wouldn’t have talked. It was me he was here for. We have a history.”

Troy then explained their past, and my stomach twisted into a knot. It twisted further as Troy and Rowan

recounted what had happened in the office space Troy had gathered Rowan, Keaton, and Robbie in to

face this man with a sordid past, and a bleaker future.

“So, he’s Tasia’s henchman?” I asked, feeling slightly ill. Hanna rested her hand on my shoulder, which

sent a strange jolt of electricity down the length of my arm.

I looked up at her, picturing for a split second the stones in Dianny, and how it had felt when I touched

them.

“Yes,” Troy said, “And we’re going to use him to find her and end this.”

“You two, come with me.” Dad pointed at Rowan and Troy and then left our bedroom. The door closed

behind him and Hanna and I were left behind.

“What the hell,” I murmured, exhausted beyond belief.

“It’s almost over, I think.” Hanna sat next to me on the edge of the bed, sighing deeply. She was still in

her dress from the gala, but her hair was ruffled and makeup slightly smudged.

Hanna and I’d had very few interactions over the past two months or so since I’d been home. But we

were connected through a force neither of us understood.

In a lot of aspects, it felt like that of a mate bond… some thing destined, something neither of us could

fight.

“It’s going to come down to you and me,” she said softly into the darkness of the room.

I nodded, grasping her meaning. We were the ones Tasia wanted-and wanted alive. Everyone else was

disposable.

“What would you say if… if I said we find her ourselves, if it came down to it?” I asked.

She took my hand. “I feel as though that’s the way it’s meant to be.”

“Then what do we do? How do we convince them to let us act on our own? Mom may be of some help;

she is obviously a threat to Tasia.”

Lv. 1

Hanna looked at me, deep into my eyes, as if she were searching for something.

L

“We need to know what powers you possess, Maeve. First and foremost.”

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