Sold as the Alpha King’s Breeder

Chapter 20 : We Need to Go Back!

♦Lena*

The library on Morhan's campus was massive and modem, towering over the other school buildings

and casting a tall, five-story shadow over the student commons as I sat in a quiet comer on the third

floor, flipping through yet another useless textbook.

I'd spent the last six hours in the library. I'd pulled every book I could find that covered botany, rare

flora, and medicinal plants.

There wasn't a single mention of blood root or anything like it.

I leaned back in my chair and closed my eyes, exhaling deeply as I closed the eighth textbook I'd

flipped through that day. My eyes felt heavy, and I had a pounding headache. All in all. today had been

a bust.

The only good news I received was that there had been a development in the murder case on the

Radcliffe Estate. A note had been delivered to my apartment in the early morning of my fourth day back

in Morhan. telling me I was to board the tram on Saturday, at exactly 7:00 A.M.. and make my way

back to Crimson Creek. I knew I wouldn't have been called to return unless something significant had

happened to stanch the threat lurking in Crimson Creek.

Back to business as usual. I guessed.

But. that also meant I'd be face-to-face with Xander once more.

I leaned forward in my chair, stretching my arms above my head and blinking several times to wash

away the fatigue clouding my vision. I gathered up the books, my muscles straining under the weight of

them as I carefully walked down the wide staircase leading to the counter where the librarians were

currently lounging, not having much to do other than fetch the books I needed. It was fall break, after

all. I'd never seen the libraiy so empty.

“I was wondering," I panted as I placed the stack of books on the counter, reaching up to wipe my brow,

“are there any books on... ancient flora? Maybe even something about extinct flora and fauna found

around the western continent?"

“Ancient?" said one of the librarians, looking down the bridge of her nose at me behind her glasses.

“Yes. I'm looking for something very specific."

“Well. Morhan doesn't have a catalog of ancient texts. We'd have to order anything over, let's say. two

hundred years ago from the University of Breles-"

"Do you have anything here that has a single mention of something called blood root?" I pleaded,

leaning over the counter.

“What's the taxonomic division it belongs to?" the librarian said as she adjusted her glasses and began

to open a drawer beneath the desk.

“Bryophyta. I believe, but I could be wrong-"

“Moss?" she asked, giving me a quizzical look.

“It's-I've never seen it up close, but that's how it's been described."

“Hmm..." the librarian began to flip through the absolutely massive library catalog she had lifted out of

the drawer, shaking her head. She eventually landed on a page, her finger running down the length of

the catalog and coming to an abrupt stop. She peered down at it. tilting her head a little as she adjusted

her glasses once more. "Well, there is a religious text, and it requires approval-"

“Approval for what, exactly?"

“It's not a text related to the Church of the Moon Goddess, for one. You know how those tilings go."

She swiveled in her chair, then stood, canymg the catalog over to a huge computer that looked like it

was made before the war that took place around the time my parents were bom. She blew a thick layer

of dust from the keyboard then pressed what I assumed was the power button.

The sound of the ancient computer starting up was like a freight train, and it caught me off guard. She

winced, shaking her head as she smacked the side of it a few times, which quieted it down.

"We never use this tiling for obvious reasons, but it is handy on occasion."

It took several minutes for the screen to flicker on. revealing pale green letters and a jet black screen. I

watched as she typed in a few codes and eventually pulled up the book, then she drew in her breath.

"All. no wonder-"

“What is it?"

"There was a point in time, roughly sixty years ago. when the Church had any texts pertaining to the

religion of the White Queens removed from the libraiy. This was one of the only ones to remain. It lias

what you're looking for." She paused as she scanned the text on the screen. “All. yes. it includes a

section of mosses and roots for medicinal purposes and other purposes." she said with a little chuckle.

"What other purposes?"

“Witchcraft, according to the description. That's why there's a hold for administrative approval in the

catalog, but both the electronic directory and the catalog are severely outdated when it comes to texts

such as this. Oh-"

She straightened up. narrowing her eyes at the screen and then looking back at the catalog.

“What is it?" I asked, unease washing over me as she left the computer and catalog and went to the

opposite end of the long, curved counter. She began to open drawers, scanning the files within.

“It was checked out some time ago." she murmured, settling on a file and pulling it from the cabinet.

She leafed through it. a look of concern on her face. “Three years ago. actually. It was never returned."

"Who checked it out?" I asked, unable to hide the franticness of my voice as my heart dropped into my

stomach. I didn't realize I w as gripping the edge of the counter until my hands began to go numb from

the tension that was turning my knuckles white.

“C. Maddox. I wonder-"

I stepped away from the counter, my breath caught in my throat as I murmured an apology and darted

away from the area.

Abigail was packing her things when I arrived back to the apartment, my face flushed from the chill in

the air and the internal battle currently taking place within my brain. She looked up from her perch on

the floor in the living room, a roll of packing tape in one hand.

“What's the matter with you?" she asked with a laugh. "You look like you've seen a ghost!"

“I don't feel well," I lied, shrugging out of my coat. “I'm going to lie down for a while."

"There’s cold medicine in the cabinet near the sink." she said, nanowing her eyes at me as I untied the

laces on my boots.

"I'll be fine. It's just a headache."

“Hm, well, suit yourself. I was going to grab a pizza for dinner-. Does that sound okay?"

"Sure." I replied, giving her the weakest smile, but it was all I could muster. I tried not to run as I

crossed the living room. I closed myself into my old room and collapsed onto my bed. running my

hands over my face.

At first, I thought Carly's disappearance had been a coincidence.

But now I knew in my heart she was part of something larger, and more threatening, than just

wandering off into the hills one night and never returning.

She'd been looking for blood root as well. And. I thought, as I turned over in bed to face the wall, she'd

found something out. Had it cost her her life?

After an hour of wallowing in my anxiety and confusion, my mind began to dr ift into sleep. I relaxed, my

breathing slowly, and soon my thoughts were taken up by the other thing that had been plaguing me for

days.

Xander.

♦Xander*

I’d been chopping wood all day. and it hadn't quelled the burning in my heart. Lena's absence was

ripping me to shreds, and I hated it.

I hadn't anticipated falling this hard for her. I also hadn't anticipated her reluctance to give in to her

feelings for me. Lena could be cold, and while I wouldn't consider her outright stubborn, there was a

willpower in her that w as going to make all of this so much more difficult in the future.

Whatever that future was going to be. that is. If w e made it off the damn farm in one piece.

I groaned, shaking my head as I backed away from the tree stump I was balancing logs on to split. I

wound the ax back, splitting a large log clean in two. It wasn't enough. I needed something more

physically taxing than this. I needed to shift, and run. and hunt.

"Well, the bunkhouse will have enough firewood for three or four years at this rate." Elaine smirked fr

om her perch on a felled tree. She bit into an apple, chewing meditatively as I worked. She was

supposed to be helping me by collecting the split wood and stacking in the lean-to against the side of

the bam. but she was more interested in trying to engage me in conversation.

“This batch is for tire manor." I grumbled, setting up another- log.

“Is this really what they've had you do the last few days? Seems like a waste of your time-"

“It is." I said curtly, bringing the ax down once again. Elaine said something along the lines of. "Good

job", which she'd been doing every time I swung the ax for tire past hour. I straightened up. glaring at

her for the hundredth time. "Don't you have anything better to do than bug me. Elaine?"

“I already did my share of the work for the harvest today," she said, rolling her eyes.

"Well, go find something else to do to make use of your time—"

“I heard a minor you were wanting to explore outside the boundary of the estate." she said, the comers

of her mouth tightening around a teasing smile.

"Who did you hear that from?"

"Doesn't matter." She waved her hand in dismissal as she leaned back and crossed her legs. She was

taunting me. She'd been taunting me ever since Lena boarded the train back to Morhan. I liked Elaine

—as a friend of Lena. I trusted her. But she knew' I felt a certain type of way for Lena and had been hell

bent on getting the truth out of me for days.

“What about it. then?"

"I could take you. if you want. But you'd have to let me lead, of course. I'm a local. You'd get lost."

"I wouldn't get lost-"

"Do you want to take the risk?" Her eyes were glimmering with a silent challenge as she looked at me. I

pursed my lips, shaking my head and then giving the ax a final swing, which left it lodged in the stump.

“Fine, let's go."

“Now'?" she asked, jumping up from the felled tree. I nodded, wiping my hands on my jeans.

“Yeah. now. You have nothing to do. and like you said. I've split enough firewood to heat the bunkhouse

into the next generation.

Let's go."

Elaine shrugged then fell in step with me.

"We have to go through the woods. And listen. Xander, you have to promise me something."

"What?" I asked as we left the area of the bam and bunkhouse and began to w alk through tire field of

gram.

It was a quiet day. Everyone else was working in the fields of squash and the apple orchard, which

were situated at least a quarter mile fr om the vicinity of our lodgings.

"If anything happens." she said in all seriousness, turning to face me. "don't come back here. Get out of

Crimson Creek-"

“What?"

“I said." she urged, her eyes flashing with warning, "if something happens out there... if we see

something that shouldn't be there. We need to come back right away. And. if we're attacked-"

“Attacked by what?"

“Will you let me finish?"

"Sony." I gruffed. We'd reached the edge of the woods.

Elaine turned to me frilly as w e came upon the break in the stone wall, the edge of the boundary

between the estate and the lulls beyond.

"It's dangerous out there, okay? I'm just saying, be on your guard. And if something happens to me in

particular, you leave. Don’t try to find me. And get out of Crimson Creek."

♦♦♦

I'd never seen anything like the landscape outside of the boundary of the manor. It was miles, and

miles, and miles of... nothing. The ground was pale gray, covered in a thick dust that painted the

patches of dry grass a sickly yellow color I noticed as I kept in step with Elaine's w olf form. She w’as a

small, stealthy wolf, her coat a vivid red. Mine was black, and I was twice her size, but I found she was

much faster and more agile than I was when we had to cross a wide ravine.

I was clumsy on the rocks as I walked down, then up and over. She'd lept over the ravine in its entirety

and was waiting for me on the other side, much to my annoyance.

I was weighed down by a backpack I'd been canymg in my mouth since we left the estate. I wasn't

going to be walking around naked in front of her when we got to wherever we were going. Twenty

minutes later, we crested a steep lull, and were all of a sudden looking out over a wide valley. In the

center of the valley was an outcrop of dead, gnarled trees.

But the area was also covered in black spots. I'd have to walk down into the valley to access the

darkened patches of earth, however, so I abruptly dr opped the backpack, and shifted back into my

human form.

"I'm interested in those black spots you can see from the wall," I said as Elaine followed suit.

-Why? It's just moss of some kind. Not much else grows out here.." She pulled on her clothes

somewhere behind me. I kept my eyes forward, scanning the valley.

"Is it what you expected?" she asked.

“Not at all."

“I don't like it out here, but you wanted to come. so..."

"And how often do you come out here?" I asked, glancing at her over my shoulder as I began to pull a

pair of plastic gloves and a few vials fr om my backpack.

“Not often, and never alone-Wait! Don't go down there!"

"I need a sample of the blood root!"

"Xander, it's dangerous-"

I ignored her. I did feel uneasy, and I was questioning just how much Elaine knew about this place that

she wasn't telling me. I'd get it out of her one way or another. But for now. my sole focus was on getting

a sample of the blood root to test it. I wanted to have it for Lena to examine when she returned.

My heart squeezed at the thought of her.

I continued down the hill, slowly pawing my way toward an irregular blackened area at the base of the

valley. I could see. and smell, the spongy moss. It was almost wet. glistening in the hazy afternoon sun

as I came upon it.

I glanced up at Elaine, who was nervously pacing the crest of the steep hill I’d come down. I knelt on

my knees and donned a pair of plastic gloves, then I carefully pulled a few pieces of the moss out of

the ground, roots and all.

But as I looked up. my eyes met the tree line, and I noticed something strange.

There was something in the center of the trees... a building, or what used to be a building, made

completely of thick granite.

There wasn't any granite in these parts.

"What is that?" I asked, looking up at Elaine.

But Elaine was looking down at me. Her gaze was somewhere in the distance, her eyes wide and brow

furrowed in sheer desperation and confusion. I called out her name several times, trying to get her

attention. She opened her mouth as though she was going to reply, but then closed it again, her skin

going completely white.

“We need to go back.” she cried, her voice trembling. "Xander, we need to go back, now!