Sold as the Alpha King's Breeder novel Chapter 280

Rosalie

Georgia gripped the coffee mug in her hands, her dark hair disheveled and falling around her face. I had never seen her like this, so tired. So out of sorts. I didn’t even ask if she wanted more coffee as I refilled her mug, returning the carafe to the coffee maker and reaching into an upper cabinet, pushing aside several boxes of tea and grasping the bottle of whiskey Ethan kept tucked away.

poured a liberal shot of it into her coffee, glancing into her downcast eyes.

I could hear Ethan and Talon talking in Ethan’s office, their voices carrying down the hallway and into the kitchen. Above my head, I imagine kacidra, Hanna, and Rowan speaking about the same manner of things, their heads bent close together as they whispered their grievances in the guest room, the door only slightly ajar.

“There hasn’t been this many people in this house, ever,” I said, breaking the silence.

Georgia glanced up at me, a brief, somber smile twitching into view in the corner of her mouth.

“We never had this; you know… a family home, something cozy, something just for us.” She sipped her coffee, letting it linger in her mouth for a moment before swallowing.

“That’s why Ethan built it,” I replied, sipping my own coffee, now tepid. “He wanted Rowan and Maeve to have something you never had.”

“Doesn’t that seem backward to you?” Georgia said with a little laugh. “That Ethan, Talon, and I all grew up in palaces, princes and princesses? The kind of people you would think would have it all?”

“Fairy tales,” I laughed, shaking my head.

“We thought we had had our happy ending, didn’t we?” Georgia sniffed, turning her mug in a circle.

I reached out, hesitating before placing my hand over hers. What could I possibly say to her? 

Theard Ethan’s footsteps in the hallway and looked up as he entered the kitchen. He looked at me, his eyes telling me everything I needed to know. 

“Come, Georgia. Let’s go get some rest.” Talon entered the kitchen behind Ethan, his eyes lined with dark circles. He placed his hand on Georgia’s shoulder, gripping it.

Ethan and I watched as Georgia dissolved into a puddle of tears while Talon held her, looking away as his eyes misted with the same watery substance.

Ethan blinked, working his jaw as he stared at them, then turned his gaze back to me.

‘Want to go for a walk with me?’ he asked over the mind-link, his eyes boring into mine.

I nodded, sliding the bottle of whiskey across the kitchen island toward Talon, who nodded his thanks without looking at me.

Then I followed Ethan back through the house, stopping at the foot of the stairs to look up into the second -floor hallway, where the soft voices of the young ones were floating down through the air. Rowan,

Kacidra, and even Hanna. They were home. They were safe.

“What did you say to Talon?” I asked as we walked down the driveway toward the gate.

“I told him the truth,” Ethan said simply, pushing the gate open and holding it for me.

“What truth is that?” I took long strides to keep up with him as we walked down the long gravel road leading to the village, my breath quickening.

He veered off the road, taking our well beaten trail through the trees. “That we cannot go back to Mirage to search for Ernest.”

I stopped walking, shocked. I hadn’t expected this.

‘Why would you say that to them, Ethan?”

US

“Was I supposed to lie to them?” He was staring me down, his eyes shining with unspoken emotion.

“Ethan… this is their son, our nephew!”

“I already went, Rosalie. I failed-”

“You did not fail! You got our son to safety and discovered -”

“I discovered everything we knew about this place, our origins… your powers…” He trailed off, looking through the sparse trees toward the bluff that hang over the inlet, a special, personal space only for us.

“If Rowan hadn’t been with you, you would have stayed behind. I know you would have. You did what you needed to do.” I was growing desperate. Thad decades of practice being able to peer into Ethan’s mind, to read his body language and make an estimated guess at what was going on within the recesses of his brain. But Ethan had regressed, coming home from his journey looking, and acting so much like the onery, secluded, and brooding man he was when I first met him back when I was just his breeder. Not his wife. “Look at me, Ethan!”

.

He shook his head, tucking his hands into his pockets. “Talon will go to Valoria. I could see it behind his eyes. He’ll take Georgia. They’ll die there. I told him so.”

h

“Don’t act like you wouldn’t go to the ends of the Earth for our children too, Ethan,” I bit out, shaking with frustration

“I did, and what do I have to show for it? Maeve is not with us, is she? I didn’t bring her home. I didn’t-” He turned away as his eyes filled with tears, refusing to let me see them fall. I rushed to him, throwing my arms around him and pressing my cheek into his back as he began to fall apart. “I’m not the man I once was,”

“That is not true.”

“There is going to be another war, Rosalie. A war where our children will have to fight.”

“There will always be wars-”

“And Maeve is gone, Goddess knows where,” he said.

“She’s alive, Ethan.”

He turned to me, his eyes narrowing. “You can’t know that for sure.”

“Hanna!” | exclaimed, practically shaking him. “I tried to tell you!”

“What about her?” But suddenly his face changed, a look of understanding blurring his features.

“She can see Maeve in her dreams. Maeve is alive, and she’s well. She’s going to come home, Ethan.” I left out the more concerning aspects of what Hanna had told me about her recent episodes, of course.

Shouts sounded through the trees behind us, the usually sleepy village erupting into life. Ethan looked down at me skeptically, then took my hand, leading me toward the bluff overlooking the inlet.

There was a small ship bobbing in the water in the distance, an unrecognizable vessel. We peered at it, Ethan narrowing his eyes as the boat neared the breakwater, turning toward the port.

“Is it the Alpha of Red Lakes?” | asked, shielding my eyes from the sun with my hand to get a better view.

But Ethan didn’t answer. He was watching the warriors rush out onto the dock, waving their hands as the boat turned too sharply and struck the edge of the breakwater.

“Who the hell is driving that thing?” Ethan murmured.

‘We‘d better go down-”

Ethan didn’t move, his body going rigid as a figure appeared on the deck of the boat. A man.

“Good Goddess,” he whispered, as though he were talking to him. “That’s,”

I was sprinting as fast as my legs could move, leaping over tree roots and sliding on the gravel as I reached the road. I could hear Ethan behind me, catching up to me and passing me in an instant. But he didn’t turn to the village; he had turned back to the house, stopping short of the gated driveway. 

He bellowed for Georgia and Talon, who appeared on the deck overlooking the driveway in a matter of seconds. I was panting, my hair falling loose from my braid as Ethan motioned for them to come, to follow. Georgia was shaking her head, her face wet with tears. But Talon nodded, gripping his wife by the

shoulders and escorting her back into the house.

Talon was close behind Ethan as they ran down the road toward the village. Georgia was walking, barely moving as she shuffled her feet behind me. I didn’t say a word, not wanting to give her false hope in the event Ethan and had been wrong.

By the time the inlet came into view again, Georgia and I were far behind Ethan and Talon, their figures blurred by the distance as they turned to run to the port,

“Georgia, please!” | begged, turning around to take her by the arm and physically pull her along.

“I want to go back!”

“No, I really don’t think you do,” I coaxed, giving her arm a tug.

She looked so much like Maeve at that moment. Maeve had the same pout, the same creases in her eyes when she was upset. It always broke my heart, and seeing Georgia so depressed made me want to hold her, sing to her, and run my fingertips along her back like I had done for Maeve so many times before. “Please, Georgia, we’re falling behind!”

Georgia sniffed indignantly, then turned her shuffle into a quick step. I nodded approving, giving her an encouraging smile.

We didn’t have very far to go before we heard Talon call out, his voice lifted in shock and desperation. The

dock came into view, and Georgia stopped, her mouth trembling as she watched the scene before us unfold.

“Oh,” she said weakly, taking a step forward while I stayed behind.

Talon was embracing a dark-haired young man who was slightly taller than him, the man’s head bent to rest on Talon’s shoulder.

The sound of gravel spraying behind us made me turn my head, and I had a brief look at Rowan as he sprinted past us, rocks flying in his wake.

Georgia watched as Talon released the man, giving us a full view of his face.

“Oh, my Goddess!” Georgia sobbed, breaking into a run and promptly slipping in the gravel, falling to her knees.

Ilunged forward to help her, but she was up in an instant, running down the road toward the port. I walked, letting the rest of my family storm the dock. I let a choked sob escape from my throat, inhaling deeply as I watched Georgia throw her arms around the man, her cries echoing across the water.

“Thank you, Goddess,” I breathed as I continued down the road, the gravel giving way to wide boards with water on either side as I reached the port.

Ernest was standing near the boat, his parents clinging to him, fussing over him as their questions and exclamations cut through the air.

He looked up, making eye contact with me, his blue eyes shining with tears. His face fell, a look of sorrow clouding his eyes.

I reached Ethan’s side, taking his hand.

“He has a lot to explain,”

“Let them have this, Ethan,” I said, squeezing his hand. Ernest was staring at us both, his mouth slightly

ajar, something unspoken and painful crossing over his features.

The warriors were still securing the boat to the dock, murmuring about the damage. I watched as one of the warriors walked to the end of the boat, talking to someone still on board, reaching up to grab their hand and help them down.

I let go of Ethan’s hand, rushing forward and side-stepping around Georgia, Talon, and Ernest as I walked briskly down the length of the dock.

She was thin, disheveled, her brown hair tied back with a ribbon and her eyes slightly sunken as she iurned her head, her mouth open as a sob escaped her lips. She reached down, reflexively cradling the first indications of an early pregnancy hidden by the fabric of her shirt.

“Oh, Gemma!” I cried, running to her and throwing my arms around her.