Sold as the Alpha King's Breeder novel Chapter 285

Troy

The landscape was totally changed from the lush greenery and long beaches we had been following for roughly a month. The shallows of the pass gave way to deeper water, allowing us to travel at a quicker speed, the engines working double-time as we sped forward into the unknown with the compass pointing straight ahead

It was a week before Maeve’s birthday She had been moodier than usual as we neared it, knowing what it meant.

She would finally come into her powers She would feel that I was her mate

Or she wouldn’t do either.

And as I watched her pacing across the deck of Persephone, her hair pulled up in a heavy. tangled heap of a bun on top of her head, and I wondered if she even wanted to come into her powers. Not knowing whether or not she was cursed had kept her stable distracted Now there was no way to ignore the truth, whatever that may be

“This is it,” Keaton said, holding the compass out at arm’s length “It’s wanting us to go straight into that cove, to the west.”

“I see it.” I watched the horizon as the strange, sand covered plateau grew larger as we neared We hadn’t seen land in a week. Keaton tossed me the compass and left the upper deck, moving swiftly as he walked towards the doors leading to the lower levels of the boat. He would be telling Pete to continue west, no doubt. I felt my chest tighten as adrenaline prickled my fingertips

This was it. We’d have at least one moonstone. And that would be one less stone Damian would have at his disposal.

“I feel strange.” Maeve said as she appeared at my side, her face drawn with anxiety.

“It’s going to be okay. We don’t know what we’re going to find, but we’re the only ship out here. Maybe you should lie down for a while. Usually, she would fight me on this, but to my surprise she nodded, walking gingerly down the stairs with one arm cradling her swelling belly. I was shocked at how quickly her pregnancy was progressing. Her usually graceful movements had become strained and uneven. She was uncomfortable.

“We’re going to make this quick,” I said to myself under my breath, wanting nothing more than to turn this ship around to get her back to her parents. We only had a few months to make the journey to Winter Forest by ship before the ice began to form on the northern seas. We couldn’t miss that window.

A few days later, we made camp on the beach, the Persephone bobbing just off the shore. The water was deep here, the beach giving way to a steep drop-off instead of reefs.

There was nothing green as far as we could see. Everything was covered in coarse golden sand

a desert, we realized, as a group of us men shifted and spent an hour running a wide berth around the camp, climbing to the top of the plateau to gaze out over the ocean behind us, and the rolling sand dunes on the other side of the plateau. No buildings. No trees. None of us picked up the scent of other people or wolves. We were alone.

Back at camp, we regrouped. Maeve and Myla wanted to take the compass and find the tomb as soon as possible, but Keaton dismissed the notion. We had been aboard the Persephone for a month straight, and we were wobbly on our feet when we stepped out of the skiffs on the shore. We all needed rest. Those who could shift needed to run.

And most of all, we needed to scope out the area before we attempted entry into the tomb.

A full day passed before I finally decided to follow the compass once more. I turned it over and over in my hands while Maeve slept next to me under our tent, debating my next move. I worried, constantly, about everything these days, but especially about what would happen when we found the stone. I opened the compass and watched the dial. There was nothing else continue to follow it into the unknown.

Maeve

I was walking behind Pete as Troy beat through the thick, tangled brush ahead of us along what was once a pathway lined with what looked like cement pavers of some sort but were so old they crumbled into dust beneath our feet.

The strange sand dunes had given way to brush, then oddly shaped gnarled bushes that took us down into a deep, ashen valley. We saw stone buildings in the distance where the valley began to green, the rough sand and stone giving way to moss and other low-lying foliage.

Then we found a trail, and a road, an ancient one, a road that eventually led the three of us into the remains of a village.

What is this place?” I wheezed, my hands on my knees as I bent over to catch my breath.

It had been a month since the strange storm had rocked the Persephone and then abruptly dissipated over our heads. I was roughly four months pregnant now and feeling it. I was out of breath all the time as the little pups nestled in my belly squirmed and boxed with each other.

Troy had told me to stay behind when he decided to leave our beach camp and follow the compass west on foot. I refused, knowing that he would need me if he came upon the temple. The crew of the Persephone was exhausted, and we were running low on supplies. We needed to find the moonstones and head back to civilization as quickly as we could.

“I don’t know. Whatever this is, well, it wasn’t on the map,” Troy replied, stooping down to run his fingertips over one of the pavers. “It’s an archaeological site “Pete said suddenly, and we both turned to him.

“How do you know?” Troy stood, brushing the dirt from his knees.

“Look around. See those tools? And there– Pete pointed in the distance where the little village

seemed to abruptly end, dropping off into a deep, darkened hole.

I glanced at Troy, the downy hair rising on my arms as I caught his eye. A dig site?

“What if someone already found the stone-‘I began, but Troy turned away from me, stalking down the pathway until he reached the edge of the hole, looking down into its depths.

“Goddess,” he said, his voice catching.

Pete and I hurried to his side, looking down in shock as we tried to make sense of what we were seeing.

Another village, long buried, had been dug out of the sides of the hole that we gazed into. The ground sloped down at an easy decline and was littered with various excavation equipment. The site itself looked to be a city center of some kind, a square, with ornate columns lining the square and richly decorated tile covering the ground.

Troy took the compass out of his pocket and stretched out his arm, holding it over the site and flipping it open with his thumb. Pete and I leaned into him, watching the dial spin in a tight circle.

“This is it,” Troy said softly, closing the compass and turning to me. “Are you ready?”

“Sure,” I breathed, trying to steady my conflicting emotions as I began to follow Troy down into the dig site, my chest tightening with apprehension.

“Holy shit,” Pete said behind me as we entered the square, looking around in awe. Several tunnels

had been dug between the columns with rafters holding sections from caving in. Most of the + tunnels were caved in, however, and we only had one option when it came to moving deeper into

the dig site.

Pete walked ahead of us, peering into the tunnel’s pitch-black depths.

“I don’t think it goes that far. It’s damp, I think there must be water on the other side. Do either of you have a light?” Pete glanced at us over his shoulder, his face etched with uncertainty.

Troy pulled a small flashlight out of the inner pocket of his jacket and tossed it to Pete. It was starting to rain now, the sky a deep gray over the top of our heads as Troy glanced at me, reaching out to take my hand. “We can go back-”

“No, we do this now. We have to.” I swallowed my fear. What if we came to the end of the tunnel and there was nothing? What if the entrance to Lycan’s tomb was buried under several feet of dirt and rocks like the rest of the ancient city?

“It’s going to be okay.” Troy smiled, his eyes twinkling with reassurance as I let him guide me into the tunnel, the light of Pete’s flashlight leading the way. 

“Is this my birthday present? A tour of an underground, secret, ancient city?” I snorted, stepping gingerly over abandoned excavating equipment as we walked further into the depths.

He clicked his tongue, gently squeezing my hand. “I’ll give you your birthday present when it’s your actual birthday,” he said, a smile evident in his voice.

“You know, my mom celebrates our birthdays for an entire week.”

“Spoiled, that’s what you are,” he laughed.

Well, I am a princess.”

I couldn’t see him, but I could sense the smile that must have twitched across his face. Pete was silent as we continued to walk, stopping on occasion to warn us of any debris we needed to step around or over.

Ten minutes went by. It felt like a lifetime, and I was starting to feel slightly claustrophobic as the tunnel began to narrow and hug against our shoulders. Troy kept his hand firmly on mine, and I was thankful for it. I felt as though the tunnel would swallow me whole if he let go.

We turned at one point, and at the end of another long stretch of tunnel came a soft, gray light. The tunnel had ended, opening up to a clearing with large, dead trees and the same low-lying brush we had seen during our journey to the dig site.

I felt a wave of anxiety wash over me as we walked out into the light. Pete gasped, and Troy tightened his hold on my hand as we stood at the tunnel’s end, looking at the crumbled remains of what was once a temple built into the side of a large hill.

The outside of the temple had fallen away with the passing of time. All that was left was a door.

“Oh, my Goddess,” I whispered.

The door was made of pure granite, chipped in some places like someone had attempted to open it with tools. Symbols were etched all around it, and the center bore the same symbol that had been drawn all over the map.

“I thought you‘d never show up,” came an unfamiliar voice to our left.

Troy whirled around, tucking me behind him. A man stepped out of the trees, his hands tucked casually in the pockets of his pants as he sauntered toward us, looking overall unthreatening, but I felt Troy stiffen, his body going rigid.

Another man rushed Pete, knocking him down to the ground before anyone could react.

“Well, let’s open this thing, huh?” the man said, his mouth twisted in a sinister smile.

Then, I heard Troy whisper the answer to the question I’d been asking since these two appeared out of nowhere.

“Damian…”