Sold as the Alpha King's Breeder novel Chapter 328

Chapter 108: Last Words of the White Queen

Maeve

Hayden paced around the room for a long while, lingering in meditative silence as I watched him. Occasionally, he turned to glance at me but made no further moves to touch me, or Troy.

| was kneeling next to Troy, trying desperately to wake him up. He was struggling to keep his eyes open for more than a few seconds at a time, the effects of the wolfsbane still gripping his body.

I looked around for anything sharp, anything I could cut myself with to give Troy some of my blood, and finally resort ed to bringing my hand to my mouth, preparing to bite into the flesh beneath my thumb.

“Uh, no. Don’t do that.” Hayden was at my side in an in stant, knotting his fingers in my hair and pulling sharply. I screeched, which seemed to rouse Troy from his stupor enough to bare his teeth and grimace, his fingers twitching.

“Ah, see? All you had to do was scream to wake him up. Let’s try again.” He pulled my hair so hard, some of it came clean out of my scalp. I grimaced, shaking as I held in the scream threatening to erupt from my mouth.

“Scream!” he demanded, twisting my hair violently until 1 could help but whimper. Troy moaned, rolling onto his side. “It’s useless. This is no fun.” He tossed me onto the ground, shaking his head as he walked away and began to pace again.

“What do you want?” | winced as I rubbed my head. My hair was already falling out in droves after having the boys, but now I was sure I had a bald spot.

“I’m nothing more than a babysitter right now, I’m afraid. Until it’s your turn.”

“My turn for what?”

“Well, once Tasia finishes up with Hanna, then you’re next. I think she wants to kill you in front of Troy, at least that’s what I hope. And then your parents, of course. I’m sure she’ll have the White Queen watch-”

“My parents?” I stammered. “Are they here?”

“Last I heard, the rogues were battling with some Drogo mor warriors in the forest, so they know you’re nearby. Gosh, Tasia is just so happy she was able to take care of this now, in stead of waiting for the solstice.”

Llicked my lips, glancing at Troy before meeting Hayden’s eyes again.

“What was she planning to do on the solstice?”

“Well, that is when the stones are at their most powerful. She was going to bleed the two of you dry, you and your mother, that is, and activate the stones to heighten her power enough to bring the entirety of the packlands to the ground.”

I wondered if Hayden was supposed to be telling me any of this. He didn’t seem like the sharpest tool in the shed, that was for sure.

“She doesn’t mean to combine them?” I asked.

“Well, no. She doesn’t want the Moon Goddess to come down and smite her, I guess. I’m not sure how that all works-” he waved his hand in dismissal.

“Smite her?” I couldn’t help but laugh. Having already talked to Tasia, I knew her end goal was to kill us all, take over the pack lands, and end the rule of the White Queens forever, paving the way for those of the Lycaon bloodline to rule.

But she wanted something else from Hanna. That’s why she had her alone.

“What does Hanna have to do with all of this?” I asked, squeezing Troy’s arm. He was starting to stir now, trembling as the effects of the wolfsbane left his system.

“Well, from what I understand, Hanna is either going to give birth to the next White Queen, who has some prophecy about her as well, but I don’t know the specifics, or she’s go ing to try to turn Hanna to our side. Hanna is very powerful, as you know. More powerful than Tasia from what Carl has said. Carl wants Hanna for himself, so it’s likely he will force Tasia to keep her alive-”

“Shut him up, Maeve. I can’t take one more second-” Troy groaned, a little green around the gills.

“Goodmorning sunshine,” Hayden said mockingly, crouch ing only a few feet away from us and tilting his head as he peered at Troy.

“Get away from me. From her-”

“I’m on strict orders to keep an eye on you both.” Hayden exhaled, standing. He glanced at me, his mouth pulling into a wide, delirious smile before he kicked Troy right in the center

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of the stomach.

I jumped up and lunged at him, swinging blindly, missing his jaw by a fraction of an inch.

“Oh, a feisty one. You surprise me, Troy. I always thought you’d end up alone, or with Keaton’s sister-”

“F*ck him up, Maeve. For the love of the Goddess-“|

I screamed in frustration as I charged at Hayden, this time landing a punch right in the center of his chest. He staggered backward, stumbling, and caught himself on the wall.

“Now, now. Let’s talk this through-”

I hit him again and again, but he was much larger than me. He had roughly an inch on Troy, although he was not nearly as strong. Hayden swayed and staggered at each of my blows, and soon I had him cowering along the wall, his fists covering his face as I swung wildly.

“That’s enough-”

Carl had come into the room. He glanced down at Troy, narrowing his eyes at him before taking three long strides across the floor and grabbing me by the hair, pulling me off of Hayden.

He tightened his grip on me as he pulled me out of the room by my hair, tossing me into the tunnel.

“Where are you taking me?” | bit out as the red – eyed Rogue covered the entrance of the room behind us.

“Back to Tasia. She’s ready for you now.”

Carl led me through the tunnel, which forked at one point, reading us along a narrow passageway full of moss and tan gled tree roots, the space having been taken over by nature for some time.

“Don’t think about running, Maeve,” he said coolly, “it’s entirely too easy to get lost in here.”

“It must feel like home to you,” I quipped, my tone dry and sarcastic.

“Close,” he replied, smirking. “Did you ever hear the fable?”

“About how Morrighan chased Lycaon out of what is now Winter Forest? Yes -”

“Ah, yes. That did happen. But did you hear what she did, exactly? How she used her power to try and stop her twin?”

I shook my head. He was walking behind me, holding a lantern up as we walked into the pitch black of the tunnel, which had now turned into an intricate cave system.

“Well, she used her powers to bring down the north east ern mountains, sparking a massive volcanic explosion, so leg end goes. Lycaon had no choice but to leave his family behind and seek refuge elsewhere-”

“But he left his mate and had children for another woman. That is where the people of Dianny came from, from what ! was told. He sounds like a total douche-”

Carl flicked me sharply on the back of head.

“Ah, well. Many years had gone by, by the time that hap pened. The family he left behind burrowed into mountains,

living within the cave systems created by the eruption. The same caves we stand in now.”

“Here? How is that possible? The eastern mountains are hundreds of miles away!”

“Morrighan prayed to her mother, who had already left them, for guidance and help. Lycaon’s betrayal angered the Goddess herself, you see. Morrighan had access to that anger, and her powers showed it.

“Think back on what you know of your mother, and ances tors. Tell me, when has a White Queen ever used her powers to their fullest? It’s a once in a lifetime occurrence, from what I’m told. Your mother’s life was spared when her true mate took on her burden of death, and he was only spared because your mother used the Moonlight Lily, which wasn’t hers to take.

“Lycenna had been tending to that plant for hundreds of years and it was sacred to us. But your grandmother used her gift to heal her pack during a sickness, I believe? How boring. Especially when she could’ve brought down entire kingdoms had she simply prayed for it-”

“It’s because White Queens are good.”

“No, it is because they are weak, Maeve. You used your gift to see your future, didn’t you? That’s what Tasia said. She said you didn’t mean to do it, and for whatever reason you were spared. You won’t have the chance to do it again, I’m

afraid. How sad. Watch your step, now-”

I stumbled as we began to walk along a decline. He held the lantern up over my head, illuminating a massive cave, the light reflecting off huge stalactites that formed like columns

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all around us.

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“Tasia will destroy the stones. Once she does that, and kills both you and your mother, the Moon Goddess will have no physical tie to our world. We’ll be free of her, and Lycaon’s descendants can finally rule what is rightfully theirs.”

“Why trick Damian and Romero into saying the powers had indescribable powers?”

“It wasn’t a lie, not for the average wolf. Any power out side of being able to shift is infallible to them, you know. We needed their help to access you, Maeve. All I had do was offer Damian riches, and the possibility of having a single day added to his life, and he was in.”

I remembered what my Dad had told me before the ball, that no one else could know about the moonstones. He, and Carl, were right in that regard. Greed was rampant. And what did everyone want, even if it was never mentioned?

Power.

We walked on for a moment longer, swallowed by the vastness of the great cave. How often I had explored the for est outside of the castle grounds whenever we visited Mirage when I was a child, never knowing such a place existed be neath my feet.

I could see a light nearby, reflecting off the stalactites as we covered more ground. The strange, crystalline formations

gave way to a large open area.

And I saw my Mom.

“Mom?” | stammered, unable to hide not only my shock

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but my deep concern. “How did you get here?”

“Maeve, don’t say anything,” she warned, turning her gaze back to an area that was hidden from view by several large columns of crystal.

A fire burned in the center of the space, but the flames were strange. They were the brightest, most vivid blue I had ever seen, and beneath the fire, no embers burned. I saw the eudialyte stones on second glance, the flames licking over their shiny surfaces, making them glow.

A cloaked figure stepped into view as Carl pulled me to a stop, squeezing my shoulder hard.

The woman let her hood fall back, revealing Grace, the former High Priestess.

“Fancy meeting you here,” I snarled. She only smiled, giv ing me a tight, businesslike nod in greeting.

“Well, now we can begin,” Tasia said from her perch atop one of the crystal formations. She hopped down, brushing pale dust from her pants as she stalked toward me, taking me forcibly by the elbow and leading me over to where Mom was standing. I could now see the rest of the space, my view no longer blocked by obstacles.

| gasped as I met Hanna’s eyes, her face bruised and bloodied, as she sat next to Rowan, who was kneeling, his wrists bound behind his back, looking just as beaten.

“What the hell -” | started, but Mom reached out to me, taking my hand in hers. I could feel her trembling, but her face remained sharp, focused, and expressionless.

“I’m going to ask you again,” Tasia sneered, walking over fo Hanna as she directed her words at Mom. “Where are the stones?”

“I don’t know,” Mom said softly..

Tasia smiled, chuckling to herself. Then she wound back her arm and slapped Hanna so violently the sound echoed through the cave for several seconds.

“Get your hands off of her you filthy bitch!” | said, yanking my hand free of Mom’s grasp and starting forward.

“Ha! Oh, Maeve. You can end the torment now if you just tell me where the stones are.”

“I won’t,” I said, swallowing against the fury and fear tight ening my throat, “I wouldn’t, even if I knew.”

“Carl,” Tasia called out, tilting her head in his direction, “Tell me. Have the infant princes been located yet?”

My heart dropped into my stomach.

“Don’t tell her anything, Maeve!” Hanna screamed before Carl could reply.

“We have rogues watching the safehouse as we speak, Ta sia.”

“Ah, that is good news.” She turned to face me, arching her brow. “Ready to tell me where the stones are?”

“You’re going to kill all of us anyway,” | spat, “including my children, who carry my blood. Why would it matter if I tell you where the stones are, since you have no bargaining chip, Ta sia? What are you going to do, let my children live?”

“You know I cannot do that,” she said slyly, giving me a fight smile, “but I could possibly spare your mate.”

I swallowed and lowered my gaze, shaking my head. “No. Troy would rather die than carry on without us, Tasia. I will not tell you where the stones are. I will not let you have them.”

“I’m sure your father will be more apt to tell me. That is, if he survives whatever battle is taking place on the surface. He was once a Rogue, was he not?”

“He was,” Mom answered, her throat bobbing as she swal lowed.

“And you saved him from a life of emptiness and sorrow when you changed him back to his former self? Then, you used the Moonlight Lily to save him? Ah, Rosalie, see? You started all of this. That act, that selfless act that saved your mate was the dawn of the prophecy.

“Now your son will perish, and his daughter, the sacred one, will never be. Do you have any regrets, I wonder? Would you have stayed in your little house, with your tyrant of a fa ther and sadist of a step-brother had you known what was in store for you? Twenty – six good years you had. Was it enough?”

Mom’s eyes darkened, her cheeks coloring deeply as she looked at Rowan, who was sneering around the gag in his mouth.

“Do it,” Tasia said shortly, casually as she motioned to the Priestess. Grace looked scared, fear flashing through her eyes as she unsheathed a knife from her belt. It gleamed in the light of the blue fire, and landed with a clang as she dropped it into the flames.

“My mother learned a great deal from the keeper of the stone, the very stone that was stolen from the White Queens long ago. Seraphine. Oh, I do not remember her. She left us before I was born. I had no idea a moonstone had been hid den in Dianny until my mother made it known to you, Maeve, and to Troy. She kept it from me on purpose. Now, I know why. Maybe she saw this moment in my future, knew I would turn on her.”

“You still have a chance to stop this, Tasia. You too, Grace. I knew you to be a good woman for a long time.” Mom’s voice echoed through the cavern.

Grace shifted her eyes to her feet, a single tear falling from her silver lashes.

“Too late for all of that,” Tasia sighed. Then, to my utter shock, she reached into the flames and grabbed the knife, gritting her teeth as her skin wilted and reddened around its hilt.

Crazy bitch.

“Any last words?” she asked the group, looking around.

I was too stunned to register her movements, watching the skin of her hand blistered where she held the knife. I felt sick to my stomach by the sight and the smell of burning flesh. I almost didn’t notice Tasia drive the scalding knife into Rowan’s chest.

Mom screamed, lunging forward, but was held back by Carl, who forced her to her knees. Hanna was pushing against Tasia, fighting her for the knife. I wondered for a split second why none of us, other than Rowan, had been tied up.

But then I realized this was exactly what Tasia wanted. A Challenge. A reckoning. A trial.

Our deaths couldn’t be easy. We needed to be prey, and she the predator. When we were gone, the story of our deaths would live on. She wanted nothing more than to look like the hero of Lycaon, not a murderess who executed her victims one by one.

I didn’t realize I was moving in on her until I had her by the shoulders. I spun her around, looking her in the eyes for a fraction of a second.

Then I headbutted her so hard my vision momentarily went black

She staggered backward, dropping the knife.

“Maeve, GO! Go find your Dad! Please!” Mom cried.

Carl let go of her, stunned as Tasia fell to her knees.

I looked down, grabbing the knife before Carl could lunge for it. I held it out, pointing it at him as I backed away towards the entrance of the cavern.

“Maeve, RUN!”