Sold as the Alpha King’s Breeder

Chapter 26: It’s Complicated

Hanna

Water. I was walking through it. No, on it, my feet covered by choppy, white-capped surf. I could hear her singing in the distance, the same lonely song

she always sang

Who are you? I asked, my voice echoing over the endless horizon, nothing but water for miles and miles.

But there it was the white building in the distance, the small, barren island rising above the sea. I looked up at the sun and moon, the two sitting next to each other, separated by a field of stars.

Who are you? I asked again, my steps quickening. I was running, my chest heaving with effort, but the building was still far, far away.

Please! Please wait for me!

But the water gave way beneath my feet, and I was submerged, floating down, deeper and deeper until the light from the surface of the waves disappeared.

Shrouded in darkness. Nothingness.

“Hanna!” she called, her voice watery and distant.

“I’m here!” I screamed, water flooding into my mouth, suffocating me. Please, I thought, stay asleep. Stay. Stay in the vision.

I tried to scream again, to bring her in. I could see her, a dark outline in the water, her hair twirling around her as she inched closer, and closer”:

I bolted upright in bed, water pouring from my mouth as I coughed and sputtered, reaching up to grip my throat that burned violently from the salt.

My bed was soaking wet, my nightgown sticking wetly to my skin as I retched, another burst of water running out of my mouth and down my neck and chest.

Learning to control this curse, or blessing, or whatever it was still seemed out of my grasp.

“Damnit!” I cried, exhausted. I reached up to wipe the tears rolling down my cheeks, hot against my chilled skin. I heard footsteps in the hallway and my bedroom door swung open, Kacidra’s figure filling the doorway.

She looked at me, terror and confusion etched into her face, the same look Dad always gave me, the same look he had always given Mom.

Kacidra stood for a moment, lingering with her hand on the doorknob before she closed the door again, her footsteps receding down the hallway and out of earshot

I let out a sob, reaching a shaking hand toward my bedside table and fishing in the drawer for the key I kept taped to its underside. I stood, my dress heavy as it fell around my knees, walking over to my closet and leaving wet footprints in my wake.

The journal was hidden among the tangle of thick jackets hanging in the closet. I reached into the emerald green coat, a piece that had once belonged to Mom, and pulled the thick, leather journal from the inner pocket, my hands trembling as I fumbled with the lock.

fell away, landing on the floor at my feet with a splash as it met with the water pooling beneath

way Mom had taught me. She said I could eventually control my dreams this

made it out of this dream. I could never find my way forward,

band, securing it back in place before taking out the key and putting it back in the

the closet, swallowing against the burning lump in

of it, Mom!” I said in a whispered cry, sniffling like a child. “I don’t know where the

if only Kacidra and Dad could hear me, and maybe they could. They would no doubt think I was even more deranged than they

away to marry Wrenn. I would join his

the stain of my mother’s death that had a chokehold on my sister and father.

even an ocean could break the chain now wrapped around

thrown

He always asked where I went swimming all the time, saying something crass about wanting

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Chapter 26: It’s Complicated

behind my eyes. He couldn’t peer into my mind and pull my innermost

and he did. I don’t think he even realized he was doing it,

felt the mate pull. His scent sent me over the edge, exhausting and overwhelming me to the point I had to lay down, to bury my face in my pillow and breathe in the smell of goose down and linen to try and rid myself of it. He smelled like green things, like walking through the redwood trees after a heavy rain. He smelled like the earth after a late spring snow, when

Rowan.

by allowing his insane daughter to set foot upon

go with Wrenn. I would find

a word to Rowan. Because the closer I got to

Rowan

as the seaplane approached, its floats

back at her before turning my head back to the plane, which was nearing the dock.

me. I

“Have you tried?”

her elbow, the force of it causing me to step forward. One of Eugene’s warriors turned his head, giving me a curious look. I straightened up, watching

you have, huh? He nearly took

the figures moving around the plane, my chest tightening with sudden longing as my dad stepped out onto the dock.

the same as he did when we visited Winter

it would get a rise out of her. She nudged me with her elbow again, harder this time, and I momentarily lost my footing

seen a smile twitch across his face as he shook his head

be able to tell we’re not mates, you

do you know

Family can

she was wrong. I didn’t want to have that conversation with him. Not right now, at least. Not until I was able to actually say something,

the little sister to the woman I was betrothed to, and I hadn’t even said a single word to her yet. How the hell was I

comes!” she teased, flicking me on the

“Shut up!”