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.

key clicked into place, and the metal band that held the journal closed fell away, landing on

I remembered, just the way Mom had taught me. She said I could eventually control my dreams this way, elongate

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

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

the closet, swallowing against

a whispered cry, sniffling like a child. “I don’t know where the

maybe they could. They would no doubt think I was even more deranged than they previously

was sending me away to marry Wrenn. I would join his pack, live amongst

get as far away as I could from Red Lakes and the stain of my mother’s death that had a chokehold

not even an ocean could break the chain now wrapped around my soul that bound me to Rowan of

his arrival had thrown a wrench in

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

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Chapter 26: It’s Complicated

He couldn’t see the disdain behind my eyes. He couldn’t peer into my mind and pull my

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

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

Rowan. My

by allowing his insane

find the way out of my dream, the

a word to Rowan. Because the closer I got

Rowan

coming off the water as the seaplane approached, its floats bobbing in the surf. “I’ve looked everywhere. I

back to the plane, which was nearing the dock.

me.

“Have you tried?”

me to step forward. One of Eugene’s warriors turned his head, giving

pilot you have, huh? He nearly took half

chest and watching the figures moving around the plane, my chest tightening with sudden longing

Ethan looks exactly the same as he did when we visited

I said, knowing it would get a rise out of her. She nudged me with her elbow again, harder this time, and I momentarily lost my footing on the slippery rocks along the

his eyes, and I thought I might’ve seen a

to tell we’re not mates, you know.” Kacidra

do you

Family can

swallowed, hoping she was wrong. I didn’t want to have that conversation with him. Not

mate, who just happened to be the little sister to the woman I was betrothed to, and I hadn’t even said a single word

teased, flicking me on the back of the

“Shut up!”