Sold as the Alpha King’s Breeder

Chapter 60: She’s Alive

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.

said simply, pushing the

is that?” I took long strides to keep up with him as we walked down the

beaten trail through the trees.

shocked. I hadn’t expected

would you say that to them,

US

He was staring me down, his eyes

this is their son,

already went, Rosalie.

fail! You got our son to

looking through the sparse trees toward the bluff that hang over the inlet, a special, personal space only

guess at what was going on within the recesses of his brain.

.

to Valoria. I could see it behind his

h

you wouldn’t go to the ends of the Earth for our children

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

“That is not true.”

another war, Rosalie. A war

always be

Maeve is gone, Goddess knows where,”

“She’s alive, Ethan.”

eyes narrowing. “You can’t know that for

practically shaking him. “I tried to

his face changed, a look of understanding blurring

dreams. Maeve is alive, and she’s well. She’s going to come home, Ethan.” I left out the more concerning aspects

village erupting into life. Ethan looked down at me skeptically, then took my hand, leading me toward the

ship bobbing in the water in the distance, an unrecognizable vessel. We peered at it,

my eyes from the sun with

the warriors rush out onto the dock, waving their hands as the boat turned too sharply

hell is driving that thing?”

‘We‘d better go down-”

didn’t move, his body going rigid as a figure appeared on the deck

as though he were

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

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

her back into the

she shuffled her feet behind me. I didn’t say a word, not wanting to give her false hope in the event