Sold as the Alpha King’s Breeder

Chapter 65: This Is It

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.

possible, but Keaton dismissed the notion. We had been aboard the Persephone for a month straight, and we were wobbly

to scope out the area before we attempted entry into the

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,

Maeve

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

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

a trail, and a road, an ancient one, a road that eventually led the three of us into the remains of a

wheezed, my hands on my knees as I bent over to catch my

was roughly four months pregnant now and feeling it. I was out of breath all the time

foot. I refused, knowing that he would need me if he came upon the temple. The crew of the

on the map,” Troy replied, stooping down to run his fingertips over one of the pavers. “It’s an archaeological site “Pete said suddenly,

do you know?” Troy stood, brushing the dirt from

See those tools? And there– Pete pointed in the

dropping off into a deep,

on my

stalking down the pathway until he reached the edge

he said, his

his side, looking down in shock as we tried to make

down at an easy decline and was littered with various excavation equipment. The site itself looked to be a city center

his pocket and stretched out his arm, holding it over the site and flipping it open with his thumb. Pete and I leaned

said softly, closing the compass

I breathed, trying to steady my conflicting emotions as I began to follow Troy down into

entered

Most of the + tunnels were caved in, however, and we only had one option when it came to moving deeper

the dig site.

of us, peering into

damp, I think there must be water on the other side. Do either of you

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

have to.” I swallowed my fear. What if we came to the end of the tunnel and there was nothing? What if the entrance