Sold as the Alpha King’s Breeder

Chapter 94 : 1 Kissed Her

Rowan

“It wasn’t easy,” said the metalsmith as he wiped his grimy hands on a rag. He spun around in his car, plopping a small, smooth ring in the palm of my hand. “You were right about the stone; it was jade-a sizable, practically flawless hunk of it. Say, where did you find it?”

“On the beach,” I said softly, turning the ring over in my hand.

The entire thing was made of jade, carved right out of the stone Hanna had found on our walk on the beach several weeks before the snow had begun to fall. That was months ago, I thought, wrapping my fingers around the ring. Things had some how felt easier then.

“There’s enough of the mother-stone left for a second ring, at least partially. Half would need to be metal of some kind, I rec ommend platinum. It’s what I used to give the first ring support, you see.”

“It’s… it’s fine. It’s just a gift.”

IL11

A parting gift.

Something I had planned on giving to Hanna under very dif ferent circumstances. I had carried that damn rock around in my jacket since the day she found it, marveling at the pale sea – green band of jade running through it whenever I had a moment of solitude to fish it out of its resting place.

I had imagined making a ring with it, one of pure jade, think ing the color would look perfect against the paleness of her skin. I

had imagined slipping it onto her finger and taking her hand in mine, as my wife.

I swallowed back the pain and paid the metalsmith, thanking him for his time. The ring felt heavy in my hand as I walked through the center of the village, crossing the road leading up to my house and through the woods toward Hanna’s cabin.

It had been a week since Maeve and my parents left for Mi rage. Two days ago, a pilot from Mirage had arrived in a Cessna 210, large enough to fit six passengers. He had come bearing news of Maeve, but we didn’t have much time to grieve her expe rience. She was fine, as were my three nephews, but the large seaplane that had been carting my family back and forth to Mi rage for decades had crash-landed and needed repairs.

We had all been summoned to Mirage. And I knew in my ab sence, Hanna would likely go back to Red Lakes as planned.

I wanted to ask her to come with me. I was ready to beg. But I knew it would be fruitless.

Any future I had with her seemed to evaporate the second she told Maeve and me what she had seen in her vision of Maeve’ s future. Maeve and Troy had been discussing what sounded like a succession of sorts, facilitated by my dad. My interpretation of the dream was that one of their sons was ascending a throne, which couldn’t have been Troy’s soon-to-be – title of Alpha of Poldesse. That left only two options: Alpha King of Valoria, or Al pha of Drogomor.

Which were the titles I was meant to inherit.

Which could only mean that I would have no children to pass them on to.

had was that Hanna had been Wrong about

Hanna was leaving. There was

couldn’t carry the hunk of jade in

i was standing at the bottom of the

no sooner had i put my foot on the first step did she open the door, her black

the sky an inky purple dappled with stars. I needed to be at the seldom used and grossly neglected

was it.

the stairs for you again, but 1-” | started, motioning toward the three or so

doorway, her eyes shining in the porch light. “It’s okay, Rowan. Pete can do

palm of my hand. I wanted nothing more than to toss it to her without a word and run then try to continue to stifle the heavy, overwhelming heartbreak. I understood her reasonings for want ing-no,

said you’re leaving

I have to… I

I went. In case you weren’t… weren’t here when I re turned.” I climbed a single step, unsure if my feet would let me go any further. The truth was, I likely wouldn’t be returning to

of Drogomor, officially. And I would set up residency in the

up at Hanna, holding out my hand. I placed the ring in her open palm,

I want you to have it, despite everything. I couldn’t leave without knowing you had it. I don’t expect you to wear it. I don’t expect… I don’t expect anything. I respect you, Hanna. I respect you as much as

looking into her eyes for a split sec ond before I turned and walked away, letting the dark of our early nights wrap itself

my Cessna 180, which looked like a toy compared to the glossy two-prop Cessna 210 that was idling only ten yards away on the ice-covered river. He handed George to Gemma, who immediately started fussing over the white snowsuit George was wearing, which made him look like a

and he was staring forward at the dashboard of the plane, mesmerized by the lit-up switches and

his blanket?” Gemma asked, her

question, then stepped into the plane to drape a heavy wool blanket over his mate

said, reaching back to hand Ernest a headset, which he put over Gemma’s hat, securing the headset over Gemma’s ears. I reached down

forward to allow Gemma to climb into her seat, and put it back into position. He climbed in

thing?” he joked with

switched on his mic, and his

Gemma said sternly, looking a little pale as

a steely glare from Gemma. “We’re

taught me how to fly. He was a shitty pilot, howev er, and Mom and Dad had allowed me to take actual lessons from someone in Winter Forest when I turned eighteen. I turned my gaze to the other plane, watching

course, sitting in the co-pilot seat. If the pilot was smart, he would cut Talon’s mic. Otherwise, Talon

fly the plane for the

at the thought then turned back to the dash board of my own tiny vessel. It had only two rows of seats, big enough to carry four adults at the most. It also didn’t have heat, so we were all bundled up in parkas and heavy gloves. George seemed fine with the arrangement, and within minutes, the heavy

through my headset, and I turned to look at her, adjusting

the castle so that cuts our trip short.” And that was the truth. The seaplane could fit our entire family in comfort but needed to be landed at the port or the lake, which were both far from Mirage. Small Cessnas could land on the practically forgotten airstrips with relative

Gemma glared forward and swallowed hard, obviously