Sold as the Alpha King’s Breeder

Chapter 44: Chased 

My first thought was that we needed to start walking, that we needed to get out of there and see if we could make our way back to the castle. I had no idea what might happen. down there in that cave. We moved to the mouth of the cave, but that was all of the movement I could get from Warren with his injuries, so we stopped and sat down so I could figure out what to do next. 

In one direction, it was nearly pitch black, and the edge of the cave seemed to be surrounded by forest. On the other side, I could see the night sky and thought that might be the way to go. While there were still trees in that direction, at least it wasn’t as thick as the path to my right. 

For now, we were cold and wet. A fire would be nice for us to sit next to and dry off. I would reassess the situation after that. 

With the woods nearby, I was able to gather some wood and kindling. My hands were trembling slightly, so it wasn’t easy to get the fire going, but eventually, I managed to get a spark. 

“That’s impressive,” Warren said. “Not many people can start a fire that way, by rubbing two sticks together. How  did you learn to do that?” 

I shrugged my shoulders. “I’ve spent a lot of time outside.” 

“You have?” he looked puzzled, like that didn’t fit with the woman I was pretending to be. 

“We should get our clothes dry,” I reminded him. 

“Right. Don’t worry. You’re safe to undress. I promise not to look at you.” 

I certainly appreciated it. As the king’s mistress, I was sure that they had seen each other naked before, but that wasn‘ t the real me. I’d already had quite an embarrassing  incident with Theo; I really didn’t need another one with his  brother. 

I created a way to hang our clothes closer to the fire. It was difficult for Warren to undress with his injury, so I helped him. Then I stripped down to my underwear. We sat with our backs to one another in an attempt to give each other some privacy. 

“Thank you for staying with me,” he said in a quiet voice. I tried not to groan aloud because I didn’t want to talk about it right then. But it seemed he was insistent. “I know it might be hard to believe, but I really have loved all of the time we’ve spent together. I appreciate you so much.” 

“But now you’ve chosen another,” I reminded him, unable to keep the bitterness from my voice. 

“Yes, it’s true. It’s not because I don’t love you. It’s just… I made her a promise long ago. When I first saw her, I fell in love with her. I promised her then that if we ever meet again, I would marry her. How can I deny what’s in my heart?” 

“Easily,” I mumbled, but I was so quiet, he didn’t even hear me. 

He continued, “Now, here she is, not only did she come  back, she also… brought our son.” 

My eyes widened. I hadn’t known that! But either way, the news didn’t matter to us, nor would it change our plan. 

He sounded sincere. I couldn’t help but think about how pathetic he would be when Theo and I kidnapped Sophia and forced him to marry me so that she wouldn’t die. 

“I can’t bear the thought of disappointing her again. I hope that you can understand, dear.” He truly did sound upset. “I am very sorry that you and I were not able to make it work. You will always have a place in my-” 

“You’ve gotta do what

angry with me anymore?” I could hear the surprise in his tone that I

I’m sure you two will be very happy together. Really, there’s no need for you to apologize or even bring it up again.”

thought you’d be a little more

to say was,

almost laughed. “Did

rain?” I asked, looking off in the distance. “It would be really bad if we dry our clothes only to

I don’t know. You…

him? Most likely, he was just offended that someone wasn’t dying

tell you that I love you for more than anything in the

answer me.

get dressed.” That odd feeling I’d had earlier, before we’d left the water, was back. I thought perhaps we were

rather quickly and was stepping into my shoes when I thought I heard a whisper carried to us in the wind. It sounded like people, in the distance, having a 

then the howling began.

we were. No,

that?” Warren whispered. I could

“I don’t know.” 

the darkness in the back of the cave, where the noise was coming from. Whatever  the beasts were, they were somewhere deep inside of

howl, they sounded a lot

would during a crisis. “We’ll figure it out. We’ll be fine.” He said it as if he was trying to persuade me as well as

eyes to try to concentrate on

hell bent on tearing us both

howl split through the night sky, and I could hear snarling as

it will be alright.

that I’d surprised him again, but I couldn’t explain because I was too busy trying to reach out to the beasts the way that I had always done to calm wild

special abilities, the snarls, growls, and howls were getting 

working!” I muttered under my breath as

this person

away. I know your wolf is small. You won’t be able to carry me, but

deep down, he was still

for a moment all about the roles we were playing. This wasn’t the king–this was Warren–and I cared about

was to shift, since I couldn’t yet in my real life,

I can’t. I’m too weak and injured.” Even standing there, Warren wasn’t putting

him by the waist and jerked him around so that we were facing toward the woods, the opposite of the way I had wanted to go. “Come on,