Sold as the Alpha King’s Breeder

Chapter 33 : Ambassador from the East

* Xander*

The inn had a modest restaurant on the first floor, decorated in a similar fashion to the rooms above. I was sitting at a round table in a far, quiet comer of the restaurant, a huge platter of roast beef with gravy, sourdough bread, and roasted vegetables laid out between me and the ambassador sent from the East.

He was a young man. likely only a few years younger than myself, with rich dark hair and slightly tilted emerald green eyes. He bore the characteristics of the royal eastern family, with his sharp nose and high cheekbones, and a strong jaw and chin. I eyed him curiously as he forked a piece of roast beef from the platter and dropped it on his plate, letting out a long sigh as he blinked down at his food.

‘’Long trip?" I asked, sipping from my pint of bitter, dark ale.

George, a great-nephew of the former Alpha King of the East, looked up at me tluough his thick, dark lashes as a wry smile touched his lips.

‘‘Absolute hell, if I'm being honest. I always forget how long it takes to get anywhere in Finaldi." He took a bite of the roast and sighed again, shaking his head. “I feel like I haven't eaten in days."

"Same," I said, filling my own plate and stealing a glance toward the foyer.

Lena was in for the shock of her life when she came downstairs to meet us. and I was looking forward to watching her emotions play over her face.

"My partner will be joining us in a moment. She needs to... ulun, finish drying her hair."

"I didn't know your field partner was a woman," he said with a c**k of his brow.

I shrugged, hoping the heat still gripping my body from what Lena and I had been up to only half an hour before wasn't evident on my face.

"She's the best botanist Morhan has to offer." I smiled, despite my efforts to remain neutral.

"Well, don't tell my cousin that." George grinned. swiping a piece of meat through the gravy on his plate. "She's a botanist as well, but her field study is in Red Lakes."

I ran my tongue along my bottom lip, arching my brow and nodding my head in response. Oh, hell. This was going to be interesting.

"You might know her, actually. Selene Gray."

"I don't think I do. My course of study is in pharmaceuticals."

"She'd be hard to miss," he said with a little chuckle. "But I haven't seen her since this time last year. The whole damn family still congregates in Avondale every December-"

I was watching him closely as he spoke. I was feeling a little anxious now. wondering when Lena was going to walk down the stairs. Any minute she'd round the comer of the foyer, and she'd either run or come face to face with the truth.

"Did you come here on your own?" I asked.

in Breles meeting with their Alpha. I'm meant to ran whatever information the warriors have gathered pertaining to the investigation back to them at the end of my stay." He glanced

said lightly, giving him a crooked

I'd already assumed he wasn't in line for any title, but he was still related to the retired Alpha King of Valoria. Ethan Gray. He would have grown up with the princes,

on his enormous family tree. He was tied to the West as well, through the marriage of Alpha King Rowan and Queen Hanna, whose family hailed from Red Lakes and whose

connected the entirety of the pack lands tlu ough marriages and offspring, cementing a hereditary monopoly that would rale for generations to come. It was incredible, really, how much that man

for a few minutes as I gathered my thoughts. I glanced at George as I reached for my beer, noticing the thin gold band on his ring finger. He noticed my gaze and smiled, his cheeks

and wasn't feeling up to a month-long boat ride

I said earnestly, giving him a

before he brought his beer to his lips. "Thank you, it was a surprise, to be honest. I'm still coming to terms with

back in my

I were... well, you know. I'd known her all my life. She's from Suntra. and her family vacationed with mine in Avondale every winter. We were in love, but didn't know we were mates until she turned twenty-one last year. I married her

I said with a little

and chuckling as the memory drifted behind his eyes. "We eloped. I thought

alive, so I'm guessing the family accepted

tough, but when it came down to it, all they wanted was our happiness. It was my great aunt who silenced any

talking about one person. Rosalie, the

felt a glimmer of hope

a royal ambassador, actually. Joy and I are moving with her parents and their pack to the southern

almost spit out my beer, but swallowed it. giving

from Dianny. if you can believe it. Her parents raised the kids that survived, and now what was left of the people in Dianny have outgrown the

I closed my eyes for a

the tales. I assume?" George shrugged, catching

if he only

"Xander!"

eyes narrow'ed at me. I stood abruptly, biting the inside of my cheek as her gaze

George opened his mouth, a surprised but genuine smile playing over his face, but then he

said, clearing my throat as I motioned for her to come join us at our

narrowing his eyes at her as she sheepishly

everything but make eye contact with George. I wanted to ask what her deal w'as, but I knew' it'd be fruitless. She wasn't going

said, giving Lena a stem look that made

from the Alpha of Breles?" she interrupted sharply, forking a piece of roast into

whatever game they were playing via the mind-link, I assumed, and turned Iris attention

She's missing. But based on the evidence gathered from those in the village and the estate, she is the prime suspect of the murder of the woman named Gretta and is wanted for information pertaining to the disappearance of the groundskeeper and farmhand." George sipped Iris beer, his gaze flicking to Lena before he met my eye again. "Something

there. I'd gone with Elaine that day she went