Sold as the Alpha King’s Breeder

Chapter 36: Secrets

*Lena*

The next day passed without much to talk about. I lounged in bed, feeling sorry for myself. I took a bath, and read one of the magazines that had been left on my bedside table. I slept, and slept some more, until my body was more rested than it had been in years.

Bethany provided some respite from my boredom by coming into the village to have dinner with Xander and me at the hotel.

It was the first time I'd been out of our room all day. Xander had been out most of the night, creeping into our room sometime in the early morning and leaving again before I had even risen from bed around 9:00. We hadn't spoken since our fight at the estate, and the distance was beginning to wear on me.

“What'll you do when you graduate?" Bethany asked over the rim of her glass of red wine.

"I haven't given it much thought," Xander replied, cutting another piece of prime rib and forking it into his mouth. "Travel, maybe."

"What about you, Lena?" she asked, giving Xander an incredulous look before turning her gaze to me.

"I hoped to work in a small town somewhere north, actually, hopefully in Findali. Valoria is very metropolitan."

"What about you, Beth?" Xander poured himself another glass of wine from the decanter, arching his brow at Bethany.

"I like my cottage," she said, but then looked a little morose. "I don't want Henry to come back to an empty..."

"We'll throw him a party," Xander grinned, his voice nothing but comforting. It loosened the grudge I was holding against him just a touch, especially as he met my eye.

"And he'll hate it," I teased, and the look of warmth flashing behind Xander's eyes made the knot in my stomach loosen a touch.

"He'd hide from us," Bethany added with a smirk. I hadn't seen her smile in a very long time.

"You have to be a certain type of person to hide your true identity," Xander began, taking what would be his third helping of prime rib from the platter in the center of the table. "It's a full-time job."

"Are you saying you're not who you say you are?" Bethany quipped.

Xander arched his brow at her in a teasing fashion. "You'd never know, because I'm very good at it. Tell me, what do you know about my childhood or pack? Nothing, because I deflect. I am a man of mystery."

I made a mental note that red wine made Xander talkative and playful, and it brought a ruddy color to his cheeks. I sipped from my own wine, but Xander had his eyes on mine again, peering at me with mirth dancing behind his nearly black irises.

"Lena thinks she's good at it," he added, narrowing his eyes at me.

I felt heat rush into my cheeks, and not from the wine. "I don't know what you're talking about—"

Xander shot me a look that sent a shiver down my spine, and I quickly drained my wine while Bethany cleared her throat and toyed with her napkin.

"I need to get going before it gets dark," she said, glancing between us and smiling softly to herself. She rose to take her leave, and I felt a blanket of tension flood our table.

Xander stood and followed her to the foyer, and I watched with interest as he leaned in to speak into her ear. I couldn't hear what they were saying, but Bethany gave him a shocked look as he placed a small piece of paper in the palm of her hand.

"What did you give her?" I asked as he sat back down.

poured me a second glass of wine, purposefully filling it to the rim. I scowled at him as I tried to balance the wine glass without spilling it on

if you tell me what was in the envelope the ambassador of the east gave you," he

wine glass. "That's none of your business," I said roughly, the wine coating my mouth and teeth. It was entirely too dry for my liking, but

he replied curtly, forking another piece of prime rib into his

one of his own right back. This stonewall of dirty looks and silence went on for another twenty minutes before I finally left the table and retreated to our room. We had one

roughly closing the door behind him. Fire was blazing behind his

taking off my cardigan and tossing it

sharply, crossing the room and sitting on the

began, looking for anything to fight with him

playful smile, which further infuriated me. "You were fine with sharing

did you give

to mine?" He placed

"Secrets?"

"Don't play coy, Lena-"

were right about what you said at dinner," I hissed, taking a step in his direction and pointing an accusing finger at him. “I know nothing about you. I don't know where you're from. I know virtually nothing about what's been happening on the estate. You are the one keeping secrets, Xander.

if you did," he said, c*****g his head to the side. He was trying to get a rise out of me. He was going to push every single one

so I could stuff my hands in

"Tell me-"

George give you before we left the estate? An invitation to the royal

you think he'd give me

"Did he?"

lips into a tight line. "I

sighed, leaning forward, "that

"What did you give-"

a way to find me again, if she wanted to leave Crimson Creek and start somewhere new. I offered to

blood rushing to my cheeks as the tension left my body, replaced by a swell of

Lena, a love note? Me spilling my deepest desires to

"No-"

is

eyes, trying to get a handle on the

"Are you alright?"

breathed, shaking my head. "I need to get out of here. I need to leave this town

stopped talking abruptly, and I opened my eyes to him standing, his body rigid as he looked over at me. He tilted his head to the side, watching me closely. I lowered my gaze to the floor, knowing exactly what he saw, and what I'd been trying to

"I can't-"

cheek as he lifted my face into the light. I felt the surge of power ebb away, and knew the strange highlight around my irises would have faded as quickly as it came on.

often does

I shoved against him. He took a step away from

felt utterly exposed as I backed

else can you

I shook my head.

"Lena?"

part of myself a long time