Sold as the Alpha King’s Breeder

Chapter 41 :1 Know Your Family Well

♦Lena*

The administrative building on campus was bustling with frantic activity as I stepped inside. The secretary who usually maimed the front desk was nowhere to be seen, but her desk was overflowing with paperwork, some of which had fallen to the floor. I looked around, hoping to make eye contact with someone who could help me. but no one seemed to even notice my presence.

It was midmoming, and I'd slept terribly the night before. My stomach was in knots over the Xander situation and what he'd say to me today, whenever that would be.

Finally, the secretary returned, wiping sweat from her brow and looking exceedingly stressed. I stepped toward her desk but a man cut me off. speaking harshly to the secretary and pointing a finger in her face.

“Excuse me!" I said loudly, clearing my throat as the man and the secretary turned and looked me up and down. The man straightened up and adjusted his tie before glaring at me and walking briskly away.

“Can I help you?" the secretary drawled, looking annoyed by my presence.

“I need to speak to the uh... the dean, whoever that is now."

She looked me up and down, then sighed, pushing a few papers out of the way and checking a ledger that had been buried under the mountain of paperwork. She tapped her pen on her desk, tilting her head from side to side, then rolled her eyes and pointed to the left.

“Third door on the left," she said, totally resigned.

I swallowed, nodding my thanks. Wliat the hell was going on around here? It looked as though the entire university was coming apart.

I made my way to the door she'd directed me to and knocked. A soft, somewhat flustered voice replied, asking me to come in. I opened it, peeking my head inside.

I was surprised by what I saw. It was a younger woman, likely only in her early to mid-thirties. She had curly black hair that was styled in a short bob around her ears and unique, angled facial feattires that brought out the deepness of her eyes. They were an odd shade, something I'd never seen before. They were so dark they were almost black, but as I approached the desk she was standing behind, I noticed the fine dusting of pale gray around her pupils. She looked up from the file she was holding, her expression changing abruptly as her gaze swept over me.

"Good Goddess, what are you doing here?" she asked, dropping the file on the desk.

I blinked, unsure if I'd heard her correctly. "I'm sorry?"

"You-" she paused, shaking her head, then looked down at the mountain of files on her desk. "Nothing. I thought you were someone I knew, or knew of."

"I was just looking for the dean. I need to talk to someone about my status for graduation."

She looked at me for a moment longer, taking in my face. A strange sadness swept over her features, some long-forgotten memory rushing to the surface of her subconscious.

"What's your name?" she asked as she opened one of the drawers behind the desk.

I told her, but she didn't need to search long. Her fingers were already resting on my file before I'd even uttered my name, my public name, not the one given to me at my birth.

She pulled the file out of the drawer, but it was surprisingly thin. I felt a jolt of shock rock my body as she opened it and gave it a quizzical glance, then sat down in the large, swiveling armchair behind the desk, breathing deeply.

“This is odd," she said with a soft, knowing smile.

the leather chairs in front of the desk, meant for the guests of the dean, one of which having been the same chair I'd been sitting in when the

"What's odd?"

think there would be a lot more information about your courses and grades, but this is... nearly empty." She flipped the single page housed in the file, and my heart dropped into

"Redacted?"

to me. Black ink blurred the majority of the page, everything but the line at the bottom that showed my credits, GPA. and completion status for my degree program. I had a 4.0 GPA,

"Looks like you're graduating-"

my cheeks red as I held the paper up.

"You tell me."

ground my teeth and laid the paper on her desk. Three years. Three grueling, sleepless years of tireless study. My research had been published. I'd had an award bestowed upon me by the Alpha King of the West for my contribution to a cure for a blight that was taking out the massive and ancient redwood trees that stretched across the far eastern comer of the

selfless, in my

piece of paper was all the university had

sitting behind the desk was

happening around here," she noted, looking down at her

emotions before I threw my weight into one of the

your field study. Don't all seniors need to complete

noticing the somewhat wry smile that flickered

completed my

sure you did. I'm sure it's not the reason for all of this... uproar. Or

forward,

exactly?" I asked, and the woman smiled, a real, genuine

don't really know how to explain this to you," she replied, tapping her nails on the desk. My eyes traveled from her face

in a circle. The fiill moon had been replaced by a gem I didn't recognize. It was likely clear, maybe a diamond, but against the rich blue of her sweater it had

my gaze and reached up to

oversee things," she said softly, shrugging one

the Moon Goddess, or the White Queens?" I asked, my heart beginning to pound. I

Queen." she said, folding her hands in her lap, "as a consultant to the Church. A middle man.

of the Moon Goddess

The White Queen.

dry. I hadn't meant to say it

flashing

I flushed.

to graduate." She tapped the file, shrugging. “Why not, at this

"Wliat?"

and I saw the upheaval for the first time. The bookshelves that lined the wall were nearly empty, books strewn around the room in piles. Warriors had been here. They'd pulled everything from the shelves and wall, likely just to make a point. On whose orders,

destruction and put several thousand college students at risk of

did they send you?" she asked,

My blood ran cold.

dumbly, trying to