Sold as the Alpha King’s Breeder

*Lena*

I didn't have to open my eyes to know who they'd laid in front of me on the other side of the bars. An electric pulse echoed through my body, lighting all my senses on fire in a single breath.

I'd been here for a week, at least, based on the number of times I'd been fed–a week spent praying Xander wouldn't come here… that he wouldn't be taken here.

But as I fixed my pale gray eyes on the bloodied form of the man who was facing me with his cheek pressed painfully against the stone floor, my heart sank into my stomach just as a warm, shadowed embrace wrapped itself around me, guarding me–protecting me.

All I could see were his eyes, black and flaked with amber as they reflected the dim lantern light. Blood… so much blood–it slid down his forehead in a steady stream.

I heard a hiss as something large and heavy was extended backward and then slammed into his back. But he didn't make a sound. His eyes were fixed on mine, searching my eyes for pain, for evidence I'd been hurt.

'Xander,' I begged down the bond as they continued to beat him in front of me. He blinked, but his face remained guarded and expressionless.

But I could feel him tugging on that invisible thread he'd wound around my heart. Whatever this was, it was more than a mind-link. Not only could I hear his words flooding my mind, but I could feel him. I could feel every emotion gripping him. And I knew if he hadn't laid that shadow of his power over me, I would be able to feel the pain wrecking his body, too.

'Use it on yourself,' I pleaded down the bond, my eyes spilling with tears. 'Use this power to shield yourself–'

'You're pregnant,' he said, his voice heard by every fiber in my body as it whispered silently across my skin. Another whack, and this time he winced but then steeled his expression.

A daughter–I sent this between us, and through the pain etched into his face, I noticed the tightness around his mouth as his lips twitched into a smile, a tear rolling off his lashes and sliding across his cheek before dripping to the ground.

How'd we end up here, separated by rusted iron bars? I felt like just yesterday he was standing in front of me on that gravel path leading to the greenhouses on campus, the embroidered “Morhan Varsity Wrestling" sweatshirt he was wearing glinting in the sun as he squinted down at me, a wry, somewhat devilish smile on his face.

He'd put himself in my path. He'd followed me to Crimson Creek. He'd gone through every trial and tribulation I'd faced.

And now? We were mates. I was carrying his child. This was everything I'd ever wanted but had refused to let myself admit.

I reached for him, my fingertips touching his through the bars as another blow landed on his shoulders.

Why us? Why this?

“Don't do it," he said out loud, his voice laced with pain. “Don't do–" His words were cut short by a grunt of frustration as whoever was standing over him ripped his shirt open to expose his bloodied back.

They were torturing him in front of me so I'd bend to their will.

“Get her up," came Maxwell's voice through the darkness.

I hadn't broken my gaze from Xander since I'd first opened my eyes, and I hadn't yet taken stock of those who were standing in the tight, damp corridor leading to the cell. Xander was dragged out of the way, and the cell door swung up. Within a second, I was hoisted to my feet and held there by two unfamiliar men, their touch cold as ice.

I was filthy, covered in grime, and my clothes were damp and stained. I was still wearing the bloodstained, tattered sweater and sweatpants I'd been wearing the night Cedar Hollow was attacked. I felt the sodden fabric sticking to my skin as they shoved me forward through the cell door.

“Lena! Don't do it–Ah! f**k you, Slate, you piece of s**t, I'll kill–" Xander hissed and groaned as the toe of Slate's boot met with his mouth, and I cried out in response to the way Xander curled his body into the fetal position. He was hurt, badly. I bucked against the grip the guards had on me as they dragged me in front of Maxwell.

“Ready to do this?" he asked casually, as though a man wasn't being beaten to death only a foot away from us. I spit on him, baring my teeth.

I knew my powers were returning. I could feel the heat and mist coursing through my veins. I could blast them all into oblivion, harnessing that light I'd used to maim Slate in that alleyway.

Maybe my thoughts were showing on my face, or maybe Xander could feel that power through our bond, because he tugged on that thread–hard.

“No," he growled aloud, spitting blood. “No!"

'Don't show them what you're capable of.' The words drifted through my mind and over my skin. I let the power drift away, taking a choking breath.

“I won't do anything if you continue to hurt him," I snarled at Maxwell, who only smiled in response and snapped his fingers before Slate could land another blow to Xander's back.

Slate looked disappointed, biting his lip as he glanced down at Xander with pure hatred, and maybe jealousy, burning behind his eyes.

Maxwell looked at the guards and nodded, stepping out of the way as I was taken away, the tips of my toes brushing the floor as the guards held me upright and walked through the corridor to a set of stone stairs leading up.

A dungeon–that's where I was. Was I underneath the manor? Was I even in Crimson Creek? No one had told me anything since I'd woken up in that cell.

I called out Xander's name as they dragged me up the stairs. There was no door at the top, nothing but a worn-out wooden hatch that hid the stairs from the world above. I was dropped onto my knees, and fine dust swirled around my legs as I looked up, seeing nothing but endless stars.

I knew where we were now. We were in the hills outside of the Radcliffe Estate. The hills rose up around me, sheltering me as I knelt in a narrow glen speckled with gnarled, dead trees. I turned my head to look back at where we'd come and watched as Maxwell and Slate dragged Xander out of the hole that led to the cell. Stones encircled the place, the remains of what could have been a temple of some kind, long lost to time and decay.

“Further," Maxwell commanded, motioning toward the guards as he struggled to pull Xander up the last of the stairs and into the glen.

The guard yanked me upright and dragged me several yards away from the ancient temple, centering me at the base of the glen where the hills began to give way, and a view of the landscape beyond was visible.

No lights flickered in the hills. If Crimson Creek was in front of me, well, it was darkened, empty, not a single sign of life evident among the sea of stars creeping along the horizon.

That shadow of power Xander had embraced me with started to tighten around me as I was dropped to my knees once again.

'Don't do it,' he pleaded through the bond, and the mark on my chest seared with heat as his words echoed through my body.

“Alright," Maxwell said over the sound of Xander's body hitting the ground. I turned to look over my shoulder at him, narrowing my eyes as Maxwell walked toward me, his hands tucked neatly behind his back.

Why hadn't I noticed him before? That odd coloring to his skin in the cloak of night and the way his eyes glowed like sparkling, crimson orbs?

It was a transformation, I realized, a little too late. I knew nothing of his kind. He could hide this side of himself and blend in, pretending to be one of us, luring his prey with kindness, with charm.

I thought of the attic where he'd kept Carly Maddox. I thought of the butler. I thought of the man from my nightmare.

A monster–Maxwell was a monster. And he wanted me to unleash the rest of his kind upon my lands.

“We'll kill him if you don't comply with the king's demands," Maxwell began, sensing my hesitation.

“You'll kill him anyway! You're killing him, right now!" I snapped, rounding on him and positioning myself on my hands and knees. He was standing between Xander and me, with the guards behind me and Slate standing behind Xander.