Sold as the Alpha King’s Breeder

Chapter 14 : Get Rid of It

Jared led me through the village away from the party going on in the background. I stopped walking when we reached the kitchen garden, then had to hustle to keep up with him as he walked right past the house and toward the sparse woods beyond.

The “good" woods, I noted, not the scary forest to the north, void of light and filled with beasts, according to the man himself.

“Where are we going?" I asked as we started down a slow descent, the lights of the village fading until we were blanketed in pale violet light, the sun all but set.

“It's a full moon tonight," Jared said, not looking back at me.

“Oh," I said with a hint of annoyance. His answer had given me absolutely nothing. “Are you going to shift and eat me, then?"

He glanced at me over his shoulder, looking me up and down.

“You wouldn't be much of a meal."

I pursed my lips and followed him further into the woods for several minutes. Was this another one of his punishments?

“Jared?" I panted, trying my best to keep in step with him. He didn't answer, so I reached out and grabbed his shirt sleeve.

He whirled on me so swiftly that I had to dig in my heels to stop myself from running right into his chest. “What?"

“Archer and Scarlett. I didn't say or do anything–"

“I know," he breathed, giving me a sympathetic look. “He's defensive of her."

“Because they're mates," I added, and he nodded, but his face was cast in shadow. “And after her baby was taken from her–"

“He fought in the war in the Realm of Light, yes."

I found it a little hard to breathe. Archer? He fought… he would have fought alongside my cousins and uncles. Had Jared as well?

“I didn't," he said as if reading my mind. I was sure the question was clear on my face. “But I heard it was brutal." He turned and began walking again, but he'd slowed his pace so I could keep up. “I had responsibilities that kept me home," he added after a moment.

“I did too," I said softly, my heart stuck in my throat.

Jared glanced back at me, and to my surprise he gave me the softest, most knowing smile. It caught me off guard, and I hastily looked away from him as we continued along a well-beaten trail leading away from the village.

He got ahead of me again after a while. Night was falling, and he carried no lantern. We were blanketed in nothing but moonlight now. I fell even further behind when I eventually looked up, letting the light of the full moon dust my cheeks.

Tommy was a lucky man to have his twenty-first birthday fall on a full moon.

“Keep up," Jared said several yards ahead of me.

I pursed my lips and took a few quick steps to catch up to him so we were walking side by side again. He was very tall, and keeping up with his long stride had me panting with effort by the time we walked out of the woods and onto a bluff. I gasped, looking out onto a wide, sweeping plain broken only by a distant river.

“Woah," I breathed, taken aback by the view. I hadn't realized something like this was so close to Jared's house.

on," he said

hint of excitement in his voice, which made me excited as well. He took my hand and led me down a step trail that wove down the bluff. Water dripped on our heads as we ducked into the

where are you

to help me over a large rock

the distance, moonlight illuminating what looked like

but then gasped, unable

before us. I almost dropped to my

what I wanted

to face him, and I

“Are you crying?"

choked, then glared at him, my vision blurred by fresh

the matter with

his gaze and walked to the circle, but I stopped at the edge, examining the ancient markings etched into the outer faces of each stone that towered several feet above

between them, especially on the full moon. But that was only based on the story my aunt Maeve had told me about her

in Dianny was suspected to have been the only one of its kind in my realm. Dianny was long gone now, buried under miles

it,"

coming up beside me. He reached out to lean his weight against the rock I was examining. I

now, not with a

things are? Yes. Maybe at some point in

to him, somewhat surprised he knew anything about these places and

books I have in my study, you know," he continued,

back to the circle, slowly tracing a finger over one of the etchings that had softened with time. I felt no jolt of mystical electricity. I felt nothing, actually, but the cool touch of the stone against my fingertip, and

into his pocket, leaning into me so the top of my head briefly brushed against his shoulder. He held out his fist, and I instinctively opened my palm

really think it's supposed to be a clock?" he asked in a near whisper, as if we were at risk of being

it over, admiring the somewhat crude craftsmanship. It was very, very old. That was obvious. At first, I thought it might have been forcefully removed from its other pieces because of the jagged edge on one side, but

dread wash over me. I nearly dropped the artifact out of shock, but instead, I closed my fingers around it as I fought for

“You feel it too?"

f**k is this thing?

within its golden surface that threatened to suck every ounce of happiness right out

the pieces do when

rid of it," I said, looking

said levelly. “But

held it in my grasp, the more I felt it wasn't so much as telling the time as it was timing me, seeing how long I could hold it, how long I

studying ancient artifacts such as this one, I ran my finger over the face of it, then along the smooth edge. I pressed into that edge until the metal gave way, and a piece of gold in the shape of an F slid free. Jared was shocked.

was sharpened to a fine point and sliced through my finger, but I barely noticed the pain. “It's meant to fit into the other pieces like a puzzle. Together–" I turned it over, then held it

“Eliza–"

another piece," I said, almost to myself.

“Eliza!"

the center. It'll open like a flower and inside–" I closed my eyes as I ran a finger over the face of the artifact, feeling the tiny, square-shaped ridges that I knew were meant to open up to reveal something, but I didn't know what the something was. A code, maybe… a secret message…

me. I could

What was happening?

I repeated, handing it