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.

he said

a step trail that wove down the bluff. Water dripped on our heads as we

are you

replied, pausing to help me over a large rock blocking

the distance, moonlight

began, but then gasped,

standing stones lay before us. I almost dropped to my knees in

is what I wanted to show

I hastily

“Are you crying?"

then glared at him, my vision blurred

matter with

the edge, examining the ancient markings etched into the outer

the full moon. But that was only based on the story my aunt Maeve

of its kind in my realm. Dianny was long gone now, buried under miles of stone. I never

it," I said

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

now, not with a full moon. Do you

at some point in time they

knew

have in my study, you know," he continued, giving me

felt no jolt of mystical electricity. I

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 to accept whatever he'd

asked in a near whisper, as if we were

edges on one side were rough and uneven. I turned it over, admiring the somewhat crude craftsmanship. It was very, very old. That was obvious. At first, I thought

feeling of dread wash over me. I nearly dropped the artifact out of shock, but instead, I closed my fingers around it as I fought for breath. Jared made no moves to take it from me when he sensed my body going rigid. He was looking right at me, watching a torrent of emotions play

“You feel it too?"

this thing? Why does

suck every ounce of happiness right out of me. If a single

all the pieces do when brought

of it," I said, looking up into his

levelly. “But you think it's a

much as telling the time as it was timing

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. “How

in a voice that sounded very little like my own. I ran my finger over the jagged end, slowly pressing until another piece slid free. This new piece 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 up to the moonlight to peek into the now visible inner compartments

“Eliza–"

said, almost to myself. “Then you're missing two pieces, not

“Eliza!"

in 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… whatever it was, I knew it was bad. It was a Cipher Wheel, a Cryptex, a puzzle… something meant to carry a secret message

wave of dread ripped through me. I could almost hear it taunting

What was happening?

I repeated, handing it