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

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 trees at the bottom of the bluff, the last

where are you

me over a large rock blocking

distance, moonlight illuminating

then

standing stones lay before us. I almost dropped to

what I wanted to

to face him, and I hastily wiped away

“Are you crying?"

then glared at him,

the matter

circle, but I stopped at the edge, examining the ancient

better than to walk between them, especially on the full moon. But that was only based on the story my aunt

one of its kind in my realm. Dianny was long gone now, buried under miles of stone. I never thought I'd ever

it," I

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

touch it! Not right now, not with

these things are? Yes. Maybe at some point in

he knew anything

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

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 then Jared's hand against my lower

the top of my head briefly brushed against his shoulder. He held out his fist, and I instinctively opened my palm to accept

to be a clock?" he asked in a near whisper, as

my hand despite its size. It was small, and pie shaped, but the 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 it might have

the artifact out of shock, but instead, I closed my fingers around it as I fought for

“You feel it too?"

this thing?

happiness right out of me. If a single piece of this artifact, or amulet, or clock–whatever the hell it was, possessed

all the pieces do when

I said, looking up

levelly. “But you

tell the time, yes." But the more I held it in my grasp, the more I felt it wasn't so much as telling the time as it was timing

more. Whether it was sheer instinct or some deeply rooted memory from my years 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

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 on either edge. I could see faint shadows inside the artifact as I twisted it from side to side, holding my breath as I listened for

“Eliza–"

another piece," I said, almost to myself. “Then you're missing two pieces, not just

“Eliza!"

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 or item within, or keep

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

What was happening?

rid of it," I repeated, handing it back