Sold as the Alpha King's Breeder
Chapter 274

Chapter 54: What Happened to Seraphine?

Rowan-Valoria

Boy, did things unravel.

We hadn't been able to sleep for long before Damian's warriors found us again. Dad led us deeperinto the forest, crossing the river and attempting to back track towards Mirage, but it was too late.The forest was full of wolves. We were two against an impossible force.

"What pack did that woman say she was from?’ Dad said, his voice cracking over the mind-link aswe began to climb up the base of the mountains, our paws slipping on the uneven, fragile shalerock.

“Greenbriar, I think,’ I answered, my legs sore and hips aching from the exercise. I ran in my wolffrom every single morning and had done so for years. But spending over twenty-four hours as awolf was causing an indescribable exhaustion and something I had never experienced before.

Plus, I was watching my dad's plans fall through, and he was pissed. Especially after we crested thetop of a cliff face looking over the forest and our plane buzzed the top of our heads.

*Damnit!” he said, turning his head to watch it ascend into the clouds.

“That was us, wasn't it

"Yes, obviously. Come on, we have no choice but to keep going. They're pushing us into themountains, and we're outnumbered-

The mountains? What exactly are you planning,

“I was wrong, Rowan. There's too many of them. I hadn't expected Damian to have made allianceswith other packs in Valoria, especially without my knowledge. We have to get home

"By crossing the mountains? Are you insane? That'll take us weeks!”

Howling drifted from the trees below as we continued to climb, and I winced, torn between twoimpossible paths.

How did I prefer to die? Being torn apart by wolves, or dying of exposure in the mountains betweenthe North and Valoria?

“We have no choice. They're expecting us to travel through the forest until we reach the NorthernTier. Stop whining, let's go.’

I followed him up and over another ridge, padding further and further into the clouds until I finallylooked down, seeing a full view of what had once been Mirage. Fires burned in pockets across thecity. I could see the destruction of the buildings from our perch. And there was the castle, standinglike an untouchable fortress amongst fields of golden grass.

And ahead of us?

I looked up where Dad had stopped and stretched his legs.

Nothing but miles, and miles, and miles of stone.

One Week Later

* Who did these belong to?” I asked, pulling the jeans on and tucking in the sweater I had pulledover my head. Dad was lacing up a pair of boots, grimacing as he pulled the laces taunt.

“Really want to know?" he said through his teeth as he tied the other boot. We were sore and deadtired, having spent nearly a week trudging through overgrown valleys and over the peaks of snowcapped mountains.

But the terrain we were in now was remarkably changed, the once perfectly sculpted mountainsgiving way to deep craters and sharp, uneven peaks. Nothing grew here, and fields and fields ofboulders marked our journey between valleys. This hadn't been what I was expecting. Themountains were far east, lined by thick, almost impenetrable forests.

We saw a flag. A familiar flag. Waving in the stiff, unrelenting breeze. The flag of Winter Forest.

The flag had marked the entrance to a narrow cave opening and inside we had found bodies.

Dad had stood at the cave's entrance for a long time, peering into its depths. We didn't speak as weinspected the bodies, still fully dressed under layers of rotting fabric. He counted them, one by one,and after we found their backpacks, we shifted and changed into the spare clothes they hadbrought on their journey.

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Chapter 54: What Happened to Seraphine?

"Who are they?” I asked, running my fingers through my matted, filthy hair. The bodies werenothing by bone by now, and must have been here for a long, long time. But their clothes weresurprisingly modern compared to how old I thought they must have been.

“The missing explorers. They've been here for roughly fifteen years, give or take.”

"You mean the expedition you sent out when I was a kid? Really? This is them?” I looked down at thebones at my feet, my stomach tightening as the memory of their departure from Winter Forest, allof us watching and cheering them on as they disappeared into the forest, bound for the mountainsI remembered looking back at Gemma, who had tears in her eyes as she watched her mother leadthe group. Seraphine had looked back at her, smiling, and blew her a kiss.

They never came back.

"Seraphine? Is she-" I tried to remember what Seraphine might have been wearing, but they haddressed in a similar fashion for the journey. It was damn near impossible to tell them apart.

“Two are missing. I'm not sure,” Dad said briskly, tossing an empty backpack out of the caveopening. He turned back, walking deeper into the cave where it was dark enough to swallow hisbody whole.

“Dad!”

“I'm here. I'm not going to go far. Look through the packs for anything like flashlights or matches.They had a fire in here, I can see the ash on the cave walls.”

I did as I was told, rifling through each of the backpacks. I collected two matchbooks that were indecent shape and at least half full, and a lighter that was dry, useless. I also found a compass andpopped it open, noting we were facing exactly due North.

"What were they looking for?” I asked as Dad came out of the darkness. He had his hands tuckedinto the pockets of the jacket he had found as he scanned the ground once more, crouching downto examine the bodies.

*Seraphine convinced me to have a team sent into the mountains. No one had ever crossed themountains before, at least as far as we know. Generally speaking, when we travel by land from theNorthern Tier to Mirage, we do so through the forest, but she was convinced there was more to replaceto the east, that it could be faster if we found this river. It's hundreds, if not a thousand miles ofmountains and valleys between Winter Forest and Valoria on the east. This was shortly after the warwhen our planes and boats were in disrepair and supplies were short. We were desperate, andSeraphine, she well. She said halfway through the mountains was a river that she believed linked upwith the river that runs through Valoria, through Mirage. She believed she could replace it, it would befaster than traveling through the forest by land.”

"How did she know there was a river?” I asked. I remembered Seraphine, and she was always astrange woman. Not in a bad way, but in a way that made me wonder if she knew and saw thingsmost people couldn't. My parents trusted her.

“It didn't matter to me at the time. It sounded plausible. There were warriors that wanted to go,begged in fact. So, your mother and I gave our permission.”

“I remember them leaving for the expedition. I wanted to go with them.”

“I remember that,” Dad said with a sober smile, “You fought us for weeks.”

Thad only been ten or eleven at the time. The expedition had opened up a whole new world for meand the other boys in Winter Forest. We were the generation born after the war, confined to oneplace while the adults cleaned up the mess. Suddenly, the small bubble we had been living in hadopened up, and we wanted out.

"What killed them?” I asked, moving towards the entrance of the cave.

"Exposure, starvation. I'm not sure. I'd need to inspect them closer, but for now, we need to replace aplace to rest and start a fire. Are you hungry?”

I shook my head. We had been eating rabbits and ground squirrels for a week and had stayed wellfed, thankfully.

“Should we bury them,”

“No,” Dad said quickly, grabbing the packs as we exited the cave, "We shouldn't disturb them. I'll domy best to identify them so I can give their families closure when we return to Winter Forest, butthat's all. I don't like the feeling here.”

I agreed with that; the cave felt somewhat electric and overwhelming. I was thankful to leave,walking a quarter mile away over the boulders until we reached another short cliff where a caveopening was hidden between a pile of boulders.

Dad went inside first, lighting matches as he examined the shallow cave. We could fit inside if wecrouched and sat, but we couldn't stand. “We'll sleep here,” Dad said, “look for something, anything,we can burn. We can't have a fire inside, but we can have one burning at the entrance for light, atleast.”

I went out to replace kindling, careful of the uneven ground as I moved through the boulders. Theywere black rocks, uneven. Likely volcanic.

That would explain the strange landscape and cave systems.

I looked back towards the caves, seeing the top of Dad's head disappear as he made his way backto the final resting place of the expedition. I felt a pang of regret as I watched him, wondering whathe might be thinking.

Ethan, the Alpha King. Ethan, the mate of the White Queen. Ethan, who likely felt he had failed tosave his daughter, who lost his hold on the castle of Drogomor. Whose nephew, the Alpha ofDrogomor, was missing or dead.

I grabbed a few handfuls of dry grass and rose, tucking them under my arm. Then I heard awhooshing sound and turned to it, right as something hit me hard, square in the face.

I staggered backward, my vision blurring as I tried to maintain my balance. I could taste blood, feelit streaming from my nose.

“What,”

Another whoosh, another blow, this time to my shoulder. I fell to my knees, pain radiating throughmy body as I heard Dad's voice lifted in alarm

Then everything went black.

ttt

“Rowan, wake up!" Dad's voice crackled over the mind-link. I blinked, sitting bolt upright andimmediately regretting it. I grimaced, groaning as I brought my hands to my face. I tried to blink, toopen my eyes, but they were watering incessantly, blurring my vision. “Count to three! Dad saidover the link.

I can't see

Suddenly my nose crunched, the sound of it echoing around wherever we were. I almost screamed,but Dad's hand flew over my mouth in warning. I sputtered blood as he took his hand away. I couldfeel him next to me, and after a minute or two, my vision began to clear, and I could see throughthe slits of my eyes that we were in a room, something carved out of the rock, lit by torches.

"Your eyes are swollen, Rowan. I just realigned your nose.’

"Yeah, I can f*cking feel it-'I said, reaching up to touch my swollen eyes.

“Don’t say a word out loud, do you understand?

"Yeah," I replied, touching my nose next. “Where are we?’

“I don't know. They put a sack over my head. But we were brought down somewhere, likely in acave.’

I heard the sound of keys jingling, then a door opened up. I turned to the noise, Dad gripping myarm and positioned himself in front of me as someone stepped into the room.

*Alpha King Ethan, we've been expecting you,” came a voice, deep and slightly raspy. The unfamiliarman spoke in a strange accent, something I had never heard before.

"Who are you? What pack is this?” Dad said sharply, rising to his feet.

“Pack Lycenna. Come, the Alpha is expecting you... both.” I felt the man's eyes on me, and Dadstiffened beside me, his hand resting on the top of my head.

"He's injured. The Alpha can come to me.”

A laugh rang out, echoing through the room. “No, he can't, so you will come. You can leave the boy,but I guarantee something else will fetch him, and they won't be gentle.”

Can you walk?’ Dad asked over mind-like.

"Yeah, it's just my face that hurts. F*cking b*stards.’

He helped me to my feet, guiding me as we followed the man out of the room. I could barely see athing, only the light coming off the lanterns as we walked down a long, winding hallway.

I could hear noises, voices, drifting down the hallway, the sound getting louder as we stepped into alarge, circular room. A hush came over the voices as we continued to walk, eventually standing inthe center of the room.

I could feel dozens of eyes on me. I blinked, the swelling giving way and allowing me a clearer viewof where we were.

An elderly man sat at a table in front of us, the table carved out of stone. He was ancient, the skinhanging from his face and his bald head gleaming in the amber light of the torches along the walls.But Dad was looking past him at a man standing against the wall. He wasn't much younger thanDad himself. Tall, with shaggy red hair, he looked at us like he recognized us. He was staring right atus, his mouth slightly ajar.

“Who is that? He looks familiar,

“Otto.’ Dad answered quickly, turning his head away from Otto as he looked back at the Alpha. Icould feel the adrenaline coursing through his fingers as he continued to grip my arm. “Don’t say aword.’