Sold as the Alpha King's Breeder
Chapter 292

The moonstone.

Chapter 72: When a White Queen Dies Maeve

I didn't even fight as Rex dragged me away from the tomb. I was limp in his arms, my strengthspent, every cell in my body bursting with pure, unadulterated grief.

I felt empty.

I didn't notice how the landscape changed as Rex carried me over a rocky hill and down into a small,sheltered cove. I didn’t notice when my hands were tied behind my back around a tree and I was lefton the shore, facing the water.

Troy was trapped inside the tomb we had spent months trying to replace

And something had happened to my mother.

I could feel it in my bones as I looked out over the water, a great transformation taking place withinme minute after minute, the image of the two wolves I had seen in the circle of stones flowing inand out of my mind.

“Not yet. I'm not ready to lose them,” I whispered as I sat on the beach, waiting for whatever camenext.

Damian's cruiser was rocking on the water in the distance. It was a large, modern boat, its whiteframe glimmering in the sunset as I sat on the beach just outside of a large canvas tent at Damian'sbeach camp.

I counted nine people in total, including Damian. I had been watching the cruiser for several hoursand hadn't seen a single person moving across the deck.

Nine people, that was it. That was all that was between me and getting back the Persephone forhelp freeing Troy from the tomb and doing whatever it took to get back to Winter Forest as quicklyas possible. If I could get free...

I wondered how quickly I could get there if I stole Damian's boat.

A laugh rang out somewhere behind me, and I winced, turning my head only slightly toward thenoise. That's when saw her, and my skin prickled with heat.

"Opaline?” I said, as though to myself.

She was within earshot, however, and looked right at me as she walked along the beach, her icyblonde hair trailing behind her.

She bowed dramatically, then laughed again as she rose, tucking her hair behind her ear. “PrincessMaeve, our royal fugitive!”

"What the hell are you doing here?” I hissed, digging into my restraints with my nails.

“I could ask you the same thing, but I already know. On a little treasure hunt with your boyfriend,huh? I see he was a successful breeder.” She walked toward me, stopping short of me by mere feet.My cheeks flamed with fury as I narrowed my eyes at her. “You didn't answer my question.”

“I'm here because my soon-to-be husband is here, that's why"

"Who? You're already,”

"Oh, Julian? He perished in the invasion,” she said, giving me a faux frown before she began tolaugh again.

I swallowed against the lump in my throat, sensing there was much more to her story about herbrother's, or husband's-whatever he was-death. She watched me for a moment, then knelt so wewere at eye level. She tilted her head from side to side, her black eyes narrowing.

“Damian is making me his Luna.”

“Congratulations,” I said, the sarcasm in my voice biting.

“I will be Luna of all of it, Princess. Every inch of the pack lands.”

"Okay," yawned.

She pursed her lips, unhappy about the lack of reaction she was getting out of me. “Did you nothear what I just said?”

“I did. But, you'll have to pry the title of Alpha King out of my father’s cold, dead hands before youcan ascend the throne as queen.”

"Who says I haven't?” Something in her voice made the breath catch in my throat.

I looked at her, trying to peer behind her haunting eyes. “You've seen him? My dad?”

“Oh, yes. I've seen him. He came to Mirage not long after the invasion with his son, the heir. Yourbrother.”

Fear gripped my chest as I leaned forward, frantically picking at my restraints. “Where are theynow?"

"It doesn’t matter, does it? A lot has happened since you fled from Valoria, Maeve. Like a coward.”“I didn't flee. I was being held against my will —"

“By the man you now love, the same man who is the father of your child?”

I bit my lip, closing my eyes to stop the tears welling in the corners of my eyes from running downmy cheeks. I couldn’ t possibly be this alone, could I? Dad and Rowan wouldn't have gone down soeasily.

“Tell me what happened,” I said firmly, my voice edged with righteous fury. Opaline smiledmenacingly, her eyes narrowing into cat-like slits.

"Opaline, that's enough.” Damian's voice wafted over to us, and Opaline turned her head, her facefalling as her opportunity to torment me further evaporated into thin air.

Damian approached us, looking tired, his eyes lined with dark circles and his hands bandaged, likelyfrom the injuries he had sustained when he tore the tomb to pieces. He reached down and pickedme up by my restraints, lifting me to my feet and roughly pushing me forward to keep in step withhim as he led me into a large canvas tent.

Opaline followed but was quickly dismissed before she could gain entrance to the tent. I gave her amenacing smile of my own as the tent flap closed in her face

To my surprise, Damian cut the rope that bound my hands behind my back. I looked around, takingin the splendor of the tent. The sand had been covered with large rugs, and several couches hadbeen placed around the table Damian had been using as a desk. This place looked lived in, likeDamian had been here for quite a while.

"How did you know where to replace the tomb?” I asked without even thinking. The question had beenat the tip of my tongue since my arrival at his camp.

He shrugged, motioning for me to sit as he took a seat behind the desk. A large tray of food wassitting on a side table. It was nearly nightfall, and it had been almost ten hours since Damian hadtaken me away from the tomb. I was starving.

“I have a friend,” he said casually, cleaning off his glasses with his shirt.

"A friend?”

“Don't listen to Opaline; she is upset you weren't dealt with right away.”

I turned away from the food and stared at Damian, wondering what exactly he had planned for me.“She said my father went to Mirage.”

"He did, yes,” Damian breathed, looking down at a map on his desk.

“Uh, and? What happened to him?” Desperation was tying my stomach into a knot.

“He left with your brother. They were headed north, over the Eastern Mountains.”

“The Eastern Mountains? Why?” No one had ever been able to cross those mountains to myknowledge.

“I don't know, Maeve. And don’t ask me if they were successful. I've been out of range for weekschasing this damn-" He looked up at me, his face totally serious and tone stone cold as hecontinued. “Where is the moonstone?”

I wondered if he knew there was more than one, but decided not to mention it.

“I assumed it would be in the tomb. That's why we came... but you obviously didn't replace anything.”He glared at me. “Don’t play dumb. What did you want it for?”

“To stop you from taking it.”

“There has to be more to it than that, Princess. What were you planning to do with it? What powerswere you wanting to conjure?”

“I have no idea what you're talking about,”

“Tasia told me everything, you know. About what happened to you in Dianny. She warned me yourpowers were unreachable, but I wonder if that's the truth or if you're lying about your abilities.”“Tasia?” My mouth had gone dry at the mention of her name. Tasia, who had been so helpful, sokind to us in Dianny, had been working with Damian this whole time?

“I told you I had a friend who knew where to replace the tomb.” His smile was wicked, and I felt bilerising in my throat as I forced myself to look into his eyes, steeling my expression.

“Tasia is a good-"

“Tasia wants what her pack prevents her from having. She is powerful, that woman. Too damnpowerful for her own good. But with the Moonstones, well-"

“She can't use them. She's not a White Queen.”

"She's still a descendant of the Moon Goddess. The Lycaonian line has always been much morepowerful than the White Queens. I thought you'd know this already, having seen Dianny and itspeople.”

I swallowed, feeling lightheaded. Damian was right; Dianny held great powers in its valley. But Unahad told me not everyone had the powers of Lycaon, that they were rare. That Tasia had been thefirst one born with them in many generations.

"What are you planning to do, Damian?” I was growing impatient. Every minute that went by wasanother minute Troy was trapped in the tomb and my mother was dying-at least that's what I feltlike was happening.

“I want it all, Maeve. I won't lie to you about that. But, I don’ t possess great powers like you andyour mother and Tasia. Your father got lucky when he ascended the Alpha King's throne. He's been alucky bastard his entire life. I've had to grovel and sow my path to the crown every waking minuteof every day. It's mine. It's mine as much as it should have been Romero's, don't you see?”

He stood, walking around the corner of his desk and then leaned against it.

“I needed you to gain access to the cave. I thought you knew where to replace the moonstone andcould harness its powers for me. Troy falling for you only sweetened my plan. I planned to use himagainst you to do my bidding.

Make you bend, break you. But without a moonstone, Troy wasn’t necessary.”

“I don't know where it is,”

“I know, but that doesn't matter anymore. I can still use you to get what I want. Your father hasn'tgiven up his search for you. Before we traveled through the pass I heard he was building an army,”“Il won't let you lay a finger on him, on anyone in my family!"

“I'm afraid you'll be long gone by the time that happens, Maeve. I don’t have any other choice. Onceyou have that child, well... What happens to you will be what should have happened to yourmother.”

My hands went reflexively to my stomach as I glared at him

“That child will be the heir to three kingdoms. I don’t mean to waste that,” he said.

“l won't let you-"

“You don’t have a choice, Maeve. In the morning you'll be heading back to Isle’s with me, wherewe'll get word to your father of your whereabouts. He'll fall for the bait, and I will kill him, and thenyour brother, and then you. That baby you carry will be the heir to everything, and people will followme just for the sake of the child. Do you understand? No one can deny that childs heritage-"

“You have no claim to any throne!” I screamed, the tension in my body giving way to anger. “Yousaid it yourself outside of the tunnel! Troy is the Alpha of Poldesse. Not you.”

“Troy is dead, darling,” he said flatly.

"He's not-"

“If not, then he will be soon.”

“Il won't let you do this. I won't let you have-let you have this baby,” I stumbled over my words,almost saying “babies” and giving away my secret. I would kill myself before I let him have them.

“I don't need the Moonstones anymore, Maeve. Not if I have you. And not if Tasia is successfulwithout them.”

"Successful with what?”

Damian smiled as he sat back down, leaning back in his chair. “Killing your mother, of course. Tellme, would you be able to feel it if it happened? Can you feel it right now?”

I felt as though I would fall apart in that moment, shaking as I tried not to dissolve into a puddle oftears.

“No,”

"Don't lie to me, Maeve. What happens to the heir when a White Queen dies?"