Sold as the Alpha King's Breeder
Chapter 301

Chapter 81 : The Moonstone Sinks into the Ocean

Maeve

Gemma was sitting at the kitchen island, pouring a hefty amount of cream into her coffee. Shestirred in two spoonfuls of sugar before setting the spoon down and lifting the mug to her lips.

I was standing near the sink, the carafe of coffee in my hand as I prepared to pour myself a mug. Ithad been a long night with little sleep. Dad had finally gotten me into my bed, tucking me inwithout even giving me an opportunity to take my boots and coat off, acting like if he didn’t get meinto bed and tuck me in like he used to when I was girl, I would disappear right before his eyes, likea dream.

I hadn't even had a chance to talk to Mom. He had made her go back to bed before I even reachedthe top of the stairs.

Mom was always the first one awake in the mornings. I thought I'd

see her in the kitchen, making coffee. Instead, I made it myself, alone, until Gemma came in fromwhere she had slept on the couch in the den.

“Is everyone staying in the house? The whole family?” I asked her as I poured a small cup of coffee.Cleo had been wary of the fact still preferred coffee over tea, saying something about the effects ofcaffeine during pregnancy, but I hadn't listened.

Coffee in the morning was my ritual. I wasn't the same without it. I did try to make it a bit weakerthan I had before my pregnancy.

"Oh, not. Not usually. Talon and Ernest are in Mirage, so Georgia

wanted me to stay here instead of at home, so I wouldn't be taking care of George all alone. Vicky'sgirls wanted to put on a talent show for us last night, and it got late, so they stayed over. I don'tthink they like staying in the castle, it's more fun over here.”

“I've missed a lot, haven't 1?” I couldn't hide the hurt in my voice as I sat down on the stool acrossfrom her, reaching for the bottle of cream. She slid the sugar bowl toward me, smiling somberly."You missed a lot of drama, that's for sure. But you're here now; that's all that matters.”

"Do you know where Troy is?" I hadn't spoken to him since we left the ship, and Dad had shut me inmy room, where Troy hadn't joined me. Gemma pursed her lips, sighing deeply.

“Rowan made him sleep in the garage.”

“What? Why?”

“Because your dad wouldn't let Rowan lock him out of the house entirely. I saw the three of themleaving the house early this morning when Georgia came into get George so I could sleep a

little longer.”

Gemma didn't seem concerned, but I was reeling. She noticed this and shook her head, sippingfrom her coffee. “They're not going to kill him, Maeve.”

"Are you sure? Rowan and Troy beat each other up pretty good last night.”

"Well, based on what Rowan'’s face looked like this morning, I would say Troy was the winner, huh?”Her eyes twinkled with mirth

as she set her mug down, turning it in a circle.

I heard footsteps in the foyer, and Georgia appeared, carrying George against her shoulder. He wasroughly two months old and very active, squirming and chomping down on her shoulder.

"He's trying to eat me,” she laughed, handing him to Gemma and running her finger along his cheekand tickling him under the two sets of rolls beneath his chin.

He grinned, his dark blue eyes creasing up at his grandmother. “And I said I have nothing for him.That time for me has passed!” Georgia said in a goofy voice that George seemed to love. He cooedand squealed, then promptly turned his head toward Gemma's chest, rooting with vigor.

"Oh, he'd try. Trust me. Ernest had to start sleeping with a shirt on because George got him oncewhen he was sleeping between us. I think it scared Ernest to death, he wasn't expecting it.”

“Ah, men and their useless nipples.” Georgia kissed Gemma on the top of the head as she passedby, heading toward the den. She stopped to squeeze my shoulder and kiss me on the cheek,unusual behavior on Georgia's part who I had always considered the crazy aunt who had taught usbad words and encouraged us to be naughty in front of our parents.

“When will Mom be up?” I asked Gemma, turning to face her. Gemma was fumbling with thebuttons of her flannel shirt, making shushing sounds to George as he began to fuss.

“She sleeps late now. It's been hard for her since... well, Ethan told me I couldn't say anything toyou, Maeve. I'm sorry.”

"Why not?”

“Because it's something you have to talk about with your mom. He said it... wasn't my business. He'sbeen a real crab lately.”

"Something bad happened, didn't it?"

"Yeah... it was bad. But ...." She looked into my eyes, sighing. “Do you remember my necklace? Theone my mother left me. You saw it once in Mirage, you mentioned it"

“Yeah, I remember...” A chill ran up my spine, picturing the dainty necklace in my mind.

“Well, it has powers,”

I stumbled out of the chair, spilling my coffee. George unlatched from Gemma and twisted his faceinto a grimace, surprised by the noise. He wailed, clenching his tiny fists.

“Maeve! What's the matter?”

I was already sprinting through the house, sliding to a stop in front of the front door. I pulled one ofRowan’s coats on and slipped my feet into a pair of my dad's rubber boots that were sitting by thedoor before I ran outside.

I slowed on the stairs, careful not to slip, but started running again once I hit the driveway, one armcradling my huge stomach as I ran through the gate and down the snow-covered road.

The cruiser was docked at the port, covered in snow. Duck was running through the snow on thedock, playfully barking as he pounced, sticking his long snout into the snowdrifts sneezing,thoroughly enjoying himself. “Duck!” I called to him, breathing heavy as I skidded to a stop on theslippery planks of the dock. Duck barked at me in reply, his tail wagging.

Dad walked onto the upper deck of the cruiser, crossing his arms

over his chest as he looked down at me. “What the hell are you doing out here in your pajamas,Maeve? It's freezing.”

"Where's Troy?" I said in a strained voice, struggling to catch my breath. I was very much lookingforward to not carrying around an extra sixty or seventy pounds when this pregnancy was over.Troy walked up to the railing, and I sighed with relief, leaning forward with my hands on my knees.“What's wrong?” he asked, his voice brimming with concern.

"G-Gemma has the other moonstone-" I cried, looking back up at them. It had started to snowagain, fine flakes that fell in a dizzying pattern. It was more like the flakes were suspended in the air,and I was suddenly dizzy, unable to differentiate the sky from the ground. It was all the same color.I sat in the snow with a crunch, and both Troy and Dad ran from the deck and were at my side in amatter of seconds.

"She was wearing it the night she died. I was trying to help her when Ernest was carrying her out ofthe castle, and he pushed me away. My hand grazed her chest, I felt the necklace on my hand. It-itstung me. I remember,”

My vision blurred, and suddenly I was flat on my back, Dad and Troy leaning over me with theirfaces darkened with concern.

“We have to get her back to the house-" they said in unison, and then they stared at each other."Where's the other moonstone?!” I snapped in frustration, stuck on my back like an upside-downturtle.

“It's in the safe on the boat-" Troy stammered.

“Go get it!” I started to rock back and forth, trying to get over onto my side, but Dad stopped me,grabbing me by the armpits as he lifted me upright onto my feet.

"You need to calm down,” he said sternly, brushing snow from my coat. “Go back up to the houseright now,”

“You don’t understand!”

"Why are you wearing my coat?” Rowan was walking up to us, glaring at me.

“Nice to see you too, idiot!" I hissed. Rowan dramatically put his hand over his heart, pretending hewas going to faint in a dramatic way.

“Nice of you to finally show up, Maeve. How was your vacation?” He hadn't had a chance to rouseme the night before because he was too busy trying to beat up my mate.

“Shut-"

“That's enough!” Dad grabbed me roughly by the arm and began walking me across the docktowards the road.

“I got it! I got it-" Troy was walking briskly forward, holding the moonstone up in the air. I turned,making Dad come to an abrupt stop. Duck was barking at him, baring his death.

Duck yelped when Dad bared his teeth back and took off down the dock toward Troy, but slipped,sliding on his side into Rowan, causing Rowan'’s knees to buckle.

Rowan lost his balance and grabbed onto Troy's arm, and the two of them fell off the dock into theswallow, icy water.

"For Goddess's sake,” Dad hissed as he let go of my arm and

stalked towards the dock, where Troy and Rowan had come back to the surface of the water,gasping in shock from the cold.

"Get out of the water! What is wrong with you kids-" Dad grabbed Rowan by the collar of his jacketand lifted him onto the dock while Troy gripped the dock with his fingers, his teeth chattering. Dadreached down to help, but Troy suddenly let go of the dock.

“I dropped it! Oh, shit. I dropped-" he sucked in his breath and disappeared below the surface of thewater again.

"Troy!" I screeched, his name drowned out by the massive splash of water that washed over the deckas Rowan jumped in after Troy, the spray coating Dad in icy, gray liquid. He threw his hands up insurrender and walked toward me, shaking the water off of his coat.

"Aren“t you going to help them?" I said in disbelief.

Dad shook his head, pointing up to the house. “Go, come on.”

“Dad!” I protested, but then saw their heads pop back up on the surface, Troy holding themoonstone in his hand. They laughed as they started to swim toward the shore.

“I think they like each other,” I said as I started to walk forward to catch up to Dad, who was walkingbriskly in front of me, taking long strides.

It took a few seconds to catch up to him, and I was breathing heavily again, grabbing onto his jacketto try to slow him down.

"What were you guys doing this morning?” I asked.

“Meeting the prisoner... again,” he said shortly, talking about Opaline. I hadn't even thought of hersince we'd reached Winter Forest.

"Did you"

“Do you realize who he is, Maeve? Where he comes from?”

“Troy?” I was confused. Opaline was a she....

“Yes. Troy.” He appeared to be angry and frustrated as he looked down at me. I squared myshoulders. I had been preparing for this moment for months.

“Troy is a good man. He's saved my life, countless times!”

“He is Romero's grandson-"

"He never knew his family. None of them. He's been on his own since he was four years old!” I cried,my voice breaking with emotion.

“He's Maddalyn’s son!”

“That mean’s nothing to me! I never knew about her; you told me nothing about,”

“Oh, I did. But you never paid attention!”

“That's not true. You and Mom only told me what you thought I needed to know-"

“Because we never thought you'd be in this situation, Maeve!”

“He is my MATE!" I cried.

It was the first time I had ever said the words and meant them. I started to cry as I unbuttoned thetop of my coat, roughly pulling the fabric down to show him Troy's mark on my neck. Dad blinked,then his face flushed with fury.

“Go. Inside. Right now!”

“I'm not a kid anymore, Dad,” I mumbled as I pushed past him, waddling up the road with mychilled fingers folding into fists at my sides.

I could feel his eyes on me as I walked away, and my tears were cool against my skin, sticking to myface in the bitter cold.

I reached the house and struggled on the stairs, cursing under my breath as my stomach tightenedinto one of those fake, practice contractions Cleo had told me about. I had five weeks until my duedate, and the contractions had become more regular. Not painful, but annoying, and tended to bemore frequent whenever I was stressed or upset.

Once inside, I sniffled as I fought to free my arms from the coat. I hung it up on the hook, which wasfastened to the wall along a lengthy piece of wood that made up the coat rack. I was too rough, andthe entire rack came off the wall, landing on my toes.

“F*ck!” I cried, unable to bend over to rub my foot because my stomach was in the way.

“Maeve? Are you alright?” Mom was standing in the hallway, holding a cup of tea in her hand. Shelooked extremely fatigued as she came to my side, rail thin, her hair limp and pulled away from herface. She was a shell of herself! II

“No!” I howled, bursting into tears.

She put her arms around me and held me for a moment as I cried against her shoulder.

“I love you,” she whispered, kissing me lightly on the cheek. “I missed you. I was looking for you justnow, but Gemma said you'd

gone to look for your Dad...” She turned me to the stairs and led me into her bedroom.