Sold as the Alpha King's Breeder
Chapter 356

Chapter 15 You Don't Have To, Kitten"W-What are you talking about, Your Highness?" I stammered, still in shock that he was even there,let alone what he was talking about.“You heard me,” he replied concisely.“But, Prince Theo, Your Highness, I was of the opinion you didn't exactly care for me-at all,” Ireminded him. “Do you recall-"I didn't get to finish my sentence as he interrupted me. “This is an order, Ciana. I'm not here todebate with you. Beginning tomorrow, you will be by my side throughout all of the waking hours ofthe day, unless excused by me.”“But you said that you didn't want a woman-a wife-and that you weren't interested in any of us?" Itried not to argue with him, but he was definitely confusing me. It made little sense to me that hehad just said he didn't want to marry any of us, but now he wanted me by his side at all times.“Things changed,” he replied, his eyes narrowed. “This is what I'm saying now.”"You said if I even thought about trying to be around you, you’ d kill me, didn't you? Isn't that whatyou said, Your Highness?” I could hear the snideness in my voice, and it was a bit rude, but myconfusion was running over my manners."Are you questioning my order?” The prince's eyes narrowed even further. His patience had run out.“Alpha.” Thank the Goddess, Jake was here. As he slipped into my room, his eyes settled on my hairfor a moment, and a confused look took over his face before he suddenly turned a bit red and tookon the initial, fleeting expression the prince had worn. “Sir, I believe she’s just gotten out of theshower. Perhaps we should come back another time.”Theo turned to Jake and concluded, “She'll do what she was told.”“But-" I still wanted to protest when Jake cleared his throat and drew my attention to him. Heaverted his eyes, kept a safe distance between us, and stated in a professional tone, “Miss Black, thetruth of the matter is, Alpha needs your help with the king.”Finally, someone I could actually communicate with!Adjusting a bit beneath the blankets, I asked, “Help with him. how?”“Well, if I may be completely honest,” he continued, “the king wants to make sure that Prince Theo ismaking progress with his search for a woman that he may be interested inmarrying.”I pondered what he was saying for a moment before I blurted, “But... why?"Jake looked at Theo, who was staring at me, his expression still dark and unwavering. Since hewasn't insisting that Jake stop speaking, his Beta went on. “It would be for the best if the king thinksthat Prince Theo is trying to meet a girl that makes him happy, one that he could potentially marryand have an heir with. So... since you're his personal attendant now, it may as well be you.”“So... you want me to pretend that I am in love with the prince? And... he will pretend to be falling inlove with me?” I asked, my eyes shifting from one of them to the other.“Precisely,” Jake said. "And we would like for you to put on a believable show whenever the king isaround.”I was on the same page as them now. It was all meant to fool King Sebastian into thinking that Theoalready found a woman he wanted to be with so he wouldn't have to keep looking through theother girls."Why?" I asked, still thinking over the situation."Why what?” Jake asked me, not realizing I was just thinking out loud."Why would the king want so badly for His Highness to replace a woman? Why doesn't he want him totake his time and be happy with whoever he replaces?” Although Theo was also there, I asked Jake,who I could carry on a normal conversation with.The prince stared at me long and hard, and I realized then that I'd made a mistake by overstepping.“That... isn't your concern,” he said in a low voice.His answer was to the point, but his tone wasn't as angry as I would've expected. No, when Istopped to dissect it, the emotion I picked up on was more distress or perhaps even sadness thananger.“Very well then, Your Highness," I said with a nod of my head. “I'll do it.”Theo cleared his throat. “All right then... Ciana. I shall see youin the morning.” With that, he whirled around and left theroom.Jake let the Alpha go first and then moved to follow him, but before he left, he said, “I'll just... goahead and lock this for you.” He flipped the button on the door so that when he closed it, it wouldbe locked, and I was thankful for his thoughtfulness.Falling backward onto the bed, I stared up at the ceiling. What in the world had I gotten myself intonow?In the next few days, rumors of Prince Theo had found his new favorite were spread in the palace. Iwas following him everywhere at his request, but most of the time, I tried to keep myselfentertained in his office while he was working.For example, this afternoon, he had some war journals out at his desk and was taking notes orsomething. I actually had no idea what he was doing, but watching him work wasn’t the most funway to kill time.What I wanted to do was straighten his bookshelves. It seemed to me that the books were simplystacked on the shelf, without any rhyme or reason. I wanted to put them in order from tallest toshortest or color code them. Instead, I sat in a chair across from him, staring at him, thinking thiswas a colossal waste of time.I couldn't even use the opportunity to speak to him to get to know him better because he wasworking, and I knew better not to interrupt...6Just when I was about to ask if there was anything at all I could do to help him, the door opened,and the king came in.We both stood and bowed to him until King Sebastian waved for us to sit down. “Now, now, youtwo love birds, don't mind me!” he tittered, sitting down on a couch beneath the window.I cleared my throat, not sure what to say to that, but I felt my cheeks heating. I hoped the kingwould mistake my distress for passion."Yes, Father,” Prince Theo said, sitting back down. He picked up the coffee mug off of his desk andfinished it off, setting his cup back down with a disappointed look.I'd just reclaimed my chair when I suddenly saw a way to be useful. Hopping up, I said, “Let me getyou some more,” and took his cup from the desk.“You don't have to... kitten.” The term of endearment fell awkwardly from his tongue, almost makingme laugh.“I want to,” I said. "How much cream do you take again, dear Prince?”"Just a splash,” he told me, forcing a smile that looked unnatural on him, so rarely did he actuallywear such an expression.I hurried into the other room where I'd seen the coffee maker earlier and poured him a cup ofcoffee. Then, I opened the refrigerator to get the creamer and froze. There were two different kinds.One was toward the front of the fridge and looked to be recently used. It was banana cream pieflavored. The other one, pushed all the way to the back, was caramelmacchiato."Which one would he prefer?” I asked myself aloud.It seemed that he would be more of a caramel macchiato sort of a guy, but then, he had justfinished a cup of coffee, and that creamer was way in the back.So... I went with the banana cream pie.He'd said just a splash, so I poured a little in, but the color of the coffee didn't change at all, so Iadded a bit more until it was a light brown. Then, I took it back to the prince and set it on his deskbefore resuming my chair.I kept a wide grin on my face the entire time, remembering that I was asked to put on a show forthe king.“Th... thank you,” the prince said. It must be so rare for him to thank anyone that the phrase ofappreciation didn’t sound natural at all. He waited a few moments to taste his coffee, so my eyeswere focused on the king. He had brought some files with him and was working in his chair.The sound of Theo nearly choking on his coffee had my attention drawn back to him. He coughed afew times and set the cup back down.“Is everything all right?” I asked him, wondering if he needed a pat on the back. “Do you not like it?"“Uh, yeah. It tastes... fine,” he said, coughing again. “You... certainly make an interesting cup ofcoffee.”I had chosen the wrong one. Dang it! “Oh, uh... do you want me to try again?” I asked him.His father shifted his files, likely watching Theo to see if he would lash out at me for messing up.The prince looked physically pained as he said, “No need.” Then as if he was trying to convince me,he added, “I like it, actually.” He still had a smile on his lips when he took another sip, choking itdown.I almost wanted to laugh. It hadn't been my intention to make him drink something he obviouslydidn't like when I'd made the coffee, but it was sort of his fault since he was the one who'd come upwith this silly scheme.“Theodore, where is that book with the facts about the Lake of Wallup? I need to check how manyvarieties of fish live there before I approve this request for another pier to be installed in the port.”"Oh, uh... it's uhm-" Theo strained to look at the bookshelf without getting up.I hopped out of my seat. “I can fetch it for you, Your Highness," I said, looking for a book thatmentioned Lake Wallup.“It's that purple one near the top shelf.” Theo's vice was unexpectedly tender. If he always spoke toother girls this way, who knew what those women would do for him...."You won't be able to reach it, kitten.” He tagged that last word on when he realized he'd been tooharsh with his statement. This time, however, it sounded a lot smoother.“I see it!" I exclaimed, stretching up on my tiptoes to try and pull it down, but he was right, I couldhardly get my fingers on

1.it.He got up from his chair. “Move aside.” Coming up next to me, he whispered in a low and soft voice.His breath blew in my ear, and a chill coursed through my body. For a moment, I felt my knees wereweak again, and the kiss from the other night came back to my mind.Stop, stop, stop! I screamed at myself in my mind. What was I thinking?!I snapped back to reality and warned myself not to be distracted again. “I've almost got it.” Istrained to reach higher, my slight stubborn streak refusing to let me just give up and move out ofhis way.“I'll get it,” he signed gently, his tone almost... doting.However, I was still standing there when he reached up, and his gloved hand brushed mine.I lost my balance slightly and toppled backward, my head knocking into his shoulder. For a moment,his other arm came around me to steady me.A bolt of electricity shot through me and my thoughts all went fuzzy. I inhaled the scent of thewoods after a rainstorm, pine and cedar, leather and bergamot. He smelled masculine, delightful,and completely royal in every way.As quickly as my legs could function again, I pushed away from him, holding my breath and tryingto make sense of my reaction to him. I shouldn't be feeling this way. Prince Theo had made it clearthat he only wanted me to pretend to be his woman; he wasn't interested in me romantically at all.uy punISo... why were the tips of his ears red, and why was he looking at me through his eyelashes, hisbreath caught in his throat?“Thank you,” I muttered.He nodded once and then blinked a few times before taking the book from the shelf and steppingover to hand it to his father. My eyes followed him across the room as I wondered, what sort ofwoman would it take to win the heart of the cold, cruel Dark Prince?