Sold as the Alpha King's Breeder
Chapter 392

Chapter 50: She Warmed My Heart

Fear, hatred, pain, and despair... other than those feelings, I couldn't sense anything else. Myfather's cruelty and my mother's callousness made me realize that there was no place for me to runto and no place for me to hide.

I was hopeless.

A thick fog seemed to roll in out of nowhere. I held my breath, wondering what my next nightmarewould be.

Somewhere in the distance, I heard the faint sound of a woman singing. It was a lullaby, a beautifulsong. And I was certain I'd heard it before. But when?

The fog lifted, and I found myself in a military tent. This was a familiar scene to me as well. Withouteven looking in a mirror, I knew how old I was. This happened when I was six- teen.

When Beta Xavier threw aside the tent flap and walked in, I wasn't surprised to see him. I sworeunder my breath, know- ing what was about to happen.

Two loud, deep, male voices were taunting me. “Come out and face us like a man, you coward! Youmonster!"

I took a deep breath and waited for Xavier to speak. He kept his distance from me, hanging back bythe entrance. I was used to it by now. Even with my gloves on, even with a mask at the ready thatwould cover almost my entire face ex- cept for my eyes, no one wanted to be anywhere near me.“Prince Theo, your father wishes for you to attack at once,” he said.

"What is all of that commotion?” I asked the question as I had back then, even though I knew theanswer.

“The twin Alphas, sir. They are protesting against His Majesty, claiming that they're a peaceful packand don't want war. But they also don't want to contribute their natural re- sources to the crown asyour father is insisting.” Beta Xavier folded his hands in front of himself, awaiting my response.

“I understand all of that, Xavier.” I had been tasked to de- stroy this pack two years ago, at onlyfourteen, but I hadn't done it yet. I'd always been fond of this pack. I remembered the stories mymother had told me when I was a little boy about the tall trees that grew here and the gems andminer- als. Father wanted to exploit those resources, but I had been able to push aside thoseambitions until now.

Thus, Xavier's presence. The king thought I'd go in and kill all of them with his Beta here.

“I'll deal with them,” I said, pushing up from my chair.

“But Your Highness, we simply need to attack, to take the entire pack out,” Xavier told me.

As I walked toward him, he moved away, afraid I might touch him

Afraid I might kill him.

I walked right past him, outside, to where the two Alphas

were waiting for me. They were both tall and muscular-and angry. I took a deep breath andapproached them, not want- ing to do so but knowing that I had to. I also knew exactly what wasgoing to happen.

At least once I'd gotten through this, I might finally have some peace.

The woods jutted out to the edge of the cliff, and down below, the ground slanted at a sharp angle,and even more evergreens reached out to the sky. It would've been a beauti- ful scene if it wasn'tabout to be the scene of a death.

"Come on, you coward!” one of the twins shouted. “Come and fight us like a man!”

I looked at them coldly and sneered, “You both should shift, or you won't last more than tenminutes.”

However, they didn't. Because I wasn't old enough to shift, they insisted on fighting me in humanform to be fair. They were good men, but one of them had to die. Only then could I save their pack,and I could see my plan through...

I knew that. I knew everything, even the first time I'd gone through this. I knew that if I didn't replace away to permanently get out of attacking this pack, then it wouldn't be just one of their Alphas losinghis life-they would all die.

The two of them came at me. I used a knife to defend my- self, but I was no match for two of themost famous warriors and Alphas known throughout the country.

Then, one of them came at me, and I cut him in the chest, but it wasn't enough to hurt him. Hemanaged to slash at my arm, shredding it slightly.

Pain radiated through my flesh, and blood began to drip down.

“Is this all you've got? Little prince, why don't you..." he couldn't finish his sentence though; he frozein his tracks. His eyes enlarged, and a look of horror took over his face. He fell to his knees. I felt hispower, his strength, but I also felt his an- guish and terror.

“Stop!” the other twin shouted. “Stop right now! You're killing him! You're killing my brother!”

“I told you to shift,” I lifted my gaze to look at him emo- tionlessly.

He fell to the ground, dead, and then, his brother, rather than running to him, raced toward me.

He shifted into his wolf, hitting me hard and knocking me backward. His claws ripped through me,splitting my middle and digging into my leg. I ripped my knife out and plunged it into him, forcinghim off of me. “Do you want to die, too?” I shouted at him.

The twin realized that he was about to have the same thing happen to him as he'd just witnessedwith his brother, and he backed off.

I lay there, bleeding, wondering if it was enough.

Was it enough to persuade Xavier that I'd already tried and failed, and if Prince Theo couldn't takethem down, none of the king's warriors could? Was it enough to rile this pack up to seek revengefor their leader, so that they could stand a chance to fight off the king's troops? Was it enough tomake people think I would die and end this misery?

I hoped so.

I watched the giant wolf charge toward me and give me another blow.

As my body rolled over the edge of the cliff, I whispered to the giant wolf, “I'm sorry.” I doubt thathe heard it though.

Tumbling down, hitting trees, snapping branches, and knocking pebbles and rocks loose from theearth, eventually, I came to rest on my back beneath the boughs of a pine tree.

I knew I couldn't stay there. As much as every fiber of my body hurt, I had to get up and move orelse Xavier would send someone to get me. And knowing my father, he'd get me healed up andsend me right back here to attack.

Fighting against the pain, I got up off the ground and be- gan to walk, using the trees to help me.My clothes were coat- ed in blood, but I didn't seem to be leaving a trail, so maybe it would be lesseasy for my father's men to replace me.

I continued to walk until I couldn't go any further. Sinking to the ground beneath a tree, I put mymask on, in case any- one should happen upon me. I didn't want to be recognized.

“Boy? Boy?"

I heard a voice and tried to open my eyes, but my vision was so blurry, all I could see was the shapeof a girl hovering over me. Her hand reached out for me, and I pulled away from her. “Don't touchme!” I shouted.

“Do you want to die?” she asked me, point blank.

“I don't care,” I mumbled, and I meant it. My eyes rolled back into my head, and I passed out again.When I opened my eyes again, I was in a cave, and the girl was sitting nearby me, a fire blazing inthe mouth of the cave.

I tried to sit up, and even though I wasn't as sore as I had been before, it was still difficult to moveas the pain contin- ued to radiate throughout my body.

"Oh, good. You're awake,” she said. “I was hoping you'd be awake soon. Are you hungry?” Sheoffered me some food from her backpack, a bit of dried meat and an apple. I took it and ate it asslowly as I could. I was starving, but I didn't want to scarf it down.

“You really should stay away from me,” I warned her.

"Why?" she asked. "You needed help, so I helped you.”

“But... you're not afraid of me?”

She giggled. “No. Why would I be afraid of you? I'm not afraid of wild beasts. It would be silly forme to be afraid of a wounded boy.”

“I'm not a boy,” I said, my voice a little rougher than I meant for it to be.

“Sorry. Man then,” she said, practically rolling her eyes.

For hours, she told me stories about her encounters in the forest. I sat and listened while shechattered on. It was a good situation for me since I didn't particularly like to speak, and she spokewith no reservations about her life.

I'd never met anyone like her, so upbeat and friendly to- ward a... monster like me.

Like that, we spent a few days together.

Her stories were all over the place, but I loved hearing them.

When was the last time anyone had willingly talked to me, let alone shared with me her entire lifewith such... passion and bright smiles?

I didn't know how to describe her. She was kind, upbeat, and friendly. Her smiles were so warm...like the sunshine, though it was difficult for me to see because she was still blurry. But that didn'tchange the fact that for the first time in years, my heart felt warm.