Sold as the Alpha King's Breeder
Chapter 561

Chapter 61: Loosen Up, White Queen

*Xander*

Fire was burning behind Lena's eyes, and it wasn't the reflection of the sunset turning her pale grayirises a fiery red, no. Poor Charlie. He looked utterly confused at her sudden wrath. She lookedexquisite in her blood red gown, but with her cheeks and eyes flaming, she looked more like ademon born from ash and embers than a regal princess.

“Lena, let's just take a step back" tried to say, but her gaze flicked to me, her mouth pulling at thecorners to form a tight line.

“What the hell are you talking about, Charlie?" she snapped.

Charlie arched his brow, shifting his weight as he opened and closed his mouth like a fish. “Momisn't going to be a White Queen-"

“But she is a White Queen!"

Lena looked incredibly young at the moment. She was ready to start stomping her foot, her fistsclenched and trembling at her sides. I painfully realized, for the first time, what she was up against,and why she'd been fighting tooth and nail against her family for her entire life.

None of this was up to her. This was her blood, the very air that she breathed.

“Not like... not like you are-" Charlie said in a low warning tone, his eyes flicking to me, then back toher. He tilted his head in her direction, trying to physically get his point across.

“Because of her powers?" I asked, crossing my hands over my chest.

Lena sniffed indignantly, swallowing hard with her jaw set, and flexed. Charlie eyed me up anddown, then gave me a single tight nod.

“So you know?"

"A bit," I answered. “What exactly does this mean for her? She's being crowned-"

“I have no idea how any of this works," Charlie bit out before Lena could cut in, holding his hand outto silence her. “1 just know our grandpa isn't in the best of health and is refusing help fromeveryone. Our grandma wants to step back from her duties and spend what time she has left withhim, you know."

“Is it really that serious?" Lena said, her voice breaking.

Charlie only shrugged, looking into the depths of his bottle of beer.

“I was under the impression he couldn't die, you know, from what our moms told us," she said."What?" I said, shaking my head as if I had sand stuck in my ear. “I'm sorry, I don't think I heard youcorrectly—"

“You did," Lena replied, her words sharpened like a blade. “Welcome to the fantasy that is ourfamily, Xander.”

Charlie smirked, not making eye contact with either of us.

“I really don't understand what you meant by that,” I pressed, my mind reeling. “Can you, uh-"

“It doesn't matter, Xander. Why do you even care?" Lena snapped.

Charlie glared at her. “Chill out, Lena. Don't take this out on him!"

“Don't tell me to chill out!”

I watched as Charlie and Lena began to hurl insults, their faces growing redder and redder as furyrustled the sand between them. At first, I didn't see much of a resemblance between Lena and herfamily members. But seeing her and Charlie go toe to toe, well... the similarities weren't physical,that was for sure. But the Gray family temper was obviously prolific

“I need-Lena, hey! HEY!" I barked, raising my voice above the sound of their argument.

They turned to me, each breathing heavily. I saw it then, the shape of their eyes. They were thesame, but Charlie's were a deep, steel gray.

My heart squeezed as I turned my gaze to Lena, seeing her as what she truly was-a Goddess, borninto a tight-knit, loving family, but she hadn't been able to escape the blatant fact that she wasdifferent. Her eyes were such a pale gray, catching every color around her. Her hair was white andstraight, her facial features still striking, but they didn't hold weight to the unique beauty of hermother, and her aunt, and her grandmother.

Lena was different. She always had been, and she always would be.

And it was ripping her to pieces.

No wonder she'd spent the past three years pretending to be just... normal.

"What happens now?" I asked, looking between them. “And are you saying your grandfather is...immortal?"

Charlie and Lena looked at me, then at each other, and laughed. Some of the tension left myshoulders as they continued to laugh, their eyes wide with mirth.

“Goddess, I hope not," Charlie sputtered. I glared at him, tapping my fingers on my thigh while Iwaited for them to compose themselves.

“They share a soul, from what I understand,” Lena said, wiping a few tears from her cheeks. “Hewent rogue, a long time ago now. It... it damages the soul, you know, strips it from your body.Grandma used a flower called the Moonlight Lily to bring him back, but in order to do that she hadto use her blood, giving him her life force. They're connected now. If they die... well, it'll be together,no matter how long he lets himself suffer.”

I blinked a few times. It wasn't totally unbelievable, not after the magic berries and crystals and all ofthat in my own realm.

“I didn't realize a White Queen could step down from her post. I thought it was something theywere until their deaths.”

“The last few White Queens died young, from what we know, up until my grandmother," Charlie saidwith a shrug. “Lena was born for this—"

“I wasn't born for this,” she whispered, and I could hear the pain laced through her voice as shespoke. She was hugging herself as if she was cold. I wanted to reach out and take her into my arms,but I knew she'd flinch away from me.

“You're the f*cking Moon Goddess reincarnate, Lena,” Charlie pressed, and hearing him speakingthe words hit me like a freight train. I'd known, of course, that her differences meant somethingunearthly and divine. Her untested powers weren't just rare; they were totally unheard of.

And she'd known this, all her life.

“But if I'm not, and everyone's been wrong-"

“You are," Charlie and I said in unison.

Silence fell between the three of us, broken only by a drunken chuckle from Oliver, who was stillasleep behind us.

The golden hour had passed, and a violet shadow crept over the beach, sending a blue-black hazeover the group of us. In the soft purple light, Charlie was simply enveloped in darkness, his featuresblurred.

But this was Lena's best light. Her eyes didn't darken-they glowed, the flakes of blue around heririses giving depth to her opal-like gaze, like two moons nestled against a blanket of stars.

Her skin glittered, and the wine-red dress took on a purple hue, a cloak of night.

Night-that was when she was at her best. I could see who, and what, she was clearly now.

What the hell had I been thinking by leaving my mark on her?

“When does Grandma plan on stepping down from her throne?" Lena asked after a moment.

I watched her, her eyes fixed on Charlie, every line and curve of her face strained.

Charlie puffed his cheeks, then blew out his breath, shaking his head slowly from side to side.

“Was no one going to tell me?" she continued, her voice catching in her throat.

“I didn't know you hadn't been told, okay?" Charlie replied. He looked uncomfortable, and heglanced up at the narrow set of stairs leading back up to the bluff where that palace sat atop it, thetwinkling lights of the garden just visible through the thick belt of palms.

I ran my tongue along the inside of my bottom lip, then sighed and extended my hand to Lena.“Let's go back up to the reception"

“I'm not feeling well," she said without looking at either of us, her eyes fixed on the cloudless,twilight sky over the water.

“Then I'll take you to your room," I said as calmly as possible, flexing my hand and urging her totake it.

She stared out at the water for a moment longer before she met my eye, tears lining her lashes. Shetook my hand, and I lightly squeezed her fingers. Her face softened at my touch, and that bondbetween us quivered. Charlie cleared his throat, tipping his beer toward us in farewell.

“I'm gonna stay with him, for a while at least,” he said, tilting his head toward Oliver, who was nowgrinning like an i***t in his drunken stupor.

I touched Lena's hand in the crook of my arm and we were off, walking side by side down thebeach.

It would have been exceedingly romantic had it not been for the crushing weight of birthrights andunwanted responsibilities pressing down on our shoulders.

“It's going to be okay," I said to her.

She looked up at me, her eyes misted and shining in the faint moonlight beginning to creep overthe sand.

"Are you saying that to me, or to yourself?"

“To both of us," I breathed, glancing down at her and giving her a tight smile.

She frowned, sniffing and tilting her chin toward the bluff. “I don't want to be the White Queen,Xander."

“l know."

“I don't think you understand"

“Do you think my title is something I wanted, or ever aspired to?"

She let out her breath, her eyes narrowing as she looked over at me. We'd reached the stairs, butinstead of letting go of my arm, she paused as though she couldn't take a step further.

“How did you become the Alpha King?" she asked.

I sighed, flexing my jaw as I turned to look out over the water before turning back to her andmotioning for her to walk up the stairs. “That's a story for another time,” I murmured, but she stoodfirm.

“l want to know-"

“It was given to me," I said, my voice more biting than I'd meant for it to be. “It wasn't something Iwanted, or was ready for. But I didn't have a choice, like you. I had to do what my family needed meto do.”

"Why did you need to do it?"

“Lena.” I ran my fingers through my hair.

She walked up a single step of the stairs, then another, and then another until we were truly eye toeye.

"Why did you do it, if you didn't want to?"

“Because I didn't view it as a death sentence like you do. I could do this for my family and stillpursue everything I wanted. Do you not see what kind of position being the White Queen would putyou in? The power you'd hold? You'd be the most powerful woman in your realm, Lena. You coulddo whatever you wanted.”

“I don't think it works like that-"

“You don't know how it works because you haven't given it a chance.”

"And what about us, then?" she asked, her cheeks coloring as she clamped her mouth shut. Shehadn't meant to say it out loud, that was for certain.

I gave her my best boyish, sly grin and arched a brow. The look had never worked on her, and I'dtried a thousand times over the past few months. She looked right through me every single time—"Ow!" I hissed, rubbing the spot where her fist had collided with my chest. “What was that for?"“I'm trying to be serious, Xander.”

“Maybe being serious is your problem.”

"And what do you suggest I do, Xander?"

“It's Alpha King Alexander," I teased, which elicited a rush of color to her cheeks once again. Sheglared as I stepped onto the stairs, closing the distance between us.

“I suggest,” I began, “loosening up a bit. Can you do that, for just one night?"