Sold as the Alpha King's Breeder
Chapter 595

Chapter 95 : Offering to the King

*Oliver*

I watched from Gideon's front porch as two figures approached, walking hand and hand up thedriveway. Adrian looked like he was healing from several blows to the face based on the purplishhue of his eye sockets and jawline, but Abigail looked chipper and exceedingly relieved as theyneared the house. I smirked, rising from the chair I'd been sitting in aimlessly for what felt likeseveral hours.

“I take it my family knows what happened?” I said loudly, watching the scowl form on Adrian'smouth. He'd definitely taken one for the team.

“This,” he said sharply, waving his hand around his face as he stopped short of the porch steps, “wasfor stealing the Persephone. That Beta of your father nearly killed me, and he said you're next.”

"He almost went after your dad, too,” Abigail teased, resting her hand on Adrian’s shoulder. “Yourmom had to separate them.”

“So the whole family is in Breles, then?” I asked, guilt rippling through my stomach as they walkedup the steps. I held the door open, and Adrian tossed a heavy duffle bag into my chest as hepassed.

"Queen Hannah is in Winter Forest with someone named Mara, and White Queen Rosalie. Yourmom is... heading this way, apparently.”

“Great,” I murmured as I shut the front door behind me and tucked my hands in the pockets of myjeans.

It had been over a month since Lena and Xander had disappeared. Adrian, Gideon, and I had spentover a week in the hills looking for any trace of them, eventually coming up with the rotting bodiesof a man Gideon knew as Maxwell Radcliff and an unfamiliar guard. We'd also found a large,blackened area outside of what was once a temple, which was littered with bones. At first, I thoughtsomething had exploded there, but after a thorough investigation of the area, we realized that waswhere Lena had opened the portal, and she had blasted away the winged creature that had carriedXander off into the night.

It seemed far-fetched even now, but there had been no trace of them, or of the hybrid beasts thathad been causing chaos in the west, for weeks now.

The only explanation was that Lena had opened the portal and closed it behind her.

I'd stayed behind in Crimson Creek when Adrian went back to Breles a little over a week ago to replaceAbigail, while also being the one to try to come up with an explanation as to what happened to mycousin and his Alpha. I'd expected him to show up with an army, and my parents, and Lena“sparents. But it was just him and Abigail.

He sunk down into one of the couches, groaning loudly. Abigail swatted him as she turned aroundthe room, looking around.

"Adrian said vampires lived here,” she mused.

“They went into town,” I said, then explained the whole damn thing about the blood root to her.They could use it to stay in the sun for a while if need be. It kept them alive while not needing tosuck the blood out of helpless victims. But from the stories Alma had told me about their kind atnight while we sat by the fireplace and waited for news from Adrian, I found out just how closelyrelated our kinds were, especially since the vampires who lived in this realm had been removed fromtheir realm for a long, long time.

They were more like us now than what they used to be. Our realm had morphed them, shaped themto fit into our environment. Gideon, while always the graceful, welcoming host, had made it clear tome that the second there was conflict with the King of the Vampires, he and his family were out.They would leave because they didn't stand a chance.

"Why did Hannah go to Winter Forest? Why is no one here? I expected my family to be here"“They're building armies in Breles. I've never seen anything like it,” Adrian said with a sigh, rubbinghis eyes and wincing as he grazed the bruises. “Maeve wanted to come. She's waiting for word fromHannah, from what I understand. They're trying to replace Lena themselves.”

“Oliver,” Abigail cut in, “your mom told me to tell you to... to remember what you can do, and whoyou are. I didnt understand at the time—"

“I could probably open a portal,” I shrugged.

Abigail eyed me suspiciously, but Adrian looked livid.

"Why haven't you mentioned this before?”

“I've had a lot of time to think and mess around out here,” I said sharply, shrugging. “I can do a lotof the stuff Lena can, I think. At least, I used to when we were younger, before I turned twenty-oneand came into my powers as a wolf. I tried once while you were away, and I felt it for a moment, butnothing happened. Not yet, at least. But when I was trying... I can't explain it-" I gripped the couch,leaning over it to look down at Adrian. “Someone is there, calling out to me. Trying to lure me in.”“The Vampire King?” Adrian asked, but I shook my head, glancing at Abigail.

“Not Lena?” she asked, and I shook my head at her too. “Then who?”

“It's a mate bond. I should only have healing powers, but this light-" I looked down at my hands,turning my palms out toward Abigail. “Lena couldn't do much besides make plants grow throughthe carpets and dream dance before she was marked by Xander. Something about that bond, well, Ithink it's important. I first felt it with you, Abi, not going to lie, but it wasn't strong like it should be.Just a flicker.”

Adrian was growing red in the face, but I continued.

"A spark, that's it. But when we found those bodies, Adrian. When we were in that place... I felt af*****g lightening bolt. Like my mate had been there, like she was still there—"

“Is this really what you're worried about? Your parents are livid, Oliver. There's a war coming. Peopleare dying—"

“I can't f*****g help it," I breathed. “It's just there, like this energy is all around me, begging me touse it like Lena can, or so I thought. Whatever it is... it wants me to go there, to that realm. My mateis over there, Adrian. I feel like I'm supposed to replace her, and she’s supposed to, I don’t know, helpme like Lena and Xander helped each other"

“They got blasted into another realm, and now the royal family wants to f*****g kill me for it,”Adrian argued, but Abigail laid her hand over his shoulder again, squeezing. He relaxed.

“This is all a little... out there. Don't you think? Hell, you say you felt a spark with me, huh? Maybemy long lost twin sister is in the other realm.”

Adrian smirked, shaking his head. I also considered this a joke, but the expression on Abigail's facetold me otherwise.

"Wait, you have a twin?” I asked.

Adrian's eyes shot up to his mate, studying her closely.

"Yeah, I do. I, uh, I did. She just... wasn't there one day. I woke up and looked over and her bed wasempty, the window cracked open like she had left in the night or been taken. My parents don't talkabout it. I was young, four or five. The only memory of her I have is her name.”

"Abigail, that's awful. I'm sorry-" Adrian said, but I raised my hand, cutting him off.

"What was her name?” I asked, my tone steady and voice deathly serious.

“Elaine,” she said, tilting her head as she looked at me. “Her name was Elaine.”

*Lena*®

The Vampire King's castle was death. That's the only way to describe it. Black vines snaked up its halfdozen or so towers made of obsidian, and there weren't any windows to be seen. The interior wasjust as bleak.

It was frigid in the castle. So cold, ice glistened on the walls of the circular bedroom I'd been stuckin for an unknown amount of time, likely days. A glass of water that had been sitting on the sidetable beside the bed was nearly frozen over, and the bed itself was bare. I'd taken the sheets andduvet off the mattress and wrapped myself in them as I slumped against the stone wall, trying invain to stay warm.

I'd slept, but fitfully. I'd been so stupid... so, so stupid. What the hell had I been thinking? I hadn'teven thought of Xander throwing his power over me like a net, stopping me from being able toforce him through the portal. That single second of realization had been enough for me to fail. Thelast thing I heard was his scream telling me to shut the portal, but it was too late. I was airborne,stuck in the clutches of a hybrid beast and much too far away.

He wasn't dead; I knew that much, but I was too weak to use our bond to communicate with him.

I hadn't met the king, not yet. But there was a reason for the cold, barren room and lack of food. Hewas keeping me cold and hungry to stifle my powers, and it was working. The lights above my headflickered in an uneven rhythm and gave me a painful, throbbing headache.

I wrapped the blankets tighter around my body, doing what I could to keep save the precious lifeinside of me that was no doubt suffering just as much as I was

Would he know I was pregnant? Would he be able to sense it?

I let a single tear fall down my chilled cheeks then wiped it away.

They'd taken my armor. They'd taken the knives. But the little pouch with the sunstone in it hadbeen hanging from my neck, hidden by my clothing. I still had it.

I didn't know what it was, or how to use it. Starla had been adamant that I keep it safe. There had tobe a reason.

The door to the room swung open, and I flinched, turning my eyes away from whoever was takingup the doorway. Warm air rushed in and crept through the blankets, thank Goddess

“Up,” said a voice so shrill it sent a chill up my spine.

I rose to my feet, trembling as I held the blankets against my body.

“The king will see you now. Leave the blankets"

“I'm freezing,” I said through chattering teeth.

The figure in the doorway entered the room, his face and body now in my full view-ugly, so, so ugly.His skin was gray and sunken around his bones, and his eyes burned a deep red. He wore a silvercloak that was nearly the same color as his skin.

He was bald, but past his sunken cheeks, I could see youth flaming behind his eyes. He may havebeen handsome, once, before he became what he was.

He took several steps toward me and ripped the blankets away, tossing them on the bed. “Go,now!"

I swallowed against the fear rushing through my body. I was barefoot, and the frost-covered floorbit into my feet as I walked out of the room, followed by the man

The hallway was warm, almost hot. I sighed deeply, shaking terribly from the abrupt change intemperature.

“Your behavior will determine your privileges,” the man, obviously a guard of the king sent to fetchme, said with a shrill, gravelly hiss. “If you want warmth, you will be warm to the king. If you wantfood, you will offer him the same.”