Sold as the Alpha King's Breeder
Chapter 638

Chapter 638

Chapter 138 : He's Dead

*Lena*®

Two Weeks Later

Mom huffed out a breath, a garment clip clamped between her teeth as she fussed with the back ofthe fluffy white dress I was wearing. I grunted in response, looking into the full-length mirror at myreflection.

The dress was only tight around my breasts and fluffed out over my body in a “baby-doll” style thatsuited the growing swell of my belly to the point that it was hard to tell I was even pregnant. Silkypuffy sleeves tapered off at my wrists.

“I look like a cream puff,” I laughed, glancing at Mom over my shoulder.

She rolled her eyes, shaking her head as she bent back down to her task of fitting my now incrediblylarge breasts into the dress, once again.

“I like cream puffs,” Elaine said from the sofa on the other side of the airy, brightly colored sittingroom in Castle Drogomor, her legs crossed on the coffee table.

Clare snorted with mirth as she flipped through Maeve's huge leather-bound spell book that wassitting on her lap.

Sasha was skipping from one side of the room to the other, humming a little song as she pranced.Clare and Sasha were settled in Winter Forest but had come down for the wedding, which wastaking place in three weeks. Clare seemed happy to be here early, and she quickly fell in step withElaine, the two of them becoming fast friends.

I was a little jealous of that, especially since Clare still seemed skeptical of me, for whatever reason.I chalked it up to her personality, which was probably the truth. She was just a grumpy, somewhatcold person.

Elaine, on the other hand, was back to being a ray of sunshine. I still couldn't believe she was here.And I was glad that she was because it was all hands on deck. The wedding preparations were in fullswing, the date set for the summer solstice itself.

Mom put the last garment clip in place and leaned back to examine her work, nodding at herself asshe made me turn in a circle.

“I'll have to take it out again before the wedding,” she said, more to herself than to me.

“It's beautiful, Mom,” I assured her as I raised my arms towards the ceiling on her command so shecould see how the fabric fell.

"Are you going to wear a veil?” Elaine asked, flipping through a wedding magazine.

Clare frowned at her, shaking her head. “She needs to wear a crown; she’s a princess after all.”

“I hadn't thought that far—"

"Well, you should have,” Clare said leaning back into the couch cushions. “You have like, twenty daysuntil the wedding.”

I waved my hand at her in dismissal as Mom turned me back toward the mirror.

“I think I'm going to wear my hair up,” I told Mom, but then I noticed the tears glistening in hereyes. "Mom? What's the matter?”

"You're just-oh, honey. You're so beautiful"

"Please don't cry,” I begged, tears beginning to well in my own eyes. I'd been a mess of emotionsthe past two weeks since we returned from Crimson Creek. Reality was setting in, and I found myselfcrying over the smallest things. Only this morning I'd cried over a pair of the tiniest socks I'd everseen in my life while sorting through the baby clothes I'd purchased. Xander had been so confused,and had resorted to patting the top of my head while I dissolved into a puddle of tears on thecarpet, the socks clutched in my hands.

“I'm just so happy—"

“Lena looks like a snow fairy!” Sasha shouted from the other side of the room, and we all turnedaround to look at her.

“Sasha!” Clare exclaimed, rising from the couch.

I tried not to laugh as Clare stalked over to her daughter, who had climbed one of the bookshelvesand was reaching for a vase, her tiny fingers splayed in determination.

I heard male voices in the hallway, and suddenly the door to the sitting room began to open."STOP!" Mom cried, and whoever was behind the door halted their progress.

“Xander will stay in the hallway,” Dad said quickly, and behind the door I heard Xander's muffledprotest as Dad pushed him away before he slid into the room.

Dad walked in, shutting the door firmly behind me, then his eyes landed on mine.

"Wow," he said, a wry smile touching his mouth.

I narrowed my eyes at him. “Wow? That's all you have to say?”

“You look like-"

"A cream puff?” Elaine snorted.

Dad let out his breath in a whoosh, shaking his head. “You look beautiful, Lena. You really do.”

“If you're only here to tease me,” I said firmly as Mom began to stick pins along the back of thedress to mark where she needed to adjust the fit of the dress, “then go away!”

“I'm just here to deliver the RSVPs to your wedding coordinators,” he said with a shrug, then tosseda pile of envelopes on the couch next to Elaine. “I can take Sasha off your hands, as well,” he said toClare, who was red in the face as she tried to pry Sasha off the bookshelf. Sasha, who had beenwhining and holding on to the bookcase for dear life, immediately let go and fell back into hermother’s arms, then squirmed to get away.

“I want to go outside!” she practically screamed.

"Well, that's perfect. Xander and I are going to have lunch in the front garden—"

“No climbing trees, Sasha. Those tights are new!” Clare protested, but Dad and Sasha were alreadyat the door.

Sasha turned around and stuck her tongue out at her mom before slipping outside, and Dad gaveher an apologetic glance before he left as well, shutting the door behind him.

Clare ran her hands over her face as she rounded the couch, plopping down on top of theenvelopes Elaine was hurrying to gather. “She's been such a handful lately.”

“She's only five,” Mom smiled. “She'll grow out of it."

“I-l hope 50," Clare replied, but something in her tone made my chest tighten with unease.

I turned to her as Mom helped me out of my sleeves so I could step out of the dress, wearingnothing but a silken white shift.

"What's wrong, Clare?” I asked as I pulled a robe over my shoulders and tied it on top of my belly.Clare raised her eyebrows, her eyes downcast in her lap.

“I worry she'll be like her father,” she answered honestly. Clare had been a word away from tellingmy mom and me the name of Sasha's father, but we'd been interrupted by a warrior coming up tous to tell us Breles had fallen to the vampires. The memory of the moment fluttered through mychest, leaving behind nothing but pain.

"Who was he?” I asked, but Mom interrupted me, her face cast in a shadow of unease.

“You had an older brother, right? Was Carl also his father?” Mom asked.

Clare shifted uncomfortably, reaching beneath her to grab the envelopes she was sitting on andgiving them to Elaine.

“No, just me and Hale. I don’t think my dad ever knew, and my mom was long gone by the time Ifound out the truth from... from Sasha's father.”

"Who was he?" I asked again, trying and failing to hide the unease on my face.

Something hadn't been sitting right ever since I found out about Clare's past. Something thatchipped away at me every time I looked at Sasha, a familiarity of some kind, like I'd seen herfeatures before, features so different from Clare's.

“His name is Slate"

I had to steady myself against the wall, my stomach tying into a knot. Mom looked from Clare tome, then rushed to me.

“I'm fine-"

Clare was looking right at me, her face flushing as she watched my reaction. “Lena, do you knowhim?”

"Slate-Slate Tamlin?” I said on an exhale, meeting her eyes.

"You know him?” Clare rose from the couch, her eyes narrowed into a deathly glare. “How the f**kdo you know him?”

"He's dead,” I said, shaking my head. “I killed him. I killed him in the vampire realm.”

A hush fell over the room, all eyes on me as they waited for me to continue. I kept my gaze onClare, watching as a wave of relief rushed across her face, blurring the heavy lines of suspicion.“He's dead,” I said with conviction. “I made sure of it.”

"How?" she asked, taking a step toward me. “How are you so sure?”

“Because he was turned into one of them, one of the vampire guards. He was working for the king.He was the reason I was sent to Crimson Creek in the first place. Everything he did to me, everythingwas... was to get me to Crimson Creek, and then to the vampire realm. I stabbed him in the chestwith a wooden blade, and he turned to ash. He's gone, forever. He's gone, and Sasha is safe.”

Clare didn't blink. She didn't move, either. After a few long moments of silence, she inhaled sharply,shrugging her shoulders as she walked back to the couch and sat down, snatching severalenvelopes out of Elaine's hands and ripping them open.

“The Alpha and Luna of Sapphire River will attend, as well as their adult daughter,” she saidnonchalantly as the rest of us stared.

"Are you okay?” I asked.

Her face was totally blank as she met my eye. She stared at me for a moment, blinking, then lookedback down at the letter in her hands. “Never been better,” she said casually, as if I hadn't justdropped a truth bomb in her lap.

I opened my mouth to reply, but thought better of it, snapping my mouth shut as I turned to look atmy mom with a pleading expression.

“I'm going to order a lunch service,” Mom said, her eyes darting toward Clare with a look of markedconcern.

Elaine had her brow furrowed at Clare, who was ripping each envelope open with vigor.

I saw a single tear roll down Clare's cheek, and her hands began to tremble.

“Clare,” I said, just as she dissolved into sobs.

Elaine and I wrapped our arms around her, holding onto her for dear life.

“Fuck-him-" she choked, her entire body shaking. “I'm glad he’s dead. I've never been more gladabout anything in my entire f*****g life!"

Anger was evident in every word as she struggled to take a breath.

"He deserved it! I hope it was f*****g painfull I hope it hurt him as much as it-as much as he hurt—me!”

I sucked in a sob, meeting Elaine's eyes as she rocked Clare between us. Mom returned to the sittingroom, running toward us with a cup of tea in her hands. I smelled the bourbon she'd laced the teawith before she thrust it into Clare's hands. Clare drank deeply, the tea likely burning her throat onthe way down, but her body began to still, her breaths becoming more regular as her sobssubsided.

“Thank you Lena,” she croaked, reaching up to cup my cheek. “Thank you. Thank you-" she kissedme on the mouth, a single peck.

I leaned my forehead against hers as she dissolved in tears again.

I felt a tinge of pain in my side all of the sudden, and a practice contraction rippled over my belly. Islowly let go of her, then turned to Mom, who was watching me closely.

"Go lay down for a while, Lena,” Mom coaxed, her hand coming around my back as I rose from thecouch. “I'll stay with them.”

"Okay," I said, wiping tears from my eyes as I walked toward the door. I glanced back at Clare onelast time before I left the room, shutting the door behind me.

I turned to the sound of footsteps in the hallway and met eyes with Xander as he stopped andturned to face me.

“I'm going to take a nap,” I said, exhaustion gripping me just as another contraction tightenedaround me, painless but tight.

“I'll go with you,” he said, extending his hand to me.

I took it, but I struggled to exhale as I looked up at him.

“Slate was Sasha's father,” I said, blinking away tears.