Sold as the Alpha King's Breeder
Chapter 720

Sold as the Alpha King’s Breeder Chapter 720

Chapter 65 : Finding the Second Piece

Soren curled around me and then shifted into his wolf form. He stayed curled up next to me,keeping me warm through the night.

I couldn't believe I'd done that! Sure, I had wanted to know what Soren felt for me but seducing himwasn't the right thing to do for that. He'd been the one to suggest we go for a run in wolf form but Iwas the one playing with him.

I closed my eyes and curled up into the soft fur of his wolf. Leaning into his warmth, I felt better butI still couldn't believe what I'd done! Taking a deep breath, I started to feel tired.

Soren's deep breaths made it sound like he was asleep but I didn't think he was. I clung to his furand nuzzled against him, trying to relax enough to sleep.

The necklace that held the Moonlit Crystal felt heavy around my neck suddenly. I grabbed it and thependant warmed my skin. Quickly, I opened the box and dropped the crystal in my palm. Ithummed heavily and got warmer.

It glowed strangely in my hand and I held it up to the moonlight. The weird glowing light didn'tchange. It was like the glow was coming from inside, not reflecting off the outside.

“Soren,” I said, shaking him slightly.

His wolf snorted and lifted his head. I held the crystal out so he could see.

“Look at this. The crystal is glowing. It keeps flickering and... well, I think it is trying to show mesomething,” I said.

The majestic, dark wolf snorted again.

“Think about it. You're the one that said my mom left clues for me. What if part of replaceing theartifact requires locating the pieces in a specific order? The Moonlit Crystal could have been thehardest one to get, with the traps, because it leads us to the next pieces,” I guessed.

The wolf nodded in agreement.

“I bet this will lead us to the next piece,” I said.

I stood up and held the crystal in my palm like it was a compass. I moved my hand around. When itflickered, I made the same motion again and the stone flickered the exact same way.

“Come one, we have to go this way," I said, pointing down the border between the two territories.Soren stood up and shook off. He made a small growling sound and nodded to his back.

Right.”

I climbed onto his back and grabbed the fur at his neck.

“I'm good, let's go,” I said. “I'll tell you where.”

Soren huffed and started jogging. His gait was lumbering but I held on with my knees and with onehand. The crystal stayed in my palm and I watched for little flickers.

“Left, go left,” I said, pointing.

Soren started to turn and I yelped, grabbing his fur.

“No, right! I mean right,” I said. “I'm sorry.”

Soren growled but corrected his trajectory. Whenever he turned off the necessary trail, the stonegot cooler and the glowing flickers died down.

"Okay, can you go a little more to the right?” I asked when the crystal started to cool again.

It was very subtle but I could feel the changes enough to direct Soren almost with every step hetook.

“Now we've got to go to the left. We need to go deeper in Marno territory,” I instructed, pointing.Soren slowed down slightly, probably tired of all my quick instructions and his knee-jerk reactions.“It feels like the closer we get, the warmer the stone is getting. Right now, it is almost too hot totouch, I think we're getting close,” I told Soren.

He grunted in response. He slowed to a walk and I slid off his back, my bare feet landing in thesand. It was cold now in the night air but the Moonlit Crystal stayed warm in my hand.

“It's starting to vibrate,” I told Soren. I walked in the direction that made the stone vibrate more.Soren, in wolf form, followed closely.

Suddenly, the stone started vibrating so much that it nearly jumped out of my hand.

"Here, right here,” I said, pointing with my foot.

It didn't look at all special. The area was just like any other part of the border. Miles and miles ofborder, and the Moonlit Crystal led us to the right spot.

The glows and flickers got even brighter now that we were at the right spot. There was a treegrowing right across the border between the desert and the forest. It was a normal tree and didn'tlook any different than the other trees growing nearby.

The only difference was that several of its roots were digging into the desert sand. Somehow, I justknew that was where the artifact piece would be.

I was grateful that we had the Moonlit Crystal. It saved us a ton of time searching the border formiles.

"Soren, the tree. Look under the tree roots,” I said, pointing.

Soren immediately started digging, scooping out huge chunks of sand in a pile. It didnt take longbefore half his body was down the hole.

He growled and stopped digging. A few seconds ticked by and Soren pulled himself from the hole.There was something in his mouth. Something I couldn't see until he came over to me and droppedit on the ground.

It was a dagger sheath. It didn't look very special.

Kneeling down, I picked it up and examined it.

"Wow, this looks like just a plain leather sheath,” I said, shaking my head.

I shrugged and held it tightly in my hand as I put the stone back in the necklace. It was a good thingI'd figured out what the Moonlit Crystal was doing. Otherwise, we could have spent our whole livessearching

Even if there were no booby traps, it could still take forever to locate it based on the size of theborder.

It was so plain and dingy we might have thought it was just a scrap of junk and not related it backto the artifact we were searching for. That might have been another defense mechanism built in.Anyone that happened across it would think it was lame garbage.

But I knew it was part of the Blade of Souls. Between the size and the message from the MoonlitCrystal, I knew this was part of the artifact. The next piece would probably be a dagger itself.

I sat down in the sand and patted the space beside me. Soren sat down and curled up with me. Hisbody was warm in the cold air and I needed to take a quick break before heading back to the camp.It was almost dawn when I was ready to go back. I climbed onto Soren’s back again and he joggedback to camp. I laid down on him and rested against him, still pretty tired. I hadn't even slept,despite how tired I felt.

Just on the outskirts of camp, I realized something.

"Hey, wait,” I said, stopping Soren. “Before we get back to camp...”

I slid off his back again and motioned to my naked body. Soren’s eyes lit up and he licked his lips.“Quit it with that! I just don't want Ashley and Payne to see me naked,” I said. I shifted and pickedthe sheath up in my mouth.

We hadn't brought any clothes with us and hadn't anticipated needing them to go back to camp. Itwasn't like I wasn't used to running around nude or seeing others nude. That was part of being ashifter and life in a pack.

Still, I didn’t know Ashley and Payne that well! I wasn't ready to show them my entire body. Sorenhad seen it more than once so that was... okay. But for the others, I wanted to keep it private.Ashley was asleep in her tent when we got back but Payne was waiting up for us. He stood up whenhe saw us.

“Boss, Miss Mila... you were out all night. Is everything alright?” he asked.

Soren nodded and we slipped into his tent. I set the sheath aside and quickly, we shifted and putour clothes back on.

Payne waited for us outside the tent.

“We found the second part of the artifact,” I told him

“That's good. Although, I was expecting the search to be more... intense,” he admitted, glancing atthe expanse of the border.

"So were we, but we got lucky,” Soren said, smirking.

I felt his eyes on me but I ignored them. I didn't want to look at him because I knew I would blushand feel all giddy.

“If we got what we came for, where are we going next?” Payne asked.

Something like a foghorn went off, making me jump.

Ashley emerged from her tent. She yawned and stretched. “What's going on?”

"We found what we came for. It is time to pack up and move on,” Soren explained.

"Wait, what? We're leaving already?” Ashley asked, pouting. “But this time of year... the Marno packhas the biggest Fall Festival in Egoren! We're already here. I don't want to miss it! Please, please,please, can we go?”

She looked at Soren and batted her eyelashes. Then Ashley looked at me.

"Besides, even if you, Boss, are energetic, Mila looks a little tired. You guys were gone all night! Weshould go into town, get some rest, and replenish our supplies. Right?”

Ashley gave Soren another pleading look. She looked at Payne, pouting.

Payne looked at me.

Ashley looked at Soren again and Soren glanced at me.

Then Ashley turned and looked at me too.

I looked at each of them. They all just stared at me.

"Why are you all looking at me?” I asked. I looped my arms around myself self-consciously.

“Mila, it is up to you to decide. This is your mission,” Soren said.

Ashley smiled at me hopefully. She bit her lower lip and held my gaze. Excitedly, she bounced onthe balls of her feet. I thought if she didn’t get to go to the festival, she might explode.

I looked over at Soren. He was almost completely healed but he had gone through a lot. I wasn'tsure if he was back up to his full strength yet. Besides, the cuts on his leg weren't fully healed yetand he was probably still tired.

He could use some real rest in a real bed with real food.

Not to mention, Ashley's mention of the Harvest Festival intrigued me. In Saboreef, they'd had somefestivals but I'd never been allowed to go. My foster mother forbade it. I always got to see the otherchildren playing together, and with toys, and eating fun snacks.

I'd never experienced that and I wanted to have the chance to experience it while I was still young.We had two pieces of the artifact. Even if someone else got ahead of us and found the other piece,it would be useless to them. It wouldn't do what they wanted it to do without me and without theother pieces.

I had no intention of using the Blade of Souls, I was just keeping it from people that wanted to useit.

There was no longer a huge rush to replace the final piece. We were finally ahead of the game.

Not to mention, once we found the last piece of the artifact, what would happen to my trip withSoren? It would come to an end really quickly. I didn't want the trip to be over yet. We'd gottencloser and there were still things about him and what he thought about me that I wanted to figureout.

Besides, I was really having a good time with him.

If he wasn't my mate, once this trip was over, we'd probably be going our separate ways. I was reallyenjoying his company and I wanted as many enjoyable memories as possible with him.

I looked back at everyone. They were still staring at me, waiting for me to sift through my thoughtsand make a final decision.

It was strange to have them all looking at me and blinking at me.

“Ashley is right. We should take a break, rest, and replenish the supplies. Once we recuperate wecan get a fresh start and look at this with new eyes,” I suggested. “Plus, we can check out thefestival.

Ashley jumped up. "Hooray!"