Sold as the Alpha King's Breeder novel Chapter 251

Chapter 31: Two Worlds Collide

Troy

I woke with a start, the pain in my arm radiating up through my shoulder and my chest. I blinked against the sun as it beat down on the boat, tall grasses surrounding us as the boat bobbed gently in a small eddy, hidden from view of the main river.

Maeve was sitting with her knees to her chest, her forehead resting on her knees as she slept. Her hair was loose and falling over her, shielding her face.

Myla was limp in Cleo’s arms, her breath coming in short, pained gasps.

I got to my knees, using my good arm to grip the side of the skiff and stand just enough to peer over the top of the grasses, looking out over a wide, swampy area of the river.

How much time had passed? It was full daylight now.

This wasn’t right. None of this looked right.

When I had shifted and ran from the port to the castle the night before, I had followed the river. I hadn’t seen an area like this at all. I remember coming to a fork in the river, where a tributary flowed into the main river that ran through the city.

She must have taken it, and now we were very, very far from the port rocking in the skiff in broad daylight.

Sitting ducks.

I cursed under my breath as I shuffled toward the steering wheel, then back to the engine that hung off the back of the boat that powered the small propeller. I opened the gas cap, hoping to see the clear liquid shimmering in the sunlight, but there was none. The engine was completely dry and no longer running.

I had the strangest feeling I was being watched as I screwed the gas cap back on. The women were still asleep; they must have been so exhausted that none of them could stay awake to steer the drifting skiff. Somehow, we hadn’t run aground on the riverbank.

There wasn’t a bird or creature in the marsh with us; no, it was completely silent. The hair on my arms rose as I crouched again, slowly. holding my breath as the sound of another boat’s engine cut through the silence.

The boat came to a stop just ahead of us, turning and maneuvering through the grasses. I stood, clenching my good hand into a fist and swallowing against the lump of fear in my throat. If these were Poldesse’s men, I couldn’t protect these women. I would kill Maeve myself before I’d let them take her.

“Damn, Troy! You look like shit!” Robbie laughed heartily as he came into view, bumping against our skiff with the nose of his boat. I let out the breath I had been holding.

Maeve jumped to her feet, blinking sleep from her eyes. She lunged forward, half asleep, her fist outstretched as though she was going to throw herself on Robbie to defend us.

I caught her by the waist and pulled her back in our skiff, the action sending a fresh wave of intense pain rippling through my arm and shoulder.

I turned to Robbie, nodding at my arm. “I’ve seen better days, man. It’s really good to see you.” In reality I could have thrown my arms around him and kissed him on the mouth. I’d never been more glad to see anyone. “What the hell are you doing here, though? I was going to try to meet up with the crew at the port-”

Robbie shook his head, cutting his engine. “Cap sent me up this way. This river leads out to the eastern end of Valoria. The Persephone is waiting for us there. Cap sent a boat to the port earlier this morning, and they were turned around. The port’s shut down, Troy. Blocked.”

“Poldesse?”

Robbie nodded. It was not the answer I was hoping for.

I had underestimated Damian. I was not the only spy in the castle. Neither was Horace. The castle had been torn to pieces before Damian’s fleet could even make landfall, which meant he had had people on the inside, probably servants, and people lingering in the village and Mirage to light the match that would envelop the entire region in chaos before his ships could come to finish the job.

If I’d had an extra hour, I thought bitterly, I would have been able to get Ernest and Gemma to safety. I wouldn’t have had to make the decision I did. Gemma would still be alive, and there might have been a chance that Maeve would forgive me.

Not anymore.

I looked up, a commotion breaking me out of my contemplation. Robbie was holding Maeve off with one hand as he wrapped a rope around the steering wheel of our skiff, tethering the two crafts together. Maeve was swinging at him, her lips pulled back in a snarl.

“This the one you mentioned in your note?” Robbie chuckled, raising an eyebrow and tilting his head toward Maeve. Maeve was tall and strong in her own right, but compared to Robbie, she looked almost childlike. Robbie was a massive man, towering several inches over me even, and he had broad shoulders and a heavy set build that made him look like a giant compared to most men. He pushed against Maeve’ s chest with a single finger and sent her toppling backward into our skiff.

I smiled, shrugged, then nodded toward Myla and Cleo. Cleo was awake, eyes wide as she stared at Robbie.

“We’re taking them all. Myla here is hurt,”

“You are, too, by the looks of it,” said Robbie.

“My arm is broken, but I’ll survive.”

“Excuse me,” Maeve cut in as she struggled to her feet, slipping on the wet floor of the skiff. “Who the hell are you?”