Sold as the Alpha King's Breeder novel Chapter 377

Chapter 35: The Moonlit Crystal

I woke up the next morning, finally feeling alive again. A good night’s sleep could do wonders.

Theo had already left the room and I was by myself. I took a deep breath and let the late morning sunshine beam in on me. Being consumed by sadness and depression wouldn’t do anyone any good, and if Raymond thought he could do whatever he wanted to our pack, then he was wrong!

Sooner or later, I would head back to my pack lands to get vengeance for Susan’s death and put that stupid Raymond in his place. I also wanted to find out more about that woman who was walking around wearing my face.

But before that, I had an obligation to fulfill. I needed to help Theo get his berry back first. That was what I owed him. Regardless of his reason for chasing me down and going to my pack with me, it was a fact that he had stood up for me and saved me. That alone, under normal circumstances, would make him my friend.

Now, I didn’t know how much a proud prince wanted to befriend a commoner like me, I just thought that the least | could do was donate my blood so he could get his berry back as a small token of thanks. Going back to my pack would be dangerous, and if I didn’t make it… I’d die feeling guilty that I had not replaced the precious fruit I’d taken from Theo.

After that, I would speak to him and ask for permission to go home as soon as I could. It seemed to me that when he was willing to listen, he could be reasonable. He knew what was going on in my pack, and it was also important for him to ensure my pack was in good hands.

If I was willing to stay and do whatever he needed me to do in order to make sure he got the berry to work, and I’d pledge my allegiance to him, then hopefully, he’d be willing to work with me and let me go home right after that.

Theo had mentioned doing something on the Full Moon, which was tomorrow night, but he didn’t give me any more details. Luckily, it was only a day away, and I could wait.

***

The sun was beginning to go down when I finally heard Prince Theo’s voice in his adjoining room. I’d thought l heard someone else speaking to him, so I crept over to the door to listen and recognized Jake’s voice.

I hadn’t seen either Theo or Jake since two days ago when we’d returned to the palace, and I’d been waiting in my room for their instructions, but neither of them told me anything but asking me to get some more rest.

But tonight was the Full Moon. There must be something I needed to do, right?

“No… works… crystal… how…”

Crystal? Huh? I thought this was all about some sort of berry? What were they talking about?

I stood next to the door, wondering if now would be a good time for me to knock and bring up the berry situation or if I should wait.

I raised my hand to knock on the door, but before my hand could even come down, Theo said, “Ciana, you don’t need to eavesdrop. Just come in. This concerns you, too.”

My cheeks flushed as I realized he thought I was being sneaky when I really just hadn’t had a chance to decide if now was a good time. I decided not to try and explain and just went in.

Jake was standing there in the middle of the room, next to the prince, and when the Beta looked at me, he had a bit of an amused expression on his face, but Theo gave him a stern look.

In his hands, the prince held a piece of black fabric. It looked like velvet, soft and thick. In the center of it was a large crystal, probably three inches long and an inch around. The light above our heads illuminated it slightly, making it appear to be a pinkish white color. It was lovely, but I had no idea what it was for.

“This is the Moonlit Crystal,” Jake explained to me. “It has magical powers that might be able to help us with our problem, but we’re not exactly sure how to use it, although we do know that the best time to use it is under the full moon.”

Looking from Jake to Prince Theo, I asked, “Problem? What problem?”

“Well, about the blood moon.”

“The blood moon was a few months away, I remembered you said? And it was one of the prerequisites to replace the berry?” I asked Jake.

“Exactly,” Jake smiled encouragingly. “The berry must be planted under the light of the blood moon, and the blood of whomever ate the last one must be mixed in the soil,” Jake explained to me.

“How romantic. And sanitary,” I remarked, making the Beta chuckle.

The Alpha did not think it was funny. He cleared his throat.

“This is serious.”

“Sorry, Alpha,” Jake said. I straightened up as well.

“So… you said we don’t need to wait until the blood moon because of this crystal?” I asked, looking closely at the crystal, but Theo tugged it away from me, like he thought I might touch it.

“Bingo again!”

“So how does this thing work?” I asked.

“According to the witch I got it from,” Jake began, “it can

somehow create an illusion of the blood moon that tricks

the berry into reacting the same way that it would if there was a blood moon.”

“That seems simple enough,” I said. “Do you just put it outside under a regular moon or something?”

“We don’t know,” Prince Theo said, curtly.

“The witch said it has to be cleansed, re–energized… or recharged first, something like that,” Jake explained. “She said that right now it wouldn’t do anything at all, and we’d just be wasting our efforts.”

Jake and I then launched into a discussion of the possibilities of how the crystal might work, and we explored the ideas of soaking it in water, heating it up, putting it in the freezer–but when it came to my idea of running high voltage electricity through it, it was turned down really quickly by Theo.

Finally, I exclaimed, “I give up! Maybe it was easier to just wait until the next blood moon.” Although, if that was the case, I’d need to replan my trip back home…

“No, unfortunately, we can’t wait,” Jake sighed, and immediately, Theo gave him a pointed look.

Jake encouraged, “She may think of something we haven’t.. Alpha, I trust Miss Black.”

Theo looked at both of us and finally gave in. “Fine, just the bare minimum of what she needs to know.”