Sold as the Alpha King's Breeder novel Chapter 574

Chapter 74 : Visions

*Lena*

Clare paced in front of the hearth, her hands tucked behind her back. Occasionally she'd pause and face Adrian and me, but then shake her head and continue to move back and forth in deep concentration as she gathered her thoughts.

Adrian was losing his patience. It was late, damn near the middle of the night, and I could see the lines of fatigue shading his eyes as he crossed his arms over his chest and waited, and waited, for Clare to speak.

“You have to tell us if you know anything about the pack Lycenna," I said softly, trying my best to hide the urgency in my voice. Lycenna had been a secret, cult-like pack deep in the eastern mountains of Valoria and had fallen some twenty years ago, their Alpha's death causing an internal war that splintered the pack into factions. They had been dangerous followers of Lycaon, and bred their women to create what they hoped were powerful lines of Dream Dancers. My grandmother had been from the pack Lycenna, but she had escaped with her mother as an infant.

Long ago now, a group of survivors from Lycenna's inner war had passed through Winter Forest before going north over the endless, bleak tundra. They'd never been seen or heard from again.

“Sasha is with the servants at the castle," Clare murmured, even though no one had asked. She seemed to be talking to herself, reassuring herself that Sasha was alright. “Hale should be there by now...."

“Clare!" I ground out, arching my brows as she turned to face me. “What is going on?"

She chewed her bottom lip, looking me up and down before taking a shallow breath and shifting her weight to one leg, her hands resting casually on her hips.

“My mother was a Lycennia refugee," she said flatly, waving a hand in dismissal as though it wasn't a big deal at all.

“What? How?" I pressed, gripping the top of the couch as I stood and watched a bored expression flit across her face.

“Do I really need to get into all of that?"

“Yes," Adrian and I said in tandem.

Clare chewed the inside of her lip, shrugging as she let her shoulders slump. “I don't know the details of the story, but somehow she ended up here and my father got her pregnant. Cedar Hollow was brand new, you know. She left us when we were kids, and I have no idea where she went."

“Is that who you're keeping Sasha away from?" I asked, but Clare scowled, shaking her head.

“I'm keeping Sasha away from her father, okay? He's Lycennian as well. He was an infant when the last of the Lycennians went north over the Tundra. He showed up here one day and, well, you know–" she shrugged, trying her best to look uninterested in the conversation, but the hurt behind her eyes was undeniable. Adrian huffed a breath, but it wasn't out of impatience. I glanced at him, seeing the sudden fury behind his eyes.

“Were you together… as a couple?" he asked sternly. Clare hesitated, then shook her head. Adrian's cheeks burned. “He took advantage of you then?"

“Yes," she replied without hesitation, and I felt a lump form in my throat.

“Oh, Clare–"

“I don't need your sympathy," she said shortly, her eyes narrowed into cat-like slits. “I need you to help me locate him so he can be dealt with."

“Killing him would be easy enough," Adrian began, but Clare rolled her eyes.

“He's one of them," she began with a ragged breath, “a Dream Dancer… not a strong one from what he said. He knew I was Lycennian. I don't know how, but he did. I turned down his advances but he overpowered me. He… he ensured what he'd done would result in a pregnancy, you know. He, uh–"

“Knotted you?" Adrian said through gritted teeth.

I winced, finding it hard to swallow.

Clare blinked a few times, clearing the glassy moisture from her eyes before nodding.

“Oh, Goddess–" I breathed, bringing my hands to my face. This was just awful, unforgivable. I felt like a monster for ever thinking a harsh, unkind thought about Clare.

“He was hoping your child would have powers," Adrian went on, a statement rather than a question. Clare nodded shortly, then shrugged, her eyes downcast on the floor. “So, does she?"

“Not that I know of–"

“But you have the power of sight–" he pressed.

Clare glared at him, her expression cutting his words short. “Enough to know darkness is coming. I can't will the future into my vision, okay? But I can feel it. Something is coming–"

“A war," Adrian interrupted sharply, holding up his hand to cut me off as I opened my mouth to protest. “That's what you're seeing."

She eyed him with suspicion. I swallowed hard, tilting my head as I looked over Clare's face.

“What does he look like?" I asked. “So I know who to look out for?"

“She shouldn't be out in public in the first place," Adrian said before Clare could reply to my inquiry.

Clare's eyes shot to him, narrowing into a scowl. “It's not her fault, you prick. She's just a kid, and I won't deny her being as such."

Adrian raised his brows in surprise at Clare's harsh tone, but he said nothing further as Clare's gaze drifted to me.

“He's tall, very tall, with blond hair and black eyes."

“So he looks Lycennian?" I said, almost to myself.

She shrugged, nodding as I went over what I knew about that pack and their strange, interbred genetics. Blond hair and black eyes had been common for the ruling house of Lycenna, but some had darker hair and skin, with pale gray eyes not unlike my own.

“Where would he be? Does he know about her?" Adrian pressed.

Clare gave him a final steely glare before erasing her cold expression and going silently neutral. “He knows about her, yes. Hale ran him out of town when it happened, but he came back exactly nine months later and found out about the baby who'd been born at the castle, a girl child… the bastard child of the teenage princess of Cedar Hollow." Clare swallowed back what sounded like shame, and my heart began to shatter as I looked into her eyes. Sasha was five, and Clare, as Hale's twin, would have just turned twenty-one. “I was sixteen when she was born," she continued, as though she'd been reading my mind.

Fury rippled through me, settling in my fingertips. That heat I could will into light and power surged forward, threatening to spill over as I thought about what Clare had been through, and what she was going through now.

I looked at Adrian, who was red in the face and quite upset. He glanced at me long enough to see the silent plea in my eyes and sighed, surrendering to my internal demand.

“I'm not Lycennian," he began. “But my people are also followers of Lycaon and his teachings...." He began to explain the Dark Realm to Clare, who listened intently but kept her face cold and controlled.

But Adrian kept talking, and kept talking, and before I knew it, he had spilled everything to Clare. He talked about Xander, and about me, and gave her the real reason I was here, as well as his reasons for finding me despite my not wanting to be found. I couldn't do anything but listen, and secretly hoped he spilled whatever secrets he was keeping from me about Crimson Creek, the secrets he'd told me were Xander's to tell.

An hour passed based on the chiming of the grandfather clock along the far wall, and Clare turned her head to it, noticing the time.

“You seriously lost your Alpha?" she said shortly, snorting with mirth.

Adrian narrowed his eyes at her and tucked his hands into the pockets of his jeans.

“He left," I replied, unable to hide the hurt in my voice.

Clare's eyes flicked to mine, understanding flashing across her features. “Do you want to find him?"

“Yes," Adrian said quickly, but I hesitated.

Clare noticed this and flexed her jaw, her gaze leaving mine to eye Adrian with interest.

“It's up to her, as his mate. If the bond is still intact, I may be able to give you an idea of where he is–"

“I want a full picture," Adrian interrupted.

“I don't get visions like that," she snapped, “only feelings, color, light."

“Hmm," Adrian grunted, shaking his head. “So useful."

“I want to know that he's safe," I said beneath my breath as I wrung my hands together. “That's all. I want to know he's alive, and safe, wherever he is."

Clare nodded once, giving Adrian a dirty look before she turned to me. “In return… I want you to take Sasha–"

“Take her?" I repeated, unsure I'd heard her correctly. “What do you mean?"

“Get her out of here. Take her to your family… to your grandmother, the White Queen!"

“I'm not returning to my family–"

“Yes, you are. And she will, okay?" Adrian said with a sharpness that cut through me like a knife. I glanced between them, utterly backed into a corner.

“He'll come for her," Clare said hoarsely, her voice choking with emotion. “I don't know what he'll do to her, but I'm afraid–"

“I won't let that happen," I surrendered, mulling over my options in my mind. I hadn't been in Cedar Hollow for two weeks and was already having to think about abandoning my dreams once again.

But I could do it for a child. I could return to my family, to their cloak of unity and safety, if it meant keeping a child safe from harm. Adrian seemed pleased, thankful he'd won this battle, at least.

“So, how do we do it?" he asked Clare.

Clare inhaled deeply, then tilted her head to me, offering me her hand. I hesitated before I took it, and then let her close her fingers around mine.

“Think of him," she whispered as she closed her eyes.

I did as I was told, closing my eyes as well and letting my mind go blank and succumb to darkness.

“Do you see him?"

I pictured Xander in my bed in Avondale, his face relaxed in a deep sleep. I felt my mouth tugging into a pained smile, and I nodded.

But suddenly Clare's hand tightened around mine so painfully I winced and tried to pull away, but she held me firmly, preventing me from moving. I opened my eyes, noticing her panting, and Adrian came up behind her, his hand on her back.

“What do you see?"

“Nothing," she replied in a strained whisper, her grip causing my bones to scrap together. “I feel… I feel–"

I heard him… Xander, calling out my name. I looked around the room as his voice echoed through my mind, frantic and angry. The mark on my chest began to burn, tugging me in every direction.

“Stay where you are!" he said into my soul, and I found it hard to breathe.

But then it was silent, and through the bond I felt his fear, shock, and surprise.

“Xander?" I said in a choked whisper, tears welling in my eyes.

“What happened? What did you see?"

Clare let go of my hand, her face drained of color. She turned to Adrian, then looked at me, her brows furrowed and eyes glistening with tears. “Who's Henry?"