Sold as the Alpha King's Breeder novel Chapter 607

Chapter 107 : Alexis

*Lena*

Winter Forest used to be little more than a village nestled against an ice-covered inlet, surrounded by mountains. This time of year, the mountains were bathed in snow so pale it shimmered with every color of the sunrise as we navigated an ice-covered trail toward the sprawling city that now rose over the water.

So much had changed over the years. The old village, which had been there when my grandmother was my age, was still nestled in a wooded bluff near a river, but the new city of Winter Forest was a cozy metropolis with four-story buildings, an ongoing winter festival, and several schools and hospitals to house its booming population.

My grandparents had given up the home my dad and Aunt Maeve had grown up in and moved into the castle, which was also home to my extended family, who settled in Winter Forest when I was a kid. George and Eliza had grown up here, and in a way, the rest of us had too.

But I'd rarely visited Winter Forest in the winter. We usually spent our summers here. Seeing it in all its glory, the buildings glazed with icicles and puffing fragrant wood smoke into the air.... Well, I felt an overwhelming sense of “home" as I held my mother's hand and walked around the outside of the city, toward the castle.

She draped me in a long parka, but I didn't feel so much as a chill. Xander and Oliver tagged behind us, Oliver still carrying the book in his hands.

“Why didn't I know about the other temple?" Oliver asked. Mom glanced at him over her shoulder, her breath puffing mist as she replied.

“Winter is the only time you can access it. Rosalie told Maeve and me that it had been swallowed up by a glacier long ago, but we found it a few years after you and Lena were born. We'd been out hiking while your dad and Rowan took you kids fishing, so we could have a break."

Mom had already told us about why she'd come to the old Temple of the White Queens. She'd been unable to sleep and had a dream that made it impossible to fall back asleep. For whatever reason, she was pulled to the old temple, and she set out on an early morning walk along the edge of the inlet to where the remains of the temple laid upon a shallow island that was covered in water most of the year.

She'd crossed the ice and thought she'd heard voices. Lo and behold, there we were.

“I dreamt about this moment before either of you were born," she'd told us as we left the temple. “It was the first time I saw you, but I didn't know who you were at the time. You were standing there, dressed the same. I don't think Maeve knew about you yet, Oliver. That was before she found out about the triplets."

Xander hadn't said a word during Mom's retelling of her two-decade-old vision of the future. He looked suspicious and tired, his body refusing to relax even as we reached the castle.

It couldn't have been later than 8:00 in the morning based on the cooking smells coming from the open doors of the dining hall, which was adjacent to the kitchen. Breakfast was being made, and my stomach curled with anticipation.

We stood in the foyer, Xander and Oliver shivering as they wrung their chilled hands together. Mom helped me out of my coat as a maid approached, her arms outstretched to receive the parka and the rest of the winter clothing Mom was wearing.

But I felt Mom's eyes on me, her gaze lowering to the swell of my stomach, which was partially hidden by the flowing fabric of my dress. The parka had made it impossible to tell that I was pregnant, but now....

She met my eye, then looked at Xander, her brow furrowed and eyes glistening.

“How much time has passed since we've been gone?" Oliver asked.

My mom turned to him, her face full of confusion and emotion. “You've been gone for a month, Oliver," she said softly, then she turned her eyes back to me. “Lena–"

“How long has it been since we stole the Persephone?" Xander asked bluntly.

Mom swallowed, turning her gaze on him. “Three months, maybe a little longer–"

Three months? That would make it… March. A lump formed in my throat as I turned and looked over my shoulder at Xander.

So much time had passed, and there was so much that needed to happen now. How could we stop this war? Who would even believe us about what we'd witnessed, and been through?

“Where the f**k have you been, Oliver?"

All three of us snapped our heads up toward the second floor landing where a disheveled looking Maeve was standing, her face burning with fury. Oliver cleared his throat, coloring as he squared his shoulders at his mother. She rushed down the stairs, her plush bathrobe billowing out behind her as she closed in on us.

She stopped short of Oliver and let out a strained breath, then threw her arms around him in a tight embrace. Mom made a choked noise in her throat, her eyes glistening with tears as mother and son reunited for the first time in months.

Xander shifted his weight behind me, looking slightly uncomfortable and anxious.

Maeve finally released Oliver and looked down between them at the silk wrapped book he was holding. He handed it to her as though it were nothing more than a gift from the far off land we'd been exploring instead of a book of spells that could alter the trajectory of our world.

“What is this?" Maeve asked, turning to look at the group of us. Her gaze slid to my belly, then to my Mom, then to Xander. “Oh. You all have some major explaining to do."

***

Grandma was listening intently as Xander, Oliver, and I explained what we'd been through, her eyes darting from us, to Maeve and my mom as we told them about meeting Andromeda. She straightened her back, tucking a lock of her glossy white hair behind her ear as she lifted a tea cup to her mouth and took an audible sip.

“Me? I don't understand," Maeve interjected as I told her about how the God of Night had given me the book and told me to give it Andromeda, and then to the twentieth White Queen.

“Did the people of Dianny ever mention anything like this when you were there?" Mom asked as she flipped through the book. Maeve was leaning over Mom's shoulder, shaking her head.

“No. Not at all."

“They said you'd be powerful, Maeve," Grandma said, tilting her head toward the book. “We never knew what that meant."

“What am I supposed to do? Start casting spells?" Maeve huffed, looking around the table. Xander and Oliver were seated at the end of the table, picking at their plates of breakfast and looking overall no worse for wear.

“It would be fantastic," Oliver mused, “if these 'higher beings' had any idea what the hell we're supposed to do–"

“It's a game to them," Xander cut in, his voice void of emotion. “They already know the outcome of this war. Andromeda likely knew exactly when, why, and how Queen Maeve is supposed to use this book."