Sold as the Alpha King's Breeder novel Chapter 618

Chapter 118 : Let’s Find Our Alpha

*Lena*

Being a wolf was not what I had expected. And for someone who was the freaking Moon Goddess reincarnate, I was really struggling to get the hang of it.

The island of Cantorina was situated in the Isles of Denali, and it was the closest we could get to Breles by plane at the moment. We were waiting for a boat to pick us up and take us the rest of the way, but it was absolutely dumping rain while we waited, and there was no way in hell even the stealthiest cruiser was going to make it into the shallow cove we were sheltering in with this weather.

Waves pounded the shore, stirring the powder-fine sand. I pulled my shawl a little tighter around my shoulders as I huffed a breath and watched the white cap waves beat the living hell out of the cove.

We'd been stuck here for twelve hours. I was starting to rethink my agreement to stay with Maeve and find help with what I needed to do. I was wasting precious time.

Night was falling again, but there would be no sunset tonight.

I'd spent the last several hours in my wolf form, canvasing the island and getting used to being on all fours. I could admit that I was a beautiful wolf, a silvery white with a long, glossy coat and lots of fluff. I stared at my reflection in a shallow pool I'd found for a long time, marveling at the transformation.

My striking good looks were all that I had going for me at the moment, however. I was clumsy and slow, barely able to run faster than a jog without tripping over a rock or even my own feet. Maeve assured me it would take time to get used to it, but she'd also told me about her first experience shifting, and she had apparently taken off like a rocket.

I came back, in my human form and dressed, to the stately home we were sheltering in which was built into the cliffside overlooking the water. The family that lived there were apparently good friends of Maeve's, and we'd been fed and offered beds and whatever else we needed.

They even offered to have their twin daughters, who were only a few years older than me, go out on a run with me, but I'd refused. I needed to figure this out for myself, come hell or high water.

And right now, it was high water. And hell was just forty miles west.

Maeve was sitting on the upper deck, which by the grace of the Goddess was covered and screened from the rain. She was drinking scotch, and not slowly, her eyes rimmed with red.

“Any news?" I asked.

She swallowed a mouthful of her drink and nodded, clearing her throat as the liquid no doubt burned on the way down. “I spoke to Troy," she said with a sigh of relief. “A boat will be here within the hour, but that means we'll reach Breles after dark and… it's unlikely they'll let us come ashore, not until morning."

“I thought they were able to take back part of the city?"

“They were, and the attacks are… there are fewer and fewer vampires coming to the edge of Breles every night, from what he said." She paused, setting her glass of scotch down again, and then thought better of it, drinking the rest in one swallow.

“What's the matter, Aunt Maeve?"

“Oliver and Xander saved… I don't even know how to describe what they've done, what they were able to do. But somehow they made it to Crimson Creek and killed an entire legion of the vampire army using fire and gasoline, preventing them from attacking Breles again. Our armies had an entire night of peace, of much needed rest." Her voice wavered. This should have been good news, great news. But something hung heavy in her voice that sent a chill up my spine.

“What happened to Xander?" I asked, but I already knew. Her eyes met mine, a glimmer of moisture lining her lower lashes.

“He's gone. Oliver believes he was taken through the portal."

I chewed the inside of my cheeks as I sat down at the patio table across from her, folding my hands in my lap.

“He knows what he's doing," I said shakily, but Maeve sucked in her breath, blowing it back out again.

I could do nothing but stare out at the turbulent water as Maeve described what Oliver and Xander had accomplished, and the tragedy that followed. Oliver had woken up in Breles, panic stricken and frantic. He'd almost died. He should have been dead. Xander's warriors who had gone to Crimson Creek with them had found Oliver practically crushed inside a truck the next morning, unconscious, and Xander was nowhere to be found.

Oliver told his father everything, and now an allied force was guarding the portal day in and day out, killing any and all vampires who crossed through when night fell. It was working, and could have signaled the end of the conflict if the vampires hadn't been crossing through the realms using the bloodstone, creating small fissures that closed up within minutes.

“Oliver told Troy that the last thing he remembers was feeling like a blanket was wrapping around him, shielding him from whatever took Xander," Maeve concluded.

I didn't wipe the tears away. My heart was beating slow, too broken to react. I felt numb, weightless, like I was simply existing and incapable of feeling.

If Oliver had been that hurt, so hurt that even his powers of healing couldn't heal himself, Xander would have been just as hurt if not more so.

Would I have felt it if he died in another realm?

I reached up to absently touch the mark above my breast, and I felt nothing.

“I need to go to Crimson Creek," I said without looking at her.

“I know."

“You can't stop me from going–"

“I won't," Maeve replied, her voice firm and steady. “I wouldn't stop you. No one will stop you."

“What about my dad?" I asked, glancing at her.