Sold as the Alpha King's Breeder novel Chapter 718

Sold as the Alpha King’s Breeder Chapter 718

Chapter 63 : The Best Thing I’ve Ever Had

My eyes flicked to Soren and he subtly shook his head.

My heart sank. If Eros had run off, it was a lot more likely that he was just fishing for information to figure out where we were going or what we were after.

I shook my head. So, he was after the Blade of Souls all along. We really couldn’t trust anyone.

“I know what you’re thinking and it’s not true,” Ashley said before I could open my mouth. “Eros is a good guy, a nice guy. He was just… upset.”

“Upset about what?” I asked suspiciously, arching an eyebrow.

“Well, you know, he’s a doctor in training and he didn’t do it right… he was feeling so guilty about it that he started thinking he wasn’t good at medicine,” she continued.

“That’s not a good excuse. He stopped my bleeding and saved my life,” Soren pointed out, crossing his arms.

“It was still a mistake. And he was pretty hard on himself, saying that he should have known how to heal you completely, not just stop the bleeding. He thought that because he made a mistake it put you in more danger,” Ashley said.

I sighed and shook my head. It sounded like Ashley was making a lot of excuses and I didn’t understand it because she had only just met him. She didn’t know anything about him.

“Soren, I hope you won’t hold this against Eros… you know, for not healing you completely,” she said, giving Soren a sheepish look.

I wanted to tell Ashley that Eros might not be as innocent as he appeared or as she wanted. It wasn’t like I had any proof, just a feeling.

Biting my tongue, I held back my comment. Without proof, I didn’t want to upset Ashley or give her a reason to be mad at us. She had a good heart and was a good ally. There was no reason not to trust her, even if I didn’t trust Eros.

Ashley sighed and bowed her head. She looked so crestfallen and I knew it was because of Eros’s departure. I’d never seen her so happy than when she was laughing with him and now she looked so… sad.

I felt sorry for her.

My spine tingled and I glanced sideways at Soren. He was watching me carefully. I bit my lip and looked away quickly. My cheeks warmed.

I’d asked him some serious questions. When I asked them, I had felt confident and secure. Now, I didn’t think I wanted to hear the answers and I was grateful for Payne and Ashley’s interruption.

As much as I would love for Soren to be my mate, I was afraid to find out. It meant he’d be in a lot of danger and we’d have this connection that I didn’t know if I could commit to.

I pushed those thoughts aside and looped my arm through Ashley’s.

“Come with me. We’ve got to pack up the camp and get moving. Seeing as Soren can walk again,” I said, flashing him a teasing look.

I half dragged her back to camp and we started packing things up.

***

As soon as the sun rose, we were off on the next leg of our journey. Soren and I led the way while Payne and Ashley followed behind us.

“Where did Doctor Lee go?” I asked timidly. I wasn’t sure I wanted to start a conversation with him because I didn’t want Soren to bring up the things from last night.

Still, the silence was awkward, especially since we were walking together in a quiet forest.

“He gave me the medication I needed to heal and took off this morning. You know him… he doesn’t like to stray far from the rogue zone unless it is absolutely necessary,” Soren explained, smirking.

“What about the personal time he took?” I asked, arching an eyebrow.

“Well, he does like personal time sometimes, too,” Soren chuckled.

I got the feeling Soren wasn’t telling me everything about Lee and his personal time but it wasn’t really my business. I wasn’t part of their group and from what I could tell, Lee didn’t like me at all.

“What about Eros? What will you do about him?” I asked.

“Payne called in a favor. Some of our men are tracking him and will report back on his movements and see what he is up to,” Soren explained.

“That’s probably a good idea,” I said, nodding.

“Perhaps. I’m not sure if they will be able to catch up to him or track him down without being discovered. Eros is not as easy to handle as he appears,” he replied, confirming what I thought.

“Mila! Mila!” Ashley called to me before I could respond to Soren.

“Yes, what is it?” I asked as she ran up to me.

“Are we going the right way?” she asked, pointing down the path.

“Yes, we are heading the right way,” Soren interjected. “Mila and I confirmed our trajectory this morning.”

“But we’re going to Carno pack. Isn’t that south of where we camped? Why are we heading east?” Ashley pointed out.

“Carno?” Soren asked, smirking. “You must have heard wrong, Ashley. Mila, didn’t you say Marno pack?”

“I did,” I confirmed with a nod.

I bit my lip to hide my smile. I wasn’t laughing at Ashley’s confusion. Soren and I had come up with the plan to feed Eros Carno pack when we were going to Marno. They sounded so similar, it could be an honest mistake if it turned out that he wasn’t working against us.

But the two packs were far enough apart and in different directions that if he was after the artifact, we’d have the piece and be back in the rogue zone before Eros figured out we tricked him.

Of course, Ashley accidentally heard our planted information.

“I know I didn’t hear wrong. I was standing right there. I’m positive I heard Carno. Payne, what did you hear?” Ashley asked, turning to her brother.

Payne shrugged. “Marno.”

We hadn’t told Payne of our plan to plant information but I knew that Payne would back Soren up. He’d probably picked up on our subtle looks in the tent when I told Eros where we were going next.

Ashley sighed and shook her head. She glanced at all three of us and then shook her head. She looked so disappointed.

For a moment, I thought the worst. Had Ashley been expecting to see Eros at Carno pack? Had he told her that he would follow us? If so, did that mean she betrayed us because she hadn’t told the rest of us? Would she be able to contact Eros and tell him about our change in plans?

Payne was solemn. He looked down the path like he was anxious to keep moving. On the other hand, Soren was relaxed and didn’t seem too worried about us stopping to talk.

“Ashley, is it a problem that we’re going to Marno?” I asked tentatively.

Ashley grinned. “No, no. Of course, it isn’t! I just love the snacks in Carno pack. They have this delicious snack, a deep-fried cookie drizzled with chocolate and melted marshmallow. Doesn’t that just sound delicious?”

She smiled brightly, her bad mood gone. She seemed to bounce back from her disappointment pretty quickly. Then she brightened even more and grabbed my arm.

“Mila! Oh, I just remembered. Marno pack has something else even more fun to do!” she gushed, squeezing my arm.

I smiled and let out a sigh of relief. It was clear to me that Ashley hadn’t betrayed us. She was loyal, as always.

“Oh, we are going to have so much fun! Now I can’t wait. There’s this thing and…” she trailed off, laughing and bouncing excitedly on the balls of her feet. “Let’s go, let’s go!”