Sold as the Alpha King's Breeder novel Chapter 724

Chapter 69 : A Trip Down Memory Lane

“Are you going to tell me where we are going?" I asked as Soren hurried me along.

Payne and Ashley had gone on ahead to the rogue zone, leaving Soren and me alone. He seemed determined to get me where he wanted to take me and at the same time, he was doing everything he could to hide our destination from me.

“Does anything seem familiar?" he asked, instead of answering my question.

Shrugging, I looked around and shook my head.

“No. I've never been here, Soren. What should I be looking for?" I asked.

Soren shrugged. “You'll know it when you see it."

We headed off the main road into a forest. I slowed down as we got onto a forest path. Soren was still holding my hand and when I slowed down, it forced him to slow down, too.

“Something wrong?" he asked.

“I feel like I know this place," I muttered, glancing around at the trees.

So many of them were young and still growing but I could see the charred remains of older trees overgrown with moss, grass, and vines.

“This forest… I've been here or seen it…" I said, my breath getting shallow.

“Where?" Soren prompted.

“This is the forest where April took us in that dream. The forest on the outskirts of Pomeli pack, Hathaway packland," I said, recognizing where I knew the forest from.

“That's right," Soren said.

I went to the closest burned trunk and ran my hand along the charred bark and remains.

“The fire did a lot of damage. I'm surprised that the forest has grown back so much. It looks like it is recovering. But the pack…"

“The pack hasn't recovered," Soren agreed with a somber nod. “Come with me. The forest opens up just ahead."

We went to the end of the forest path and it opened up into a big, clear space. I could see the remnants of roads from my pack but all the destroyed buildings had been taken back into the earth.

“No one has been here for a long time," I said absently, looking at the strange hill-like shapes of grass and weeds around the buildings that used to be standing there.

“This whole place is deserted but the entire village isn't gone. Not entirely," Soren told me.

He grabbed my hand again and pulled me toward the hill where the pack mansion, my original home, used to stand. The mansion was gone completely. It had probably been burned to the ground and overgrown like the rest of the buildings.

I could still remember what the mansion looked like in that dream. My heart ached, wishing I could see it again in person and recover more memories from my childhood.

Soren led me into the center of the deserted village and I slowed again, chewing the inside of my cheek. I started dragging my feet.

My memories of this place were practically non-existent. The dream was all I had and it wasn't real. The real Hathaway had been burned to the ground and was now overgrown.

There were no memories for me here.

“Is something wrong?" Soren asked.

“No. It's hard to remember anything when it looks so different from the dream," I said.

“Mila, this is unclaimed land right now. You are the heir to this territory and can claim it for your own," he said.

“Hang on…"

I noticed the familiar looking edge of the forest. Pulling away from Soren, I ran along the edge of the forest. Something nagged at the back of my mind. I wasn't sure if it was some hidden memory or my own instinct, but I couldn't ignore it.

“Mila, where are you going?" Soren asked, running behind me.

“I don't know! I just feel like this is the right way to go…" I kept running ahead.

I followed the edge of the forest all the way to the base of the hill. The forest veered off in another direction but there was one building left standing.

Emotion washed over me and I dropped to my knees in front of the little cabin. It was tucked back in the forest, just hidden well enough that it wouldn't be seen from the mansion. It had probably escaped being burned or destroyed because no one knew it was there.

The cabin was small. Just big enough for two bedrooms. There were the remnants of an old garden in front of the cabin and a broken swing set in the back.

Even though it was old and rotting in some places, I could vividly imagine that cabin when it was pristine and well cared for.

In my imagination, the cabin door opened and a loving father came out with a little girl. She had golden hair and bouncing curls. The man picked her up and hugged her. She laughed.

“Stop Daddy, I want to walk," she said, struggling in his arms.

The father put the girl down and she grabbed his hand, pulling him around to the swing set. He picked her up and held her as she swung on the monkey bars. There was no way she could have held herself up with how small she was but the big smile on her face showed how proud she was of herself.

The memory faded. At least, I thought it was a memory. It could have just been my imagination.

I got to my feet and pushed the door of the cabin open. Inside, it smelled musty and stale. There were cobwebs filling the corners and some moss and lichen had crept in around the windows, growing on the walls.

The inside was ruined, despite the outside looking sound.

Soren came in behind me.

I went to the kitchen and touched the granite countertop. It was a very nice counter for a cabin, but my parents had been really well off.

“Do you remember this place?" Soren asked.

I looked around more, hoping to jog my memory. First, I shook my head, then I nodded. I scrunched my face up.

“I think so…" I whispered.

There was a thick layer of dust covering the counter and the tabletop.

“I think this was my vacation home as a child. Rather, my parents' little getaway close to home," I said.

“You remember being here?" he pressed.

I shrugged and walked around more. “Maybe they are memories. Maybe they are wishful thinking."

“Do you want this place, Mila? To fix up and call your own?"

I stared at Soren silently.

What was I supposed to say to that? My mind wandered back to everything I'd learned recently. About who my parents were, my real family, my true identity, and the artifact they'd left me. I thought of my aunt Helen, who I still hadn't found, and the witch blood running in my veins.

Growing up, I always thought that I was abandoned by my parents. I never wanted to meet them or know them because I hated to think of what kind of people would abandon me to the life I lived.

I'd gone through so much suffering at the hands of my foster mother and Saboreef pack. It had been easier to hate my parents as villains rather than think of what I might have lost. I wondered if that was why I blocked out all the memories of my early childhood.

I had agreed to take the Blackfire poison because, after everything I went through, I'd decided it would be better to die of the poison than go through more pain and suffering. I had thought my existence was no longer needed in the world.

Now that I knew who my parents were, I was glad I survived.

I was glad that I'd survived long enough to learn what had happened to them because I had the chance to avenge them and get revenge for them! My parents were killed because of the selfish desires of others. They were the ones that robbed me of my family, my childhood, and all my happy memories.

My heart filled with anger and I clenched my fists. This wasn't over! I would make them all pay for destroying my family and my pack.

Sighing, I bowed my head. The anger passed quickly and was replaced by grief. Maybe my anger was just a cover-up for the sadness I really felt.

“Mila, what do you think?" Soren asked, reminding me he'd asked a question.

“I was thinking about my parents," I admitted softly.

What would my life have been like if my parents hadn't died? Would I have had all the love and happiness I'd been denied for so long?

Tears pricked my eyes and I hugged myself. All the “what ifs" of life with my parents rushed through my mind. A tear welled up in my right eye and dropped down my cheek. I sniffled and quickly wiped the tear away.

“Hey…"

Soren put a hand on my shoulder and I looked at him. I couldn't muster the strength to smile.

“There are no 'what ifs,' Mila. Not in real life. You can only look forward, grow, and keep moving. Or, you can be trapped in the past, stuck, and stunted," he said.

I gasped and looked away from him. How had he known exactly what I was thinking?

Soren was too good at anticipating my thoughts and feelings. He was also too good at saying exactly what I needed to hear to feel comforted.

I narrowed my eyes at him. Could he read my mind?

“Is that advice you intend to follow, as well?" I asked, biting my lower lip.

I knew that Soren had an amazing ability to observe and analyze. He'd been doing that since we first met, pointing out things about myself that I wanted to hide. What I couldn't figure out is how he could seemingly read my mind.

It crossed my mind that he could know what to say because he recognized feelings in me that he had felt himself. His past must have been full of longing, regret, and loss. Otherwise, he'd never know what I was feeling.

“Are you trying to convince me or yourself?"

Soren chuckled and brushed some of the cobwebs out of the nearest door frame.

“If you wanted it, I would give you a wooden cabin just like this. I would give you this very one, if that is what you want," he told me. He gripped the door frame and squeezed, almost like he was testing the strength.

My heart swelled. I couldn't even be mad that he was avoiding my questions. I went to Soren and wrapped my arms around his waist, hugging him tightly.

He arched an eyebrow and looked down at me. I lifted myself on tiptoes and kissed Soren on the lips.

“Thank you," I murmured, pulling away. “It is nice to have you with me…"

Soren growled low in his throat. He hugged me back, running his nose through my hair. He sucked in a sharp breath, smelling me.

“How I wish you could feel…"

The words were so soft and distant I wasn't sure if I heard them correctly, or at all. Soren rarely whispered like that and the words made no sense to me.

He cradled the back of my head in his palm and inhaled again.

“Excuse me, did you say something?" I asked, tipping my head up to him.

Soren sighed and shook his head. “Nothing."