Sold as the Alpha King's Breeder novel Chapter 398

Chapter 56 The 21st Generation of King Lycaon

Cedrick wanted to say something but my mother raised her hand to stop him.

“I suppressed your mate sense,” she answered my ques- tion instead. Her voice wasn’t loud, but shock settled into my bones.

“How could you….”

“If you cannot find your mate, then you will not have to worry about losing control around her.”

All I could do was stare at her from across the room.

So what was I? A crazy, heartless freak who was cursed to live in this world all alone until the end of his pathetic life? I was not allowed to love, nor was I allowed to hate. No emo- tions, no friends, and no… hope.

“Why me?” I murmured.

“I do not know. But what I do know is that you’re the 21st generation of King Lycaon’s bloodline and your power is un- paralleled. Whether you like it or not, it’s a blessing from the Moon Goddess herself.”

I’d never asked for it! I never wanted this damn power!

She sighed and said softly, “Now, let’s take care of what- ever it is you feel you must do as ramifications for the crystal, and we will talk about these other matters at another time.”

*Ciana”

It had been almost two days since Lady Nita and Theo were locked in his room.

I assumed she was treating him for the nightmares Luther had inflicted upon him. I spent much of that time wandering outside-waiting.

What I was waiting for exactly, I wouldn’t admit to any- one. Whenever Brook came to check on me, to bring me some food or see if I needed anything, I’d eat a little to appease her, but mostly, I just pretended to be tending to the garden or feeding the animals that sometimes came by.

But I think she knew, as I did, that I was worried about Prince Theo. I wanted to make sure that he was well.

Just as the sun was beginning to set on the second day, the door opened, and she came out, along with her servant, Cedrick and… Theo.

I tried not to rush in to see if he was okay, but instead, I casually walked over, keeping my hands folded behind my back, pretending to be nonchalant.

Lady Nita looked down her nose at me and shook her head, obviously irritated at my presence. “You’ll be happy to know that whatever that was bothering him has been lifted,” she said.

I noticed then that she had something in her hand. It was the Moonlit Crystal. It looked benign just resting in her palm, but I knew better. It could be dangerous.

“That’s wonderful!” I couldn’t help but bounce up and say a silent prayer to the Moon Goddess. Perhaps it made me seem like a little girl, but what I really wanted to do was hurl myself at him and wrap him in a hug.

I couldn’t do that, though. If I had learned one thing about Theo over the weeks that I had known him, it was that, under normal circumstances, he was not a hugger.

So I was doubly surprised when he closed the distance. between us and wrapped his arms around me in a tight hug.

“Thank you, Ciana,” he muttered.

My cheeks immediately flamed from his touch, and the thoughts that filled my mind were of all of the intimate times we’d spent together.

The time he’d kissed me in the pavilion, the passionate ex- change we’d used to attempt to fool Raymond at my pack, and especially making love to him in the illusional realm of the Moonlit crystal.

“You’re welcome, Your Highness,” I said, finally managing to pull away from him. “I’m just glad you’re feeling better.”

Behind me, his mother cleared her throat, and in a voice that meant business, she said, “You know, Theodore, the terms of my agreeing to break this curse included Ciana going away and never coming back again. I think it’s time that hap- pened.”

“After the berry,” I reminded her, and the look she gave me told me I’d better shut my mouth right away.

“No, Mother. I don’t remember ever agreeing to your

terms,” Theo commented. He had released me, but we were still standing very close to one another, and seeing his resolve made me proud to know him.

“You have been warned about what will happen, Theodore!” Queen Nita folded her arms beneath her chest, her nostrils flaring with anger.

“It won’t matter, Mother.”

What were they talking about? What wouldn’t matter?

Then he added, “Because I do not love her.”

His words stung a bit, but I shouldn’t have been surprised to hear him say that. Of course, he did not love me…. I didn’t love him either. So what difference did it make?

It was then that I noticed that the crystal in her palm was glowing, much the same way it had right before we’d all fallen into the dream realm. Except the light wasn’t as intense this time. It was warm and inviting.

“What’s going on with the crystal?” Theo asked. “Why is it glowing like that?”

Lady Nita unfolded her arms and held her hand out so we could clearly see the glowing crystal.

She frowned and then let out a relieved breath. “It was cleansed and now is ready to be used again.”

“But… I thought we failed,” Theo muttered, looking at me.

“I hope you know what you’re doing.” That was all she said as she shook her head.

“Of course, I do,” he replied.

Theo gestured for me to lean over the soil, which I did. Because he’d bitten me so deeply and sucked so hard, when I extended my tongue, several bright red drops of blood fell onto the soil above the seeds.

The crystal was positioned now so that the place where I’d been bleeding was bathed in red light. We all stood back as a sprig of green broke free from the soil.

I couldn’t believe how quickly it was growing, but I didn’t want to speak and ruin it. Instead, I took a few more steps away and waited with my hands folded in front of me, almost as if I was praying.

I actually sort-of was. I wanted the Moon Goddess to make this work so badly.

Before our very eyes, the sprout turned into a stem, and then a longer vine with green leaves continued to shoot up a foot, then two feet, out of the soil. I’d never seen anything grow so quickly. It was amazing and nearly took my breath awav

Then, a bud began to appear on one of the branches. I watched it carefully as it got larger and turned from a light yellowish-orange color to red and then to a deep purple.

After about fifteen minutes, it looked the same as the berry I had eaten.

“I believe it’s ripe,” Theo said. He looked at Jake for confir- mation, and his Beta nodded. I assumed he had seen this be- fore. With that, he plucked the berry from the vine and popped it into his mouth.

He didn’t seem to savor it as I had, and simply swallowed it with a triumphant look on his face.

Then he looked at his hands and made fists slowly.

“It worked,” he assured the rest of the group.

I smiled at him, so glad that everything was finally back to how it should be.

It was then that Jake hit the floor with a loud thunk.

We all turned to look at the Beta to see what was wrong. His face was wrinkling and pale. He had a horrible expression of panic and sorrow on his face.

“Jake?” Theo called, but I couldn’t follow him as he went around the table to check on his Beta.

Suddenly, I began to feel extremely tired and woozy. The world around me began to spin, and it felt like all my energy and vitality were sucked out from me. I was so tired.

I needed to sit down… to lie down….

Something was wrong with me. Something was terribly wrong!