Sold AS The alpha King's Breeder

Chapter 23 Sharing A Room with Him

Lightning illuminated the sky above us, and I wrapped the raincoat Warren had packed for me tighter, but it wasn’t doing me a whole lot of good.

To avoid being tracked down by the city security, who reported directly to Theo, we intentionally avoided public transportation until we got outside of the greater capital city

area.

It had been raining for hours, and I was beginning to feel drowsy from trudging through the mud in such foul weather. I sneezed, again, this time barely getting my arm up to cover my face, and I willed myself to keep walking.

Warren was concerned about me, and he had been for the last few hours since I’d begun to cough and sneeze. He wanted to shift and let me climb on his back, but I’d refused. We would save that for if we were in danger. Right now, I was miserable, but I wasn’t going to die.

“I see city lights off in the distance, Ciana,” he told me. “We’re almost to a town.”

His words entered my mind, but I was having trouble processing them. Unless it was a town with a giant bubble over the top of it that would protect me from the rain, I didn’t

care.

Trudging on, I began to lose most of my conscious thought. I just continued to lift one foot and then the other. Eventually, I

noticed that Warren was guiding me, his arm around me, and then, the mud of the forest changed to open green grass, to pavement, to a sidewalk… to steps.

“Where are we going?” I muttered.

“A hotel,” he explained. “You need to rest and recover.”

“Let’s find a small one,” I mumbled my explanation. “Fewer security cameras around.”

“Good point!” He chuckled under his breath and commented, “You surprise me all the time, you know that?”

“Goodness gracious!” a loud female voice proclaimed. “You poor dears look half drowned.”

“Yes, we need a couple of rooms, please,” Warren explained to her as I leaned against his side to keep from falling over.

“I’m afraid I only have one,” the woman said. “But it’s got a big bed in it.”

“That will do.” Warren held on to me as he fished out payment for the room from beneath his raincoat, and I wrapped my arm around his middle to steady myself, my eyes locked on the floor where a puddle was forming from all the water dripping off of me.

I wanted to apologize to the custodial staff for making such a

mess.

Halfway up the stairs, I lost my footing and almost tumbled back down, despite Warren’s grip on me.

“All right, that’s it,” he proclaimed, and the next thing I knew, I was being lifted off of the steps into his arms. I didn’t protest. Even if I’d wanted to, the words wouldn’t come out of my mouth.

Once we were in the room, he helped me out of my raincoat, and then I insisted that I could change into dry clothes myself. I went into the bathroom and took a shower with very warm water, which I enjoyed.

changed. He looked at me very concerned.

waved a hand at him, but even that seemed to be moving in slow motion. “I’m

that hideous dungeon for all of that time has left your immune system weak, Ciana. Climb into bed, and I’ll get you some chicken

didn’t have a problem crawling into the nice warm bed. The next thing I knew, a spoon was being coaxed into my mouth. I split my lips

Had I fallen asleep?

sat beside me, getting me some soup and water. Then he said, “I’ll go see if I can find

thunder shook the entire establishment. “No…” I muttered; my mind was

under his breath. “I think I’ll be okay.

a… good

“Unlike what?”

Um, my head was so heavy and I felt I couldn’t think straight, but it didn’t prevent

by Warren’s gentle voice. “While I don’t disagree with you, I know you’re delirious because my sweet, mild-mannered Ciana

My head lolled to the side, and I noticed the print on the wallpaper. It was a fleur-de-lis print, white on gray, very

back to say something

vague recollections of someone helping me with liquids and medicines, but for the most part, I had

dreams, and although I couldn’t remember the details, I knew they

it was more of

dreamt that Theo

after we arrived at the hostel, I awoke with a start, much like I had when I’d snapped out

in through the window, and Warren was sitting in

he teased, causing me to

was I asleep?” I stretched

while,” he said with a grin. “How

in the rain to get me medicine and

but he nodded. “I wanted

was such a good man. “We should be on our way

now.”

soft afternoon sunshine gave him a golden glow and I felt my heart skip a beat. “I seriously doubt they are. Besides, it’s getting kind of late. It’s been a bright, sunny day, but it’ll be dark in just a couple of hours. It would

good to try to talk him out of it, so I nodded. “All right then. I’m going

a good idea,” he said. “There’s a

full of bright flowers that have

a long time,

help but chuckle at

I made my way outside and quickly found the courtyard he’d been speaking of. It was lovely. Sitting down on a quaint bench beneath a tree full of fuchsia

tried to think only positive thoughts, but my mind kept going back over everything that had happened in the castle. I thought about Prince Theo and how, for a while, I’d thought perhaps he truly could be kind when he wanted

thrown in prison for doing nothing wrong. No, I was certain now that he truly

while I

a dream

parts seemed like

there was Warren. My long-lost

times if he had any memory

hadn’t had the