Sold AS The alpha King's Breeder

Sold as the Alpha King’s Breeder Chapter 574

Chapter 74 : Visions

*Lena*

Clare paced in front of the hearth, her hands tucked behind her back. Occasionally she’d pause and face Adrian and me, but then shake her head and continue to move back and forth in deep concentration as she gathered her thoughts.

Adrian was losing his patience. It was late, damn near the middle of the night, and I could see the lines of fatigue shading his eyes as he crossed his arms over his chest and waited, and waited, for Clare to speak.

“You have to tell us if you know anything about the pack Lycenna,” I said softly, trying my best to hide the urgency in my voice. Lycenna had been a secret, cult-like pack deep in the eastern mountains of Valoria and had fallen some twenty years ago, their Alpha’s death causing an internal war that splintered the pack into factions. They had been dangerous followers of Lycaon, and bred their women to create what they hoped were powerful lines of Dream Dancers. My grandmother had been from the pack Lycenna, but she had escaped with her mother as an infant.

Long ago now, a group of survivors from Lycenna’s inner war had passed through Winter Forest before going north over the endless, bleak tundra. They’d never been seen or heard from again.

“Sasha is with the servants at the castle,” Clare murmured, even though no one had asked. She seemed to be talking to herself, reassuring herself that Sasha was alright. “Hale should be there by now….”

“Clare!” I ground out, arching my brows as she turned to face me. “What is going on?”

She chewed her bottom lip, looking me up and down before taking a shallow breath and shifting her weight to one leg, her hands resting casually on her hips.

“My mother was a Lycennia refugee,” she said flatly, waving a hand in dismissal as though it wasn’t a big deal at all.

“What? How?” I pressed, gripping the top of the couch as I stood and watched a bored expression flit across her face.

“Do I really need to get into all of that?”

“Yes,” Adrian and I said in tandem.

Clare chewed the inside of her lip, shrugging as she let her shoulders slump. “I don’t know the details of the story, but somehow she ended up here and my father got her pregnant. Cedar Hollow was brand new, you know. She left us when we were kids, and I have no idea where she went.”

“Is that who you’re keeping Sasha away from?” I asked, but Clare scowled, shaking her head.

“I’m keeping Sasha away from her father, okay? He’s Lycennian as well. He was an infant when the last of the Lycennians went north over the Tundra. He showed up here one day and, well, you know–” she shrugged, trying her best to look uninterested in the conversation, but the hurt behind her eyes was undeniable. Adrian huffed a breath, but it wasn’t out of impatience. I glanced at him, seeing the sudden fury behind his eyes.

“Were you together… as a couple?” he asked sternly. Clare hesitated, then shook her head. Adrian’s cheeks burned. “He took advantage of you then?”

“Yes,” she replied without hesitation, and I felt a lump form in my throat.

“Oh, Clare–”

“I don’t need your sympathy,” she said shortly, her eyes narrowed into cat-like slits. “I need you to help me locate him so he can be dealt with.”

would be easy enough,” Adrian began, but Clare rolled

Dream Dancer… not a strong one from what he said. He knew I was Lycennian. I don’t know how, but he did. I turned down his advances but he overpowered me. He… he ensured what he’d done would result in a pregnancy, you know.

Adrian said

it hard to

a few times, clearing the glassy moisture from her eyes before

my face. This was just awful, unforgivable. I felt like a monster for ever thinking

rather than a

that I know

have the power of sight–”

glared at him, her expression cutting his words short. “Enough to know darkness is coming. I can’t will the future into my vision, okay?

war,” Adrian interrupted sharply, holding up his hand to cut me off as I opened my mouth to

swallowed hard, tilting my head as I looked

look like?” I asked. “So I

be out in public in the first place,” Adrian said

into a scowl. “It’s not her fault, you prick. She’s just a

raised his brows in surprise at Clare’s harsh tone, but he said nothing further as Clare’s gaze drifted

tall, with blond hair and

he looks Lycennian?” I said, almost to

genetics. Blond hair and black eyes had been common for

be? Does he know about her?” Adrian

about her, yes. Hale ran him out of town when it happened, but he came back exactly nine months later and found out about the baby who’d been born at the castle, a girl child… the bastard child of the teenage princess of Cedar Hollow.” Clare swallowed back what sounded like shame, and my heart began to shatter as I looked into her eyes. Sasha was five, and Clare, as Hale’s twin,

me, settling in my fingertips. That heat I could will into light and power surged forward, threatening to spill over as I thought about what Clare had been through, and what she

glanced at me long enough to see the

Lycaon and his teachings….” He began to explain the Dark Realm to Clare, who listened intently but kept her

everything to Clare. He talked about Xander, and about me, and gave her the real reason I was here, as well as his reasons for finding me despite my not wanting to be found. I

hour passed based on the chiming of the grandfather clock along the far wall, and Clare

lost your Alpha?” she said shortly, snorting with

at her and tucked his hands into the pockets of

replied, unable to hide

across her features. “Do you

Adrian said quickly, but

flexed her jaw, her gaze

up to her, as his mate. If the bond is still intact, I may be able to give you an idea of

a full picture,” Adrian

that,” she snapped, “only

grunted, shaking his head.