Sold AS The alpha King's Breeder

Chapter 614

Chapter 114 : Stronger Together

*Lena*

“We’re going home,” Mom said as she riffled through the dresser in her bedroom at the castle in Winter Forest, her eyes wide, and a distant expression etched into her brow. I turned to the doorway as Maeve ran past in a blur of copper blonde hair, her footsteps retreating down the hallway.

It had been a few hours since we’d received word about what had happened in Breles. I should have felt stunned by the knowledge, but only a feeling of dread had settled in my stomach. I’d known this was coming. We all had. We’d all prepared for the worst, but it hadn’t made the news any easier to swallow.

“Where’s Dad?” I asked, my throat tightening around the words. Mom shook her head, her eyes misting with tears for a moment before she cleared her throat.

“I don’t know,” she said, and that was all she could manage to say. She cleared her throat, sniffing as she folded a sweater and tucked it into her suitcase. “We need to go back and rule, and prepare for… prepare for whatever is coming next.”

This morning I’d been at my ultrasound appointment. By nightfall, we were in a full state of panic as news began to pour in from the west about what had happened in Breles. Now, we were preparing to go home… home–to Mirage, back to the Castle Drogomor where I’d been born and raised. I hadn’t been home since the middle of summer at least.

It wouldn’t be a happy homecoming. I sucked in my breath at the thought of walking through those halls while Dad was away at war, unreachable, if he was even… Goddess, I couldn’t even say it.

Breles was gone. Just gone. Nothing left but rubble and ash. Those allied forces that had been able to escape when the vampire army pushed into the city had fled to the port.

The port was all that was left. Boats full of warriors were headed east to defend the Isles and Valoria in the event the vampires were able to cross the sea.

“Xander,” I whispered under my breath, my heart tying into a knot as I turned from where my mother was packing her suitcase to the doorway. I began to walk out of the room, moving like a ghost as my mind reeled. I had to get to him. I had to find him. I couldn’t just go home, not now. I had to close that portal.

This was my fault. That portal I’d opened and failed to close was allowing these creatures to enter our realm in unending droves and leave nothing but death and destruction in their wake.

“Where are you going?” Mom asked, and I turned around, tearfully looking toward her as I opened my mouth to tell her that I was sorry, that I’d see her again, hopefully soon. “No,” she said firmly as if reading my mind. “Lena, no–”

“I have to finish this. I should have ended this long ago. I didn’t know how, but I do now–”

“Stop,” she commanded, and I felt my body go rigid at her tone.

“I have to do this–”

“You were given that book for a reason, Lena,” she said as she pressed her weight into the suitcase, zipping it up. “We’re meeting with Mara in Mirage–you, me, Clare, and Maeve. Your grandma too, if she can spare the time with everything else going on. We’re going to figure this out!”

cheeks. “We’re too late. Whatever magic we were supposed to use,

her eyes holding my gaze with an intensity that almost brought

apart. I know I can. I have

“No–”

wanted this. I tried to hide

“You didn’t do this–”

my powers. I didn’t train them like I should have. I didn’t let any of you help me figure out who I was and what I could do. The blood of those warriors is on my hands, Mom. I could’ve stopped this.

just stared at me, shaking her

is the reason I was born. I’m meant to be the protector of our realm. I need to be that

realm of the vampires. It was risky, and

option was more difficult, but was the most likely

stepped backward through the doorway. She

whispered with

as a child, the same one I’d inadvertently trapped Xander in several months ago now. He’d told me about the… infection, in my garden realm. Blood root had seeped through the barriers of the realms like the Vampire King had been looking for me there. The injuries Jen had given me during the attack that left me fevered and forever scarred had linked me and my powers to the vampire realm,

here. He’d find Winter Forest, and my family. It was

had also been injured by Jen and given blood root to aid in his recovery. How long would it

he’d come upon Henry and taken shelter in his cave. From there, I’d go to the king. I knew his castle would be nearby. I’d seen the pointed peaks when we’d escaped the castle the day Xander and Oliver came to

his armies. I’d seal the portal. Then, I’d tear down

or say something. We were just looking at each other now, neither of us

Mom rushed out into the hallway as I turned my head in the

the air, frantic

rushed past me down the corridor and out onto the

as I caught up to her. Maeve was pacing back and forth below us, pointing

her lips pulled back in a snarl. “I am the

also my daughter,” Grandpa ground out. “And I’m not allowing you to barrel

to cut in, but Maeve was red with fury as she walked between her parents and stormed outside, not bothering to put a coat on. Mom hurried down the stairs, looking toward my grandparents for an explanation for Maeve’s outburst. Grandma only shook her head, swallowing hard as she looked down at her

happened?” I asked as I walked down the

with a shrug. “He stole a map from your uncle

Gooseflesh prickled over my arms as I looked toward the front door. If Maeve was going to Breles… maybe I wouldn’t need to jump through endless hoops to get back to the vampire realm. I could go straight to the source, and

sprinting toward the door, throwing it open wide as I hurried down the steps after Maeve. I screamed her name, and she came

“Go back inside, Lena.”