Sold AS The alpha King's Breeder

Chapter 625

Chapter 125 : I’m Not a Ghost

*Lena*

I was home; how, I didn’t know. I’d simply opened my eyes and found myself lying on my back looking up at a star-flecked sky, turning my head to see the muted lights of Crimson Creek in the distance. Some of the grand estates dotting the horizon had lights glistening in their windows, and a sense of peace washed over me as I sat up, hugging my knees.

I was still dressed in the warrior garb I’d been wearing when I first passed through the portal. I knew the portal was no longer there; I couldn’t feel it. There was no longer an unearthly pull toward the sweeping hills outside of Crimson Creek. It was quiet, still, and peaceful.

Gideon’s house rose against the horizon as I made my way through the hills. Below me, Crimson Creek was awash in activity. Hundreds, if not thousands, of people moved between black tents, lanterns bobbing as they made their way through the dark. Armored trucks were stationed around the village, and I could see shadowed figures passing out boxes into waiting hands.

Our kind was helping the lower vampires who had escaped. They had nowhere else to go now. This was their home, as much as it was ours.

My chest tightened as I continued my slow walk to Gideon’s property. I didn’t know why I felt like I needed to go there first. It seemed like the right thing to do. I wanted to check in with my friends and find out what had happened in my absence, however long that had been.

I opened the rusted gate at the end of Gideon’s driveway and looked up at the house. Someone was sitting on the porch steps, their body casting a long shadow across the moonlit front yard. They looked up at me, and I saw a flash of copper as the figure stood, stepping into the light.

“Lena,” Oliver breathed in disbelief.

I gave him a weak smile, noticing the lines of grief and exhaustion lining his face as he walked forward. He looked as though he wasn’t sure I was actually there, his eyes wide and skeptical as he took me in.

“I’m not a ghost,” I said softly, my eyes leaving his to catch a flicker of movement behind the windows in the house, which were drenched in a pale amber glow. Several people were inside, and my heart leaped in my throat as I realized Xander might be one of them. “Is he here?”

“No,” Oliver replied. He knew exactly who I was talking about. His voice softened as he said, “He’s in Breles, recovering.”

“Is he alright?”

Oliver was only a few feet away from me now. He stopped walking, his face flushing with color as he reached out his hand and grazed my sleeve with his fingertips. He let out his breath in a whoosh and jumped back a step.

“I’m not a ghost,” I repeated, noticing the slight tremble that rippled over his body for a moment. He didn’t pull me into a hug like I thought he would. His skeptical expression didn’t change, not a bit. My heart squeezed as I looked into his eyes, noticing the usual fire was gone. “Are you alright?”

“Come inside,” he said without a hint of emotion. I exhaled deeply, clenching my fists at my sides as I opened my mouth to say his name and demand that he tell me what was wrong, but he turned away, heading back into the house without so much as a word.

the portal. He’d done so without a glimmer of

been toppled; thousands were dead. I struggled to wrap my mind around the scope of the c*****e as I stepped into Gideon’s house and gazed upon the familiar

smile, her eyes glistening with tears. Alma looked stoic as always, a ghost of a smile touching

over his shoulder at me with a knowing smile on his face. Gideon’s brothers were next to the fireplace, their arms

the staircase, nodding in

but Gideon

but before he could reply a man stepped out of one of the bedrooms and into the narrow hallway, his teeth

breath, coming to stop before the man. “She’s here

am?” I asked

handsome if not menacing face glowered at me, then

her arms wrapped around a nursing infant. She had bright,

her in person. I didn’t think

at the mention of her name. She swallowed weakly, glancing toward the doorway where the vampire male was now standing, watching our exchange with marked

wincing in pain. She was… ill, perhaps, or hurt. The baby was still a pale pink from

I asked, unable to hide the heat in my voice. I knew lower vampires could breed with wolves. Xander had said as much when he told me about

choked, a whimper escaping

pushing me out of the way before I

my love. You need to

My love?

Her eyes watered, her face twisting into a painful pout as she began to whimper. My gaze wandered past the couple to a cart full of supplies on the other side of the bed, and then to a trash bin in

he said softly. “We haven’t been able to stop the

the stairs and within a second she was in the doorway, holding a fresh set of towels and

work,” Alma said without so much as looking at me as she

whisper of sadness in Alma’s voice, which was exceedingly unusual for her. I glanced at her as she coaxed Carly to hand the baby to Lincoln so

noticed the bloody sheets beneath Carly, and when I looked up I noticed Lincoln looking right at

and I almost shuttered under the steel behind his gaze. “She was dragged by her hair into my realm, then beaten and used as a feeder. That man–that man who ran that estate in this realm sold her to the king, but his guards got to her first. I was a slave in

into a knot. Maxwell had told me that he’d fallen in love with Carly, but that had obviously been a lie. Fury burned behind Lincoln’s eyes as he continued, “We found refuge in one of the underground cities. We married, and I

I wondered if she knew just how long it had been, given that time worked differently between the two

and Alma turned to look up at me, a

could see the gray color starting to creep over Carly’s skin and the yellowing of her