Sold AS The alpha King's Breeder

Sold as the Alpha King’s Breeder Chapter 643

Chapter 143 : A Dark Omen

*Lena*

The air was warm and humid in the atrium, which was probably my favorite room in the entire castle. Three-story-high windows towered over us as Xander and I sat in wicker chairs in the center of the room.

The windows were dripping with moisture, and the air was thick. It felt amazing, and Alexis seemed to like it, too. She’d been sleeping peacefully in Xander’s arms for the last half hour without stirring.

Xander had his eyes closed as he rocked her in his chair, and I was busy looking around at the huge tropical plants that were older than I was, some likely forty or fifty years old at this point.

I yawned hugely, blinking into the muted afternoon light shimmering against the water droplets trickling down the glass panes. The sliding door to the atrium slid open, and Adrian stepped inside, holding something in his arms. Xander opened one eye and settled it on Adrian, but he opened both eyes wide when he noticed what Adrian was carrying.

“Remember this?” Adrian said as he walked over, opening a large, heavy book and setting it on the table in front of us. I leaned forward, arching my brow as I looked down at the book. For a moment, I thought it was the spellbook that was now in Maeve’s possession, but this one was… different. It felt different, if that even made sense, when I reached out and ran my fingers along the ancient script.

It also wasn’t written in a language none of us could decipher with divine help, which was a nice change of pace.

I was, however, totally uninterested in magic books from bygone eras at this point. I’d had my fill of magic for the time being.

“Would you care to explain why you have this?” Xander said, his voice sharp and clipped as Adrian rocked on his heels, a mischievous look in his eyes. He tilted his head to the side, shrugging. “Adrian. Did you steal this from the Temple of Lycaon?”

“I borrowed it,” he argued, his perfect white teeth on display as he gave Xander a crooked, boyish smile.

“Why?”

“Because the one I found in this realm is likely nothing but ash–”

“Oh, my Goddess! I totally forgot!” I snatched the book off the table before either man could protest my rough handling of what was quickly explained to be one of the most important religious items in all of the Dark Realm. Adrian had dropped what I assumed was a copy of this book on my bed in Cedar Hollow, but I hadn’t had a second to react to it, or ask about it. Within minutes, Cedar Hollow had burst into flames, and we were under attack.

I flipped through the pages, scanning the text. It was mostly just… lore, maybe some guided prayers to a God, rather than the Moon Goddess.

“I found the other copy in a library in a town called Raven’s Peak, just north of Red Lakes. I stopped there on my way back to Cedar Hollow and it was literally just sitting on a shelf, Xander, just sitting there between some book about animal husbandry and one about the proper way to mix cement.” Adrian plopped down in a chair opposite mine, stretching his legs out in front of him. “I might need a raise, Xander. I had to pay three whole dollars for it. It wasn’t on sale.”

Xander shot Adrian a dirty look.

of Lycaon in a

book back on the table. An entire page, yellowed with age, was covered in illustrations that had

be small. Shock rippled over my skin as I held his gaze, which

his breath, crossing his ankles. He glanced at Xander,

here to find a descendant of the White Queens to marry, you know. At least I hope you know, that this isn’t coming

Xander breathed, closing his eyes

I chuckled, glancing between them. I looked back down at the image, and the sunstone I’d been wearing around my neck since

it was impossible to see what their original colors would have been. But, in the center, was a woman with long white hair, her eyes a soft silver and her palms outstretched, vines dappled with white roses falling from her open hands. But around her figure was a darkness. It was a shadow, I realized as I slowly looked up at Xander, who was

in a way… bowing down to

by the early followers

“Why not?”

not allowed,” Adrian cut in, stretching his arms over his head. “We studied some of it in school, but only what the priests and elders of the Church wanted us to

a man gifted with magic and curses,” Xander added, shifting Alexis’s weight as

seen this picture?” I asked as I pulled my shirt up, making sure I wasn’t accidentally flashing Adrian as Alexis latched onto my breast, her eyelids fluttering as she nursed

when I was coming back after

the Empire of eternal sun,” Xander recited as his eyes met mine. He leaned forward, his hands resting on his knees. “That night at my apartment in Morhan,

all

him

Queen in your realm? I don’t understand why there would be a picture of–even if it’s not me, still. This is

don’t know,” Xander said

Adrian cut in, his eyes meeting mine. “Obviously, I didn’t have time

Alexis was asleep again, dreaming cozily against my stomach. Shortly after Adrian had come back to Cedar Hollow, the pack was attacked,

been a copy of this in

but Xander let out his

right? Some of them obviously didn’t cross the Northern Tundra like you thought, because they ended up in the west–Slate’s family,

don’t think it was a copy,” Adrian said, clapping his hands on his thighs. “I think it was the

be said was quickly forgotten as the door to the

yet. The entire reason we were sitting in the atrium was

the two women when I first met Elaine. They didn’t look all that alike, if I was being honest. There was

more full. Her curls were looser, and her hair was swept in a long sheet down

sharper than Abigail’s soft femininity. She was slightly shorter than Abigail, and her hair fell over her

or sweatshirt. The colors in her tattoos were visible