Sold AS The alpha King's Breeder

Sold as the Alpha King’s Breeder Chapter 669

Chapter 16 : Don’t Come any Closer

*Mila*

The fog closed around me like a blanket. I had to admit, thick fog was the best way to stay hidden and move unnoticed through a creepy village like Miltern.

My feet seemed to know exactly where to go as I moved closer to the center of the village and the Central Temple.

I hesitated and glanced back toward the hotel. It was completely hidden in the fog.

I snuck off again. I couldn’t help but feel uncertain about neglecting to tell Soren I was leaving.

Soren had been nice to me and saved my life. What if he could help me?

Shaking my head, I kept forging through the fog.

“Get a grip, Mila,” I muttered to myself.

Soren could play the “nice guy” all he wanted but he had secrets and ulterior motives.

I sniffed. And he accused me of being the secretive one! Hadn’t he made some big deal with his men about not prying into anyone’s past? Why did he feel the need to pry into mine?

Groaning, I picked up my pace. It was so quiet in the night and no one was around but my steps barely made a sound, like the fog absorbed them.

When I got to the center of the village, the fog parted slightly and moonlight streamed down on a large, majestic building. Or, it would have been majestic…

The temple was a huge, square pagoda that rose so high it practically blocked out the stars. Crows sat on the edge of the roof tiers, pecking and warbling to each other. I could see their eyes flashing in the dim moonlight.

They looked like guardians of the temple, or maybe they were harbingers of death.

Did they ever sleep?

Vines and moss clung to the exterior of the building. In some places, the walls had crumbled away and the plants had forced their way inside.

It must have been abandoned for a long, long time.

What kind of person would want me to meet them in a creepy place like this!?

Looking at the temple, I thought it felt familiar. Not the way it looked now. I could almost imagine what it looked like when it wasn’t falling apart. A green, tin gilded with gold. The stone exterior polished and carved with familiar designs.

I could practically envision the cherry trees growing out front with their pink and white blossoms. Those trees were rotted, now.

How was it possible I could imagine what a building looked like that I’d never seen before? My imagination wasn’t that good.

This temple must have been great and beautiful once. My heart thrummed and I felt a strong desire to see it restored. It was a symbol of hope and life, two things Miltern was desperately missing.

If their temple was restored, perhaps their vibrancy would be too.

my eyes. Seeing the temple so ruined and broken made my heart ache. I didn’t know why it was so sad, but my heart

if their temple was destroyed? I

feeling or the desire to see

A shiver ran down my spine and I stared at the looming,

to go inside, for

lower lip and glanced around. Maybe,

my head. No, I’d come here for a reason. I’d come here for answers and I wasn’t leaving

and I could see why. Several beams had rotted through and fallen across the temple. Plants clung to them, devouring them back into

of the temple, sending horrible, clicking echoes

front of my nose but

to see anything at all. Other than invading plants and

was one, narrow path that had been cleared through the rubble. One path that led deeper into the temple and

and paused. Something was scratching and crawling around in the corner, a rat or a mouse. When I listened more carefully, I could

heard the buzzing of insect wings. Shuddering, I wrapped my arms around myself. My skin crawled and I tried to rub the goosebumps away. The beams creaked, threatening to break apart even more. The stone walls seemed to shiver and tremble and I wondered if it was even safe to

am I supposed to do with this?” I

left with the

card out of my pocket and examined it again. Before, I’d had the hotel lights on when I read

of the moonbeams that penetrated holes in the temple roof, the card looked completely different. The edges were gilded in a silvery, glow with a lovely, elegant swirling

was written on the card now, in the same

path,

wondering if there were more hidden instructions on the other

again. It looked like I had no

far on my own and so far, I had no answers. I didn’t come all

beams and crumbling walls. If I nudged anything at all, the carefully

was outside again, I took a deep breath of fresh air. I fanned myself with my hand, sweat making my

That had been hairraising.

some that were so beautifully carved with intricate

“Oh…”

was in a graveyard. Swallowing hard, I rubbed my hands on my thighs. Meeting a stranger at night in a foggy graveyard.

lit up one specific gravestone. The others stayed

a clearer sign than

There were deliberate carvings on it that could have been a

a woman in a flowing dress. She was kneeling down, her arms wrapped around the neck of a large wolf. The

doubt in my mind that this was what

marble. Maybe there was

nothing… I examined the headstone twice just

“What now…”

hit my nose. Glancing down, I noticed that the ground at the base of the

be

going to dig up a

moved the dirt around and

Careful to limit my search to the area where

my knife hit something with a loud thud. Setting my knife aside, I started clearing

don’t be a coffin,” I

the base of the gravestone. It definitely wasn’t a coffin!