Sold AS The alpha King's Breeder

Sold as the Alpha King’s Breeder Chapter 806

Chapter 17 : Hellhound

*Jared*

I could smell the Hellhound before I saw it. Every hair on my body stood on end as I backed Eliza into the forest, her body trembling against my chest. She’d listened to me for once, which was a nice change of pace, but I’d still forced her out of sleep with little explanation as to what the hell was going on. Still, she didn’t make a sound as we moved deeper into the trees, putting distance between us and every single supply that was meant to see us through our three day journey.

We’d covered almost thirty miles in a single day on foot. It sounded like a great feat, and in ordinary circumstances, it would have been. But the knowledge that a wayward witch and her bloodthirsty familiar had been this close to my village rocked me to my core.

Brandt and Archer were screaming at each other over mindlink, relaying their coordinates to me as they dashed through the woods after the creature that had circled back and was now inspecting our camp. They were trying to wear it down. That was the only way a wolf could attempt to fight a hellhound.

“Eliza,” I breathed against her hair, holding her a little tighter than was necessary. “I’m going to hide you–”

“What is it?” she replied, her voice a whisper against the wind whipping in a frenzy around us.

I felt the fear in her voice, but she wasn’t trembling. She was pressed against me in a way that made me feel as though she were sheltering me as much as I was doing my damndest to shelter her.

“A witch,” I whispered, backing slowly into the forest. “Her hound is what Archer and Brandt are after.”

I didn’t need to explain what a Hellhound was. She knew, of that I was certain. Someone with the depth of knowledge Eliza possessed in the antiquities would know what a Hellhound was, and why they were dangerous.

But if she was from the Realm of Light like I assumed, she might never have seen one. They may have just been a myth to her people.

“Listen,” I whispered, coming to stop in a thicket of towering birches. “You need to stay hidden, no matter what you hear–”

“I heard the wind chimes in my dream,” she whispered, looking up at me. “Like in the village.”

I looked down at her, tempted to brush a rogue curl from her face but hesitated. Her eyes were shining the light of dawn like sea glass. Every time I looked at her I felt a little lost–it was hard to explain. Something about her had me questioning everything I’d told myself to be true over the years.

I didn’t tolerate willful disobedience, not from my crew or the workers in my house.

But Eliza didn’t give a s**t. And if I was being honest, it was what I liked about her the most.

I’d pushed and pushed her two nights ago in my study. I’d been trying to break her and bend her to my will only because I needed her to prove to me with finality that it wasn’t possible. She matched my energy with a fire so intense it had burned through me, igniting something no one else had ever been able to access.

of losing the only person who’d given me anything to work with

in a thicket of low-lying trees. The branches scraped against the top of my head as

I supposed to do? Fight off a f*****g Hellhound with my bare

the urge to smile and

it comes down to it. I’ll find you. One of

me, then I need a way to defend myself. Give me a knife! You have at least six on your belt. Between the three

dagger and held it by the blade, pressing the hilt in her open

“Don’t f*****g lose it–”

your friends. I’m

found it unlikely Archer and Brandt would take kindly to the idea that they needed saving. In the end, if it came to it, it would likely be me

of bricks as I quieted my breathing and listened to

like a mountain lion,” Eliza whispered as

probably was a mountain lion at one point, yes. Do you have much experience

something else in her tone, something I couldn’t decipher. Something, I realized a moment too late, told me she did

moment, examining her like I found myself doing every time she was in my presence. She was a rather short woman, the top of her head barely reaching my chest. But she was strong and willful, and

her the artifact for several days before I took her to the stones. Watching her hold it… watching her feel what I felt every time I touched it–I hadn’t been expecting that. Archer and Brandt had inspected it before and

to her touch, opening for her. I hadn’t known it

needed her, especially if I

I pulled my shirt over my head, the chill of the early spring morning

see me fully in the dim light, but I noticed she was eyeing the tattoos along my forearms and chest as I stood to remove the rest of my clothes, save for my boxers, of course. She was still a lady, even if

was looking into her eyes, “you’re captured…

choked, shaking her head. “What

food,” I repeated. I held her gaze for a moment, noticing the sudden apprehension in her eyes, then rose to my full height and backed out of the shelter of the low-lying trees and called to my wolf, praying silently that the transformation would be easy, if

voice lifted in what

for you,” I said hoarsely, hiding the pain now ebbing through my body. “And… I’m not sorry

am I,” she said, and her eyes were the last thing I saw before it all went dark, and I let the beast within me take hold, ripping

***

and teeth on full display as a large creature loomed over him, jaw clacking and spit flying with each shuddering breath it took. I caught up to him within minutes of leaving Eliza alone in the woods against my better judgment, but it was the only option I

was right about it being a mountain lion. Archer was back on his feet by the time I darted back into our camp, the lion stalking a wide circle around him. It was tired, tongue lolling as it moved without the usual grace of its uncursed

is Brandt?’ I said down the