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.

match, and now I was standing in the Dark Forest on the edge of losing the only person who’d given me

thicket of low-lying trees. The branches scraped against the top of my head as I ducked and pulled her deeper into the woods. I knelt, pulling her beside me. “Look,

do? Fight off a

to smile and kept my expression

You’re going to run if it comes down to it. I’ll find you. One of us will

knife, at least,” she protested, reaching for the belt slung along my waist. I caught her by the wrist, shaking my head. “If the hellhound is hunting me, then I need a way to defend myself. Give me a knife! You have at least six on your belt. Between the three of you men, there are at least a dozen daggers, and Brandt and Archer shifted, so

unsheathed a dagger and held it by the blade, pressing

“Don’t f*****g lose it–”

your

and Brandt would take kindly to the idea that they needed saving. In the end, if it

me like a ton of bricks as I quieted my breathing and listened to the forest around

Eliza whispered as she

Do you have much experience with witches?” I shrugged off my vest and draped it over

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

was in my presence. She was a rather short woman, the top of her head barely

it… watching her feel what I felt every time I touched it–I hadn’t been

had not only felt its darkness, but it had reacted to her touch, opening for her. I

I was letting Aeris have her now. I needed her, especially if I wanted to live to

commanded as I pulled my shirt over my head, the chill of the early spring morning sending a ripple of gooseflesh

forearms and chest as I stood to remove the rest of my clothes, save for my boxers,

her eyes, “you’re captured… don’t

shaking her head. “What

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 not

whispered, her voice lifted in

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

said, and her eyes were the last thing I saw before it all went dark, and

***

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 had. Hellhounds

I darted back into our camp, the lion stalking a wide circle

the f**k is Brandt?’