Sold AS The alpha King's Breeder

Sold as the Alpha King’s Breeder Chapter 808

Chapter 19 : Jared’s Dagger

Our camp for our second, and hopefully uneventful, night in the Dark Forest was situated on a cliff overlooking the forest below. We’d walked for the remainder of the day, none of us speaking as Jared led us further and further into the forest and away from the witch’s house.

I’d looked back at it only once, noticing the toppled stones covered in moss and ivy. It was not the grand house I’d seen upon my arrival. The garden had been overgrown and littered with fallen leaves, not flowers and fruit trees.

Brandt told me I’d been bewitched, which seemed a reasonable explanation for the events that led me to the house and my stupor in the hours that followed. I could still taste the metallic remnants of whatever magic she’d used on me as the day passed in a blur of trees and darkness.

But our new camp was bursting with the light of the coming sunset. The trees here were more sparse, the forest floor open and easy to navigate. Jared was even allowing a fire tonight, and getting the fire started was my job while the three men were bathing in a creek in a nearby glen. They’d felt comfortable enough to leave me up here alone, and if I was being honest, I was grateful for it.

I sat down on the ground in front of the fire, watching the bark I’d pulled from the surrounding trees start to catch. My throat began to tighten, my hands trembling as I slowly fed dry sticks to the fire.

A single tear rolled down my cheek. I wiped it away, biting down on my lip to stop myself from bursting into tears.

“Stupid girl,” the witch had said to me.

She was right. I’d never been so scared in my life.

“You okay?” Brandt’s voice cut through my emotional downward spiral.

I wiped the tears from my cheeks and tried to smile up at him, but my mouth wouldn’t move past a firm, expressionless line.

“Yes,” I replied, sniffling. “I’m fine.”

“We found you some clothes in the witch’s house,” he said as he crouched on the other side of the fire, laying out three good-sized fish. “A shirt and some pants, new socks–”

“Who did they belong to before?” I asked, but my voice broke over the words.

Brandt’s sapphire eyes met mine, looking incredibly sympathetic.

“Someone she took in. Someone who ate her food, you know. I–I wish there was a better way to explain it.”

“It’s okay,” I said hurriedly, glancing up as Jared and Archer walked into the camp, both of them sporting fresh clothing and wet hair. “I’m going to go wash up.”

I was on my feet before Jared could meet my eyes. I didn’t want anyone else asking me if I was okay. I walked in the direction Jared and Archer had come and found a gentle creek after a few minutes, which was hidden by rows of alder bushes covered in bright green buds.

The sun in this part of the forest was warm, and spring was in full swing here. I noticed a stack of clothing and a fresh pair of socks sitting on a sunbathed rock beside a shallow pool of water the creek fed into. There was even a very worn towel for my use.

and sucked in a breath as I stepped into the water. It was frigid enough for me to gasp in reflex, but the shock did something to my brain, ripping the

I hissed, wading into the pool

water and it felt rather refreshing after a moment. I dunked my head under water, scrubbing my scalp

pool and rubbing it into my skin until my arms and legs were raw. Brandt had told me there wasn’t much they’d been able to salvage from our old camp spot, but I saw a toothbrush and a sliver of tallow soap sitting

then I

would happen?” I choked, then dunked my head underwater. I blew out the breath I’d

me as I climbed out of the water and dried myself

pants also several sizes too big that I had to cuff several times so they didn’t drag on the ground. I rolled my sleeves up to the elbows and adjusted the belt tied

***

wine but not eat her food?” I asked, gingerly taking a sip from the bottle Archer was passing around the fire. The men were busy eating the fish Jared had roasted

bigger drink. “She was obviously taking things from her

and sent a rush of

need Aeris’s payment for the bounty at this rate,” Brandt added, motioning to the bags at the edge of camp. “We have enough coins and jewels to fund the village for

to him then?” I

Jared, who wasn’t looking at any of us. He was sharpening one of his blades against a stone,

Brandt and draining it. “And Aeris enjoys Jared’s company,

Archer, the firelight dancing across the planes of his face. The crimson flakes in his obsidian eyes were fanned by the flames, making him look menacing, especially when he

pursed his lips but obeyed, and the

crawled into the bedclothes I’d laid out by the fire, turning away from Jared, who hadn’t moved from his original position. I closed my eyes to the sound of another

didn’t dream. I let the fatigue and darkness take over. But

our turn,” Jared

blinking into the star-filled sky. Jared walked away, and I crawled out of my bedclothes, noticing an already sleeping Brandt and

from the edge of the camp, his figure

our camp, but we didn’t separate and take positions facing the forest. He walked out onto the cliff overlooking the forest below, and to

incredible during the day, but at night, it was breathtaking. There wasn’t a single light

took over twenty miles off our trip,” Jared said as he sat on the edge of the cliff, his feet dangling over the side. “We’ll make

from him. I didn’t dangle my legs over the side of the cliff, however. He glanced

“Scared of heights?”

if possible,” I

of a gentle breeze rustling the trees and an owl hooting nearby. Jared was obviously lost in thought as he looked over the landscape. I reached along my belt and unsheathed the knife he’d given me, turning it over in my hands before handing it

said, meeting my

as his gaze bored into mine. “The hilt matches the

nothing.

“Of what?”