Sold AS The alpha King's Breeder

Sold as the Alpha King’s Breeder Chapter 848

Chapter 54 : Class Reunion

*Jared*

Archer nudged the black mass of the dead wolf with the toe of his boot, his face twisted in a grimace.

I could scent both women in this cave. The fire they’d started was cool to the touch, but the charcoal was still oily from whatever they’d used to start it. I rubbed the ash between my fingers as I crouched, looking around.

“How’d they get so far off course?” Brandt said from the entrance of the cave as he slid his favorite dagger back into his belt.

“Lock was here too,” Archer said quietly, his boots leaving bloody footprints as he walked out of the cave and looked around. “And two scouts, I think.”

“I know,” I breathed, rising from my position and running my fingers through my hair. I didn’t mention that I could smell blood other than the wolves. They knew it too, but none of us were willing to admit what that meant.

“All of their things are gone,” Brandt said absently as he turned to glare into the setting sun. We’d been running for days through a colossal storm. Picking up their scent again had felt like a miracle, but now….

“f*****g Lock,” I said through gritted teeth, glancing around as I scanned the area around the cave. We weren’t far from the edge of Abel’s territory. We’d make it there by morning if we traveled through the night.

If we didn’t run into Lock, first.

“I haven’t seen that prick in years. Not since the war,” Archer bit out, dragging the wolf out of the cave by its tail. I watched him as he bent to examine it, pulling back its fur to show the deep gash on its neck. “Think he did this?”

“Eliza did it,” I breathed, closing my eyes for a moment.

I let myself be momentarily racked by guilt at the thought of Eliza having to defend herself from this rogue. It was a true rogue, too, the soulless kind who had no master but itself, driven by primal urges like hunger and the need to chase and hunt.

“Eliza?” Brandt said, his brow furrowed.

I lifted one of its paws, her blood dried against its talons. Archer let out his breath as he rose to his full height, the three of us looking at each other for a moment.

“The other camp we passed had their scent, so they’re likely still alive,” Archer said coldly, his fingers grazing his knife belt.

“Abel wouldn’t kill them. He has no reason to,” Brandt added.

Silence fell again, the space between us filled with the sounds of the forest. The women had made it through the Dark Forest alone, and alive.

“We’ll shift and keep moving,” I said, undoing the buttons on my shirt.

We didn’t have a concrete plan when it came to when we’d eventually reach Abel’s territory. He had some of the fiercest scouts in the lands, and I knew that to be true because Abel and I had trained together for years before he left our village. We were a physical match for each other, but he had something I didn’t.

here now,” I warned, keeping my eyes on

his coat. Brandt gave me a

near silent as he crept through the woods. He was too striking to be a spy, not with his scar, deep-set silver eyes, and raven black hair that

it. Lock was terrifying and for the most part, uncontrollable. He was only half wolf, the other half a mystery. I

up my backpack between

tilting my head to motion for them to

listening that Eliza was on her toes, using that big head of hers to think rationally. Abel was sharp as a tack, and

nearly fallen for it

***

row, their wolf forms distorted by the field of tall, yellow grasses swaying in a humid breeze. The wall around Abel’s village shone in the midday sun, casting a long shadow across the field as the sun

them creeping through the trees as we roused ourselves from shallow sleep. They made no moves on us and kept

sweeping plains at the base of the Northern Mountains, then they fanned out around us, forming a barrier between us and the wall to the fortress where my mate was being

or

disappearing into the grass. I saw figures moving along the top of the wall, faint voices carrying in the wind as they alerted each

I’d secured my

on the men now running along the

planned to knock on the front door

kid, really, tall and gangly, having not yet filled

aside.

“Y-you’re not welcome!”

wasn’t asking,” I said sharply, fixing

slowly back toward the wall, where several of the

the boy turned

arms over his chest beside me, shirtless, his muscled physique gleaming in the sun. Brandt came up on my other side, calm and collected

do you

“N-none–”

the men jeered and shouted at us. “We were all one in the same, okay? Trained by the same masters and hardened by the same Dark Forest that separates our villages. Choose me, and

the boy said, his face draining of

curling into knots inside of me, begging to

in the same position as you, led out to fight some enemy under the careful

swung on Archer. I stepped out of the way, crossing my arms and glancing at the dozen or so men now walking in our direction, shaking out

cleanly in the jaw. The boy looked absolutely shocked

rubbing his jaw for a moment. “Never back down after the first hit–” He reached out, grabbing the boy by the shoulder, then picked

shouts of mingled laughter and surprise rang out along the wall, but I was focusing

a kid out to greet us?” I ground out as a few familiar faces came into view. Abel’s departure after I’d been voted

all of them