Sold AS The alpha King's Breeder

Sold as the Alpha King’s Breeder Chapter 851

Chapter 57 : You’ll Face Far Worse

*Eliza*

I wasn’t exactly sure what Abe was plotting. I was just along for the ride it seemed, especially when I got back to the room I shared with Scarlett and found a glittery fuchsia-colored dress laid out on my bed. It had cutouts along the waist and an extremely low back… very low.

There was a note that was obviously from Abe with nothing but a smiley face scribbled on the paper. I arched my brow, shaking my head as I held up the scrap of fabric and looked it over with a critical eye.

“Why?” I whispered, laying the dress back down and fumbling with the buttons on my shirt.

Abe had mentioned in passing that I dressed like a teenage boy, a gleam of disapproval in his eyes. Jared seemed to like me for who I was regardless of my pants and men’s shirts… but he had broken things off and tried to send me home to my parents.

Maybe Abe was onto something.

I sighed heavily and dressed, which took a lot longer than I anticipated. Abe had mentioned all of us would be dining together tonight, that some kind of truce had been made when Scarlett and I had left to meet her son.

But the tension in the air was thick, even in the privacy of my room.

Did Jared even want to talk to me? He looked more angry that I’d drugged his friends and stolen into the night than happy to see me alive and well.

I glanced at myself in the mirror and fluffed my hair, separating my curls with my fingers. I looked… really good. I couldn’t deny it. I’d have to ask Abe where he was even getting these clothes.

I swallowed back my anxiety and worked my face into a steely gaze. My eyes flamed a deep green against the pink of my dress. My curls were extra unruly, and my face was flushed with subdued emotion.

There was a knock on the door. I was expecting Scarlett, but a maid stepped inside instead. She gave me a huge smile as she looked me up and down.

“Can I escort you to the dining room?” she smiled.

I nodded, taking an achingly huge breath.

***

“He has warriors dappled through the western coast,” Abe said, swirling his glass of wine. “Why? I don’t know. But the information I’ve been fed has alluded to a possible conflict between Suncrest and Starfall Coast.”

I had no idea where Starfall Coast was, or whether or not it was a pack name or the name of a territory, but the look on Jared’s face across the table told me this was not good news.

“He’s making moves then,” Jared said, almost to himself.

Abe nodded, shrugging one shoulder. “He’s trying to get on Alpha King Alexander’s radar. That’s all I know. Aeris won’t make a move until the King does. He wants the King to be the aggressor.”

Jared flexed his jaw as he contemplated what Abe was saying. I’d been sitting here for twenty minutes listening to the two men speak in monotone voices about business; what the Alphas of the surrounding territories were up to, who was fighting with who, who was encroaching on the “neutral” territories led by rogues like Jared and Abe.

It was kind of a trip watching the two of them converse–Jared, all ice and shadow and Abel, nothing but charm and sunshine… two morally gray men on opposite sides of the spectrum, each of them tethered to a moral compass that didn’t know up from down.

Jared barely looked in my direction, and if he did, his gaze was firmly fixed on my dress with a look of marked disapproval, especially as his gaze slid down to the cutouts that had the curve of my hips on full display.

I ignored him, and the boring conversation, and focused on my food.

Brandt was sitting beside Jared, his eyes downcast on his plate. Archer and Scarlett weren’t in attendance. I didn’t expect Scarlett to be here, not after being introduced to her son. But Archer’s absence was notable, especially since this was technically a dinner meeting with someone they believed to be an enemy. I looked around the room, half expecting Archer to be lingering in the shadows somewhere, waiting for his opportunity to lunge at Abe and snap his neck.

you,

nearly dropped my fork, having missed the last ten minutes or so of conversation as I pushed a roasted carrot around on my plate. My chest was tight and my heart was heavy sitting this close to Jared. That last time we’d spoken

was like ice as I

I said, not daring to blink, “to investigate the ruins

From the legends? I didn’t

look before turning back to Jared.

Abe purred, his mouth curving into a smile as he looked between me

of ice down my spine, but I dug in my heels and refused to look

do you know where it is?”

glass of wine. “It’s a map, and it

felt Jared’s foot brush against mine in

the key to breaking Jared’s curse is in the city of Myrel,”

didn’t so

find the forge where the Cryptex

with enthusiasm as Jared opened his mouth to say something, but nothing more than a growl came

of it is broken and needs to be mended. Once that’s done,

“No–” Jared cut in.

I spat, narrowing my eyes at

his breath as I leaned back in

far away is Myrel?” Abe asked, ignoring

prickling apprehension rolling over my skin as I held Jared’s gaze. “My estimation is forty miles north

“In the mountains, then?”

“Yes.”

you plan to go… alone?” Abe’s voice wavered his words, his

I said with

to retreat, coiling like a snake across the table. I ran my tongue along the inside

breathe with the weight of the words unsaid between us settling on my shoulders with a pressure that had my back buckling under the strain. I didn’t

but what looked like mingled hatred

they were firmly settled on

with this

blinked, meeting Abe’s

I can’t involve

“Why not?”

married to my cousin, and

“That’s enough–” Jared growled.

open, his eyes shining as my revelation echoed through the room. “You’re related to

cousin. Our grandparents are

you’re not

part of

rose from the table so swiftly I barely processed the movement until he was leaning over

raged,

away from him, my chair hitting the ground in my haste to get up. Abe sipped his wine,

Jared seethed, his hands curling into fists. “You could have

I didn’t. I’m here now,

your secrets with him,” Jared

down and righted my chair, taking a seat. My chair scraped across the tile, the sound echoing through the room. I didn’t look him in

Jared warned, the wooden table cracking beneath