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, Eliza?” Abe

pushed a roasted carrot around on my plate. My chest was tight and my heart was heavy sitting this close

in front of him, and his gaze was like ice as I met his eyes instead

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

legends? I

look before turning

mouth curving into a smile as he looked between me

ice down my spine, but

know where it is?” asked

for my glass of wine.

foot brush against

to breaking Jared’s curse is in the city of Myrel,” I continued, kicking

so

find the forge where the Cryptex

enthusiasm as Jared opened his mouth to say something, but nothing more

is broken and needs to be mended.

“No–” Jared cut in.

I spat, narrowing my

as I leaned back in my seat with my arms crossed over

ignoring the shadow now

rolling over my skin as I held Jared’s gaze. “My

“In the mountains, then?”

“Yes.”

go… alone?” Abe’s voice wavered his words, his eyes shifting from me to

said with

shadow began to retreat, coiling like a snake across the table. I ran

a pressure

what looked like mingled hatred and fury behind his dark

firmly settled

believe the Alpha King might send… help, with this quest, if

blinked, meeting

can’t

“Why not?”

King is married to my cousin, and I’m not involving my family

“That’s enough–” Jared growled.

eyes shining as my revelation echoed through the room. “You’re related

my cousin. Our

not a

not part of

movement until he was leaning over it, his hands flat on either

said,” he raged, “that

my haste to get up. Abe sipped his

seethed, his hands curling into fists.

didn’t. I’m here

sharing your secrets with him,” Jared said through gritted

sound echoing through the room. I didn’t look

Jared warned, the wooden table cracking