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.

next for you,

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 he’d just… left, meaning for

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

daring to blink, “to investigate the ruins

I didn’t realize it

wasn’t,” I breathed, giving Abe a look before turning

into a smile as he looked between me

at me so intensely it sent a shiver of ice down my spine, but

where

of wine. “It’s

felt Jared’s foot brush

to breaking Jared’s curse is in the city of

didn’t so much

the forge where the Cryptex was

opened his mouth to say

it is broken and needs to be mended. Once that’s done, I plan on going to the witches

“No–” Jared cut in.

spat, narrowing my

under his breath as I leaned

is Myrel?” Abe asked, ignoring the shadow

my skin as I held Jared’s

“In the mountains, then?”

“Yes.”

alone?” Abe’s voice wavered

said

flared, but he said nothing. His shadow began to retreat, coiling like a snake across the

breathe with the weight of the words unsaid between us settling on my shoulders with a pressure that had my back

looked like mingled hatred

they were firmly settled on

the Alpha King might send… help, with this quest, if that’s

meeting Abe’s

can’t involve

“Why not?”

the Alpha King is married to my cousin, and I’m not

“That’s enough–” Jared growled.

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

my cousin. Our grandparents

you’re not

I’m not part of that line. My

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

raged,

ground in my haste to get up. Abe sipped his wine, glancing between us with

were you thinking?” Jared seethed, his hands curling

didn’t. I’m

with him,” Jared said

My chair scraped across the tile, the sound echoing through the room. I

wooden table cracking beneath the pressure of