Sould As The Alpha King's Breeder

Chapter 5 Aaron in Her Bedroom

I hadn’t been prepared for this. None of it

I sat in my bed with my knees pressed against my chest, watching the light from the adjacent room, Aaron’s room, spill into mine

I hadn’t curled up with a frilly romance novel like usual I had raged, attempting to push the heavy wardrobe against the shared door, unsuccessfully of course, and surrendered to turning off all the lights and slipping into bed, silent as a mouse

And then I watched, sometimes holding my breath as an occasional silent shadow broke through the light visible beneath the door. He had crossed the room several times, the scraping sound of a dresser drawer being opened or the thump of a door closing the only sounds in what felt like the entire castle

Gemma tried to explain the reasoning behind removing the lock from the door. Horace had thought it would allow for privacy, less stress, and easier access for higher levels of success.

“There’s no ceremony for this, Maeve! Not like with… with female breeders. The maids won’t come and bathe you. He won’t be escorted in. This is… up to you.”

*This is ridiculous,” I had replied, then i’d went into my room. I felt exposed knowing he was right next door, so close, with only a door between us.

But as much as I detested it, I understood the lack of ceremony and the strangely casual approach to the situation. ! was not a lowly breeder sold to an Alpha as an object, something to control and then discard. I was a future Luna. I was the heir to my mother’s title of White Queen. It would be me who held the entire Eastern Territoy in the palm of my hand.

And the child I would produce would inherit it all of Valoria.

Gemma was right. It was up to me. Aaron was, in this situation, my subject. He was here for me to use. And, just like my father before me, I had an obligation to my pack to do exactly that.

I looked up as he turned off the lights in his room. My room was suddenly shrouded in complete darkness, the only light the pale glow of the moon dancing against the rapidly moving clouds.

I finally fell asleep to the sound of the curtains wafting in the stiff, humid breeze coming from the open window, too tired to get up and close it. The heat of the night lulled me into a deep, dreamless sleep…

A crash, then a shatter. I heard the shared door swing open and bounce against the wall, Aaron’s voice ringing in my ears.

I threw the covers off and swung my legs out of bed, but Aaron grabbed me by the ankle just before my feet touched the carpet. He tossed me back against the mattress with force, then turned to the shattered window where a storm of epic proportions was raging just outside.

Thunder echoed around the room, shaking the scattering of hairpins and cosmetics sitting idle on my vanity. I saw the glass-covered carpet when lightning split the sky in two, a vibrant blue glow lighting up the room for a single second, He turned his gaze from the window, looking at me, his face drawn in deep lines of concern. “Are you okay?”

“Yeah. I’m alright-” Another clap of thunder burst through the room and I screamed, unable to stop myself. The air was electric; the downy hairs on my arms standing straight on end as the lightning’s glow filled the room with an eerie blue haze once again

He extended his hand to me, and I took it, gingerly stepping down onto the carpet. “There’s no glass over here.” His voice was drowned out by another boom, then another. I flinched each time, but he squeezed my hand, leading me through the shared door and into his room, where his window was still intact.

“Go back to sleep,” he demanded, pulling on a faded denim jacket that had been draped over one of the high-back

yellow armchairs near the empty hearth.

“Where are you going?”

“To make sure everyone’s alright.”

bed. He went to the door to the hallway and flipped the light switch several times, glancing back at me with a look that told me he was concerned about

I whispered, trying to

disappeared through the door, leaving

the bed on my hands and knees, curling into the space where he had been sleeping. I pulled the covers up to my chin, closing my eyes against the repeated blue glow of the lightning and sheets of

His scent was like damp earth and green things, with a hint of musk. And something else, I realized, as I pulled the covers

what i imagined being there would feel like. He smelled like heat, like the sun warming the wood on

asleep eventually. I opened my eyes to the sun warming the bed around me. I had fallen asleep with the sheets over my head, but someone had pulled them down and tucked them

made and cool to the touch. Aaron hadn’t been

and opened the shared door. My room was extremely dark, with no light seeping through the broken window whatsoever. Someone had fixed a piece of

I’ve been hounding the Alpha to have them replaced for years,” Jeb, the live-in handyman, glanced at me over his shoulder as he lifted a sheet of plywood over a shattered

replacing the centuries-old windows in the castle with double-pane glass was the last thing on my dad’s mind during his time

other as they did so. I turned to Gemma, who was watching them work with deep-set dark circles beneath her eyes. “Did

shook her head, her green eyes glossed over from lack

“Where is everyone?”

servant’s hall in the attic got the worst of the damage. We’re on

“I’m not that hungry-”

access the damage there.” She was talking about Ernest and his Beta, as well as

away from Gemma and pretending to be invested in

of the attic before the roof started to leak.” She waved her hand, a

my window shattered. He got me

she asked suddenly, uncrossing her arms and picking af her sleeve. “He just… I remember him. I was twenty when his family visited Winter Forest, I thought I’d rernernber him well. you know? He looks and sounds nothing

decade ago, Gem,”

Do you not feel it too? He’s the guy

looked at her, my heart dropping into my stomach.

not

it right now,” I breathed, looking down at my sneakers. I was dressed in the same jeans ! wore yesterday and a loose, white chambray shirt. I

me, glancing down at the watch on her wrist. “I’ve gotta go. Stay close by today, okay? I heard Mirage is a mess. I asked one of the warriors to check in

watching her walk briskly into the dining hall. I turned on my heel, then walked through a different door that led into a tight corridor that opened up to the kitchen garden and made

moving swiftly. Pockets of sun danced along the rolling

the fields, the narrow trail

thick as I reached the crest of a hill, and I couldn’t see the ground beneath my feet as I descended into the swirling gray. I could see a group of buildings in the distance, a small outcrop of abandoned barns and sheds. The faded gray wood of the buildings melted into the fog that danced around them and the moss-covered roofs blended in with the deep

though it was reaching out, pulling the buildings back into its depths. I felt a chill

near I heard a rustling sound, and then someone came into view between the cracked and rotten boards of one of the dilapidated sheds.

as the figure bent

walked over to the shed, stumbling over the scattered, moss-covered stone bricks that were

are you doing out here?” he

stopped walking abruptly, surprised by

“Walking? Alone?”

yeah? What’s