Sould As The Alpha King's Breeder

Chapter 17: Ernest’s Mate

Maeve

“Don’t say your name? Why?”

*Just in that context. I don’t… we can’t-”

“I know,” I said hurriedly, feeling foolish. It couldn’t be personal. That had to be what he meant. I fidgeted, looking past him toward the door. He followed my gaze, then snapped his head back around, giving me a serious look.

“Leave them alone, Maeve. I know what you’re thinking.”

“I just really need to talk to Ernest—”

“No, you don’t.”

“You don’t understand, Aaron. Gemma is in a bit of a crisis right now,”

“Because they’re mates? That doesn’t sound like a crisis to me.” He stood there, staring at me blankly as my jaw dropped open.

“How the hell did you know that?”

“Uh, he told me? Is it supposed to be a secret-”

I turned from him, pacing over to a set of couches that had been pushed up against the wall so that the maid could polish and wax the floor. I felt a little guilty as I looked down at the very obvious footprints left in the fresh wax, but the room was rarely used. It was my first time spending more than a few minutes here myself. “Well, if you know about it then it’s not a secret, is it?”

He shrugged, reaching up to crack open the window. “What do you need to talk to him about that’s so pressing you’d interrupt them?”

“I wasn’t going to interrupt them,” I lied, pursing my lips as he cast me an incredulous look. “I just wanted to talk to him privately.”

“About why he won’t marry and have children?”

Igaped at him again, my jaw nearly hitting the floor. “You know about that? You know why?”

“Yeah, he told me all about it.” Aaron’s tone was so casual that I laughed, unable to stop myself. He peered at me, tilting his head as I sat down on one of the dusty couches. “Do you seriously not know? How could you not know? Your whole reason for being here is to produce the heir he refuses,”

“Refuses? No, he can’t have children.”

“Oh, he’s perfectly capable of having children.”

“1-How?”

no move to hide it, either. He caught my gaze and I blushed, which was actually the reaction he had wanted. His mouth twitched into a smile as he stretched his arms above his head,

“Aaron!”

of his feet on the couch, facing me. “Ernest said he had a vision that his mate and their child would die, so he decided

trying to gauge whether or

the same vision,

Georgia? You’re joking!” I felt myself flush, my skin prickling with a chill as his words settled. Aunt Georgia

who had special traits, like my mother, but seers were rare if they were real at all. At least, that’s what my parents told me after Aaron’s own mother cursed me, after his accident. My mom’s powers were well known, but we descended from the Moon Goddess herself as White Queens. Aunt Georgia and my dad were just… wolves,

how ridiculous it sounds. He said he thought it was just a dream until his mom said something about it. This all happened shortly before

be in Winter Forest with us, not thousands of miles away in Valoria. I didn’t know the details of the exchange of power, but I do know Ernest became Alpha at a ridiculously young age, sixteen or seventeen, when his parents decided to

tried to talk him out of

I

his eyes at me, shaking his head. “You’re kidding, right? It’s fanciful at best-” He paused, the muscles of his neck contracting

own mother

It’s not real, just like Ernest’s

the infirmary to save some of my blood for healing and she only… she only smiled. She smiled because she knows it’s

something an angry woman said now determines your future?

watching me intentionally, his eyes lingering on mine. “She believed it. I could

exactly is this

at the floor. “That I won’t find my mate. That I won’t come into my

“Well, when’s your birthday?”

up at

August.” He stood, holding out his hand to me and shaking it

“Where are we going?”

he’s being

you said

changed

the day he got hurt in front of me, or his mother,

to see Ernest walking quickly down the corridor away from us, his back turned and his shoulders

are you

my hand, tucking it behind his

for a conference today. I have to go down to the village to escort him to the castle. Give him a little tour.” He sighed deeply, running his fingers

was calm and firmly fixed on Ernest. Ernest ran his fingers through his hair again, ruffling it beyond repair, then looked me up and

sure? I haven’t heard great things about this guy. Lance

glancing up at him and noticing the abrupt change in his demeanor. He was looking forward, his gaze traveling well past Ernest and into a darkened corner of the corridor where it wound

in the shadows, his owlish eyes watching the three of us. I swallowed, exhaling

But why?

looking over the top of Ernest’s head at the figure lurking in the shadows. Did I just see

need to escort him and his entourage from the train station to the road leading to the castle. Lance will meet them there. I’d definitely feel better if you went