Sould As The Alpha King's Breeder

Chapter 16: Don’t Say My Name

Maeve

“He just left? Just got up and left?” Gemma picked at her fingernails, looking over at me from perch on the couch. We were in the atrium, a towering four-story high addition to the backside of the castle where the windows stretched to the ceiling and almost microscopic hoses ran along the beams, showering hundreds of plants in a steady flow of mist. It was what I imagined a jungle would look and feel like.

I fingered one of the leaves of a massive Monstera vine, marveling at the size of a leaf before turning to Gemma and taking a seat at on a wicker lounge chair across from her, folding my hands in my lap. “I don’t think he even, uh, finished?”

Seriously?” She sat up a little straighter, her eyes wide.

“I mean, I don’t know…”

“Did he say anything to you?”

“No! Nothing. He just left. I haven’t even seen him since last night. Maybe it wasn’t… good? Good enough for him?”

Gemma rolled her eyes, “Maeve, come on. Ask any man what constitutes good sex and they will say sex in general!”

I blushed, pressing my hands between my thighs. “I must have done something wrong.”

I definitely felt like I had done something wrong. I knew I had been difficult; he had made that very clear. We had ended up in a tangle of sheets on the floor, and not in a sexy way. Oh, yeah, it was my fault. He was expecting me to be submissive, unyielding. I had failed.

“It’s not your fault,” Gemma said gently, her eyes piercing mine as she willed me to believe her. “Something’s up with that guy.”

“What do you mean?”

“He is not what I thought he’d be. Nothing like the Aaron I met when his family visited Winter Forest.”

“Come on, Gem! I told you it’s been ten years since-”

“He looks nothing like he should, Maeve! He was a blond! Kind of a weakling!”

“Who says hair color can’t change? Rowan’s hair was nearly as light as mine until he reached his twenties. Now it’s as dark as Dad’s!”

“His eyes, Maeve? Don’t you think we both would’ve remembered those eyes? How often do you meet someone with eyes of two different colors, hmm?”

“Well, do you remember what his eyes looked like, Gemma? I don’t! He told me they got more pronounced as he got older-”

“Oh please, how is that even possible?”

paused, biting my lip.

“It’s not possible!”

“What are you saying, Gemma? Do you think he’s not that he’s not Aaron? Who else could he be?”

“I don’t know! I’m only saying he rubs me the wrong way, okay? Like he’s hiding something.”

“I think you’re the one hiding something!” I exclaimed, narrowing my eyes at her.

She arched her brow, leaning forward in her chair. I was being defensive, trying to cover my own shame and suspicion by bringing up the one thing I currently had against her. It was a dance we’d done since my childhood, really. Gemma would try to talk some sense into me, and I would clam up, my only option being to accept defeat or throw it back at her. I never accepted defeat.

“Why are you defending Aaron when he—”

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Chapter 16: Don’t Say My Name

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“Why was your sweater in Ernest’s office?”

She blanched, the color draining from her cheeks as she abruptly looked away from me, her throat bobbing as she swallowed. “What did he say about it?”

“He looked guilty and embarrassed,” I said, trying to remain heated, but my mouth was twitching into a smile, a laugh choking me.

same look of embarrassment

only… I shouldn’t have brought it

is your

“I’m sorry, too.”

looked at each other for a moment,

why the sweater was in his office if you tell me what’s really

words. Gemma was the only

want me

at the ground. She came to a stop, rounding on me, her eyes glossy with

“Gemma?”

“He’s my mate, Maeve.”

“Who? Ernest?!”

nodded, her face pinking again, a

you guys are

“No. No, we’re not.”

why not? You’ve been waiting to

doesn’t feel it.

him, the very second I walked through the doors of the castle. But thinks— I’ve been flirting with him, trying to get a reaction out

did

liked it. He wanted

Gemma was the queen of

how I felt. I told him I was sure we were mates. He didn’t say anything. He just sat there looking like he was about

not having anything to

doesn’t sound like him

was totally out of character. Maeve. He told me it’s not safe to be around him. I couldn’t believe it, you know, this is

kind

do. It happened a few days before we went to the social and … I tried as hard as I could to keep him off my mind, but the pull-oh, Goddess, the mate bond is so strong. I couldn’t even dance with that guy I met at social without feeling like I

“So, you’re sure?”

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16: Don’t Say

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sure. I could tell

I’ll find out

can’t. It

think it

we are mates, Maeve? What then? What would be the reasoning for you even being here, needing a breeder to give Ernest

that,” I said, my hands shaking slightly. “A mate bond

know that’s not

need for me to be here. I would have no need of a breeder. I could walk out of this castle, tonight, nursing my broken

her fingernails digging into my skin as I tried to pull away. “Don’t, Maeve. I know what you’re thinking. This isn’t

“What problems with Aaron?”

to speak, but we were suddenly interrupted by the glass door of the atrium sliding open, humid air rushing out into the corridor in a burst of

my arms over my chest as

“Did we… summon them?”

grin, which instantly evaporated and was replaced with

over at Gemma, a soft smile on

stalking toward Ernest with every intention of dragging him out of the atrium and into his office to demand an explanation from him as to why he didn’t feel a mate bond with Gemma when she clearly felt one

Aaron stepped in front of me, grabbing me by the forearm as he leaned down to whisper in my ear. “I need

out of my room last night like I had the plague, or something. Let go! I need to talk to

seated, Gemma sitting on the couch across from him, the two of them leaning into the empty space between them as they spoke in

me, a sly smile on his face. “I don’t think he wants

course, and he put his hands on the glass to

open. I stepped into the corridor and began to walk toward the stairwell, taking long strides despite the fact that Aaron could keep up

damn near tossing me into a darkened, rarely

filled with the sharp scent of floor polish. The door had been left ajar,

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Don’t

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