Sould As The Alpha King's Breeder

Chapter 41: Friend?

Maeve

“Mama?” i crept into the room, my feet silent on the wide plank floorboards bathed in violet twilight, “Daddy?”

Dad stirred, rolling over and leaning on his elbow as he watched me enter the room, his hair ruffled from sleep. He motioned for me to come to the bed, pulling down the covers as I climbed in between them and laid my head against the mattress, snuggled tightly between their two pillows.

“What’s the matter?” Mom asked, rubbing sleep from her eyes as she rolled over, tucking her body around mine.

“I had a bad dream,” I sniffled, resting my cheek against her arm. Dad reached out to tuck a lock of hair behind my ear before he laid his head back, facing me.

“What did you dream about?” he asked, his blue eyes dark and focused in the dim light.

“I was swallowed up by water. Lots of it.”

“Well, did you swim?” he replied.

“No, the water was too big. I tried, but I was too little, and the waves were too high over my head.” I stretched one arm upwards towards the vaulted ceiling.

“Hmm…” Mom said dreamily, on the edge of sleep. “But you learned how to swim this summer, darling. In the lake”

“It wasn’t a lake, Mama. It was BIG water.”

Dad snorted, his mouth touched with a wry smile, “It was just a dream, kiddo.”

“There was someone else with me.”

“Who?” Mom asked, stroking my back with her fingers. Her touch relaxed me, making my eyes flutter.

“Was it Rowan?” Dad smiled, closing his eyes.

“No. But he was probably the one who threw me in,”

Dad laughed shortly, rolling over onto his back.

“It was a woman. She was a ghost, like she wasn’t really there.” I yawned hugely, sleep settling back into my bones.

“She was there to protect you, sweetie,” Mom said quietly, tucking me closer to her chest.I sniffled, closing my eyes, trying not to think of the dream where I had been struggling in empty, bleak darkness miles below the surface of an unforgiving sea.

“I’ll take you to the beach tomorrow, okay? Just me and you. We can put our toes in the water. You’ll feel better,” Dad was barely awake, his voice far away and dream-like.

“Do not sleep, my starling. Sleep, my doe…” Mom sang softly, her voice calming me and making my body submit to the slumber I had been rudely awoken from.

I closed my eyes.

***

I rolled onto my side, water sputtering from my mouth as my lungs contracted, desperate for air. I inhaled through my mouth, deeply, my throat burning and my mouth tasting strongly of salt.

It was blinding, reflecting off the space around me. I sat up, shielding my

at low tide, seaweed lining the shoreline where the tide had

Leaving me behind.

fell back onto my knees into the sand, the small particles biting into my

my skin. It clung to the thermals as I tried to stand again,

was calm, a bright turquoise where the beach

Troy. Where was he?

cried, but the words came out as a cracking, strained whisper. Where was everyone? Where was the skiff he

and sliced through the cables holding to skiff to the Persephone instead. He had said something,

I remembered

hair falling around her face as she scooped me into her arms, Dad with his

they were now. They probably thought I

trees I couldn’t recognize or name. I walked along the sand, my mind jumbled as I tried to

and softly capped waves. This tangled web | found myself in, by no fault

And Troy.

how I wished I could take it all back. I would have been nicer to

That I loved him.

of despair and heartbreak dry and choked

sand. The same water already filling my belly and making me even more dehydrated. I looked

I had survived, surely someone else had. Surely the other three skiffs

rise to my feet and turn towards the trees,

sun was low in the sky now, casting an orange glow through the trees and thick, wide-leaf vines. Birdsong erupted around me as I walked and startled the

try to warm myself. I had been walking all day, never once coming across a bubbling stream or freshwater

it, sinking onto my bottom with my head

sounds of the jungle erupted around me as my breathing slowed. The chirping of frogs, the scurrying

the thing grew closer, and closer. Then it

fur short and its body oddly elongated and desperately lean. Its legs were long, its back legs slightly longer than the front legs. A long neck and narrow face with a long, skinny snout and small ears. It was a strange-looking creature, and it must have thought the same thing of me as it peered at me from the other side of the clearing, its small head tilting

paraded around the more affluent neighborhoods in Mirage. This was not a small creature, or a fluffy one. It was tall and lean and practically naked, its odd coloring

I could only mind-link with my family since I wasn’t twenty-one yet, but this creature

lowering its head. It was trembling,

ADV

9.

Chapter 41: Friend?

understand me?” I said aloud, my voice dry from lack of use and severe dehydration. It straightened its neck, fear evident behind its eyes as I

mind-link, an odd

its tail

you a shifter?” I

rapidly. I held my hands out, slowly reaching towards it, inviting it to

lowering its snout to sniff the ground

said,

not yet,’ I answered,

the tips of my fingers before taking a step backward and sitting back

your name?’ I