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.

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

coarse sand. The beach was at low tide, seaweed lining the shoreline where the tide had risen

Leaving me behind.

gave way, and I fell back onto my knees into the sand, the small particles biting

shirt, the soaked fabric clinging to my skin. It clung to the thermals as I tried to stand again, this time successfully, and I looked out over

bright turquoise where the beach

Troy. Where was he?

words came out as a cracking, strained whisper. Where was everyone? Where was the skiff he had thrown me on before

gleam of metal as he aborted his mission of tying me to the skiff and sliced through the cables

then I remembered

my parents. I knew that for certain. I had seen them clear as day. Mom with her glossy, white hair falling around her face as she scooped me into her arms, Dad with his piercing blue gaze. But I couldn’t remember what exactly I had dreamt about. Was that even possible? To remember your dreams within a dream. And my parents had been young in my dream. So

now.

sparse palms and knotted, low hanging trees I couldn’t recognize or name. I walked along the sand, my mind jumbled as I tried to piece

water and softly capped waves. This tangled web | found myself in, by no fault of my own, was destroying everyone

And Troy.

all back. I would have been nicer to him. I would have told

That I loved him.

throat ached as I swallowed against the lump in my throat, my sobs of despair and heartbreak dry and choked as I tried to regain my composure. I

against the sand. The same water already

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

towards the trees, where the sparseness of the brush eventually gave way to thick, almost lightless

into the jungle, walking for what felt like hours. The 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 creatures lurking on the forest floor around me. Lizards scurried up the trees as I passed, their forked tongues

tree roots. A chill swept through the jungle, making me shiver and hug my arms around my chest to try to warm myself. I had been walking all day, never

a large, moss-covered rock. I leaned against it, sinking onto my bottom

slowed. The chirping of frogs,

rise along my arms as the thing grew closer, and closer. Then it quieted. A sniffing sound. I paled, pressing my back against the rock and holding my breath as the creature stepped into the clearing, moonlight glistening

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 side to

to leashes and 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 a sharp contrast to the dark green of the foliage behind

the intrusion. I could only mind-link

its head. It was trembling, its small, round

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9.

Chapter 41: Friend?

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

mind-link, an odd feeling tightening my chest. Was I really talking

dog just stared, its tail wagging once in

a shifter?”

my hands out, slowly reaching towards

said aloud as it took one step forward, gingerly lowering its snout to sniff

it said, baring

not yet,’ I answered, shaking

of my fingers

name?’ I