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 eyes from the bright orb as

coarse sand. The beach was at low tide, seaweed lining

Leaving me behind.

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

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

turquoise where the beach met the

Troy. Where was he?

whisper.

mission of tying me to the skiff and sliced through the cables holding to skiff to the Persephone instead. He had said something, desperation clouding his eyes as

I remembered

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

away they were now.

I couldn’t recognize or name.

back over the water, seeing nothing but sparkling blue water and softly capped waves. This tangled web | found myself

And Troy.

palms, sitting down on the shaded sand and cried. Oh, how I wished I could take it all back. I would have been nicer to him. I would have

That I loved him.

the lump in my throat, my sobs of despair and heartbreak dry and choked as I tried to

around was the salty, undrinkable water rolling against the sand. The same water already filling my belly

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

the trees, where the sparseness of the brush eventually gave way to

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 flicking

fell. My feet were bare and aching, the skin blistered and raw from sliding over wet 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 once coming across a bubbling stream or freshwater pool. Even the large leaves of the vines held

a large, moss-covered rock. I leaned against it, sinking onto my bottom with my head resting against the moss, closing my

my breathing slowed. The chirping of frogs, the scurrying of small critters in the

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 along its

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

creatures tied 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

intrusion. I could only mind-link with my family since I wasn’t twenty-one yet,

again, nervously lowering its head. It was

ADV

9.

Chapter 41: Friend?

use and severe dehydration. It straightened its neck, fear

over the mind-link, an odd feeling tightening my chest. Was

dog just stared, its tail

a

head rapidly. I held my hands out, slowly reaching

it took one step forward, gingerly lowering its snout to sniff the ground around me.

it said, baring

not yet,’ I answered,

sniffing my foot and then the tips of my fingers before taking a

your name?’ I