Sould As The Alpha King's Breeder

Chapter 54: What Happened to Seraphine?

Rowan-Valoria

Boy, did things unravel.

We hadn’t been able to sleep for long before Damian’s warriors found us again. Dad led us deeper into the forest, crossing the river and attempting to back track towards Mirage, but it was too late. The forest was full of wolves. We were two against an impossible force.

“What pack did that woman say she was from?’ Dad said, his voice cracking over the mind-link as we began to climb up the base of the mountains, our paws slipping on the uneven, fragile shale rock.

“Greenbriar, I think,’ I answered, my legs sore and hips aching from the exercise. I ran in my wolf from every single morning and had done so for years. But spending over twenty-four hours as a wolf was causing an indescribable exhaustion and something I had never experienced before.

Plus, I was watching my dad’s plans fall through, and he was pissed. Especially after we crested the top of a cliff face looking over the forest and our plane buzzed the top of our heads.

*Damnit!” he said, turning his head to watch it ascend into the clouds.

‘That was us, wasn’t it

‘Yes, obviously. Come on, we have no choice but to keep going. They’re pushing us into the mountains, and we’re outnumbered-‘

The mountains? What exactly are you planning,

‘I was wrong, Rowan. There’s too many of them. I hadn’t expected Damian to have made alliances with other packs in Valoria, especially without my knowledge. We have to get home

“By crossing the mountains? Are you insane? That’ll take us weeks!”

.

Howling drifted from the trees below as we continued to climb, and I winced, torn between two impossible paths.

How did I prefer to die? Being torn apart by wolves, or dying of exposure in the mountains between the North and Valoria?

‘We have no choice. They’re expecting us to travel through the forest until we reach the Northern Tier. Stop whining, let’s go.’

I followed him up and over another ridge, padding further and further into the clouds until I finally looked down, seeing a full view of what had once been Mirage. Fires burned in pockets across the city. I could see the destruction of the buildings from our perch. And there was the castle, standing like an untouchable fortress amongst fields of golden grass.

And ahead of us?

I looked up where Dad had stopped and stretched his legs.

Nothing but miles, and miles, and miles of stone.

***

One Week Later

these belong to?” I asked, pulling the jeans on and tucking in the sweater I had pulled

through his teeth as he tied the other boot. We were sore and dead tired, having spent nearly a week trudging through overgrown valleys and over the

craters and sharp, uneven peaks. Nothing grew here, and fields and fields of boulders marked our journey between valleys. This hadn’t been what I was expecting. The mountains were far east, lined by thick, almost

flag. A familiar flag. Waving in the stiff, unrelenting breeze. The flag of

the entrance to a narrow cave opening and inside we had

peering into its depths. We didn’t speak as we inspected the bodies, still fully dressed under layers of rotting fabric. He counted them, one by one, and after we found their backpacks, we shifted and changed into the spare clothes they had

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12:250

What

asked, running my fingers through my matted, filthy hair. The bodies were nothing by bone by now, and must have been

been here for roughly fifteen

my feet, my stomach tightening as the

remembered looking back at Gemma, who had tears in her eyes as she watched her

They never came back.

might have been wearing, but they had dressed in a similar fashion for the

opening. He turned back, walking deeper

“Dad!”

Look through the packs for anything like flashlights or matches. They had a fire in here, I

told, rifling through each of the backpacks. I collected two matchbooks that were in decent shape and at least half

He had his hands tucked into the pockets of the jacket he had found as he scanned the

if we found this river. It’s hundreds, if not a thousand miles of mountains

Seraphine, and she was always a strange woman. Not in a bad way, but in a way that made me wonder if

There were warriors that

for the expedition. I

with a sober smile, “You fought us

the other boys in Winter Forest. We were the generation born after the war, confined to one place while the adults cleaned up the mess. Suddenly, the small bubble we had been living in

killed them?” I asked, moving

inspect them closer, but for now, we need to find a place to

ground squirrels for a week and had stayed well fed,

“Should we bury them,”

quickly, grabbing the packs as we exited the cave, “We shouldn’t disturb them. I’ll do my best to identify them so I can give their families closure when we return to Winter

the cave felt somewhat electric and overwhelming. I was thankful to leave, walking a quarter mile away over the boulders until we reached another short cliff

the shallow cave. We could fit inside if we crouched and sat, but we couldn’t stand. “We’ll sleep here,” Dad said, “look for something,

of the uneven ground as I

strange

looked back towards the caves, seeing the top of Dad’s head disappear as he made his way back to the final resting place

the mate of the White Queen. Ethan, who likely felt he had failed to save his daughter, who lost his hold on the castle

grabbed a few handfuls of dry grass and rose, tucking them under my arm. Then I heard a whooshing sound and turned to it, right as something hit me hard, square in the

vision blurring as I tried to maintain my balance. I could taste blood,

“What,”