Sould As The Alpha King's Breeder

Troy

The landscape was totally changed from the lush greenery and long beaches we had been following for roughly a month. The shallows of the pass gave way to deeper water, allowing us to travel at a quicker speed, the engines working double-time as we sped forward into the unknown with the compass pointing straight ahead

It was a week before Maeve’s birthday She had been moodier than usual as we neared it, knowing what it meant.

She would finally come into her powers She would feel that I was her mate

Or she wouldn’t do either.

And as I watched her pacing across the deck of Persephone, her hair pulled up in a heavy. tangled heap of a bun on top of her head, and I wondered if she even wanted to come into her powers. Not knowing whether or not she was cursed had kept her stable distracted Now there was no way to ignore the truth, whatever that may be

“This is it,” Keaton said, holding the compass out at arm’s length “It’s wanting us to go straight into that cove, to the west.”

“I see it.” I watched the horizon as the strange, sand covered plateau grew larger as we neared We hadn’t seen land in a week. Keaton tossed me the compass and left the upper deck, moving swiftly as he walked towards the doors leading to the lower levels of the boat. He would be telling Pete to continue west, no doubt. I felt my chest tighten as adrenaline prickled my fingertips

This was it. We’d have at least one moonstone. And that would be one less stone Damian would have at his disposal.

“I feel strange.” Maeve said as she appeared at my side, her face drawn with anxiety.

“It’s going to be okay. We don’t know what we’re going to find, but we’re the only ship out here. Maybe you should lie down for a while. Usually, she would fight me on this, but to my surprise she nodded, walking gingerly down the stairs with one arm cradling her swelling belly. I was shocked at how quickly her pregnancy was progressing. Her usually graceful movements had become strained and uneven. She was uncomfortable.

“We’re going to make this quick,” I said to myself under my breath, wanting nothing more than to turn this ship around to get her back to her parents. We only had a few months to make the journey to Winter Forest by ship before the ice began to form on the northern seas. We couldn’t miss that window.

A few days later, we made camp on the beach, the Persephone bobbing just off the shore. The water was deep here, the beach giving way to a steep drop-off instead of reefs.

There was nothing green as far as we could see. Everything was covered in coarse golden sand

a desert, we realized, as a group of us men shifted and spent an hour running a wide berth around the camp, climbing to the top of the plateau to gaze out over the ocean behind us, and the rolling sand dunes on the other side of the plateau. No buildings. No trees. None of us picked up the scent of other people or wolves. We were alone.

Back at camp, we regrouped. Maeve and Myla wanted to take the compass and find the tomb as soon as possible, but Keaton dismissed the notion. We had been aboard the Persephone for a month straight, and we were wobbly on our feet when we stepped out of the skiffs on the shore. We all needed rest. Those who could shift needed to run.

all, we needed to scope out the area before we attempted

move. I worried, constantly, about everything these

Maeve

pathway lined with what looked like cement pavers of some sort but were so old they crumbled into dust beneath our

strange sand dunes had given way to brush, then oddly shaped gnarled bushes that took us down into a deep, ashen valley. We saw stone buildings in the distance

one, a road that eventually led

hands on my knees as I bent over to

a month since the strange storm had rocked the Persephone and then abruptly dissipated over our heads. I was roughly four months pregnant now and feeling it. I was out of breath all

he decided to leave our beach camp and follow the compass west on foot. I refused, knowing that he would need me if he came

his fingertips over one of the

you know?” Troy stood,

And there– Pete

end, dropping off into a deep,

my arms

someone already found the stone-‘I began, but Troy turned away from me, stalking down

he said, his

his side, looking down in shock as we tried to make

we gazed into. The ground sloped down at an easy decline and was littered with various excavation equipment. The site itself looked to be a city center of

pocket and stretched out his arm, holding it over the site and flipping it open with his thumb. Pete

it,” Troy said softly, closing the compass and turning to me.

emotions as I began to follow Troy down into the dig site, my chest tightening with

me as we entered the

between the columns with rafters holding sections from caving in. Most of the + tunnels were caved in, however, and we only had one

the dig site.

ahead of us, peering into the tunnel’s

I think there must be water on the other side. Do either of

to Pete. It was starting to rain now, the sky a deep gray over the top of our heads

to the end of the tunnel and there was nothing? What if the entrance to Lycan’s tomb was buried under several feet of dirt and

Troy smiled, his eyes twinkling with reassurance as I let him guide me into the tunnel, the light of Pete’s flashlight leading