Sould As The Alpha King's Breeder

Chapter 86: I Can’t Have His Child

Hanna

I didn’t bother to hang my coat up on the hook as I staggered through the door to the small cabin I shared with Kacidra. I tossed the coat to the floor, the thick fabric falling on the wide-plank floorboards in a wet snowy heap.

Kacidra wasn’t home. She had spent the last two nights with Pete, who was living in one of the cabins in the village. They were mates, and the connection had been intense, passionate. I saw the pattern, of course. Troy and Maeve. Ernest and Gemma. Even Keaton, the man who was the captain of the boat that both kidnapped and saw Maeve to safety, had found his mate in Maeve’s friend Myla.

Everyone on this prophesied path was finding their mates, including me. This was the definition of fate.

Apparently, Rowan and Maeve were at the center of it all. And then, there was my role.

| sunk to the floor in front of the couch, my head in my hands, and let myself cry.

I felt nothing but deep, painful guilt after listening to the unnamed old woman’s words. She was my great-aunt, my tie to Gayla, the Seer… Gayla, who must have known what my mother would become and the powers she held, the powers

she would give to one of her children.

I thought of the white roses on the temple grounds, how their

petals had littered the stone pavers after Tasia had destroyed the sanctuary. Tasia, who the people of Lycenna were afraid of but also worshiped. The same way they wanted to worship me.

The people who believed my future child would be the Moon Goddess herself.

But I didn’t have my powers any longer. I didn’t want them back. And I wouldn’t be the Goddess’s vessel of rebirth.

I peeked through my fingers, my eyes clouded with tears.

There was only one thing I could do to end the prophecy, to break the chain of events that were plaguing a family I had grown to love.

I needed to reject Rowan.

I sucked in my breath and wiped the tears from my cheeks, nodding at myself as I silently agreed to the inevitable.

But then there was a knock on the front door, and then a cold rush of air.

“Hanna? Goddess, it’s freezing in here,” Rowan crossed the threshold of the front door, shutting it firmly behind him before stalking toward the neglected wood stove.

I watched him in silence as he crouched in front of it, stoking the dying embers with pieces of kindling until a fire erupted from the ashes once again. He meticulously added pieces of split birch to the woodstove, arranging them in such a way that guaranteed a slow, hot burn. I couldn’t help but smile as | watched him, my heart squeezing in my chest.

Rowan, my Rowan.

He turned around, seeing me sitting against the foot of the couch. “What’s wrong? Are you alright? Maeve told me what happened at the castle.” He stepped forward, kneeling down in front of me and taking my chilled fingers in his.hands. “You’ re cold, Hanna.”

“I have to go home,” I whispered unsure if I meant for him to hear it or if I just needed to say the words aloud.

sitting back so that he faced me with his arms wrapped around his

dreading what I needed to

“Why?”

at stake. I can’t continue to put you and your

do you think is going to happen?”

lingered behind his eyes, something that told me he had

as much as she wants the stones.

bring the stones with me when I

a chill up my spine. I looked up at him, his face distorted

The consequences are too great. If we

that senile old woman said? About our child being the second-coming of the

believe that could be possible after everything that’s already happened? A year ago you were just a

was a lifetime ago, Hanna. There is no going back now. I won’t let

“Your family,”

capable of defeating a single wolf. Lycenna is in shambles from what we understand. They are no longer a pack, or a cult, whatever you want to call it! Mom is seeing to the refugees for now, but they mean to

see why? Tasia isn’t just a single wolf. She was powerful enough to mortally wound your mother. A White Queen. Imagine what she

the

have to let

me, pinning me to the couch. His face was only inches from mine, his blue eyes pleading with my own. No, they seemed to say. No, no,

between his hands and kissed me,

urge to cry as he pulled away, not wanting it to end even though I

to.

me again, this time harder, the kiss needy and final. I opened my mouth to his, letting him pull me close and wrap me in

skin on my neck. His mouth moved along my jaw, his fingers tangling in my hair as he gently pulled my head back so I looked up at him, exposed

but his hands were warm against my back. He ran his fingers up my spine, sending sparks flying across my skin. My shirt was on the floor, the

moon and sending whispers of light through the frosted window next to

as I kissed him deeply. He was gentle with his touches as he explored me, his mouth moving from mine to my neck to my collarbone, lingering there for a moment before he dipped down to take one

within me. Something I had been holding back for months. Something that could ruin any chances of letting him

the only invitation he needed.

carried me through the living

my room, shutting the door with his foot before tossing me on the bed. My heart was pounding against my ribs as he took a step back, looking down at me. Heat flashed behind his eyes as he reached down, his fingers lingering on his belt buckle. I stared at him, taking him in. Trying to memorize every single inch

say no, to say yes… to say anything. I swallowed back the mingled fear

bed. I tried to keep my eyes on his face, afraid to let them wander. This was it for us. I wanted to remember the

to him now. I didn’t try to hide myself. I closed my eyes as he looked at me, and I was able to feel his

ever done this before. Part of me thought he had, because the way his hands ran down the length of my thigh, his thumb pressing into the flesh behind

not, because the way he touched me in all the right places felt as though

though it was the first time. I felt electric. His touch sent sparks shooting down my legs and warmth between them, a nagging ache that threatened

mouth met mine in the softest kiss. I could feel the tears threatening to spill over my lashes as I opened my mouth.

my legs, his fingers gliding against the growing wetness. Nothing had

“Rowan,” I breathed, “please…”

have gone by; I didn’t know for sure. Every second of pain and ecstasy was all part of a drawn-out goodbye. He said my name, the sound of it on his lips sending me over the edge as I gripped his shoulders, pulling