Semua Bab The Alpha King's Breeder: Bab 721 - Bab 730

BlakeSkye has said four words to me over the course of the afternoon. It’s not weird, I suppose. She doesn’t know me. She’s only seven, too, and doesn’t yet understand that we’re the same, and our view of the world is strikingly different compared to the people we love. Leona didn’t give me a choice about staying for lunch, which Marianna and I didn’t have the stomach to touch as it stands. She’s currently in the house with Leona, doing what, I don’t know, but I’m sitting on the grass with my seven-year-old daughter who doesn’t know anything about our connection, and maybe that’s a good thing. I don’t really think she’d care, to be honest. What she cares about is rocks. She hands me another rock which I dutifully split into pieces with the hammer resting against my thigh. She hums her disappointment when there’s not an agate inside, which is what she’s looking for, I think. The pile of rock discard is growing to the point it’ll wreck a lawnmower, but I don’t know how to tell her w

MariannaThe front gates of the palace are heavily guarded every second of the day. I clutch my purse to my side, dressed in tan slacks and a cream colored sweater–less casual than normal–in hopes that I’ll get in without a huge fuss. I double checked to make sure all of my IDs are in my wallet, and as I remove my sunglasses and peer at the security gate, I still feel an overwhelming sense of dread. It was easy enough to get into the castle for the ball because a driver was sent to fetch me. I didn’t have to come through the front gate that night. Now?I inhale, holding my breath as I walk toward the warriors stationed outside the massive, towering wall of alabaster stone, but they don’t even look in my direction. Not until I make a move for the foreboding, metal gate that prevents anyone from seeing what I know is an ethereal garden and the steps leading up to the palance. The security post is the size of a small house, and while the guards on either side of the gate turn to me, g

MariannaI’m not even out of the castle before my body succumbs to an immense wave of regret. I brace myself on the banister of a sweeping marble staircase curving down to the third floor, squeezing my eyes shut as I sink against the steps. What is wrong with me?I’m literally criminally insane, aren’t I? Blake is trying to help us, and I’m actively boxing him out, and for what? Unrequited feelings? A lingering ache of rejection I haven’t been able to dim? The idea that had he just… grown up, been a fucking man about this… I wouldn’t have been through what I had to go through the past four years. It should have been him by my side. It should have been his mark on my neck. My phone buzzes repeatedly. My body curls with dread as I hang my head between my knees, resisting the urge to scream in frustration. Female voices drift toward me from the hallway below. I lift my head as a trio of women in strange outfits walk past the base of the stairs. Their pants are made of what looks lik

MariannaSkye’s asleep with her body curled around three of her favorite stuffed animals when I step into her room and shut off the nightlight casting stars all over her ceiling. A soft breeze whispers through thick curtains I quietly pull closed before tucking her in for what feels like the hundredth time. I’ve been on edge all day. It’s been… the worst day. First, Blake. Me shoving another wedge between us. Then, fighting with Mom… with Skye overhearing. After the fight I went down to the lake and tossed my phone into the water in a rage, then shifted, running over all of Moonrise until the sun began to set, and I slunk home to sit at the table with my mother and my daughter. My dinner was served cold. I deserved it. I gently close Skye’s bedroom door while the mark on my neck aches. It’s a deep pain that makes my throat and shoulders sore and is relentless, but also, unfortunately, familiar. Dean wasn’t faithful. I’m not sure he ever was. Our relationship was fast and furious and

BlakeKenna gazes down at Marianna, who blinks up at her, her eyes cloudy and unfocused when Kenna’s faint healing powers ripple through her, healing bruises and gashes. We moved her to the apartment upstairs–a random guest suite on the fourth floor–an hour ago. I’ve been bouncing between her room and the room where Skye is still fast asleep under the watchful eye of Leona, who hasn’t slept a wink tonight, and the first signs of morning are already shimmering through lace curtains lining the windows overlooking the city. Kenna clicks her tongue, silently motioning for Marianna to turn her head to the side so she can get a better look at the mark branded on her skin. It’s terribly inflamed–rotting, to be honest. Marianna winces deeply in pain when Kenna prods the swollen skin with her fingers. Maeve paces behind me with Fallon tucked against her shoulder. My cousin shakes her head, her face twisted in fury. The healer who discovered what they’re saying is a curse, a woman named Mine