Sold AS The alpha King's Breeder

Chapter 964: Chapter 21 : Divine Discomfort

*Sasha*

I woke up alone in bed. I turned over and I looked at the floor. Lucas's wolf was gone and the room was empty.

“Lucas?" I whispered uncertainly into the hazy morning light.

I sat up slowly, feeling a wave of uneasiness wash over me. Memories of the previous night flooded my mind, and my body tensed at the thought of Lucas leaving me here and not coming back.

I shook my head. He wouldn't do that.

The door to our room opened and closed, and I yanked the blanket up to my chin.

But it was just Lucas, carrying a neatly-folded stack of my underthings. “We can burn them later," he grunted. “But I wasn't going to let that asshole keep them."

I noted his knuckles were cracked and bruised, and I felt a bit of smug pride. Lucas had just beaten the crap out of that weird, awful stalker pervert innkeeper. There was something very satisfying about that.

I looked at him gratefully as I remembered the way things had ended between us last night. I opened my mouth to apologize.

But suddenly Lucas whipped the blanket off the bed and I made an indignant sound. He shrugged and simply took the blanket and wrapped it around the undergarments and night clothes in a tight parcel before setting them in my bag.

“I don't want you touching that," Lucas said.

It was almost a command, but one I was more than happy to obey. “Thanks."

“You're welcome," Lucas replied. “Though speaking of welcomes, we might have just worn ours out. Get dressed. We can go wait for our ride in town. It's a nice day."

Lucas seemed to have forgotten about last night, and so could I.

I wriggled out of bed and pulled on clean pants and another sweater. The ones from yesterday were still soaked, despite being left out to dry last night.

Lucas had the same idea. He was wearing a crisp new shirt and form-hugging trousers.

I sighed inwardly. It really wasn't fair when he insisted on looking so tempting all the time.

Lucas picked up my bag and his and we headed out of the inn. I noted, with no small amount of satisfaction, that the innkeeper was cringing behind the bar, more black-and-blue than he was flesh- colored.

We took a short stroll through town and bought a few quaint trinkets.

As we made our way through the market, I couldn't help but notice the way Lucas moved. With every step, he exuded confidence and power. His broad shoulders and chiseled jawline turned heads wherever we went.

We found a small café and decided to grab some breakfast before our ride arrived. As we sat across from each other, sipping our coffee, I felt an uncomfortable tension settle over us.

"Lucas, about last night...." I began, needing to clear the air and unsure of how to broach the subject.

He cut me off with a look. "Don't worry about it, Sasha."

“But...."

Before I could utter an apology, he plopped a velvet box on the table between us.

I looked at him confused. “For me?"

He nodded and I reached over to pick it up. When had he bought this?

My fingers grazed the soft surface of the box. I could feel the weight of it in my hands, the anticipation building up inside me. My heart hammered in my chest as I flipped open the lid, my eyes widening in surprise at what was inside.

It was a necklace.

The gold chain necklace lay nestled in the satin lining, a glimmering, perfectly-cut emerald latched to it. Its size was modest, but the shine was as bright as crystal.

“I know it doesn't make up for what happened to the bracelet. I'll never be able to replace it. But, I hope to show you over time that I am in no way like the kid I once was."

“I know," I said as I took the necklace from the box. I held it out to him. “Help me put it on?"

Taking the necklace, he rose from his chair and stood behind me. I held my hair out of the way and felt his warm fingers graze over my neck and shoulders pulling the ends and clasping them together.

I felt the weight of the emerald resting in the middle of my chest and didn't know what else to say.

Our meal came, and I was glad to see it was much more appetizing than the inn keeper's gruel.

When we were done, Lucas figured it was time for the car to arrive, so we settled on a bench near the inn to wait.

And wait.

And wait.

After several hours, a postal delivery arrived at the inn asking for Lucas Black. We hurried over.

“Are you Lucas Black?" he asked.

Lucas nodded showing his ID and the postman handed over a letter.

“It's from Eliza," Lucas said as he tore it open. He read it and cursed. “Their car won't be able to come until tomorrow."

Tomorrow? I groaned and shifted my eyes back to the inn–another night in one room with one bed?

Lucas groaned. “The Moon Howl is the only inn in town?"

“Yessir," the postman said.

“Seems we're going to be here for the night."

I winced. “Still not wearing any of those things you wrapped in the blanket."

“Wrapped in a blanket?" the postman inquired.

“Yeah. Your innkeeper has sticky fingers for women's undergarments," Lucas grumped.

The postman made a disgusted sound. “Not again."

“Again?" Lucas echoed, a dangerous edge to his voice.

“He's been warned, sir. I'm taking this one straight to the mayor," the postman sniffed. He looked at Lucas's bag, a frown on his face. “Something in there smells funny."

“Uh…" I began.

“That's why we're going to see Eliza Crimson in the Midnight Sun pack. We found an artifact north of the capital we need a scholar to look at," Lucas explained, putting a hand on my knee.

“Really?" the postman said excitedly. “What kind of artifact?"

“Religious, we think," Lucas said. Then his eyes lit up. “You don't happen to have a priest or priestess around here, do you? I figure if we're stuck here another day...."

The postman made a face. “Yeah, there's a priestess, but probably not the kind you're looking for."

Lucas looked at me and shrugged. “Can't hurt to try."

“Alright, then. She lives at the edge of town, in the woods, really. You just take the road up that way and turn left at the fork," the postman said, pointing.

“Thanks," Lucas responded. He handed the postman a few coins. “For your trouble."

“Thank you, sir," the postman said, pocketing the coins.

Lucas pulled me up by the elbow and began motoring us down the path.

“Are you sure it was such a good idea to tell that man so much about our–er–quest?" I asked, glancing back.

“I didn't go into detail," Lucas said. “Besides, we've already wasted half a day. If there's someone here who can help, maybe we can just catch the last train home and not spend another night under that disgusting man's roof."

I gave that some thought, then nodded. “I'm all for that."

“I thought you might be," Lucas replied.

This town was smaller than the one where the northern library was located. As such, it took very little time at all to get to the priestess's hut.

A feeling of unease washed over me even before Lucas knocked on her door.

Wizened and cranky, an elderly woman opened the door. “What?" she demanded. Exclusive content © by Nô(v)el/Dr/ama.Org.

“Sorry to bother you," Lucas said, even as I started tugging on his arm, “but we were told we could find a priestess near here."

“I'm the priestess," the old woman grunted. “What's your business?"

“We had something we were hoping you could look at—“ Lucas began.

“Which religion did you say you were a priestess of?" I interrupted him.

“I didn't," the old woman responded with a harrumph.

I looked at Lucas, who was eyeing me curiously. “Would you mind telling us?"

The old woman glanced between us and finally gave the terse response, “Lycoanian."

Something about what she said didn't ring true, so I followed that up with, “Would you mind if we visited your temple?"

“You want to visit the temple," the priestess grumbled. “Of course you do. Because making a little old

lady walk a mile into the woods with an arthritic hip is a great way to build rapport with Lycaon."

“Please?" I asked innocently before Lucas could chivalrously intercede.

“Ugh." The old woman rolled her eyes and closed her door.

Just when I was thinking she's shut us out for good, and was feeling rather relieved about it, the old woman reappeared with a shawl around her shoulders. “Come with me," she snapped, starting into the woods.

Lucas gave me a stern look as we walked after her. “Is this really necessary?"

“Something's wrong," I whispered.

“What? What's wrong?" Lucas asked.

“With… her," I said.

Lucas frowned, then slid an arm around my shoulders. “We'll go to the temple and see what's what."

“I think we should just go," I responded anxiously.

“Let's just… give it a chance," Lucas sighed. “We don't know enough about her yet to completely dismiss the chance she could help us. Also, we did get her out with her arthritic hip...."

I pushed my hair behind my ear. “Alright," I reluctantly agreed.

Lucas kept his arm around me all the way to the temple, a structure that looked ancient and disused. It was covered in thick vines that almost completely obscured the door, and spindly trees had fallen on and around it.

Finally, Lucas was looking about as unconvinced as I was. But he soldiered us through the temple entrance to a space covered with leaves and debris. There was an altar at one end, but nothing else denoting it was a temple.

“So… not many worshippers?" Lucas asked.

“Enough." The priestess looked as though she'd sucked on something foul. She sucked her wrinkled lips, then gestured around. “Here you go. Now, if you're here to worship, go right ahead. I'm going home."

“Actually...." Lucas said, glancing down at me. “We were hoping you could help us with something. An artifact…"

He pulled a wad of silk fabric out of his sack, and I knew inside was the orb. Before he revealed it, I put a hand on his arm.

“Actually, we're good. Just sightseeing," I smiled, hoping my voice didn't reveal my nervousness.

Lucas seemed to pick up on it and shoved the orb, silk and all, back into his sack.

The old woman's sharp eyes followed Lucas's movements closely. “You've found something," she said eagerly. “something of great importance."

“Not really," Lucas replied, and I wondered if he was as creeped out by her eagerness as I was. “Well, it's a lovely temple. We'll be going now...."

Lucas took my hand and started leading me back to the vine-covered entrance.

The old woman grabbed my wrist. “Don't be so hasty—“ She stopped, her cloudy blue eyes going wide. “Dream dancer...." she breathed.

“Eep," came the frightened sound out of my mouth.

Lucas wrenched me away from the old woman, almost toppling her. “I don't think that's any of your business. Come on, Sasha...."

“Please," the old woman begged, hobbling after us. “I've never met a dream dancer before. I have so many questions...."

Lucas picked up the pace, and I was almost running to keep up with him.

We quickly outran the old woman, heading back to, well, the only inn in town.

When the innkeeper blustered over, likely to throw us out, Lucas threw enough coins at him to mobilize a small army. “Key," Lucas said tersely.

The innkeeper fished in his apron and handed it over. “Same room," he said, collecting his bounty off the floor.

Lucas took the stairs two at a time, dragging me with him. He shoved me into the room ahead of him,

then closed and locked the door behind us. “We'll stay here until the car comes for us tomorrow."

“I want to leave now," I said, hugging myself, feeling a great sense of unease.

“Sasha, our only option would be to hop the train back to the capital," Lucas replied, pinching the bridge of his nose.

“Something is wrong. Something is really wrong here. We should go home. If that's our only option, we should go home," I fretted. I started pushing my hair behind my ear, but Lucas completed the action for me, smoothing a lock of hair back.

“Sasha," he said, cupping my cheek. “We need to know what this orb is doing to you. We can't find that out in the capital."

I placed my hands on Lucas's chest. “Please, Lucas, please let's just g—“

There was yelling and scraping downstairs.

Our heads snapped toward the door.

“Dream dancer!" was roared up the stairs.

It wasn't the old woman.

“Oh. Oh no," I gasped. “Oh no...."

“f**k," Lucas said as there was pounding on our door. It shook on its hinges.

“Lucas, what do we…?" I asked.

Lucas pulled me front to back against his chest and put a hand over my mouth. “I'm thinking," he whispered.

The door began to splinter.

“Lucas?"

Lucas looked at the window.

“You've got to be kidding me," I gasped.