Sold as the Alpha King’s Breeder

182 Her Mate Can Save Her Life

We all held our breath, waiting for the slightest chance to save the one whose loss would weigh so

heavily in our hearts.

Cerina looked up at me. “Unless her true fated mate is willing to repay the Goddess on the queen’s be

half.”

I froze.

“What… Did you say?”

My heart was about to jump out of my chest.

She didn’t answer my question. Instead, she continued her explanation. “However, we all know Queen

Rosalie doesn’t have a mate,” she said, “and even if she does, knowing her, she would never want her

mate

to-”

“So her mate can save her life?” | asked, cutting her off mid-sentence. I needed confirmation. I tried to

stop my voice from trembling so that others wouldn’t sense my emotions,

Cerina’s mouth parted slightly as she stuttered over her words, “I don’t know that for sure…”

I’d do anything for her… but if her mate could save her… if I was that mate who could save her what

would I need to do?

“How?”

A confused gaze fell upon her face as she pondered why I was questioning her.

“Cerina, if… I mean, if we were able to find her mate, and he is willing to do this for her, what would he

need to do?”

She shook her head again. “I don’t know. It may be up to her true mate to figure out…”

“Her true mate?”

This time, Seraphine answered me. “Only the fated mate who completes the full mate bond can be rec

ognized as the true mate by the Moon Goddess.”

Looking down at Rosalie, I couldn’t bear the thought of her no longer walking this earth.

She had fought hard over all the time that I had known her to find her proper place in life, and every time

she made headway, something pulled her back and stopped her from being able to be free.

She had just found her people. She had just started to live her life with freedom and love. She had just

begun to experience that, and I wouldn’t let that change.

Her people needed her, and our son needed her. I would not allow her to die!

I brushed over her face and sat there in silence.

“Alpha Ethan,” Seraphine said, “I knew that this is hard for you. Her Majesty told me some of her past

with you.”

I looked toward the older woman, I’d seen her with Rosalie ever since the islands, and it seemed that

Rosalie relied on and trusted her. I said, “Thank you for looking after her all along.”

She sighed, “You have always been the person who is so special in her life. She might not tell you so,

but I know you are one of the most important people in her life. Given the chance again, she would

make

the exact same choices.”

My throat was tight.

“She was so happy that you are the father of her baby,” she concluded.

Vicky and Georgia started to cry again. To them, there was no hope because no one knew that Rosalie

was my mate!

But to me…

I’d try anything, even if the chances were nearly impossible. As long as there was hope, no matter how

little, I’d try.

“How much time does she have?” I asked.

Cerina looked away as if she was not willing to face the reality either, but she answered, “At most, a

week.”

I pushed myself up, nodded to them and walked out of the room.

I mindlinked Talon. ‘Talon, get everyone back to the war room!

I had no time to waste.

I had to hurry. I’d promised Rosalie I’d take care of her people and win the war. I couldn’t let her down

again.

“I’ll return to you soon, Rosalie,” I said to myself. “Wait for me!”

I headed out to where the others were waiting. I found them congregating nearby, their arms folded, their

voices low.

When I walked into the war room, most military leaders had gathered there already, discussing the situ

ation at the front line.

Looking at Talon, I saw the worry in his eyes. He was slowly stroking his chin, thinking deeply about the

situation, as he always did, no matter what predicament we found ourselves in.

Talon shook his head. ‘There has to be something that we can do here. It’s just… escaping me. It’s like

it’s trapped in my head, and I can’t get it out.”

I could tell he was frustrated. I understood the feeling. Even though we were greatly outnumbered, I

wasn’t ready to give up.

After all, I had promised Rosalie that I would take care of her people. I couldn’t leave her in a situation

where she would be called upon to invoke the power of the Moon Goddess ever again.

Doing so would most certainly kill her the next time she had to do it since she would not have a mate to

save her again…

I needed updates from all of the other leaders so I could assess the state of the situation at that mo

ment.

Nothing much had changed except that we were nearly surrounded, and the enemy troops were getting

closer to us by the moment.

As the other leaders reported their information, and we made changes to the map, I continued to think

about what Talon had said. Something about his words had the wheels in my mind working.

“We can’t slow them,” one of the leaders was saying, “and they’ll be here soon.”

“Wait!” I exclaimed. “That’s it!”

Every eye in the room was fixed on me, every eyebrow arched. “What is it?” Talon finally asked, whisper

ing as if he was afraid he might interrupt my train of thought.

The words Talon had spoken earlier went together with what this man had said. “We need to slow them.”

I began, gesturing at the map. “We can use the forest to our advantage, but we’ll have to operate close

to the palace walls so that they can’t see what we are doing!” I was so excited about the possibility of my

plan working, I wasn’t quite connecting my thoughts.

“What are we doing?” Commander Landon asked me, looking at General Vandough, who also had a

puzzled look on his face.

With a brush of my hand, I moved all of our markers that indicated the positions of the enemy soldiers

out of the way and gestured at a low spot in the ground between the first marker and the palace.

“This is where we focus,” I told them. “See this ridge? When you’re coming over the higher ground out of

the forest, you can’t see the ground below you unless you’re really concentrating. We know that they

won’t be. They’ll have their heads up as they are running toward us.”

I could tell that they were still confused, so I continued. “We will build a trench all along this line. Deep at

least eight feet-and about five feet across. When they come over the ridge, they’ll fall into the pit-and

they won’t be able to get out.”

“Why won’t they be able to get out?” General Vandough asked.

“Because… we’ll feel it with oil, tar, whatever nasty, sticky stuff we can find so that they won’t be able to

simply climb out,” I explained to them.

Then I looked him in the eye. “Then we burn them!” My voice was ice cold.

“Won’t they see the hole?” General Vandough asked.

‘We will cover it with mesh fabric and then put debris from the forest on top of it,” I explained. “With all of

the new construction projects I’ve seen near the palace, I’m certain you must have some sort of equip

ment that we can use to dig the hole before they get too close to see or hear it?”

My question was answered with nods all around.

“And… you have a textile factory in town, don’t you? And a fuel processing plant?”

More nods greeted me.

“So… We should have all of the resources we need to make this plan work. Now, it’s just a matter of exe

cution.” I made eye contact with every person in the room, and every single one of them gave me a nod

of understanding.

“All right then,” I said. “Richard, Paul, I’m putting you in charge of digging the hole. You know where to

put it?”

“Yes, Alpha,” they both said.

I

“Very good. Commander Landon, can you get the oil for the hole?” “Of course, Alpha,” the Commander

told me.

“General Vandough,” I called.

Before I gave him his assignment, he volunteered, “I’ll take care of the coverage.”

“Great,” I said with a sharp nod.

“We also need to make them think that our people are abandoning the palace,” I told them. “We need to

make a pretty big show of it Samuel, can you handle that?”

The former guard grinned. “You bet, Alpha.” He whistled in excitement, “And you know I’m good at it!”

I gave him a tight-lipped smile.

Thad to make sure that Rosalie didn’t fall into Madalynn or Behar’s hands. Who knew what kinds of tor

ture they might have in store for her? James wanted her for her blood, which would also mean a short

life full of torment. And if she used the Moon Goddess’s power again… all was lost.

No, my plan had to work. It just had to.

“I only have one question.” A female general drew everyone’s attention.

I gestured for her to go ahead.

“How do we know how close they will get to the palace before they put us under siege?” she asked.

“They might stop short of that line since it is so close to the palace.”

| stared at her for a moment. “They will come,” I told her firmly.

“How do you know?” she questioned.

I narrowed my eyes. “Because I will make them.”

That was all I was willing to say.

“All right then. We don’t have a lot of time, so let’s get to it. Talon, you stay.”

I dismissed them to do their appointed tasks. I had my own work to do, and I needed Talon with me.

“I need you to oversee all of this,” I told my Beta, seeing that my sister was walking behind us. “Make

sure everything gets done, all right, Talon?”

“Yes, you know that I will.” He was looking at me with a perplexed expression on his face, but I didn’t

elaborate. I just kept walking.

I finished listing off all of the thoughts I had regarding the war effort with Talon. However, Georgia fol

lowed me out of the war room.

“Ethan? What’s going on? You are asking Talon to oversee this. Won’t you be there with us to fight the

war?”

“Of course I will.” I didn’t even blink when I told that lie. “But it’s always best for everyone to be on the

same page.”

I knew it was a little rushed, but Rosalie’s clock was ticking, so I didn’t have much time. I had one week

to lay the groundwork so that when Rosalie was back, she could take over and lead us to victory.

Thad faith in her.

Georgia was still suspicious. “Bullsh*t! Be honest with me.”

My sister had an unbelievably accurate instinct. I didn’t want to make the situation more complicated, so I

sighed, “I needed to take care of some things on my own. I’ll let you know when the time is right. Trust

me, okay?”

She stared at me, and finally nodded. “What can I do to help?” she asked.

I looked at Georgia for a moment, wishing I could tell her how strong I thought she was, how proud | was

to be her brother.

But I knew that if I told her then, that she’d just ask me to shut the f*ck up. That thought made me

chuckle.

“Take care of Rowan while I’m away.”

“What?” Georgia asked, her face crinkled with concern. “Yes, I mean, yes I will take care of him of

course. But you’re making me nervous.”

I had no time to elaborate to my sister, so rather than commenting on her statement, I said, “Georgia,

could you get Soren for me?”

I didn’t know where he was, but Georgia could use the mindlink to speak to Soren since he was her

brother, too.

Puzzled, she nodded. I knew she was wondering why I didn’t just call for him myself, but I didn’t feel like

getting into all of that. Instead, I made my way into one of the rooms on the side of the palace that had a

decent view of the activities out along the tree line of the forest.

| stood there, watching people begin to carry out my orders, praying that this would work.

It just had to “If you want to speak to me, brother, you don’t need a messenger to get me.”

Soren’s voice had me sucking in air and letting it out slowly. I thought I’d be angry when I saw him, but at

this moment, all I felt was bitterness.

Fortunately and unfortunately, I knew he would take care of Rosalie for me.

Turning to look at him, I said, ‘You claim to care a lot about Rosalie. Is that right?”

My brother’s heavy brows dipped over his eyes.

I didn’t wait for his answer. Instead I asked him again, “Are you willing to do anything you can to make up

for the times you failed her in the past?”

“Of course. But I don’t know what that has to do with you, Ethan,” he sneered.

Taking a deep breath, I held it for a moment before I said, “I need your help.”