Sold as the Alpha King’s Breeder

Chapter 21: The Golden Generation

Rowan

I could’ve kissed the ground at the rocky, wind-swept beach when our boat finally reached the small port

of Red Lakes. The journey had been the most difficult thing I had ever done, and I was sure I was going

to die at least twice before we finally saw the rolling hills and snow-capped mountains of Red Lake’s

territory in the distance.

The precious cargo, our solar panels, had made the journey unscathed. We hadn’t lost a single

crewman, and our boat was in one piece. The forty-foot swells had tossed us mercilessly, but we had

survived. The journey across the Ghilhanda Sea was doable. We had been successful.

And my success was met with a prize. My mate.

I felt her the second I set foot on the beach. I could smell her, her scent warm and comforting like honey

and freshly baked bread. She smelled like home somehow, but a home I’d never known. A home, I

realized shortly after Eugene introduced me to his daughters, that I would likely never know.

Because the beautiful Hanna, with her dark, lustrous hair and warm brown eyes, was betrothed to

another man.

And I was meant to marry her older sister, Kacidra.

Red Lakes was everything I expected it to be. It was densely wooded and mountainous, the water of the

vast, seemingly endless lake the village bordered was just that, red, its rocky beach dappled with

strangled colored burnt orange and green rocks.

The trees here were the real prize, thick evergreens and redwoods with trunks so thick your hands

wouldn’t touch if you wrapped your arms around them. These trees were older than the earth itself it

seemed, ancient giants towering over man’s creation with their thick branches outstretched and full to

create a never-ending canopy over the small, sleepy village the Alpha of Red Lakes and his family called

home.

Eugene was a small man, standing nearly a foot shorter than myself but with a loud, outgoing personality

to make up for it. He was vibrant and domineering, demanding and receiving respect from the three

hundred or so pack members who accepted him as their leader. Eugene had forged a path for these

people. He had accomplished what was seemingly impossible when he broke away from the packs of

Finadli and traveled north with his flock, knowing full well the separation would be a dangerous endeavor.

But they had survived, and thrived, in a place once thought inhospitable.

My parents respected him for it. I could see why my father trusted the man and why he considered him a

friend.

And I was to marry his daughter.

There was no point in protesting. Kacidra had done that enough to cover the length of my stay during the

first few hours on land. Kacidra was the eldest by two minutes, Aaron’s twin sister in fact, fair of skin and

hair like her father but with an attitude to make even the most stoic man surrender.

Oh, Kacidra would have been a true match for Maeve, no doubt. They would’ve hated each other, at

least until they realized how powerful they could be as allies. Kacidra and Maeve could rule the world

together if given the chance.

And so, I spent two weeks in the torment of Kacidra and agony over her sister, who hadn’t said a single

word to me and wouldn’t meet my eye, no matter how much I tried to accidentally find myself in her path.

No, Hanna wouldn’t even look at me. She was

going to reject me. It was likely she had no choice.

I could already feel the pain of it.

I kept busy, however, setting up the rows upon rows of solar panels in a large open space on the

outskirts of the village where the trees were sparse and the ground was dry and flat from constant,

unrelenting sun. Sulfur springs bubbled incessantly in the background as I worked, my head always bent

to my task.

But the third week, things changed. Kacidra had given up on making my life as miserable as possible,

growing bored of pestering me. We found ourselves, surprisingly, enjoying each other’s company as we

set up the panels and tested the lines, Kacidra pouring over the blueprints for the underground lines that

would eventually bring power into the village.

Suddenly, I had a friend in Red Lakes, the relationship budding between us taking the edge of my pain of

losing my mate, at least

temporarily

“Are you sure you’re doing it right? I think that’s upside down.” Kacidra was leaning against one of the

solar panels, her blond hair tied back in a long braid over one shoulder as she watched me struggling

with a shorted-out battery pack. I wiped the sweat from my brow, running my fingers through my hair that

had grown too long for my liking since arriving in Red Lakes.

“I know what I’m doing!” I said under my breath, hitting the pack several times with the palm of my hand.

To my surprise, the little green light that indicated it was absorbing power from the solar panel came back

on and began to blink. “See, I told you I knew what I was doing.

She rolled her eyes. “Dumb luck, Rowan. What am I supposed to do when one of these breaks again

and you’re not here?”

“Well, it won’t be your problem, seeing as you’re coming back to Winter Forest with me.”

“I will absolutely not be doing that.”

“Sure,” I breathed, fumbling with the breaker box on the back of the panel as I tried to slide the battery

pack back in place.

“What’s the matter?” I asked, moving on to the next solar panel.

“Oh, nothing really. Just thinking of some gossip I heard in the village this summer.” She twirled the end

of her braid between her fingers, giving me a teasing smile.

I waited a moment for her to continue as I pried open the next utility box, peering over the top of the

panel when she remained silent. “Are you going to tell me what it is?”

“Mmm.. if you really want to know.”

“Well, it’s either listen to you talk or enjoy the peaceful solitude of nature.”

She scowled, tossing her braid behind her back and rolling a rock back and forth along the pad of her

foot as she pondered whether I was worthy of whatever she had to say. This was the game we had been

playing since I arrived.

“Wrenn Abdordeen got someone pregnant,” she said, matter-of-factly, tilting her head for a better view of

the flush that ripped across my cheeks.

“Who?”

Hanna was betrothed to Wrenn, who was nothing more than a neanderthal in tight jeans and a crisp

white T-shirt. The man could barely put a sentence together. I was more shocked by the fact he knew

where he was supposed to put it over the scandal of a baby born outside of a marriage. Nevertheless,

the news sent a ripple of excitement through my core as I straightened up to my full height, the question I

desperately needed the answer to written clear as day on my face.

“Doesn’t matter, really. Someone from a neighboring pack to the south.”

“Does that mean…”

She pursed her lips, shrugging casually as she nodded her head. “Well, Dad might not go through with

the wedding now,”

“Yes!” I exclaimed, pumping my fist in the air before I could stop myself. Kacidra only rolled her eyes,

crossing her arms over her chest as she watched me dissolve into a puddle of hope and anticipation.

Kacidra had known for a while that Hanna and I were mates. She had sensed it, somehow. Seeing me

struggle with the pain of Hanna’s rejection had been the turning point in my relationship with Kacidra. We

now had the same enemy. Wrenn.

“Don’t get too excited yet, cowboy.” She picked at a hole in her jacket, watching me through narrowed

eyes. “You and I are still supposed to get married, remember?”.

“Yeah, so,”

this drama spin for a while before we can even think of broaching the subject of dissolving our own

engagement.”

“Would your dad seriously have Hanna marry that guy? After-after this?” I waved my hands wildly, fear

creeping in again. I had

Chapter 21: The Golden Generation

been on edge over Hanna since my arrival, and Kacidra was obviously enjoying toying with my emotions

right now.

“Uh, yeah. It’s possible.”

“But why?”

“Why? Come on, Rowan! Think with that big, manly brain of yours.”

I fought back the scoff that was tickling the back of my throat as she took a few steps forward, stopping

to lean on another solar panel

She continued, “What are we to our parents besides pawns in a great game of conquer and divide? Your

family was one of the lucky ones, you know, able to hang on to their lands and birthrights after the war

and all. My father will go down in history as the Alpha who brought the packs to the northwest to settle

land once deemed uninhabitable. They even named that road after him. We’re the golden generation.

We give them the ability to further their conquests.”

Kacidra was referring to the narrow dirt road that led from Red Lakes all the way down to the border of

Finaldi. Eugene had cut through the dense forest himself, with the help of his pack of course, chopping

down trees to clear their path to where they would eventually put down a claim on the land. Other smaller

packs from Finaldi had followed, settling here and there along the four hundred mile stretch of road that

took ten years to complete. Kacidra had been a teenager by the time they began to build the new

village.

“This is a young pack,” she continued, “and my dad would do anything to keep it alive, including selling

his own daughters.” “You weren’t sold to me,”

“Oh? What else would you call it? An exchange? I was the payment for these solar panels.”

“Stop-”

“I’m the bridge for the alliance between our packs, right? The two of us are just pawns, Rowan. Just like

Hanna and Wrenn. Wrenn is hands down the stupidest person I have ever met. He’s just a pretty face.

But he is the son of Alpha Hector of the Red Moon pack. Dad needs an alliance with them to complete

the road south past the border of Finaldi.”

“This is…” I began, unable to find the words.

“Medieval?” she suggested, tapping her fingers on the top of the solar panel. “Look, all I’m saying is don’t

get your hopes up. okay? Alliances, alliances, alliances. Look at Aaron and Maeve’s situation,”

“Yeah, yeah,” I said, waving my hand in dismissal, not wanting to talk about it. “But, I mean, the alliance

between our families would still be in place if I married Hanna instead.”

“What about Red Moon, then? Hmm? Who are they going to marry off to Wrenn—” She paused, glaring

at me. “NOT me.”

I shrugged, playfully kicking a small rock across the dirt in her direction. She stopped it with her shoe,

rolling it with her toes. “Why not? He’s not your type?” I teased.

She scowled, shaking her head as she kicked the rock forcefully in my direction. The small stone

bounced off the ground and bit me in the shin.

“He’s not my type.”

“What is your type, then? Tall, lean men with—”

“No one here, that’s for sure.”

“That’s not a very nice thing to say in front of your future husband,” I said dryly.

She snorted, looking away from me as she continued, “Anyway, do you understand what I’m trying to

say?”

“Yeah, I get it. You’re definitely not wrong,” I said as I crouched back down behind the solar panel,

screwing the door of the utility box back into place.

“Hanna is wholly loyal to our pack, Rowan,” she said with slight annoyance. She won’t do anything to

stop her engagement from going through, not unless she’s ordered to. You have to understand that.”

“Yeah, sure.” i felt a little hot, my throat dry as I swallowed. Surely, the mate bond was stronger than the

loyalty she felt, stronger than her sense of duty and purpose.

I needed to talk to my parents about this, but my dad wouldn’t be there for a while yet, and it was too

important to write in a letter.

I stood, walking past Kacidra and beckoning her to follow as I made my way through the rows of panels

toward the little cabin like structure that had been built to house the huge batteries that were fed by the

solar panels. I opened another set of utility boxes, searching through the switches and flipping them on.

A low, electric thrum filled the space around us as the panels began to turn on, lifting their faces toward

the sun,

“Perfect,” I muttered as I closed the boxes, looking out over the glistening field of silicon. “There won’t be

power to the village for two or three days still, if everything goes well. Once the main batteries are

charged, and the back-up batteries are at fifty percent capacity, we can open the lines and feed power

through to the village.”

She looked over my shoulder, standing on her tiptoes to do so. “Cool.”

*Is that all you have to say? Look at all the work we did today,”

“Rowan?” came a soft, honeyed voice from behind us. I turned around, taking Kacidra by the shoulders

to move her out of the way