Sold as the Alpha King’s Breeder

Chapter 23 Sharing A Room with Him

Lightning illuminated the sky above us, and I wrapped the raincoat Warren had packed for me tighter, but

it wasn’t doing me a whole lot of good.

To avoid being tracked down by the city security, who reported directly to Theo, we intentionally avoided

public transportation until we got outside of the greater capital cityarea.

It had been raining for hours, and I was beginning to feel drowsy from trudging through the mud in such

foul weather. I sneezed, again, this time barely getting my arm up to cover my face, and I willed myself to

keep walking.

Warren was concerned about me, and he had been for the last few hours since I’d begun to cough and

sneeze. He wanted to shift and let me climb on his back, but I’d refused. We would save that for if we

were in danger. Right now, I was miserable, but I wasn’t going to die.

“I see city lights off in the distance, Ciana,” he told me. “We’re almost to a town.”

His words entered my mind, but I was having trouble processing them. Unless it was a town with a giant

bubble over the top of it that would protect me from the rain, I didn’tcare.

Trudging on, I began to lose most of my conscious thought. I just continued to lift one foot and then the

other. Eventually, I

noticed that Warren was guiding me, his arm around me, and then, the mud of the forest changed to

open green grass, to pavement, to a sidewalk… to steps.

“Where are we going?” I muttered.

“A hotel,” he explained. “You need to rest and recover.”

“Let’s find a small one,” I mumbled my explanation. “Fewer security cameras around.”

“Good point!” He chuckled under his breath and commented, “You surprise me all the time, you know

that?”

“Goodness gracious!” a loud female voice proclaimed. “You poor dears look half drowned.”

“Yes, we need a couple of rooms, please,” Warren explained to her as I leaned against his side to keep

from falling over.

“I’m afraid I only have one,” the woman said. “But it’s got a big bed in it.”

“That will do.” Warren held on to me as he fished out payment for the room from beneath his raincoat,

and I wrapped my arm around his middle to steady myself, my eyes locked on the floor where a puddle

was forming from all the water dripping off of me.

I wanted to apologize to the custodial staff for making such a mess.

Halfway up the stairs, I lost my footing and almost tumbled back down, despite Warren’s grip on me.

“All right, that’s it,” he proclaimed, and the next thing I knew, I was being lifted off of the steps into his

arms. I didn’t protest. Even if I’d wanted to, the words wouldn’t come out of my mouth.

Once we were in the room, he helped me out of my raincoat, and then I insisted that I could change into

dry clothes myself. I went into the bathroom and took a shower with very warm water, which I enjoyed.

When I returned to the room wearing fresh dry clothes, Warren had also changed. He looked at me very

concerned. “I think this is worse than just a cold,” he told me.

I waved a hand at him, but even that seemed to be moving in slow motion. “I’m okay.”

“I think you being in that hideous dungeon for all of that time has left your immune system weak, Ciana.

Climb into bed, and I’ll get you some chicken soup.”

My stomach protested the thought of putting anything inside of it, but I didn’t have a problem crawling

into the nice warm bed. The next thing I knew, a spoon was being coaxed into my mouth. I split my lips

and slurped up the broth, but I didn’t even know how the soup had gotten there.

Had I fallen asleep?

Warren sat beside me, getting me some soup and water. Then he said, “I’ll go see if I can find a

pharmacy that’s still open.”

A peel of thunder shook the entire establishment. “No…” I muttered; my mind was cloudy. “It’s not safe.

You’ll catch a fever… and… die.”

He chuckled under his breath. “I think I’ll be okay. I take my vitamins every day.”

“You’re a… good prince… Unlike…”

“Unlike what?”

“Unlike… your brother. He’s…” Um, my head was so heavy and I felt I couldn’t think straight, but it didn’t

prevent me from concluding my thoughts about Theo, “…an asshole!”

I heard a low chuckle, followed by Warren’s gentle voice. “While I don’t disagree with you, I know you’re

delirious because my sweet, mild-mannered Ciana would never say such….”

His words trailed away. My head lolled to the side, and I noticed the print on the wallpaper. It was a fleur-

de-lis print, white on gray, very pretty….

When I turned back to say something to Warren, he was gone.

I fell in and out of sleep, tossing and turning. I had vague recollections of someone helping me with

liquids and medicines, but for the most part, I had no memory.

I had a lot of strange dreams, and although I couldn’t remember the details, I knew they were about my

parents and my pack.

Except for one. Maybe it was more of a nightmare.

I’d dreamt that Theo had been kissing me….

A couple days after we arrived at the hostel, I awoke with a start, much like I had when I’d snapped out

of the curse. The

sun was streaming in through the window, and Warren was sitting in a chair across the room, reading a

newspaper.

“Ah! The sleeping beauty awakens!” he teased, causing me to blush.

“How long was I asleep?” I stretched my arms up over my head.

“A while,” he said with a grin. “How do you feel?”

“Much better.” Then, I remembered how he’d gone out in the rain to get me medicine and fed me soup.

“You took care of me.”

It wasn’t a question, but he nodded. “I wanted you to get better.”

“I can’t tell you how much I appreciate it. Thank you!” He was such a good man. “We should be on our

way soon so that you can get back to the castle. They’re probably missing you by

now.”

“Nah,” he said, smiling. The soft afternoon sunshine gave him a golden glow and I felt my heart skip a

beat. “I seriously doubt they are. Besides, it’s getting kind of late. It’s been a bright, sunny day, but it’ll be

dark in just a couple of hours. It would be better if we continued our journey tomorrow when we’ll have all

day to walk in the daylight.”

I knew it wouldn’t do me any good to try to talk him out of it, so I nodded. “All right then. I’m going to go

outside and get some fresh air.”

“That’s a good idea,” he said. “There’s a beautiful little

courtyard around back, full of bright flowers that have flourished after the rain. Check them out.”

I thanked him for the suggestion and headed into the restroom to make myself somewhat presentable. I

looked like I had slept for a long time, that was for sure. My hair was sticking up all over the place, and I

had a crease on my face from the pillow.

I couldn’t help but chuckle at myself.

After dinner, I made my way outside and quickly found the courtyard he’d been speaking of. It was lovely.

Sitting down on a quaint bench beneath a tree full of fuchsia blooms, next to several rose bushes in a

variety of vibrant colors made me feel at peace for the first time in a while.

I tried to think only positive thoughts, but my mind kept going back over everything that had happened in

the castle. I thought about Prince Theo and how, for a while, I’d thought perhaps he truly could be kind

when he wanted to be.

That had ended abruptly when he’d had me thrown in prison for doing nothing wrong. No, I was certain

now that he truly was as ruthless as everyone said.

Parts of what had unfolded while I was at the palace seemed

like a dream to me.

Other parts seemed like a nightmare….

And then there was Warren. My long-lost childhood friend.

I had wanted to ask him so many times if he had any memory whatsoever of being in the woods in a

faraway land when he

was young, but I hadn’t had the courage to bring it up yet.

Footsteps drew my attention around the corner toward the path that led back to the guest rooms. When

Warren’s

handsome face came into view, I couldn’t help but smile back at him.

“I brought a bottle of wine.” He held it up in one hand. “I thought we could use something to help us relax

a little bit.”

In his other hand, he held two wine glasses.

“That sounds lovely,” I agreed.

He poured one for me first and then one for himself, and the two of us sat back and enjoyed the peaceful

sounds of nature as we tasted our drinks.

Sitting there with the kindhearted, handsome prince, I couldn’ t help but think back on the time I’d spent

with the young man in the forest. He was standoffish and cold most of the time back then, but I still knew

he had a good heart.

“What are you thinking?”

I tilted my head to look at him with a smile. “Thinking about flowers.”

I had gotten flowers twice from him-the sun blossom he had gotten for me a long time ago, and the

lavendlilly he gave me while we were at the palace.

“What kind?”

“Lavendlilly and… sun blossom.” I finally said it. My face blushed a little, and my heartbeat was

increasing as I waited

for his reaction.

Would he remember our encounter? He had the bracelet, so he must have memories about it, right?

But his answer wasn’t what I expected.

“Lavendlilly, I know what it is. What about sun blossom?”

He’d forgotten about it? To my disappointment, I didn’t see much emotional change in his gentle eyes.

Did he forget about me? Did he forget about the time we spent? Or perhaps the memories I had for the

young man in the woods were only special to me?

After all, why would a prince keep thinking about a strange girl he’d met years ago?

“You seem lost in thought,” Warren noted, nudging me lightly in the shoulder with his elbow.

“Yeah, sorry. I was thinking about something that happened to me a long time ago.”

“Oh?” he asked, his tone laced with curiosity. “Is it something you wish to talk about, or would you rather

keep it to yourself?”

Turning to look at him, I contemplated what my response should be. All this time, I’d wanted to know if he

remembered anything at all.

Now was as good a time as ever to find out….

“Many years ago, when I was a girl of twelve, I followed a majestic pony into the woods, and there, I

came upon an injured young man….”