Sold as the Alpha King’s Breeder

I didn’t even get the full word formed on my lips before his mouth came crashing down on mine and

he pulled me to the ground. His arms encircled me, and he

climbed on top of me, kissing me almost as deeply as he had that time in the pavilion when he’d been

after my blood.

When he pulled away for a moment to suck in a breath, “What the hell are you doing?”

Quickly, he said, “Saving you. Go with it.” Then he crushed his lips on mine again:

I didn’t want to go with it, but a second later, I heard the

footsteps come to a halt and the chuckle of a group of men who were standing on the other side of the

willow tree, watching us.

“Get off!” I insisted, pushing

Theo hard in the chest. If he didn’t comply, I’d have no other choice but to use my knee.

He did this time, and as he stood, he took my hand and pulled me to my feet.

My face was crimson, and it had nothing to do with the efforts Theo had

put in. “Oh, hello, everyone,” I stammered..

“Ciana,” Raymond stepped forward, a bit surprised to see me. “Well, I heard that you’re back. Sorry

I haven’t gotten the chance to pay you a visit yet. I didn’t know you’d come to the pack house.”

“Uhm… it’s nice to see you again. I, uh, had something in my eye, and my servant… Thorn… was helpi

ng me get it out.”

“Something in your eye?” Now I was able to put the names to their

faces. Larry was the one who was speaking. “More like something in your mouth.”

They all laughed at that, but

when Raymond gave them a stern look, they abruptly stopped, as if his word was the law.

“No reason to be embarrassed, Miss Ciana,” Raymond

said. “This boy is your manservant?” He looked Theo up and down, as if he were my father and he was

trying to decide whether or not he was good enough for me.

Had I not just heard what he’d said before, I might have thought that Raymond was watching out for me

because he had always been like a father figure to me. But now all I could feel was disgust.

I couldn’t let him know that, though.

“He is my servant,” I said, trying to sound sure of myself.

“Well, no offense, Miss Ciana, but I think you can do a little better than that. I mean, he’s a good–

looking fellow, I suppose. But you’re an Alpha’s daughter, and he’s just an Omega.”

I could practically feel my blood beginning to boil as I fought the urge to rip Raymond’s throat out.

As if Theo felt my anger, he stepped forward and created a half barrier between me and Raymond.

Was he worried that I would do something irrational?

Maybe it wouldn’t be such a bad thing to just attack Raymond. Then the

threat would be handled, and I was fairly certain that Theo could take all five of those middle- aged

men before they could even see what had hit them.

But I knew it wasn’t the right way to handle it. It may not be that hard to kill Raymond, but we’d be alerti

ng our

hidden enemies. It seemed to me that there were more people behind this, and I needed to get a full pi

cture of exactly what was going on. And while Raymond deserved to be

killed, he might have information we could use.

“We are not a couple,” I assured them. “I just had something in my eye.”

“If you insist,” Raymond said with a shrug. “Anyway, we’re so glad you’ve returned to the pack. I bet

that was a trying time, spending all of those weeks with Prince Theo, the

Dark Prince. Thank goodness you are well.”

He spoke as if he

were a true family friend. I couldn’t believe that he could lie to my face like that. The expression

on my face must not have been very friendly. Raymond frowned and asked, “Ciana, are you alright?”

“Y-yes!” I tried to lower his guard. I had to say something to make him not suspect me.

“I’m just happy to be back. It was just terrible,” I said, even though

I knew I was throwing fuel on the fire in front of the

prince. But I didn’t have time to come up with anything else. And after what Theo had just done, I neede

“Really?” Raymond’s eyes widened, and I thought I heard a low growl from the back of Theo’s throat.

“Oh, yes. Not only that, but he also smells-”

Theo cleared his throat and said, through clenched teeth, “Perhaps you

should speak about something else, miss?”

“I don’t like to dwell on it, that’s true. Thorn knows that talking about the prince is upsetting,” I said.

“Because you weren’t chosen to be the next Luna Queen?”

Larry asked.

“No, because of the odor.”

“Right.” Raymond laughed under his breath. “Well, we are glad you’re here. We hope that you will find

your fated mate, someone… worthy of marrying an Alpha’s daughter.” He looked Theo up and down aga

“You must set an example for the other women in the pack, after all. No need for such wonderful, noble

women to sink so low.”

“Yes, yes, of

course.” I didn’t want to insist Theo and I weren’t kissing again because these guys were not idiots, nor w

they without the use of their eyes.

“We’ll be off now,” Raymond said. “We’ve got a lot of work to do.”

“I bet you do.” I heard the suspicious tone in my voice and immediately laughed so

he wouldn’t realize I was on to him. He twerked

an eyebrow but then let it fall when I said, “I’m sure my father will thank you kindly when he returns

for taking such good care of the pack in our absence.”

“I don’t

do it for the glory,” he said, and I heard a hint of that malicious tone I’d picked up on before. “I do it beca

My stomach twisted. How I longed to tell him where

he could go. Instead, I kept the smile pinned to my face and waited for him to leave.

When they were all gone, I wheeled to face Theo. With everything going on, I was in a horrible mood at

“It was the best way to throw their suspicions off,” he said matter–of–factly.

`I couldn’t help but point my finger at him. “You… you…” I

couldn’t say much, because I knew he was right. So I wiped

my mouth on the back of my hand. “Never, ever kiss

me again! Ever! Especially not without my permission!”

“Believe me, it wasn’t my plan.” He shrugged.

“Good!” I pushed him back against

the tree and lost my balance while he was still standing still. Before I fell to the ground, his powerful arm

He glared at me, and I glared back at him. After a couple of seconds, I heard him ask,

“So… never ever… or never without your permission?”

What did he say? I blinked a few times before his words sank in.

He must be joking, right?!