Sold as the Alpha King’s Breeder

Chapter 15: Did I Hurt You?

♦Lena*

Xander and Henry had been talking, closed up in the bedroom, for more than two hours. I'd been

kicked out of the cottage completely, made to sit on the porch like a child, twiddling my thumbs. It was

Saturday, midday, and the rest of the workers were still enjoying their weekend in the village.

It was eerily quiet and dumping rain.

Henry pushed the door open and stepped out, not even looking in my direction as he walked down the

steps and out into the downpour. I glared at him as I rose, crossing my arms over my chest as I

watched him disappear around the corner of the cottage, walking toward his own with his medkit tucked

under his arm.

I went inside, taking three long strides before reaching the bedroom door, and pushed it open.

Xander was sitting upright in bed, his back against the wall and his legs splayed out in front of him. His

chest was bare, despite the chill, and his bandages were fresh. Henry must have changed them, I

thought as I stepped into the room and leaned on the doorway, giving him a dubious look.

"I'm fine,” he glared, adjusting his weight with a grimace. He patted the bed next to him, arching his

brow at me. “Do you want to finish what we started?’

“You're insane,' I hissed, tapping my fingers on my elbow as I looked him up and down. He looked

much better than the night before. To my utter disbelief, the strange bruising was almost completely

gone. 'You screamed Jen's name, by the way.'

"Henry told me. He also said it upset you.“

"I was more upset about the thought of you dying right in front of me. You fell on top of me, you know.

You passed out.'

“Did I hurt you?" he asked.

I colored, then shook my head. Maybe not physically, but emotionally?

He watched me for a moment, his eyes scanning my face to make sense of my troubled expression.

'Jen did this to me, Lena."

"What?" I asked, not sure I'd heard him correctly.

"She bit me,” he said casually, reaching over to grab a book off the bedside table.

I gaped at him, then furrowed my brow. "Stop messing with me, Xander!'

"I’m telling you the truth. She bit me. Obviously, she gave me... some kind of infection.'

"Was she marking you?' I asked, feeling suddenly weak and defensive. I hugged myself, wishing I

hadn't asked it.

"She was trying to take a chunk out of me. Not the same thing," he actually laughed, then patted the

bed again with more force.

I gave in to him and crawled onto the bed. but didn't sit next to him like he wanted me to. I felt

incredibly uneasy, and shocked, if I was being honest.

"What did you talk to Henry about?" I asked, wanting nothing more than to force him to dress and head

to his makeshift lab in the warehouse. I knew Henry had smeared the black, murky blood root powder

over his wound.

"Look, Lena,' he breathed, sitting up a little straighter. "You're going back to Morhan next weekend.

Henry is going to set everything up-"

"No," I said with force, but he held his hand up to silence me.

"It's not up for debate. And its not for good, just for a week or so until all of this gets sorted out-"

"No, Xander! You don't get to decide that for me!"

"It's not just me behind this, Lena. Okay? Henry said Maxwell Radcliffe want you off the property until

the Alpha of Crimson Creek gives US an update on the investigation.'

"Do I have any say in this?" I asked, feeling heated. "I’m here because-because I had no other options.

It’s not fair. None of this is fair. You came here because for some reason you wanted to follow me. You

said you felt obligated. And now? Someone gets murdered, you get a chunk bitten out of your chest,

Henry is using some kind of witchcraft magic powder on you-'

"Witchcraft magic?" Xander arched his brow, interrupting me.

I scowled. 'And no one is telling US anything. This place is weird, Xander. It's scary." I swallowed,

feeling tears begin to well in my eyes. 'I'm scared, okay? What happened last night was scary.

Everytime we... the last time we...'

"The two times I've kissed you, something bad has happened," he finished, shrugging one shoulder.

"I want to test the blood root Henry put on you. I can't leave without doing it."

"I know. And we will.'

I believed him. He was staring at me intently, waiting for me to say what I actually wanted to say. I didn't

know how he knew, but he shook his head, his eyes hard and serious.

"I ended things with Jen,' he said calmly, tilting his head a little.

I looked away from him, settling my eyes on the curtains covering the window. "Before or after she

mauled you?"

"Before. It wasn't a sex thing."

I blinked a few times then turned to look at him again. When he'd kissed me, he'd been gentle. He'd

been caring, asking me if I was okay. The first time we'd kissed, we had almost just gone all the way,

and he didn't just assume I'd wanted it. He'd asked.

But I knew he'd been holding back. I could see the dissatisfaction now, lingering behind his eyes. For a

split second, I wanted to know what he'd done with Jen... and if he'd treated her like he treated me.

But then I felt the tears again and quickly changed my mind.

"So, she attacked you?"

"Yes, I think. I thought... Lena, look. I'm sorry-" he proceeded to tell me what happened in the

warehouse, just hours before he caught up to Elaine’s car as we were heading to the village. He wasn't

worried about mincing his words to hide the truth about what happened. He was honest with me.

"Where's Jen now? Did she go to the village?'

"I didn't see her," he said. "Did you?"

I shook my head then brought my knees into my chest, hugging them.

"I told Henry what happened. He's going to take care of it."

"By doing what? Telling Maxwell? He doesn't seem to be too interested in what happens around here.'

"That’s why you need to go back to Morhan for a few days, maybe a week at the most. Please, Lena."

***

Xander seemed fine, despite the fact that the night before he had passed out cold, crushing me, and

requiring rescue from Henry and Bethany.

I was standing in the warehouse, my arms crossed over my chest as I watched him prepare the slide of

blood root. He'd scraped some of the dried powder off his bandages.

"It's not going to be a great sample,' he admitted, his head bent to his task. I felt a rush of longing as I

watched him work. I'd taken Xander for a playboy, someone who didn't take their studies seriously. In

reality, he was meticulous and highly intelligent, even if I would never admit that I thought that way

about him to his face. "It's mixed with my blood, but you’ll see that on the slide. You took a chem class,

I'm guessing?"

"Bio chem," I said, deciding to leave out that it was just a basic course.

He nodded, not looking up at me as he carefully squished the sample between two thin pieces of sterile

glass. He was wearing a flannel shirt, but it was unbuttoned because of the pain in his chest, his

bandages clearly visible as he placed the slide under the microscope. He peered into it for a moment

then began to adjust it until he was happy with the resolution.

"There’s a box of slides in the cabinet over there," he said, waving his hand in no clear direction. 'Bring

them to me.'

"Yes, sir," I mumbled. I grabbed the box out of the cabinet and set it on the table then stood back a bit

and waited for him to show me what he was looking at.

"Find the slide that says valerian root," he commanded.

I rolled my eyes. "Do you ever say please?"

"Rarely," he deadpanned, squinting into the microscope.

"What's going on here?'

Maxwell Radcliffe stepped into the warehouse, wearing one of his strange, dated outfits. Xander

glanced over at him, his gaze lingering on the man for a few seconds before he bent back to the

microscope.

"Work, for our study-"

"I thought I told Henry that was on pause,” Maxwell said as he walked closer to US, his hands tucked

behind his back. He looked me up and down, a smile touching the corner of his mouth. I felt

uncomfortable under his gaze. Xander picked up on this, glancing over at me and then rising to his full

height, looking annoyed.

"Lena's here until next Saturday, at least-'

"The study is off until then. If you want to work, do so in the fields. The last harvest of the year is

coming up, and it'll be all hands on deck." Maxwell was looking at the box of slides then shifted his

gaze to me. I inhaled, nostrils flaring, as he eyed me with interest. "You might be students, but this is

my property. This isn't up for debate."

Xander didn't say anything, but I could feel the heat coming off of him as he looked at Maxwell with a

look of sheer contempt.

"Your girlfriend is taking a sabbatical, Mr. Smith. I’m afraid she didn’t have the opportunity to tell you,"

Maxwell smirked. He was obviously talking about Jen. Xander eyed him but didn’t bother to correct

him. "And Lena, it's been a week, and I haven't yet had the pleasure of dining with you and showing

you the manor. I’ll call on you before you return to Morhan."

With that, he bobbed his head to US and turned on his heel, leaving the warehouse almost as quickly

as he came.

Xander immediately bent his head back down to the microscope. He peered into it for several minutes,

then sighed, his hands curling into fists for a moment before he flexed them.

"The sample is too saturated with blood."

"You couldn’t see anything?"

"Nothing I could readily identify as abnormal." He ran his tongue along the inside of his lower lip,

meeting my eye. Then, he shrugged. "We ll have to get a clean sample."

"Of blood root?"

"What else?"

"We’d have to go over the wall-"

"I'll go over the wall, while you stay here-"

The truck drove by the open door of the warehouse, pulling to a stop in front of the bunkhouse. Xander

quickly buttoned up his flannel, glancing at me before the two of us walked toward the entrance of the

warehouse and watched our fellow workers, who should have been in the village for another night jump

out of the bed of the truck.

Elaine's car pulled up next, the engine clunking painfully. Xander chuckled, shaking his head as Elaine

stepped out, waving away a noxious puff of smoke coming from underneath the hood.

"You guys missed out on a fun night," she grinned, shaking her head as she followed the rest of the

workers into the bunkhouse.

"Why'd they come back early?" I asked.

Xander narrowed his eyes, and I followed his gaze to Bethany, who had obviously been the one to pick

them up from the village.

"Oh yeah, the invitation is circling everywhere. Someone leaked it, and now fakes are being made.

Everyone is trying to get in, from what I've heard. The royal families had to put out a statement about

it," said one of the workers as we all crammed around the dining room table in the bunkhouse.

I was shoulder to shoulder with Elaine and Bethany, picking at a piece of chicken pot pie as I listened to

the conversation taking place.

"I heard Prince Charlie has a date already, and she's an Alpha's daughter from one of the northwestern

packs," someone else said.

Elaine groaned, shaking her head. "Damn, he's the most handsome one."

I grimaced, stifling a chuckle as I took a bite of my food.

"I’m just shocked you didn't know about what happened between Prince Oliver and his brother," said a

young, black-haired woman at the far end of the table as she turned to her companion, twisting a lock

of hair around her finger. The woman sitting next to her rolled her eyes.

"That Prince William's fiancé was Oliver's lover?"

I flinched, finding it suddenly hard to swallow. I looked up from my plate and met Xander's eyes. He

was looking right at me, hard.

"I heard," said the black-haired woman, "that Oliver and... what was her name? Prince William’s

fiancé?"

"Hollis," someone else said.

"Yeah, Hollis. I heard that she and Prince Oliver had been childhood sweethearts and were madly in

love, but then she turned twenty-one, and... Oliver wasn't her mate.

Prince William was."

I closed my eyes for a moment then abruptly rose from the table.

"Are you alright?" Elaine whispered as the conversation about the royal family went on without a hitch.

I nodded, giving her a weak smile. "Fine, just tired is all."

"Okay, well, see you tomorrow!"

I walked out of the dining room and into the foyer, pulling on my boots. I heard someone talking about

how Jen had gone to visit her family, and then someone else questioned it, laughing about Jen

consistently going on short trips with random excuses. I found that odd but didn't glance back at the

table as I opened the door and stepped out into the night.

It was chilly like usual, and a fine mist hung over the ground as I walked the short distance to the tidy

row of stone cottages. Henry's cottage had a light on, and I felt somewhat comforted by it. I had nothing

but endless questions for him, but I had a feeling he'd never answer them. I'd have to find the answers

to every single one of them on my own.

"Hey, wait," Xander huffed, catching up to me before I even reached the porch. He looked tired, and I

didn't blame him. No one else but Bethany and Henry knew about his injury and what had happened to

him the night before.

"You could've stayed if you weren't done eating. I'm fine here-"

"No, I-" he paused, stepping past me to hold the door open for me. "I think I'd rather hang out with you,

Lena."

I recognized the look in his eyes.