Sold as the Alpha King’s Breeder

Chapter 73 : Go Back!

*Xander*

I wasn't sure how long I'd been in the garden of Lena's creation. I spent what felt like hours screaming

her name into the sky, trying to mind-link with her, and tearing the place apart to get her attention. But

no matter how much destruction I caused to the shop that housed her painting supplies, or even the

bark and branches I'd stripped off the weeping willows, the second I turned my back, everything went

back to the way it was, totally untouched.

I could have been here for days, weeks… I didn't know. I wasn't hungry. I wasn't even tired and found

myself lying down in the grass and closing my eyes out of sheer boredom rather than exhaustion. But I

needed to get out, and soon. There had to be a way.

The all-seeing voice that was my constant, and only, companion was no help at all. Whoever it was

seemed oblivious to any breaks in this handcrafted realm. The voice didn't know its name and had no

sense of its history or origin. At first, I thought the voice was a manifestation of Lena's consciousness

and spent a great deal of time pleading with it to free me, but I slowly found out it was the realm itself

talking to me. It was new, infantile, and just as curious and desperate for information as I was.

Lena had created a god for this realm without knowing it. Of that, I was sure.

So, I told it everything. I laid in the grass with my arms crossed behind my head and told it the stories of

my realm, of our God Lycaon, every fable and tall tale I could think of. I told it of Lena's realm, her pack

lands, her lineage, and the myths and legends of what was considered the birthplace of our kind. I

couldn't shift here, but I tried. I'd get close and feel my body giving way to the transformation, but then

I'd snap back out of it. The voice wanted to see me as a wolf, however, and pushed me to try harder, to

dig deeper into those powers.

But it was no use.

I wasn't willing to give up, but I was running out of ideas for how to escape.

I didn't have time for this. I was so incredibly angry at Lena, but I had a sneaking suspicion she hadn't

done this on purpose. I was a victim of her refusal to acknowledge her powers.

When I got out of here, the first thing I was going to do was force her to accept her true self, and then

force her to learn what she was capable of. I had to, and not just for her, but for the safety of everyone

and everything around her. If she could build realms… what could she do to the realms already in

existence?

“I'm leaving," I announced to the voice, but received no reply. Where I was going, I had no idea, but I

couldn't spend a single second more sitting in the garden and mulling over Lena and her powers. A

walk would do me some good, and I needed to reflect on the other pressing situations I was dealing

with before Lena blasted me into oblivion.

Crimson Creek, the hybrids, the mutant wolf-like creatures who roamed the area of the West–I was

supposed to be handling it all and reporting back to Ethan. Hell, I was supposed to be there now.

I rose from my usual spot in the cashmere-like grass and stretched, groaning as I lifted my arms over

my head and splayed my fingers. I'd never spent this much time laying down or relaxing. My body

wasn't used to being idle. As my body creaked and ached, I realized I needed this movement more

than I initially thought.

I left the garden in no particular direction and walked for hours, and hours, and hours–at least I thought

so. The sky didn't change. It remained bright, a soft violet that peeked through the canopy of leaves

over my head as I trudged forward, running my fingertips along any tree trunks I passed.

Eventually, I came to a clearing that I hadn't seen during my other explorations of the realm. Strange,

twisted trees grew there, their leaves black and dusted with something that glittered in the trickle of

sunlight that reached this place. A chill ran up my spine as I looked around, and then down at my feet

where the emerald grass gave way to crunching, ashen blades of night. This place looked… diseased.

It was so unlike the rest of the realm she'd created, and I was sure I'd been just about everywhere. This

realm was tiny in comparison to Lena's and my own realms. It was a circle I could transverse in only

hours based on how long I could walk in a straight line before I ended up in the garden again.

But this place? How had I never come across this place before?

I took a cautious step into the clearing, the dead, black grass snapping and turning to dust beneath my

weight.

Beyond the clearing the light faded into a deep purple, dusted with stars, but they were fragmented,

little specks of light that looked all wrong, like they'd exploded and left nothing but flakes of starlight

behind. And then, at the end of the clearing, there was nothing but a black, glimmering pool of water.

I swallowed, glancing over my shoulder toward the healthy trees and colorful foliage from which I'd

come, then walked fully into the shadowed clearing with a lump fixed firmly in my throat.

Then, I smelled it–sharp and acrid. My nostrils flared as the scent traveled up my nose and filled with

nothing but dread.

Blood root. Everything here was covered in blood root.

I licked my lower lip as I continued toward the pool. I knew this wasn't of Lena's creation. This was

something else entirely, something sinister and broken. The voice had mentioned Lena had made this

realm long ago, as a child. Had this blackened place been a product of her injuries in Crimson Creek?

Had she known this was even here?

I almost called out to the voice but thought better of it. It wasn't here with me now, I knew that much.

Those little orbs of light that danced in constant rhythm around me in the garden hadn't followed me

like usual. They were busy, it seemed, doing whatever they had to do other than keep me company.

The voice would have told me this place was here. Any question I'd asked, it had done its best to

answer in its infantile way.

“Hello?" I whispered, but there was no sound here; not even the gentle black waves lapping against the

edge of the clearing made a shred of noise. Silence–it was a vacuum of total, unnerving silence.

I felt a tug within my chest, my heart squeezing then releasing. I gasped, reaching up to touch the mark

Lena had left on me that burned with sudden, painful vigor.

“Lena? Lena!" I croaked, whirling around as if she'd materialized behind me. Voices drifted around me,

soft and feminine, two of them, distant and separate, a quiet conversation I couldn't decipher. “LENA!" I

bellowed as the chatter pitched in volume, embracing me.

I stumbled backward as the pain from the mark began to radiate through my body, prickling over my

skin in sparks of heat. She was here, right? That had to be why. But where? In the garden? She was

calling to me through the mark, through the bond.

“I'm here!" I cried out, whirling around to the blackened pool.

The voices began to fade, and I panicked, taking a shuddering breath before taking several long strides

toward the edge of the pool.

The burning in the mark began to fade as I screamed her name over and over. Why couldn't she hear

me? This was her realm, wasn't it? Couldn't she just appear before me?

A soft hum drifted off the water, a song of sorts. I recognized the rhythm from my childhood, but

couldn't find the words in a distant memory lost to time. All of my senses were on fire as I panted

several ragged breaths and realized with a start what this place had to be, and why I'd heard Lena, or

what I thought was Lena, speaking in a soft murmur.

This was a break in the realm. An entrance, and exit, something that shouldn't be here–but its

existence was undeniable. The water had to be the way out, and in, to this place.

“I'm coming. I'm getting out. Stay where you are!" I commanded, knowing full well that Lena likely

couldn't hear me. I stepped into the water but my foot didn't touch the floor below. I fell in, sinking as

though the pool was full of sand, grit, and salt.

Down I sank, unable to kick my legs and tread the water. I fought against whatever force was pulling

me down into oblivion, but suddenly I dropped onto my back, landing with a violent thud on what felt

like pure rock. I cried out, gasping for breath as I opened my eyes to darkness.

It was night, but no stars shone in the moonless sky. I sat up with great effort, looking over my

surroundings. Mountains sprung up in the distance, casting long shadows over the rocky, barren

landscape. I sucked in my breath as I looked up into a swirling mass of matter only a few feet above my

head–the entrance to Lena's realm.

“What have you done?" came a familiar voice, and I turned my head and sucked my breath in shock.

Adrenaline made my vision blur as I struggled to my feet.

“Henry?" I gasped, looking at the old man standing before me.

He looked the same as the last time I'd seen him. He was even wearing the same clothes. His eyes

were wide as he looked from me to the entrance to Lena's realm.

“Go back! Go back and have her close the door to this realm!" he demanded, his cheeks flaming with

fury. Fear flashed behind his eyes as a screech ripped through the air below us.

“What is this place? Where have you been?" I barked, but Henry shook his head as he hurried forward

and pushed against me.

“Go back. You have to go back–"

“Henry!" I pushed him hard enough to send him staggering backward. “Where are we? I thought you

were dead!"

“We're both dead if we're seen–" There was another screech, and this time nearby. Henry froze as the

sound split my eardrums in two, and both of us cowered and covered our ears. “No time," he

whispered, and he grabbed the sleeve of my shirt as he pulled me toward him and motioned down

what looked like a bluff. In the distance, I could see a cave, nothing more than a black hole in the side

of the mountain we were standing atop.

“You've been here the whole time?" I hissed in a gravelly whisper as he pulled me along the rocks. How

the hell had he made it up to this point, anyway? The entrance to Lena's realm was at the top of a

f*****g mountain, now that I had a chance to look around.

“You need to hide until sunrise, then go back. Do you understand? I'll tell you everything. I will. But you

have to promise to never come back to this place, and never, ever let Lena know of its existence."