Sold as the Alpha King's Breeder

Chapter 14 : Get Rid of It

Jared led me through the village away from the party going on in the background. I stopped walking when we reached the kitchen garden, then had to hustle to keep up with him as he walked right past the house and toward the sparse woods beyond.

The “good” woods, I noted, not the scary forest to the north, void of light and filled with beasts, according to the man himself.

"Where are we going?" I asked as we started down a slow descent, the lights of the village fading until we were blanketed in pale violet light, the sun all but set.

“It's a full moon tonight,” Jared said, not looking back at me.

"Oh," I said with a hint of annoyance. His answer had given me absolutely nothing. “Are you going to shift and eat me, then?"

He glanced at me over his shoulder, looking me up and down.

“You wouldn't be much of a meal."

I pursed my lips and followed him further into the woods for several minutes. Was this another one of his punishments?

"Jared?" I panted, trying my best to keep in step with him. He didn't answer, so I reached out and grabbed his shirt sleeve.

He whirled on me so swiftly that I had to dig in my heels to stop myself from running right into his chest. "What?"

"Archer and Scarlett. I didn't say or do anything—"

“I know," he breathed, giving me a sympathetic look. “He's defensive of her.”

“Because they're mates,” I added, and he nodded, but his face was cast in shadow. “And after her baby was taken from her—"

"He fought in the war in the Realm of Light, yes."

I found it a little hard to breathe. Archer? He fought... he would have fought alongside my cousins and uncles. Had Jared as well?

“I didn't," he said as if reading my mind. I was sure the question was clear on my face. “But I heard it was brutal.” He turned and began walking again, but he'd slowed his pace so I could keep up. “I had responsibilities that kept me home," he added after a moment.

“I did too," I said softly, my heart stuck in my throat.

Jared glanced back at me, and to my surprise he gave me the softest, most knowing smile. It caught me off guard, and I hastily looked away from him as we continued along a well-beaten trail leading away from the village.

He got ahead of me again after a while. Night was falling, and he carried no lantern. We were blanketed in nothing but moonlight now. I fell even further behind when I eventually looked up, letting the light of the full moon dust my cheeks

Tommy was a lucky man to have his twenty-first birthday fall on a full moon.

“Keep up," Jared said several yards ahead of me.

I pursed my lips and took a few quick steps to catch up to him so we were walking side by side again. He was very tall, and keeping up with his long stride had me panting with effort by the time we walked out of the woods and onto a bluff. I gasped, looking out onto a wide, sweeping plain broken only by a distant river.

"Woah," I breathed, taken aback by the view. I hadn't realized something like this was so close to Jared's house.

"Come on," he said hoarsely.

I heard the briefest hint of excitement in his voice, which made me excited as well. He took my hand and led me down a step trail that wove down the bluff. Water dripped on our heads as we ducked into the trees at the bottom of the bluff, the last of the snow and ice melting from the branches. Jared kept a firm grip on my hand, his almost feverish warmth thawing my chilled, ungloved fingers. “Really though, where are you taking me?"

“Patience,” he replied, pausing to help me over a large rock blocking the trail.

I could just make out a clearing in the distance, moonlight illuminating what looked like ruins of some kind.

“Jared-" I began, but then gasped, unable to move.

A circle of standing stones lay before us. I almost dropped to my knees in shock.

“This is what I wanted to show you-"

He turned me to face him, and I hastily wiped away the tears from my eyes

“Are you crying?"

"No," I choked, then glared at him, my vision blurred by fresh tears.

"What's the matter with you?"

“Nothing!” I turned from his gaze and walked to the circle, but I stopped at the edge, examining the ancient markings etched into the outer faces of each stone that towered several feet above my head.

I knew better than to walk between them, especially on the full moon. But that was only based on the story my aunt Maeve had told me about her experience with a circle in what was once Dianny. The circle in Dianny was suspected to have been the only one of its kind in my realm. Dianny was long gone now, buried under miles of stone. I never thought I'd ever see one.

“I can't believe it," I said to myself.

“Do you like it?" Jared asked, coming up beside me. He reached out to lean his weight against the rock I was examining. I swatted his hand away.

"Don't touch it! Not right now, not with a full moon. Do you even know-"

"How powerful these things are? Yes. Maybe at some point in time they were, but not anymore.”

I turned to him, somewhat surprised he knew anything about these places and their significance.

“I do read the books I have in my study, you know," he continued, giving me a wry smile.

I looked up at him skeptically then turned back to the circle, slowly tracing a finger over one of the etchings that had softened with time. I felt no jolt of mystical electricity. I felt nothing, actually, but the cool touch of the stone against my fingertip, and then Jared's hand against my lower back.

He reached into his pocket, leaning into me so the top of my head briefly brushed against his shoulder. He held out his fist, and I instinctively opened my palm to accept whatever he'd just taken from his pocket.

“Do you really think it's supposed to be a clock?" he asked in a near whisper, as if we were at risk of being overheard.

I looked down at the artifact, the feel of it heavy in my hand despite its size. It was small, and pie shaped, but the edges on one side were rough and uneven. I turned it over, admiring the somewhat crude craftsmanship. It was very, very old. That was obvious. At first, I thought it might have been forcefully removed from its other pieces because of the jagged edge on one side, but the thought slipped from my mind and I found it entirely impossible to focus.

I felt a sudden, an all-encompassing feeling of dread wash over me. I nearly dropped the artifact out of shock, but instead, I closed my fingers around it as I fought for breath. Jared made no moves to take it from me when he sensed my body going rigid. He was looking right at me, watching a torrent of emotions play across my face.

"You feel it too?"

"What the f**k is this thing? Why does it-"

Bewitched. Cursed. Whatever it was, well, it was harboring something within its golden surface that threatened to suck every ounce of happiness right out of me. If a single piece of this artifact, or amulet, or clock-whatever the hell it was, possessed this kind of power...

What could all the pieces do when brought together?

“You should get rid of it," I said, looking up into his eyes.

“I can't," he said levelly. “But you think it's a clock?"

"Something that can tell the time, yes.” But the more I held it in my grasp, the more I felt it wasn't so much as telling the time as it was timing me, seeing how long I could hold it, how long I could last with my heartbeat spinning out of control. “Or... to relay a message"

“I have two pieces but I can't figure out how to bring them together,” he admitted as I opened my palm to look down at it once more. Whether it was sheer instinct or some deeply rooted memory from my years studying ancient artifacts such as this one, I ran my finger over the face of it, then along the smooth edge. I pressed into that edge until the metal gave way, and a piece of gold in the shape of an F slid free. Jared was shocked. “How did you-"

“It's a Cryptex,” I said in a voice that sounded very little like my own. I ran my finger over the jagged end, slowly pressing until another piece slid free. This new piece was sharpened to a fine point and sliced through my finger, but I barely noticed the pain. “It's meant to fit into the other pieces like a puzzle. Together—" I turned it over, then held it up to the moonlight to peek into the now visible inner compartments on either edge. I could see faint shadows inside the artifact as I twisted it from side to side, holding my breath as I listened for the sound of gears, or other mechanisms of movement.

"Eliza"

"You said you have another piece,” I said, almost to myself. “Then you're missing two pieces, not just one."

“Elizal"

"A key would go... here, in the center. It'll open like a flower and inside" I closed my eyes as I ran a finger over the face of the artifact, feeling the tiny, square-shaped ridges that I knew were meant to open up to reveal something, but I didn't know what the something was. A code, maybe... a secret message... whatever it was, I knew it was bad. It was a Cipher Wheel, a Cryptex, a puzzle... something meant to carry a secret message or item within, or keep something locked inside. Another wave of dread ripped through me. I could almost hear it taunting me.

What was happening?

"Get rid of it," I repeated, handing it back to him.

The spell was broken in an instant, leaving me chilled and slightly dizzy. In the moonlight, I could see the dark smears of blood on the artifact as I dropped it into his waiting hands. A shiver ran up my spine as I tucked my bloodied hand into the jacket of my pocket. I looked up at him, meeting his eyes.

“I can't.”

"You should. Whatever it was used for, whatever message it was meant to carry, it's not worth it. I would get rid of it immediately," I said.

It was impossible to read his expression. I was sure I saw pain behind his eyes—pain, but not panic. He wasn't afraid. He was stunned, and as he slowly returned the cursed artifact to his pocket, I saw a sliver of raw, brutal acceptance flash behind his eyes.

I felt a weight settle against my chest, something I couldn't shake free no matter how hard I would try. He was hiding something, something incredibly dark.

“You're hurt," he said, his voice steady, but full of sudden ice. “It's time to go back.”

“It's Lycaonic, isn't it? I thought it might be from his time but it felt-I felt-"

“It belonged to him, yes."

“Why do you have it?"

“It was given to me," he said, then hesitated. “I need to find the other pieces.”

“No, you don't. This should be taken to a temple or university and vaulted"

"Eliza," he interrupted.

I stiffened at the nearly silent plea in his voice.

“Who are you?"

"An archeologist,” I admitted, and that was all I said.

asked me nothing further, apparently accepting my answer.

He placed his hand on my back again, his way of leading me wherever he wanted me to go. I realized at the moment that I hadn't ever resisted his touch, not once. I let him lead me away from the stones. He took my hand and led me back up the bluff, wordlessly walking beside me as we made our way back to his house.

I heard wolves howling in the distance, their calls mingling with the music coming from the village. The party was still in full swing, the liquor flowing freely.

I was numb. Whatever was hidden in the Cryptex had burned through to my core.

“I need to bandage your hand," Jared breathed, leading me toward the house.

I didn't protest as he led me through the kitchen door and into the quiet, empty manor. I didn't hesitate when he led me up the stairs, story after story, until we reached the third floor.

I didn't feel a surge of excitement or suspicion as he opened the door to his study and took me inside, guiding me onto the couch. My body felt numb, but my mind was moving at a million miles an hour.

“I had it in mind to punish you tonight for that stunt you pulled with my clothes," Jared said, taking my injured hand in his.

He met my gaze and smiled softly, but mischief danced behind his eyes. Something in his smile snapped me back to reality, the strange events of the night fading into the background as Jared examined the gash running from the tip of my thumb to the meat of my palm

I didn't even notice the pain, not anymore.

“What exactly did you have in mind this time?" I asked, then I hissed out a breath as he touched the tender skin near the base of the wound.

“I'll make you a deal," he replied, then reached he behind the couch