Sold as the Alpha King’s Breeder by Alice Knightsky
Chapter 55 – Ethan Again!
Almost exactly thirty minutes after our short break, I saw the cabin appear up ahead. As we were approaching our first destination, I opened my bag to inspect Damian’s clothing. Sure enough, I found a six-inch switchblade in his pocket.
I took it out and tucked it in the bottom of my bag. I didn’t want to have to use it, either, but I sure wasn’t giving it to him.
We reached the cabin, and I leapt off of Damian’s back. It wasn’t raining hard here, but we were both drenched from earlier and were exhausted.
“Thank goodness we’re here,” I said. “Are we going in?” I got Damian’s clothes out of my bag and dropped them near him. I wasn’t sure if he had shifted yet.
When I heard his voice, I knew he was getting dressed. “Yes. Let’s get changed here,” he said. “We have a car nearby, and this was just a place to hide the vehicle, a place for us to aim for.”
“I see.” I walked into the cabin and found a dry towel. I heard his footsteps following.
“Let me know when you’re dressed,” I said.
I waited with my back to him for what seemed like too much time. I finally glanced over my shoulder and saw him rifling through his pokets.
My heart sank.
I didn’t want to believe that Damian was capable of harming me or my baby, but he’d just confirmed it.
“What are you doing?” I asked him.
His eyes were wide when he realized I was looking at him. “I… uh… dropped something. Maybe it’s in your bag.”
I could tell that he was getting a little tired because his speech was slower than usual.
My eyebrows knit together. “What is it?” I asked him. “I can find it for you. I’ve got important women’s things here.”
He looked a little leery of that, as I knew he would. Men don’t like to think about feminine products. Still, he couldn’t let me find the knife and hand it over to him. “Just let me look.”
I studied his face for a moment.
He took a step toward me, and I retreated. He wasn’t as big as Ethan, but he was definitely stronger than me. He could easily overpower me, find the knife, and kill me.
Damian c****d his head to the side. He knew then that I was suspicious.
“Rosalie… I told you that you’re safe with me.”
I nodded. “I know. But I wanted to ask you, Damian- why is Madalynn doing this?”
“What do you mean?” he asked me. I saw him blink a few times, as if trying to stay focused.
I tried to keep the conversation flowing casually. “You’ve got to be exhausted from that long run. Are you sure you don’t want to take a few minutes to rest?”
He shook his head really fast, trying to wake up. “I’m fine. What do you mean, why is Madalynn doing this?”
“I mean, it doesn’t make sense, does it? Why would she want to help me? She has no reason to.”
“She doesn’t want your baby around, like she told you,” he said. “She needs your baby out of the picture so that her baby can be the heir, if she ever has one.”
“So… why not just… kill us?” I asked him, looking him straight in the eyes. “That seems more like something Madalynn would do.” I emphasized her name so that he knew I wasn’t accusing him of anything.
He opened his mouth and closed it.
Slowly, Damian shook his head again, as if to say he couldn’t believe I figured them out.
I stared into his eyes as my emotions bubbled to the surface. “It’s a baby, Damian. An unborn child. How could anyone ever even consider taking the life of a baby?”
“I can’t answer that.,” he said firmly. “Rosalie, give me your bag.”
“So… that’s how it’s going to be, then?” I asked him.
He shrugged. “I need… to see your bag.”
He took a few steps toward me, and I backed up, but even in his overly tired state, he was way faster than me. He was almost on top of me before I managed to reach into the bag and pull out the knife.
“Is this what you’re looking for?”
Damian grabbed for the knife, his hand clasping around my wrist.
I backed up again, hitting the wall. My head thunked against it, and pain radiated through my skull, but I had to keep my focus. “Rosalie,” he said, “you’re her biggest threat- the only one who could potentially take what she has.” He looked me in the eyes. “The order I received was to end your life!”
My heart dropped, and I trembled in horror as he managed to snatch the weapon from me.
He was strong enough to control my arm as he bent the knife toward my neck. I stared into his eyes.
“Damian, please….” I pleaded outwardly. Inwardly, however, my eyes studied him coldly, and my brain was analyzing the best moment for my attack.
No one could hurt my child, even if that meant I needed to kill. My fruit knife was under my long sleeve, and I was preparing myself for a fatal blow.
Just as I tensed to strike, however, his grip loosened, and he let go.
He folded his knife closed and looked at me sincerely. “But I never, ever wanted to hurt you. You know that, don’t you?” Everything had happened in a few seconds, and my brain was struggling to process it.
“You…you’re not going to kill me?”
“No. Rosalie.” I could tell his eyelids were getting heavier.
“But when Madalynn finds out…”
“She’ll get the news that you’re dead.” He yawned again, struggling to stay awake. “Madalynn is just a spoiled kid. You… don’t need… don’t need… to wor…”
Then… he took a few steps back before his eyes rolled back into his head, and he crumpled to the ground like a paper bag.
I stood there against the wall, letting out a long breath.
A moment later, Damian started snoring lightly.
The water I had offered him earlier had quite a few sleeping pills dissolved in it. I took a few minutes to make sure he was out cold, and then sprang into action.
I got the car keys out of his pocket and found an envelope full of cash. He hadn’t lied about helping me escape- otherwise he wouldn’t need to bring that much money.
I laid Damian in a comfortable position and covered him with a blanket. After all, he hadn’t hurt me- and without him, I would never have been able to escape from the capitol. This was the least I could do for him.
I went into the woods to locate the car. Luckily, it wasn’t difficult to find.
As soon as I got on the road, I finally felt my pounding heartbeat calmed down and I could breathe freely again.
“Let’s get out of here,” I said to my baby.
***
I arrived at the port early in the morning using a different route than the one that Damian had mapped out.
After pulling into a large parking complex, I examined the trunk of the car and found a suitcase with clothes and other essentials for me. There were also men’s items for Damian.
I sighed. Damian did plan everything out thoroughly.
However, I decided to leave all of that behind. I didn’t want anyone to track me down, including him. True, he had let me go, but I still wasn’t convinced that he risked his life to help me purely out of the goodness of his heart.
The port city was busy and packed with travelers like me. It was a perfect place for me to blend in.
After a quick round of shopping, I changed into my new jeans and T-shirt. By the time I put on a wig and sunglasses, I could hardly recognize myself.
Great job, Rosalie! And I gave myself a smile. Feeling confident about my disguise, I walked to the port to figure out my next destination.
The breeze coming in off of the sea smelled sweet and calming. The sun was already warm on my face. I lifted my head up and took a deep breath in, loosening the tension in my shoulders, which had been permanently up around my ears.
All of sudden, I had a feeling like someone was looking at me. Jolting myself out of my brief lapse, I glanced around angrily, but found nothing.
It was probably paranoia…
I tried to calm myself down by focusing on my next move.
Damian had been planning on taking a ship to Suntra, so I went to a different ticket office, one that would have boats leaving from a different dock going to a different island.
I needed a brand-new place for a person like me— someone who needed to erase her past and start over.
“The boat to Avondale is boarding now!”
I hurried to the pier when I heard the announcement. I’d never been on a boat like this before. It was a beautiful cruise ship.
I couldn’t help the huge grin that crossed my face. Every step I took towards the ship was a step closer to freedom.
“Good morning,” the man in a blue uniform said as I reached him. He was distracted as he took my ticket and looked it over. “Welcome aboard.”
“Thank you,” I said, not bothering to ask him where to go. I’d find my room on my own. How hard could it be? I’d gotten this far. For now, I just wanted to breathe in the fresh ocean air.
I walked to the back of the boat and found a seat on a bench, placing the suitcase between my feet where I could keep track of it. Plenty of people were bustling around, but no one was paying me any mind.
However, I just couldn’t get rid of the feeling of someone watching me.
I glanced around, but again, no one was even looking in my direction.
‘Inhale, exhale, inhale, exhale…’
I convinced myself I was overreacting, and decided to sit down and stare out at the ocean. The peaceful waves and the light breeze gently soothed my mind.
In a few minutes, the boat would pull away from the dock, and I’d be leaving everything behind. I would finally be free— not just from my abusive family, but from Ethan and the oppression he’d imprisoned me under.
If I allowed myself to think about him, I’d start to cry.
My hands instinctively went to my abdomen. It was just the natural way for me to sit now. I wanted to keep my baby safe and loved, no matter what.
I took a deep breath and brushed my hair away from my face, not allowing myself to feel the raw emotion overwhelming me. The exhaustion from a night of running was finally catching up with me. I considered whether I should go find my quarters and just go to sleep- but I wanted to make sure the ship was moving before I went anywhere.
It took forever, but finally, inch by inch, the boat pulled away from the dock.
A stuttered breath escaped my lungs.
I did it! I’d actually gotten away. I couldn’t believe it.
I hugged myself even tighter and watched as the ship set out to sea, the rocking motion lulling me a bit- the same way I planned to rock my own baby one day. Satisfied that I was safe and no one was going to be able to reach me now, I stood up, grabbed my suitcase, and was about to head toward the room I’d been a*s*signed.
I turned around and gave one last glance toward the land I was leaving, and then— I saw him.
I stopped in my tracks, frozen. How was this possible? How could he be here? My breath caught in my throat, and my heart stopped beating.
On the dock, only a couple hundred feet away from my boat, was a tall, handsome man, looking in my direction with icy eyes.
Ethan….