Sold as the Alpha King’s Breeder by Alice Knightsky
Chapter 85 Rosalie, Please Come Back To Me
**Rosalie’s POV**
This had to be a dream.
That was what I told myself as I looked into his eyes, which shone with a depth of emotion I had never before seen.
There was no way in the world that I was awake and this was real. He couldn’t really be standing here, in the shadows in the garden outside of my cottage near Soren’s house. There were simply too many guards for even someone of his skill to have managed to have gotten in here.
And what had he said?
“I’m not here to hurt you.”
It could not be Ethan, I told myself. I needed to shut off my crazy emotions and wake up.
“I’m sorry, but you’ve got the wrong person.” Please, just go away, I prayed.
I couldn’t allow myself to be hurt by him, even if it was just a dream.
“I know it’s you, Rosalie. Come with me!” His voice was trembling.
When had I ever heard him speak like this? I remained silent… but I knew I wanted to go to him.
“Rosalie…” he murmured, and I could almost hear pleading in his tone.
I shook my head. Pleading was the last thing I could ever imagine Ethan doing. So, this had to be a dream. “Rosalie…please, come back to me.” he said again, and it was like someone had cast a spell on me- I couldn’t help but move toward him, especially now that I had accepted that I must’ve gone to sleep after dinner.
“Is that really you, Ethan?” I asked, moving closer to the person in my dream. Maybe, just this once, I would let myself imagine that he wasn’t cold and cruel.
“It’s me, Rosalie…”
He said my name again, and the way that it rolled off of his tongue sounded so real, I couldn’t help but bury my head in his neck as he pulled me tight.
He even smelled real. The scent of pine and the forest filled my lungs with each breath as I ran my hands along his muscular back.
His hands grazed my shoulders, stroking my hair, and I felt tears in my eyes. I longed for him to hold me. What was the harm when this was only a dream?
“Rosalie, I’ve missed you so much,” Ethan said into my ear. “We have so much to talk about.”
That doesn’t sound like something a person would say if this was simply a romantic dream.
While he continued to caress me, I reached around him and pinched myself on the arm. It hurt. This wasn’t a dream! I was awake!
I snapped my eyes open.
Ethan! He was here. I felt fear rushing through me. What in the world did he want from me?
Immediately, I pushed him away and leaped back away from him, my arms wrapping around my baby.
“Ethan!” I said, my tone accusatory. “Why are you here?”
“Shhh…” He pulled me into his arms again, and caressed my hair. He looked around to see if anyone had heard me.
But he was making me angry.
He’d been back in my life all of two minutes, and he was already ordering me around. “Why did you come?” I asked him. “Are you here to take my baby?”
“No!” he said, and I could see by the hurt in his eyes that he meant it. “Rosalie, no… I would never….” He stopped talking, which didn’t surprise me. He was never one for expressing himself. Still, I had to ask him… “Are you here to kill me, then?”
I knew how he treated people who went against him.
Ethan’s eyes nearly bulged from his head. He took a step back, and it looked as if I had physically injured him. Shaking his head, he said, “No, Rosalie. I came all of this way to see you. I knew there was no way that you would ever harm our baby. I had to find you. I had to- “
Before he could finish, I heard footsteps coming in our direction. Ethan clearly did, too.
Regardless of why he was here, my instinct told me that no one should see him. Even though a part of me wanted to sell him out, to alert Soren’s guards that a strange man was standing in my garden, I couldn’t do that. Not until I had gotten the opportunity to hear him out anyway.
“You have to go!” I urged him, not even knowing why I was doing it.
It was clear that he understood that, but his feet weren’t moving.
“I have to see you again, Rosalie,” he said. It was the closest thing to a request that I’d ever heard come out of his mouth.
The footsteps were growing closer, and I distinctly heard the sound of Soren laughing. Ethan’s face wrinkled into a grimace. It made me wonder if he knew Soren, if they had some bad blood- but now wasn’t the time for me to find out.
“Go!” I said again.
“Rosalie,” he insisted. “I have to see you again.”
“Fine!” I said, my eyes wide.
“And you won’t tell him anything?”
“No. Now, go!”
I could plainly see the pure joy in his eyes.
“Are you still awake, Ro?”
I spun around to see Soren coming around the side of the cottage. I rushed over to meet him, hoping I could cut him off before he saw Ethan. Since Ethan was wearing all black and had been standing in the shadows, there was a chance he’d get away before Soren could see him.
“Yes, Soren.”
I was used to Soren stopping by late at night. However, it hadn’t happened often lately.
“Were you talking to someone?” he asked with a smile.
“Oh, you know me,” I said, smiling back and trying to keep calm. “Just talking to the baby.” I patted my stomach.
“You sounded… upset,” he told me, looking around. I noticed he had a beautiful pink chrysanthemum in his hand.
“Upset? Huh? Oh, no. Just… the little booger kicked me right in the ribs. I was sitting in the swing talking about how excited I was to meet my baby, and bam, right in the ribcage. You probably heard me say, ‘Oooh!’” I tried to make it sound the same as when I’d told Ethan to go.
Perhaps changing the subject would help?
“Is that for me?” I reached for the flower.
“Oh, yeah.” Soren was definitely distracted. He was spinning around, looking at every shadow, sniffing the air. “I saw it on my way home from your house. It’s so beautiful. The pink reminded me of the shade your cheeks turn when you blush.”
“That’s so sweet of you!” I gushed.
He wasn’t standing still long enough for me to actually take the flower from him. I moved a few times to step in front of him. We probably looked ridiculous to his bodyguards, who were hanging back a few steps, as we did a strange waltz around the flower garden.
“Soren?”
“I’m sorry!” he said, extending the flower to me. “I’m so distracted. Here you go, gorgeous. In fact, let me put it in your hair.”
He broke the stem off and slipped the flower behind my ear, taking a moment to situate it just so. His fingertips grazed my cheek, and I felt a tingle go down my spine.
It might’ve been exciting, and I might have even wondered whether I wanted more from Soren than just our friendship, if I hadn’t just seen Ethan…
Now, I couldn’t even let myself think about any of that- with anyone.
Not right now.
“Thank you,” I said, smiling at him. “That really was very kind of you, to come all the way back over here. But you mentioned at dinner that you had a lot of meetings tomorrow. Shouldn’t you be getting home? You need your rest if you’re going to be on top of your negotiations tomorrow.”
He chuckled. “Yes, you’re right, I do. But… was there a skunk out here or something earlier?”
“A skunk?” I asked, staring at him. “What are you talking about?”
“It doesn’t smell like a skunk exactly, but more like a skunky wolf. A stinky… horrific… awful wolf with mange or something.”
I could only look at him and try not to give anything away. Had he figured out that Ethan was here earlier?
Of course, I thought Ethan smelled wonderful, but I wasn’t another dominant male.
“I don’t smell anything,” I told him, but that wasn’t quite true. Ethan’s scent did linger in the air a bit, and if I inhaled deeply enough, I could still smell him.
I could certainly still feel his touch on my body from where he’d been holding me.
“Well, I think we need to plant some more fragrant flowers around here tomorrow. There must be some skunkweed or wild onions growing over here.” He flipped his arm around toward the bushes, like any one of them might be the culprit.
“Soren,” I said, giggling. “All of these flowers smell wonderful, and there are plenty of them.”
He shrugged. “Something out here smells rotten.”
“I was the only one here…” I suggested, but that just made him laugh.
“You? You smell like a fresh, spring rain, Ro. It’s definitely not you. All right. I’ll go. But you should go inside in case there’s something lurking around here.”
“I will,” I promised him. “My guards are nearby.”
“Maybe it’s them!” he joked. He was still laughing when he kissed my cheek for the second time that night and said goodbye.
Soren was so fun-loving and good-natured. He was the exact opposite of Ethan.
Ethan.
I stood outside for a few more minutes, waiting to see if he’d come back out. But he didn’t.
Was it possible I’d dreamt him up? Maybe he was a figment of my imagination, and he hadn’t really been there at all. I had been under a lot of stress lately.
No, he was there. I had seen him. I’d pinched myself and confirmed that I was still awake. “Ethan,” I whispered- not to summon him, but just to feel his name on my mouth.
He didn’t come out, but he didn’t have to. I’d told him I’d talk to him again, so I knew he’d come back eventually.
I liked it or not.