Sold as the Alpha King’s Breeder by Alice Knightsky
Chapter – 87 Ethan…Apologized?!
“Ouch!” I took a step backward, rubbing my forehead, trying to sort out in my mind what had just happened. “I’m sorry, Rosalie!” he whispered- and for a moment, I thought I had to be mistaken.
I thought it was Ethan I had run into. It smelled like him.
It felt like him.
When I glanced up at him through my eyelashes, it looked like him.
But when I heard those two words come from between his lips, I thought I had to be mistaken, and Soren must’ve come back early from his trip.
There was no way in the world that Ethan would’ve told me he was sorry about anything.
“Are you all right?” he asked me, still keeping his voice quiet.
I pulled my hand away from my forehead and gazed at him. The moonlight fell over him like a lighthouse beacon, calling me home.
I couldn’t allow myself to fall for this siren’s song.
“Y-yes. I’m okay,” I grumbled in a low voice. “Not that you care.” I was just glad I’d whipped around head first and hadn’t hit my baby bump against his muscular physique. “Why are you here?”
His eyes widened as if he was hurt by my question.
“I came to see you,” he said, moving toward me.
“Don’t!”
I put up my hand and took a step back, and he didn’t move any closer to me. “I don’t understand why you’re here at all, Ethan.”
He sighed. “Rosalie, all that time, everyone was trying to convince me that you and the baby were dead, but I knew in my heart that you weren’t. I had to see for myself that you weren’t.”
I folded my arms under my chest. “Well, you’ve seen it. Here we are. Not dead.”
He pressed his lips together, and I saw his jaw flex, which let me know he was debating how to respond. “You’ve changed, Rosalie.”
“Yes, I have, for the better.” I replied. “Now that your mission is accomplished, could you please leave?”
“Rosalie…is that truly what you want?”
His voice was deep and low, as if he was unsure of what to do. When was Ethan ever unsure of anything?
His question had an air of finality about it I wasn’t sure I was ready for, but I had already spent a great deal of the day deciding that I was ready to move on.
So, I went with it.
“Yes,” I told him. “As you can see, I have a new life here. I have a home. I have a job. I have friends.” I paused and looked him in the eye. “I have people who are kind to me and treat me with respect. “
His expression was pained. I saw him wince a little when I said those words.
I continued, though. I wasn’t through. I could feel all of the anger I’d been carrying around with me since I’d first found out his plan.
“If you didn’t come here to hurt me, and you just wanted to see that I am alive, then you’ve gotten what you came for, and you should go. Consider everything settled between us.”
I rarely spoke that much at once, but I had to spit it all out; otherwise, I may not have the courage to say any of these words to him again.
“Or if you have other business here on the islands, go ahead and finish it. But you have no reason to come back here to see me. Ever again.”
I had tears in my eyes when I finished speaking, but I blinked them away. I didn’t want him to see me cry. I didn’t want him to know I wasn’t one hundred percent sure of my words.
I didn’t want him to know a part of me wanted to throw myself back into his arms the way I had the night before when
I’d a*s*sumed that I was dreaming.
Ethan stared at me for a long moment, and I expected him to yell at me, ordering me to do something. But to my surprise, when he spoke, his voice was calm and soft.
“Rosalie, I can see on your face that you don’t mean what you’re saying. You still have feelings for me. If you can truly tell me that you’ve moved on, and you don’t want to be with me, that you’d rather be with… that other guy… fine. I’ll leave you the h*ll alone. But I don’t think you mean a word coming out of your mouth.”
“I do,” I said. But my words were not spoken with the conviction I meant them to be.
A small, melancholy smile pulled at the corners of his mouth.
“I’ve heard the songs you sing when you think you’re alone. I’ve seen the way you look out the window and how your eyes traced the bushes. I see the way you’re looking at me now.”
He took a breath.
“I don’t blame you for hating me, Rosalie. I don’t blame you for being scared. But if you’ll give me another
opportunity, I promise you, I’ll show you that I am truly sorry for the mistakes I’ve made, and I’ll make it up to you.”
I stared at him for a long moment, dumbfounded, as I contemplated what I’d just heard.
For the second time in one day, I had heard Alpha Ethan say he was sorry. It was a lot to process. And I clearly wasn’t processing it very well.
“You’re sorry?” I asked him. “You’re sorry?!”
I felt the anger welling up inside of me, and like a dormant volcano that had held onto too much pressure for too long, all of my rage suddenly erupted to the surface.
“Oh, well, since you’re sorry, I’ll just go ahead and drop everything that I’ve got going on here, and do whatever you’d like!”
“Rosalie,” he said, looking down at the ground and shaking his head.
“No, Ethan! I heard you say you were sorry, and I just want to make sure that I acknowledge that completely. Because as long as you’re sorry, and you express that in a haphazard way, in passing, as simply as possible, I’m willing to go back with you and be your breeder, your thing on the side, while you marry that other woman, and go on with the privileged life that you deserve- because you’re sorry!”
“Rosalie, I’m here because I want to be with you. Madalynn means nothing to me. You know that.”
His arms were out in front of him, as if he couldn’t believe I would be worried about such a thing. “Really? You mean to tell me you’re going to drop the responsibility King James and your pack have placed upon you to marry Madalynn so that you can be with me?”
“I will do it for you,” he said, his eyes locked on mine.
I wanted to believe him. I truly did.
“No, you won’t! You will never abandon your responsibilities, Ethan. I know that.”
I took a deep breath, and then continued without thinking.
“Isn’t it bad enough that you’ve snuck off behind your beloved fiancée’s back to find me?”
He was surprised by what I said, and shook his head. “What? No, I don’t love her- “
Then his forehead furrowed. It was clear he didn’t know what I was talking about.
He asked me carefully, “Rosalie, did you… misunderstand something?”
“Your insignia ring,” I said, my hands on my hips. “I know how important your family ring is to you, yet she’s the one wearing it.”
Ethan finally seemed to understand what I was saying.
I heard him chuckled, pressing a hand to his forehead. He was still worried, but I could tell he was a little relieved. Once again, I felt like I was going to erupt and spew a violent pile of volcanic ash all over him.
“Rosalie,” he said, dropping his hand. “That was strategic. Yes, you’re right. She does have my ring. I’m not sure how you know that, but it’s true. I had to give it to her in order to find out some information for the war. It’s complicated, and I don’t want to go into the details, but trust me- I didn’t give it to her because I have feelings for her. If anything, I’ve grown to loathe her even more since you left- if that’s even possible.”
That wasn’t the answer I expected. My cheeks heated up as I realized I’d scolded him based on what were apparently false a*s*sumptions.
“That doesn’t change anything….” I tried to keep my face indifferent to what he was saying, as if I didn’t believe him, as if I didn’t care- but inside, I felt as if my heart was just learning to beat again.
Was there a chance we could be together after all?
Would he really consider choosing me over Madalynn- even though that wasn’t what King James wanted for the pack?
“Listen, Rosalie,” Ethan continued, and I thought for a moment I saw a hint of pain in the crinkles around his eyes, “you know me well enough to know I won’t beg for something that doesn’t belong to me. If you’ve moved on, you’re no longer interested in being with me, or you no longer have feelings for me, I won’t interfere in your life anymore. You’ll never, ever see me or hear from me again.”
Once again, I felt tears stinging my eyes. But I was not the same girl that I used to be, and I was strong enough to fight them off.
“But, Rosalie… If you still have feelings for me, if you still have a tiny place in your heart for me, I won’t give up. Have you forgotten the final words you left for me?”
I raised an eyebrow. “What are you talking about, Ethan?”
“Your letter, Rosalie,” he said, his eyes glinting in the moonlight. “Don’t you remember what you wrote in your letter?”
Of course, I remembered what I’d written in my letter, but when I’d written those words, I thought that I would never see Ethan in my lifetime. I expressed my true feelings for him. I had selfishly hoped that he would never get over me.
I felt my face threatening to flush, and did my best to fight it.
His gaze was so heavy on my face that I couldn’t keep my eyes off of him for long. When I looked at him again, he slowly pulled something out of his pocket.
I recognized it before he showed it to me. “I didn’t give Madalynn my ring as a token of affection, but I gave this to you because I wanted you to wear it and think about how much you mean to me. I wanted you to have a piece of me near your heart- always.”
My sight became blurry with tears.
“I can’t blame you for wanting to get rid of it, but I’m asking you to take it back now. Rosalie, can I put this necklace back where it belongs- next to your heart?”