Sold as the Alpha King’s Breeder by Alice Knightsky
Chapter 142 The White Queen
**Ethan’s POV**
“Great evil awaits you in the land of icy winters where the moose run thick and the queen has slept these many years. Do not proceed down your chosen path, Alpha Ethan Gray. If you do, the ground will be coated in crimson, and you shall see the world through orbs of the same shade!”
The seer’s words echoed in my mind.
I looked up. Blood had coated the ground from the constant battles. We’d fought our way here, and the war had ravaged this land. Crimson soaked into the earth, staining the soil, the rocks, the land itself.
And my eyes were now the same shade.
I saw Rosalie holding my child. Her smile was so gentle on him, and the sight of them melted my heart. I smiled and walked closer to her.
But then she saw me. Her gentle smile was replaced by terror, and she screamed. “Who are you?! Don’t come over, you monster!”
My eyes snapped open and I realized I had dozed off with my back against a tree trunk in a sitting position.
I stared up at the stars, my mind returned to the words the seer, Gayla, had told me in the village around the time that my baby was born.
Many things had changed since then, and I had no choice but to head north.
Because that’s where Rosalie was, and I could also feel the pull from my baby urging me to hurry to where they were.
However, my decision to continue my path to the north had come with a price, and the words the seer had foretold came to pass.
My eye color started to alter.
The differences were subtle at first. I noticed a slight change in tinge from blue to lavender, and then to purple. Now… even though no one said anything, from the worried looks of Talon and Vicky, I knew my eyes had started to reflect the color of blood.
A sign of my soul being taken by darkness.
James had banished me. I was a wolf without a home. The others had come out of loyalty to me. They hadn’t been made to leave or been displaced from their country the way that I had been.
None of them were officially rogues.
But I was. A man without a home; a wolf without a pack.
I was turning into a true rogue.
I didn’t regret my choice. However, I couldn’t help but be apprehensive.
While I could accept it for myself, what would Rosalie or my child think when they see me? Would they think I was an enemy? Would they label me as some sort of a monster?
I had no way of knowing, but I certainly hoped to find out soon because all of this time spent traveling to find them was tearing me apart. However, Rosalie seemed to have just disappeared, and all I could do was keep searching for her.
Thinking back to what my life had been like before, when my biggest worry was having an heir and figuring out a way to get out of marrying Madalynn, I realized that my life had not been complex or difficult at all.
I had always thought I could handle everything in my life- my pack, my country, my enemies-until I met Rosalie. I finally understood that there were things I could never control. Just like now, I simply wanted to be with my love and my child, but I had no way of knowing when this search would end.
Vicky came over and sat down next to me. She seemed worried at first, but soon, she managed to put a small smile on her face. Even though I preferred not to speak, it didn’t keep her from trying to talk to me. “How are you doing7” she asked me, leaning against the same wide tree trunk I was resting against. I grunted a bit, not wanting to converse. Perhaps I was becoming an animal.
“I can’t wait to see her,” Vicky said, looking out into the distance, like if she strained hard enough, Rosalie might come into focus. “You know? I think it will be soon. It’s like I can feel it inside of me, that she’s nearby.” She smiled and wrapped her arms around her knees.
I said nothing. I agreed with her, though. I also felt like Rosalie and the baby were nearby. Sometimes I felt the pull stronger than normal, but I just couldn’t tell exactly where they were.
She placed her hand on my leg. “Alpha, I know it’ll be difficult, but Talon and I will help her to see the truth, that you had gone to the islands for her, and that Soren was lying. Don’t worry.”
A nod was all she would get out of me.
Vicky wasn’t one for giving up, but she stopped talking, just sitting with me for a few minutes until we heard a bit of a commotion. We both got up to go see what was going on.
‘Alpha,’ Richard’s voice sounded in my mind. ‘I’ve come across a group of nine rogues.’
‘You need reinforcements?’ I responded right away. A group of nine wasn’t big, but I’d rather play it safe for my guys.
However, Richard’s reply was not what I expected. ‘No, Alpha. In fact, their leader would like to speak to you.’
‘About what?’
‘About our operations here, sir,’ Richard replied.
There were only nine of them, so even if they weren’t trustworthy, we would be able to handle them. ‘Bring them in,’ I told him.
A few moments later, Richard walked into camp with a rag-tag mix of people, most of them men, though there were a couple of women. All of them were in tattered clothing, and many my age or older. One looked like he was barely old enough to shift, but the rest appeared to be seasoned enough to put up a good fight.
The man in the lead was short and stocky, but pure muscle. What stood out most was that he was missing his left eye, but rather than using a glass eye or cover it with a patch, he simply had a gaping hole in his head.
I heard Vicky take a long breath at the sight of him. She tried her best to act normal, but I could tell she was somewhat disturbed.
I met them on the edge of the camp so that they wouldn’t get too much information about our operations here. “You are new here,” the leader said, extending a dirty hand in my direction. “Everyone’s been talking about you. Ever since you came, you haven’t lost a fight. Impressive.”
I narrowed my eyes and ignored his hand. I didn’t care whether a rogue would find me offensive or not.
“I’m not here to make friends. What do you need?”
He shrugged and pulled his hand back, introducing himself. “They call me Single Eye.”
A fitting name, I thought.
“We are here to join you, if you will have us.” He got right to the point, not beating around the bush any more.
“Why is that?” I folded my arms across my chest. I didn’t need anyone joining my ranks that I couldn’t completely trust.
He took a deep breath and put his hands on his hips. “Honestly, there are way too many f*uc*king groups of rogues in this area, some quite small, others thousands strong. We have been working with a group for a few years, but the leader is too f*cking weak compared to you. We don’t think that we will be any match for that f’cking b*tch the White Queen as it is right now.”
“The White Queen?” I repeated his words, the word queen sticking out to me. The Seer’s words came back to me. “The queen has slept these many years. Before or after the war, none of my intel in the past had mentioned any unidentified power in the north. It sounded to me that she was new to her reign.”
Interesting.
“Yes, that’s right,” he nodded. I pushed my thoughts away for now so that I could listen to what he had to say. “She’s leading an army from the far north. They’re not rogues. They’re a pack that seems to have come out of nowhere, but those m*otherf’ckers can fight! Many groups have tried to attack them but ended up losing to those sons of b’tches! If that b’tch gets here, we might be chased out of this area. We need a new leader.”
“I have no interest.”
I frowned. For some reason, I didn’t like how he spoke about her. However, I tried to focus on what he had said. A pack in the north?
“Hear me out here,” he knew he wasn’t going to convince me so easily. “I don’t know what you came here for, but it seems like you want your operations to stay here for a while. Sooner or later, you will have to deal with the rest of the rogues as well as the White Queen. But you don’t have a large group. Let alone there are now some crazy a*s*s guys out there besides you.”
This time, I didn’t comment. He had a point. I knew nothing of the White Queen. I would have to take his word for it that she had tough fighters in her forces. My curiosity about her would have to be sated later.
“The situation in this area has been much the same for many, many years. But now that she’s here… things are changing, and not for the best. Not for us anyway.” Single Eye slowly shook his head as if lamenting the old days. “We just want to be a part of the one rogue force that has a good chance at defeating her, or at the very least escaping her clutches.”
‘Alpha, what he is saying makes sense,’ Talon said through mindlink.
While I agreed with him, I was leery of adding anyone to my group that I didn’t know.
“How do I know I can trust you?” I asked Single Eye.
“We’ll make a pledge to you, of course,” their leader replied. “All of us are seasoned fighters. Even the kid back there.” He gestured at the younger boy. “We can give you our word that we’ll stay loyal and fight alongside you.”
“No offense,” Talon said to him, “but I’m not sure the word of a rogue is that meaningful. Especially since you just betrayed your current leader.”
“Then split us up. It’ll be harder for us to organize against you if we’re in different details. We just want an opportunity to join a group that can stand a chance to survive. That’s all.”
I surveyed the group. All of them looked tired. Like they’d been on the run for quite some time and could use a break.
“Fine,” I said. “Paul, take these new recruits and split them among the details. I don’t want any two of them together.”
My guys were good fighters, but we could use some help for patrolling. Also, it sounded like the White Queen could cause some trouble for me, and I needed to be prepared.
Paul, who had become quite loyal to me since his arrival, jumped to attention and immediately went about doing exactly as I had asked.
Once they had disseminated, Talon came over to me. “Alpha, I’ll keep an eye on them.” I nodded, walking over to Richard, who was talking to some of the other warriors, “Richard, go back out and finish scouting. If you hear anything about this White Queen, I want to know about it”
“Yes, sir,” Richard said respectfully. “Samuel is still out there. He went in the other direction. Hopefully, we will have some good intel for you before nightfall.”