Sold as the Alpha King’s Breeder by Alice Knightsky
Chapter 73 Buy, Buy Baby
**Rosalie’s POV**
“It seems like you’re starting to get settled here in the cottage,” Soren said a few days after I’d accepted the position and moved into the little house beside the garden.
I’d just let him in and was trying to plan my day. I’d thought about doing a bit of decorating. The cottage looked nice, but I thought it could use some of my own personal touches. “I love it here,” I told him. “I can’t tell you how much I appreciate this.”
Soren waved his hand at me and stepped into the living room. “It’s nothing, Ro. I’m just glad that you are going to be here to watch over my home while I’m away. Is everything to your liking? If not, we can always get new furniture.” He ran his hand along a table near the back of the sofa.
“Everything is great,” I a*s*sured him. Some of the furniture was a little worn, but it was perfect for me. I didn’t mind.
“Well, then, Ro, if all of the other rooms are adequate… Perhaps we could go look at furniture for the baby’s room?
Would you like to take a little trip? See what we can find?”
My face lit up. “That would be amazing! But I still don’t know if I’m having a boy or a girl. I guess it doesn’t matter for basic furniture.”
He shrugged. “If you go with white or basic wooden furniture, the gender shouldn’t matter. You can wait for all of the finishing touches later, I suppose.”
“I would love that. Thank you so much!”
With a grin, Soren reached out and patted my arm. “Go get ready to go, and I’ll wait here.”
I went to get ready, putting on a nicer outfit, one that Soren had his own maids pick out for me recently. When I moved in, my closets had been full of cute maternity clothes in my size and the larger sizes I would need. I put on a pair of red leggings and a white flowing top with red polka dots and my makeup, putting my hair in a ponytail before I headed out to join Soren.
“Wow!” he said, putting his cell phone in his pocket the moment he saw me, making me feel more important than whomever he’d been talking to—something Ethan would never do. “You look amazing. You’re always beautiful, but that outfit is great.”
“Thanks,” I said. “It’s one that your people bought me.”
“My people have good taste,” he said. “Shall we?” He offered me his arm like we were going to a formal ball.
I took his arm, and we headed out the door into a lovely day where the sun was shining down on us brightly, and the birds were singing. The weather was always nice here.
“Now, there’s something I need to tell you,” Soren said, as we walked along past the bright flowers in the garden. Their floral aromas swirled around us and added to the enchantment of this day.
“What’s that?” I asked him, not bothered by whatever it was he was about to reveal.
“There’s no baby furniture store on this island,” he said.
I felt a tinge of disappointment inside, but I figured he had to have a solution, or else we wouldn’t still be walking. “Okay….”
“We will have to go to another, nearby island, and they’ll ship your purchases over. I’ll handle all of that, no problem.”
“All right!”
“Don’t you want to know how we’re getting there?” he asked as we reached the garden gates.
“Won’t we just take a boat?” I asked him.
But as we exited the garden and I saw the yard around Soren’s mansion, I realized there was something at the dock in the distance I’d never seen there before.
I’d heard it a few times but never really thought about it before.
“Nah,” he said with a grin. “I thought we’d take a different ride of mine—if you’re not too nervous.”
“I’m not too nervous,” I said, but I wasn’t sure that was true. My face might’ve gone a little pale at the sight. Still, I trusted him, and I was up for an adventure.
I was up for a ride in a seaplane.
Sold as the Alpha King’s Breeder by Alice Knightsky
Chapter 72 Ethan Found Out About Papeno
**Ethan’s POV**
“We’ll need to figure out which of the Denali Islands may be used by our enemies.” I met with James and Talon in private.
“Ethan, how are you going to do this? Romero may be cunning, but he is not stupid,” James asked.
I turned to the King with a smirk, “Your Majesty, didn’t you want me to marry Madalynn? I will, in one month.” James stroked his chin as if he was trying to understand my true intentions. “Very well, I’ll have the announcement out this afternoon.”
I knew my decision probably didn’t make Talon super excited, but he didn’t say much in front of the king. “Ethan, why-” Talon chased me out of the meeting room.
I turned to face Talon, and my words were cold. “Because I need Madalynn to come to me.”
He paused for a moment, and I gave him my command. “Tell the guys to get ready for some action.”
Madalynn’s voice rang from the other side of the door. “Ethan!”
I walked over to open the door.
She was wearing subtle make-up, her perfume wasn’t as strong as usual, and she acted more polite than usual. Madalynn may be arrogant, but like her father, she wasn’t stupid by any means. She knew how to carry herself in front of different people.
But I still needed to fight against my urge to frown.
“Is it true?” Her eyes were filled with excitement.
I acknowledged it with a nod. “It’s the king’s order.”
It was obvious I had made her day by allowing her into my suite.
“You’ve agreed that we are getting married in a month?” She tried to get rea*s*surance from me.
I looked at her. “Is the reason why you’re here today to question me?”
Although I didn’t answer her directly, it was enough for her. She smiled and asked, “May I come in?”
I walked back to the living room and sat on the couch.
She hesitated and followed me to the couch. Seeing I had no objection, she took the seat only one spot away from me.
“So do you need me for anything?” I wanted to get this over with soon, but I knew I needed to be patient.
She cleared her throat. “Oh, ahem, yes.” She collected her thoughts. “Now that we are getting married, I figured we have a few things to discuss.”
“Go ahead.”
“I’d like to take a photo for the announcement for the paper.” She glanced at me to check my reaction. “Maybe we can talk about it over lunch?”
It took every ounce of me to entertain this conversation, but I tried my best to even my tone. “When?”
She seemed a little surprised, but her eyes lit up.
“How about today?” It was almost noon.
I nodded, put on my suit jacket, and walked over to the door.
She seemed to be still in a daze. When she finally realized that I was waiting for her, she moved quicker than I had ever seen her move, and before I knew it, we were walking down the main hall towards the small dinning room on castle property.
As we walked towards the restaurant, I saw people look at us curiously.
“Ethan?” She had a victorious smile on her face. “I am glad that we are finally doing something together.” I didn’t respond, but it didn’t change her good mood.
“Just the two of you today?” a young woman asked when we approached.
“Yes. We are celebrating today,” Madalynn answered before I could, and I raised a brow in question as to what she meant by celebrating.
“Oh, that’s wonderful. Right this way please, Alpha… Luna.”
I was displeased with how Madalynn was addressed, but I kept my mouth shut. My silence, however, could not be more satisfying for Madalynn.
As we sat at the table, Madalynn ordered wine with a smile on her face. Then she switched her focus to me, seemingly expecting us to have a conversation.
“Ethan, thank you for coming here with me.” If I hadn’t seen some of her behaviors before, I would even consider her tone graceful.
“Welcome,” was all I could say.
I didn’t consider myself to be polite exactly, but she didn’t seem to mind.
After a few seconds of silence, I started the conversation. “You wanted to talk about the photo taking?”
She stared at me again for a second and then answered my question. “Yes, I wanted to ask you when would be a good time and good location.”
I tried to sound as patient as I could. “Time, up to you, as long as there is no emergency. As for location… I a*s*sume you like islands?”
Madalynn relaxed a bit more. “Yes, I do like islands. That’s where I’m from.”
“Tell me about them.”
She seemed to be happy with the conversation, especially with others looking our way. “What do you want to know about them?”
“Places you would recommend to visit?”
“Um…some islands are best for private parties, some have good food. I don’t like trade ports; they are too busy for my taste. “She placed a small piece of steak in her mouth. “Too many people. I don’t like noise. I’d rather stay on my own islands.”
“You have your own private islands?”
“Of course, I do!”
“I a*s*sume those islands are quiet because they won’t allow large ships?” If so, I had no interest in knowing them because that meant they held little military value.
“You are right. My islands are all like that.” I chuckled.
She was curious. “What are you laughing at?”
I thought for a few seconds. “You’re the only heir. All of your father’s private islands would be yours. So are those bigger and more noisy ones. Seems like you would have quite a lot of responsibilities in your future. Remind me how many public and private port cities are there in total?”
She appeared to be flattered by my comments, but the look on her face was quite ambitious. “There are six, four public and two private.”
“Interesting, I could name the four public ones. Never been to private ports.”
I looked at her, waiting for her to say something.
“You want to go to the private ports?” She looked pleasantly surprised that I would imply such a request.
I encouraged her. “Maybe.”
Madalynn wasn’t too enthusiastic about visiting the private ports. She shrugged. “If you want, of course, I would show you around. But as far as I know, nothing interesting comes from Papeno. I found it quite boring when I was there last year. It’s more like a storage fortress…”
‘Papeno,’ I mindlinked Talon.
‘Got it, Alpha. I will send scouts.’
Now that I’d gotten the information I needed, the rest of the lunch seemed to drag forever.
“But Ethan, why did you all of sudden become so interested in the islands?” Madalynn asked out of the blue.
Did she realize I was fishing for information from her? Did she suspect me?
My gaze grew colder. “Shall I not?”
She was taken aback. “E…Ethan?”
I softened my tone. “I thought we were getting married, and you’d be happy that I care?”
“Ye-yes, of course! Ethan, I am happy, so happy!” She stood up and wrapped her arms around mine. “I’m just… feeling this isn’t real.”
My muscles cringed at her touch, and I tried my best to not pull my arm away from her.
Madalynn sighed for a moment as if thinking over something, and looked up to me again with a smile. “You know, we are engaged, but I don’t have anything of yours to symbolize that I belong to you. That just makes me feel so insecure.”
I frowned again. What did this woman want?
“Like a token, something that I can keep with me at all times.” She looked up at me. “Something that shows I’m yours and you’re mine….”
There was a glint in her eye as she spoke, setting my nerves on edge.
Then she reached out to my hand and caressed the black and gold ring sitting on my right ring finger. It had the symbol of my bloodline, and I never took it off.
Then I heard her say, “Ethan, it would make me feel much better if I could have this ring….”
As she was leaning her head on my chest, I took off the ring and threw it to her. I couldn’t stand her presence any longer.
The victorious smile on her face disgusted me, and I left the room as soon as I could.
I buckled my seatbelt tight, but I was still nervous when the seaplane took off. It was loud, I couldn’t hear much. I had a headset on, and I was so glad that Soren was right next to me.
“It’s fine,” he told me, leaning over to me. His voice was clear and deep in my ear, causing goosebumps all over my body. “I fly in the seaplane all the time.”
I couldn’t help but grab his arm.
“I know,” I said, looking out the window to hide my pinking cheeks. I was more worried about my baby than myself. I couldn’t help but think, if we crashed, something would happen to my child. But I knew that was silly. We would be fine.
I squeezed Soren’s arm as the seaplane lifted off of the ground, but once we were in the air, and the island beneath us was getting smaller and smaller, the view was spectacular. I clapped for him, and that made Soren laugh.
“I want to show you something really special. Look over there,” he said, leaning over and pointing out my window. He was so close to me, it was hard to focus on the scene out the window and not him. “Do you see the waterfall?” He touched me gently on the arm, just a soft, soothing touch.
“I do!” I said, watching the stream of crystal blue water cascading down from the lush green at the top of the mountain. Everywhere I looked, I saw the beauty of the islands. I hadn’t gotten to see much of my surroundings since I’d been injured so quickly after my arrival, but it was beautiful here.
Like paradise.
“Oh!” Soren gasped, pointing out to the ocean. “Look out there!”
I turned my attention to the water just in time to see several gray dolphins leaping out of the water and diving back in. “That’s incredible!”
I turned my head to look at him, and he was so close to my face, my lips almost grazed his cheek.
A rush of heat filled my face as I turned back to look out the window, ignoring the spicy masculine smell of his cologne as well. I couldn’t tell why, but Soren acted a little differently today.
The seaplane ride didn’t take long, and in a matter of minutes, we were landing again. Soren scooted back into his own seat once we began to descend, and when we touched down on the water, he gently squeezed my hand. I felt a little awkward.
But we were friends, and this was just how Soren was. I told myself to stop overreacting and focus on the new experiences.
“Let’s go,” Soren said, hopping out of the seaplane first. He offered his hand, and I climbed out. I hesitated but avoided his hand-1 grabbed his arm to steady myself instead. There was a car waiting for us that took us the short distance to the baby furniture store.
I walked in and was almost overwhelmed with all of the adorable baby decor I was greeted with.
I wanted to touch and see everything! Soren laughed at me as I covered my face with my hands.
“It’s a great little store, isn’t it?” he asked, guiding me in with one hand on the small of my back.
“It is.” I agreed. It was a mom-and-pop store, so it wasn’t that big, but it had a lot in it. Everywhere I looked, the next item was cuter than the last.
“Look at this,” he said, picking up a baby bonnet. He put it on his head, even though it was way too small for him— and pink.
Laughter rolled out of my mouth. “You’re an awfully big baby,” I told him.
Looking injured, he took the hat off and put it down, “Well, that wasn’t very nice.”
“Oh, I’m sorry,” I said and then in a baby voice, I asked, “Did I huwt yow feewings?” and then we both laughed together until we could hardly stand up.
“Can I help you?” an older woman asked, coming over to meet us. She looked amused at our antics, not annoyed, and when we could finally speak again, I decided to let Soren be the one to tell her what we were there for.
“Hello, Mrs. Dover,” he said, still chuckling a bit. “How are you today?”
“Oh, Mr. Soren!” she said, bowing her head. “Forgive me. I didn’t recognize you… under the circumstances.”
“No, no, it’s quite alright,” he said, waving her off nonchalantly. “This is Miss Ro. I believe my a*s*sistant, Thomas, called you to let you know we’d be in to look for some nursery furniture?”
“Yes, I spoke to him a little while ago,” Mrs. Dover said with a bright smile. She had white hair and glasses and looked like a sweet grandmotherly figure. “Miss Ro, do you have any idea what sort of furniture you might want for your nursery?”
I stared at her for a moment because I hadn’t really given it too much thought. When I’d lived in the capital, I knew all of those decisions would be made without my input. “No, ma’am,” I said. “Not really.”
“Ma’am?” she questioned. “My goodness, you’re polite! You don’t need to be so formal, sweetie. Well, come along, and let’s take a look at what we have, and you can let me know which ones you like the best, and we can narrow it down from there.”
For the next hour or so, we walked around the little shop and looked at all of the options. I looked at several different beds, but when I finally saw one that was in the back of the store, a cherry wood crib with a beautiful finish that caught the light and seemed to glow, I thought, “That’s the one.”
“Can we look at that one?” I asked Mrs. Dover.
“Oh, yes,” she said. “That one is the Leonardo model. We don’t sell a lot of those because they are so expensive, but it’s wonderful.”
“Let’s look at it,” Soren said, his hands in his pockets as if they had no bottoms.
Mrs. Dover smiled and led us over. “As you can see, it’s very sturdy. The slats are close together, so the baby will always be safe, and it converts into a toddler bed.”
She went on to tell us several other pieces of information about the bed and the rest of the matching furniture, but I didn’t really need to hear any of it, I knew that this was the one that I wanted.
Sometimes, when you see the right one, you just know. However, I decided to walk away from it. Just because I liked it, didn’t mean I could afford it.
“What do you think?” Soren asked.
I shook my head. “Soren, let’s take a look at others.”
“You don’t like it? Why? Is it the color?”
I shook my head. “No, I do like it, just-”
“We’ll take it,” Soren said, interrupting my words. I stared at him for a moment, thinking maybe we needed to talk about it. “What?” he asked, staring right back.
“Soren, it’s too expensive,” I told him. “I don’t think I can afford it.”
“What? Oh, don’t worry, I’ll pay for it.”
I grabbed his arm, “No, Soren, I’m not sure if I can ever pay you back.”
He tipped his head to the side and lifted his hand to touch my face. “Ro,” he said, “I thought we passed that. Don’t worry about it. I want to do this for you. Besides… I’ve thought about that, and I have an idea of one of the ways that you can pay me back for everything.”
“Huh?” I asked him, but before he could respond to me, Mrs. Dover was talking to him again, and Soren was talking to her again.
I had no idea what he was talking about as far as me paying him back, but it made me nervous.
Soren had offered me a good job, and that’s why I was here. However, even with that, it could be years before I could pay back what he had spent on me.
Would someone really do that for just a friend? Knowing how kind Soren was, he probably would, right?
“Are you ready, Ro?” Soren asked, offering me his hand.
I hadn’t realized that the entire transaction was over. I never saw him pay anything, but then, maybe Thomas had already arranged for all of that, or maybe he would.
“Oh, yeah, I’m ready,” I said, trying to snap out of my head. I’d enjoyed my day so far, and I didn’t want to have it ruined because I was concerned with how I was going to repay Soren.
We left the store and made our way back to the waterway where the seaplane was waiting for us. “I’m sorry we couldn’t eat lunch together,” Soren said. “But I do have another meeting this afternoon I need to get to.”
“That’s okay,” I told him before we climbed in, and I braced myself for the seaplane to lift off again. This time, when Soren held on to me, I all of a sudden wasn’t that sure.
I wanted to make sure he wasn’t trying to buy me.
We landed and he walked me back to my cottage. “Ro, is everything okay?” he asked, walking next to me. “I feel like something’s wrong. Did I do something?”
“Everything is fine,” I told him. “I think I just wore myself out.”
“Oh, that’s too bad,” he said. “Because I was hoping that when we got back to your place, you could start paying me back for all of the stuff I’ve given you.” He had a twinkle in his eye and a mischievous smile on his face.
I felt my stomach tighten up, wondering what he was getting at.
Maybe I didn’t want to know.