Sold as the Alpha King’s Breeder by Alice Knightsky
Chapter 76 He Has Moved On
**Rosalie’s POV**
Soren and I fell into a bit of a routine. He’d come over almost every night, if he was at home and not away on business, and I’d play the piano and sing a lullaby or other soothing song, and most of the time he would return to his mansion, but once in a while, he’d end up falling asleep on my sofa.
When that happened, we’d have breakfast together, and then he’d go off to work or to his business trip, and I’d go on about my day.
No matter how late it was when he came over, or how busy his day was, he always brought me a gift of some sort. It amazed me that he could be so thoughtful. Books, accessories, chocolates, once even a teddy bear, which I thought I’d save for the baby but ended up putting on my bed—all of those gifts graced my shelves. Usually, though, he brought me flowers, despite the fact that I had an entire garden of them outside of my door.
“What are you planning to do today?” Soren asked one morning over breakfast. He normally asked that over breakfast, but this day ended up differently than I expected.
“I don’t know,” I told him, which was how I normally answered. I had just finished buttering a piece of toast and was preparing to take a bite when he folded the newspaper he’d been glancing over and set it aside, putting it near me. “I have been making a blanket for the baby, but I’m almost out of yarn.”
“Oh, do you need to go to the shop in town and get some more?” he asked, taking a sip of his coffee.
“Probably,” I said. “I know you don’t like for me to go into town without you. Are you going to be around today?” There were a few shops on the island, but not many. Usually, if we needed something, we had to go to a different island, which I hadn’t done much of. Only the seaplane ride. Other than that, I had only left the cottage a few times.
“I have a really important meeting off the island today,” he said, his tone disappointed. “But I’ll send a few of my best men with you.”
“Soren, that wouldn’t be necessary.” It reminded me of being back at the Drogomor pack. I did like some of those guards and often wondered how they were and if they’d gotten in trouble for me escaping. But that didn’t mean I wanted to be followed around again.
“I can tell them to stay at a distance, and you can take Seraphine with you,” Soren suggested.
I compromised. “Okay, that will be alright.”
Soren reached over and squeezed my arm. “I know you’re safe here, Ro. I just don’t want anything to happen to you again, like what happened on the other island.”
I didn’t want that to happen either. If anything happened to the baby….
I decided it was worth it to have someone follow me to make sure the baby was safe. “Thanks,” I said, smiling.
Soren’s hand lingered on my arm for a few moments, and I didn’t pull away. It was comforting, and I knew it was only there because he cared about me as a friend—nothing more.
“I’ll be back early this evening,” he said. “Maybe we can have dinner together?”
I was curious. “Any special occasion?” I asked.
“Every day is special with you,” he laughed. “By the way, there’s a dress shop between the general store and the pawnshop. Why don’t you get yourself a new dress?” He reached into his back pocket and pulled out his wallet, grabbing several large bills and dropping them on the table in front of me.
I stared at the money for a long moment, not knowing what to say. I didn’t want to take it. “Soren…” I began.
“Hey, don’t pretend like you haven’t earned it. This is your salary for watching that house over there for me.” He pointed to the mansion at the other end of the estate. “Also, not many people in this world get their own personal concerts every night, especially not by a woman with a voice as angelic as yours.”
He smiled at me, but his phone rang, making him mumble under his breath. “Let me get this.”
I nodded, and he reached into his pocket, pulling out his phone, and moving away from the table to talk to whoever was calling.
I took another bite of my toast, and that’s when my eyes focused on the newspaper.
The picture—the headline.
“Marriage Plans Move Forward Despite War.”
I read the words and then looked down at the picture to see Madalynn’s face smiling up at me. My stomach twisted into a knot. I felt like my new life was being invaded by my old. The urge to throw away the newspaper filled me, but I had to let it go. This was Soren’s paper, after all. I wanted to ask him why he had a paper from the capital, but I figured it had something to do with business. He read papers from all over.
Then, my eyes focused on something else. It was something on Madalynn’s neck. Something familiar….
It was Ethan’s ring! Madalynn was wearing Ethan’s ring!
Yes, I knew it was his. He never, ever took that ring off. It had his family insignia on it. I recognized the black and gold bands.
He gave her something that meant so much to him?
Unless… she meant so much to him….
Could it be that he’d finally decided that he loved Madalynn? Had my leaving been what they needed for the two of them to get together?
“Are you all right, Ro?”
Soren’s voice cut through my thoughts. I tipped my head up to look at him, and I could tell by his expression that I must’ve looked awfully upset. He was looking at me with deep concern on his face.
I couldn’t tell him the truth. He didn’t know anything about my connection to Ethan or the capital. I set the paper down and came up with a lie. “Oh, uh… there was a… missing dog. It reminded me of when my dog went missing when I was little.”
He stared at me for a long moment and then said, “I guess I missed that.”
I swallowed hard. “Just a little ad in the back of the paper.”
His head rocked back and forth. “That is sad. I hope they find it.”
“Me, too.”
Soren blew out a deep breath. “I have to go.”
“Okay.” I mustered a smile, but my head was all over the place.
“Ro… would it be all right if… could I have a hug?”
I studied his face for a moment, and I thought it was really strange that he was asking on his own behalf right then. Could he sense how badly I needed a friend?
“Sure,” I said. I pulled myself up from the chair, and as he came around the table, I wrapped my arms around his neck.
His strong arms came around my middle, and I melted into his shoulder, barely able to keep my tears from falling.
Soren smoothed my hair, and his strong, masculine scent made me feel protected. It reminded me that I was all right, that he was taking care of me, and that my old life was far behind. It didn’t matter what Ethan was doing anymore. If he was with Madalynn now, and they were happy, that was a good thing.
He wasn’t mine anymore.
He never had been mine to begin with.
We stood that way for several minutes before I realized Soren needed to go, and I couldn’t continue to hold him. We were just friends, and it was silly for me to expect him to delay his day for me. I took a step back and unfurled myself from him.
Soren wasn’t so quick to let go, though. He placed his strong hands on my arms. “Are you okay, cutie?” he asked.
I liked that he was using a term of endearment. “I’m fine,” I told him, and I managed a true smile, looking into his eyes.
“I can cancel my meeting and stay here with you today, if you need me to. We can go shopping and have lunch.”
“No, no,” I shook my head. “You should go. I’ll be all right.”
“Are you sure?” He tipped his head to the side and studied my face.
“I’m sure,” I told him. “Thank you, but you should go.”
“All right,” he said. “But you call me if you need me to come back, and I will be right here.”
“Thank you, Soren,” I told him. “You’re a good friend.”
His eyebrows raised slightly at that last word, but then he nodded.
He finally let go of me and headed out. I took a few deep breaths and watched as Lola cleared the table. “We don’t need that newspaper,” I told her as I put the money away in a drawer.
I walked into the other room to get ready to go shopping and caught a glimpse of myself in the mirror.
The necklace. I hadn’t taken it off since I’d gotten here.
Things had changed, though. As much as I loved the necklace, as beautiful of a memory as I had of Ethan giving it to me, things changed, and life moved on. Ethan had moved on, and it was time for me to do the same—one way or another.
The first step was to let go of this necklace.