Claimed And Marked By Her Stepbrother Mates
Chapter 703-The Great Pirate Alpha

Chapter 703: 703-The Great Pirate Alpha

Ursula:

I waited in the corner for the two of them to walk away, but as I stood there, I could hear them talking, and every word shattered my heart.

"Your Highness, I’m trying," Niles complained. "But she’s just one person. It takes her so long to get pregnant and give birth and all that–"

At this point, I didn’t even think of him as my husband anymore, just someone who had played me.

"So didn’t I give you the medicine to give to her?" she hissed. "Those herbs will help her go into labor soon. And we don’t even need to wait for labor, anyway."

"Yeah, but then—the baby won’t be fully formed, right?" Niles said, uncertain.

"Who cares?" she snapped. "It doesn’t matter if the baby is premature. All I want is the baby." She paused. "And listen, did you keep the list? Make sure she gets pregnant by all of these men. I want that special child at any cost."

She grunted and glared at him. I didn’t understand why she was doing this to me, but I did understand why she believed I could give her that child.

Because when Niles found me in the woods, he didn’t just find me wandering around, he found me near the waterfall.

Somehow, I had ended up there after trying to escape from my land. That’s why Niles had seen my truth. My mermaid tale.

I came from a faraway land. A land more beautiful than any other, Arthendel.

I still don’t know why or how I swam so far into a werewolf-populated region. Maybe the current pulled me in. Or maybe it was the pain in my heart that made me want to swim as far as possible?

When he saved me, I thought he was my savior. I thought I had found a new life. Safety. Maybe even love. But I was wrong. He knew everything. And he told Ursula all of my secrets.

When he found me, he explained the world of werewolves to me. And even though I was from a different place, a different people, I already knew a little about them too.

"I’m also afraid of her people coming to find me. I mean, I know I’ll never go out into the water, but what if the mermaids come looking for her? They’ll fucking kill me," Niles said.

He expressed the right concern, but for the wrong person. They were so upset with me, there was no way they’d ever come looking for me. They probably believed I had run away. And honestly, they wouldn’t be wrong. It had always been in the back of their minds that I wanted to escape. But I had one friend back home. A prince. The one I truly loved.

The reason I swam to the edge in the first place was because I had heard that his father, the king, wanted him to marry someone else. And that shattered my heart so I swam away. But now I miss him. I wished I had stayed, but there was no way a mermaid could ever marry a pirate Alpha.

"As for the medicine, I didn’t know. If I had, I would’ve just given her a lot more of it," Niles added. But that’s when Darcy shook her head.

"No, you fool. At least let the baby grow a little. Make sure you give her the medicine in her fifth month. Then bring me whatever there is for the sacrifice. All I need is the flesh and blood to pour into the Well of Sacrifice," she hissed.

Her words made me clench my jaw. For whatever reason, she thought my child’s life meant nothing. I waited for them to step aside to talk about the list. That’s when I slowly started dragging my body out of whatever this place was. Once outside, I realized I was near the water. And then I remembered when he was drugging me, I had been in the water for a few minutes. I guess they were keeping the mermaid side of me alive by bringing me to the water in chains and then dragging me back.

That’s when I threw myself into the water to escape. But the lack of strength and the heavy dose of drugs in my body stopped me from transitioning.But I was able to swim just far enough to get away from where they were keeping me.

After a few hours, my body began to give out. I was tired. So I got out of the water and slipped into the deep woods, trying to find my way home.

That’s when I heard the most creepiest voice again.

"There you are!" _{f|ree(w)ebn\o.vel.com}

It was Niles. It felt like my heart stopped completely when I saw him. I was on the ground, crawling backward, my eyes wide with panic.

"You seriously thought you could escape us, huh?" he hissed. "You’re going to ruin my chances at a happy life."

That’s when he lunged toward me, but someone attacked him. They crashed to the ground, rolling through the leaves. And then I saw who it was.

Him!

The man I had loved so deeply. The man who was the reason I left my home. Soren Vaughan had come to save me.

The great werewolf pirate. The adventurer. The legend.

Soren Vaughan, the same man who once escaped the monstrous world of Rune. The same man written about in countless books. The same man people said was only a myth. But he was real. And I had loved him, still did.

He began to punch Niles over and over again, all the while shouting his loudest.

"You dare think you could hurt my future wife?"

And those words, when they escaped his lips, made my heart flutter. All this time, I thought he had only seen me as a friend.

"Soren–" I whispered.

When he finally knocked Niles out, he turned to me, his eyes full of pain and tears. He dropped to his knees and cupped my face gently in his hands.

"What have they done to you?" he said, his voice trembling.

"You are here," I uttered softly, reaching up to touch him, still not sure if this was real.

"I am. Of course I am. How could I not?" he replied, and a smile slowly began to form on my face. Then he said the words that melted everything inside me.

"How could I not come to save my mate?"