Sold as the Alpha King's Breeder
Chapter 1099 - 10 : My Enemy, My Hero

Chapter 1099: Chapter 10 : My Enemy, My Hero

Daphne

For a few, long moments, I couldn’t speak. My fear kept me silent. Their collective body odor and sleep breath permeated the small house. It felt like a choking grip in that small space, and I wanted to cough again as my roughened throat from earlier was getting agitated again from breathing in the awful stench.

“I thought this place was abandoned,” I admitted, though I probably just should have kept quiet to not antagonize them into hurting me.

“We like it that way,” said a voice that I couldn’t see.

I assumed it was one of those lying in bed since the voice seemed muffled by a pillow or blanket. There was a resounding, collective laugh after that. I wasn’t sure whether to join in or remain quiet, but my locked jaw made the decision for me to stay silent.

The tall one standing moved closer to me. His massive body forced the boards below him to creak and groan under his weight. My eyes darted to the floor the closer he got.

Then, an idea popped into my head. I knew they were a seedy bunch, that much was obvious, but maybe they would be willing to earn a little extra money. Judging by the sordid state of their living circumstances, it was obvious they needed it. I cleared my throat. They all laughed at me, but this round didn’t last for long.

“I’m from the palace.”

“Sure you are,” the voice in the pillow said again. Another row of laughs–it was beginning to annoy me, but I knew I had little power, and they knew it too.

I looked down at my clothes and realized that my frumpy cargo jeans and oversized T-shirt would make such a claim unbelievable. I spoke again, trying to find a semblance of authority in my voice, but all that came out was the sound of my fear.

“I am Daphne Crimson, daughter of the White Queen Lena and the Alpha King Xander. A week or so ago, I can’t remember how long it’s been, I was kidnapped by a young man. No doubt my family is searching for me, but they may not have looked in these woods,” I said, but someone, the pillow man, cut me off.

I noticed a movement to my right and looked across the room at one of the many beds.

He stood up out of bed. He was a gangly rascal, but lean. His beard was unshaven stubble covering his chin and sideburns with golden brown. His hair was a slightly lighter shade but mussed up from sleep. One of his blue eyes was missing.

“We don’t got all night to listen to your yapping, princess, if that really is who you are.”

“Shut up,” the tall man in front of me said. The pillow man huffed but didn’t disobey. I turned to the tall man, who clearly had some authority and said.

“What I was going to say, was that whoever helps get me back to the palace, unharmed, will be greatly rewarded.”

It was quiet for a few minutes. The leader considered this. Then another peel of laughter, louder than the previous two that seemed to shake the walls, burst from the men. I clenched my jaw. I really wanted to punch all of them for being so rude to me, but I knew being diplomatic and respectful was what was going to get me out of that jam.

“I can prove that I’m the princess if that’s what you need from me.” I tried to speak above them, but only the leader seemed to hear me.

“Oh, we won’t be needing proof,” he said between laughs, then he looked at me with a glint that left me sickly uncomfortable. Then, he added, “We can help you for a price right now.”

My heart slowly descended into my gut as it dawned on me what he meant. That barbarian and his friends wanted to have their way with me in bed.

My insides went ice cold. The leader took a lumbering step toward me, like a lion approaching a lamb.

“Wait,” I stammered. “You don’t have to....”

I turned to the door and tried with all my might to open it, but the way I shut it earlier had essentially sealed it to the door jamb. The bar lock had fallen over the front of the door and trapped it shut as well.

All of my running from earlier left me too sore and tired to pull up the locking bar that had fallen over the door. My fingers fiddled with the jamb to find a weak spot or a hole where I could use my fingers to pry it open, but within a matter of seconds, the leader’s footsteps echoed against the floor and his enormous fingers locked around my arm and yanked me back.

He twirled me around to face him like some sick dance. He leaned into me. His breath smelled like stale bread, alcohol, and rot.

He looked at me, his eyes sliding over my body like some slimy pervert, but spoke to the men behind him.

“I’ll take her first. You all can have what’s left.”

The men roared with cheer.

I landed a punch into his cheek with the dwindling energy remaining in me, but he barely flinched. In response, he slapped me to the floor, where I hit my forehead. The collapse brought a fresh wave of wooziness to my already tired body. I felt myself going limp as he grabbed my arms again to peel me off the floor.

He stood me up.

“Get out of the way,” I heard him grumble behind me. My vision blurred, but I saw that pillow man was being kicked out of his bed and I was then pushed against it.

Panic surged through me and I struggled again with a swift jerk backward, but all that did was send me into his chest, where he could wrap his smelly, hairy arms around my torso.

I groaned and wriggled in his grip, trying to force my hands to slip between his arms and his chest. He laughed, and the reverberations caused me to jiggle. I stamped around, trying to step on his feet, but couldn’t find them. My vision went blurry again as blood trickled down my forehead.

Then, a sudden pounding interrupted us. The leader whipped around as a window shattered and a slew of figures slipped through. I panicked, thinking there was something worse coming for me.

I realized my fears were warranted when what came through the windows were not humans, but giant wolves with long legs. They plodded along the floor, snarling and snapping their jaws, as they approached the men in bed who at that point were all definitely awake.

The leader threw me onto the only empty bed and I lay there, unable to move. I was too tired and too scared to do much else.

Then, something thumped the door and it fell to the ground where it erupted in a giant clatter. A new figure dashed in from the shadows, a wolf about his tall as the ruffian leader. I panicked and scurried as the wolf rushed in and went to the throat of the pillow man.

The pillow man’s screams were cut short as the wolf closed over his throat. Then, it lunged for the large ruffian man who had tried to take me into bed.

The wolf went straight for his neck where the jaws clamped. Teeth sunk into flesh. The ruffian leader released an agonized scream as the wolf at his throat bit down and snapped his neck before going for his chest and ripping through the clothing to get to the big man’s chest. I looked away but heard flesh tearing and the gurgling sound of revealed organs.

The big wolf tore through the ruffian leader’s chest. Blood spilled from the man’s dead body onto the bed and a little onto my exposed leg. I winced and groaned, trying to move, but my leg was stuck under the man’s massive weight. I shrieked but still couldn’t move.

I glanced back to the center of the room and saw it was surrounded by chaos. The wolf pack fought against the ruffians, who had clamored out of bed in their pajamas. Several of them ran in a frenzy for swords hanging on the walls and fought the wolves.

Blades swung and sang, and claws ripped through flesh. Blood flung in all directions in a massive blur. I lowered my head and laid down to avoid watching the terrible scene, too scared to move.

The big wolf in front of me continued to devour the big man. I covered my ears from the sound of wolves slopping through meat. I wanted to scream and cry. I wondered if the big wolf noticed me over its meal and wondered if it would come for me next once it finished off its first victim.

I laid low, wondering why the other wolves avoided me as well, but I assumed they were too busy flaying flesh to notice me. I stayed out of the way until it was over and the ruffians were nothing more than a bloody, pulpy mess all over the place.

It was such an awful site to look at, so I turned to face the wall, and waited for them to find me and do the same.

The sudden silence rang in my ears. I looked and found that the wolves congregated around the center of the room. The wolf in the center shifted back to human, it was Rion’s.

I swallowed terrified as I glanced at the gash across his forehead where I had struck him with the brick. Rion turned to look at me, his eyes colder than ice. I shuddered under his gaze, knowing that he could easily kill me if he wanted to. I was frozen with my breath caught in my throat between fascination and fear.

I also noticed he was completely naked, but I couldn’t avert my eyes as I noticed the gash was receding and seeped back into his skin as though I was watching it happening in reverse. The skin knitting itself together so quickly mesmerized me. It healed freakishly fast, even for a shifter.

“What are you?” I blurt out in awe.

I couldn’t help but shiver under the growing intensity of his gaze. He approached me slowly, and I held my breath. My heart pounded in my chest as I braced myself for the worst.

He snarled at me and pushed me by the upper chest. I slammed against the wall, and the back of my head bumped it and stung. My vision saw stars for a few seconds, before it was interrupted by the coolness of a blade up to my neck. I closed my eyes.

“Why the hell would you save me if you’re just going to kill me?”