Sold as the Alpha King's Breeder novel Chapter 713

Sold as the Alpha King’s Breeder Chapter 713

Chapter 58 : Revenge or Hope?

“What?” I gasped, my hands slipping on the water bottle.

Payne reacted quickly, coming to my side. He grabbed the water bottle and clasped my hands around it.

My mind raced in a million directions as I tried to figure out if I’d heard him correctly. Payne was offering to be my Beta? Why?

“Has Soren gotten his water?” he asked. “We should focus on him first.”

“I… yes, I gave him water,” I said, glancing at Soren.

He was resting soundly and easily. His breathing steady and his skin wasn’t as flushed. Hopefully, that meant his fever was coming down.

“Perhaps we should let him rest. Care to talk outside?” Payne asked. He took the water bottle from my hands.

“Um… sure…”

In a slight daze, I followed Payne out of the tent, glancing back once more to make sure that Soren was resting easily.

Payne was already outside. He still held the water bottle, his eyes fixed on the stars.

I made sure to leave the tent flap open so I could look inside and see Soren. If he needed anything, I’d be able to get to him quickly.

Payne had been acting strange around me for a while. He’d been giving me these looks and keeping Ashley from saying “too much” around me. He’d been testing my reactions and responses to things. I’d known it was happening but I never knew why.

But asking to be my Beta was the weirdest thing he’d done by far.

“Do you have something you want to tell me?” I asked when he didn’t look at me or speak to me for a while.

Payne chuckled lightly. “Yes, I did.”

“You did… what about now?” I asked.

“So much has happened. I’m not really sure where to start…”

“Try starting from the beginning,” I suggested.

Payne gave me a sideways look and he smirked. His smirk wasn’t sarcastic or mocking like Soren’s. Payne’s smirk was kind and humorous.

He turned to me and bowed slightly. He put his hand on his chest and then swept his arm out toward me. It was a similar gesture to the salute he’d given me earlier but it was more pronounced now that he wasn’t supporting Soren’s weight.

“Miss Hathaway,” he said.

I gasped and took a half-step back. How did he know my last name? I’d only just found it out myself!

“What was that gesture?” I asked motioning to the arm he still had angled toward me.

Payne smiled but then there was a flicker of dark agony in his eyes. He winced, swallowed hard and finally managed to compose himself. So many emotions had run through him at once. It was hard to tell what he was thinking or feeling.

“My father… he used to be the Beta of Pomeni pack. His Alpha and best friend was Kaleb Hathaway,” Payne explained.

I stared at him, frozen in place. I couldn’t blink, I couldn’t speak. My mind was completely numb and blank.

What was Payne saying? Did we know each other?

“My father was Alpha Kaleb’s most trusted subordinate and friend. He… treated us like family, especially since our mother died when we were very young,” he continued.

“You and Ashley,” I muttered to myself, shaking my head. I still felt like this information didn’t quite fit in my brain.

Payne nodded. “Luna Jessica… She was like a second mother to us. Always so kind, so beautiful, and caring. Sometimes, it felt like she saw us as her own children.”

My stomach fluttered with joy at knowing the kind of woman my mother was and sadness too, feeling how I would never know her kindness.

“When our pack grew bigger and stronger, the Luna and Alpha had you,” he told me.

“I don’t understand… we knew each other…?” I asked, shaking my head.

Payne chuckled. “Probably not well. The pack got really busy and my dad often took Ashley and me on patrols and business trips with him because we didn’t have a mother to watch us in the pack. Even if you did see me… well, you were so young, you wouldn’t remember.”

Sighing, Payne looked away from me, his eyes angled to the ground.

I took a moment to process what he said. Payne and I were from the same pack? Why hadn’t he said anything sooner!?”

Slowly, Payne looked at me again.

“I’m sorry,” he said.

“For what?” I asked quickly.

Did I want that responsibility?

My heart grew heavy and I couldn’t decide. It was so much to carry around with me when all I wanted was my freedom and a peaceful, quiet life.

“Payne, I appreciate the gesture…” I said with a heavy sigh. “But I’m not Soren. I’m grateful that I have friends like you and Ashley but you don’t owe me anything. There is no need for you to do any of this. I’m just Mila, okay? Please call me Mila like before…”

Payne bowed his head respectfully. “It is true that Soren saved my life, and Ashley’s. However, you did so too, once upon a time. We have owed you our lives longer than Soren.”

“What? No… I never-”

“You don’t remember, of course not,” Payne said, cutting me off. “When you were young, after our pack was destroyed, you ran into a girl and an injured boy… in a burned-out house.”

My mind shifted back to the dream April had put me in. I could so clearly see the injured boy and girl. But I didn’t know them… Did I?

“You used your power to save that boy. It allowed him to bring his sister to safety, to protect her and feed her and keep her alive. Thanks to you, that boy is here today, standing before you now, talking to you… thanking you.”

My jaw dropped and my eyes widened. “Y-you… y-you’re that b-boy?” I asked.

Those two children had been so lost and alone. The girl was too young to be left alone and I knew what Payne had said was true. If I hadn’t healed him, Ashley wouldn’t have survived. She probably wouldn’t have left that burnt-out house and starved or been killed by raiders.

Soren had been with me in that dream. He must have known that it was Payne and Ashley.

Was it a coincidence or fate that brought us all together now?

Payne smiled widely. “Goddess bless that we were able to find you again!”

He bowed, lower this time, and used the special gesture he had from before. It must have been a traditional greeting from our pack.

“Whatever you decide, I will support you and protect you. Ashley will stand by you too. I believe that the three of us can rebuild our pack someday, but you don’t need to worry about that right now,” he offered.

I sighed and nodded, a little grateful that he wasn’t going to push me for an answer.

Laughter echoed through the woods and I whipped around. I’d practically forgotten that we weren’t alone out here. Our conversation had been so intense!

Ashley and Eros came out from the bushes. Eros leaned in and whispered something to her. Immediately, Ashley started to laugh, her face reddening.

Payne’s eyes narrowed.

“Did you get the herbs to treat Soren?” I asked before Payne could say anything.