Sold as the Alpha King’s Breeder by Alice Knightsky
Chapter 158: A Deal Was Struck
**Ethan’s POV**
After another operation, I tried to get back to work, but it was difficult. The situation with the new joiners kept weighing on my mind. Seeing them in battle, just standing there, or fighting with little skill, made me so angry. I’d wanted to stop fighting the enemy and attack them myself.
It made me furious to hear Talon and the others so appalled at my decision to make those pay for their mistakes. What’s wrong with them? This was a rogue war; what’s wrong with me killing rogues? Weak as they were, if they were not killed by me, they would die on the battlefield anyway.
So why did everyone look at me like I was some sort of a monster for even thinking that way?
I pushed the thoughts aside and went back to my work. Georgia kept saying that the camp wasn’t the safest place for Rosalie and our son. Deep down, I
supposed I knew she was right, but I wasn’t ready to take Rosalie back to her people.
If I did, she wouldn’t need me anymore. If she didn’t need me… she’d have no reason to even be in my presence.
A reality where I didn’t get to see Rosalie and the baby was not one I was willing to accept. Allowing Vicky to go speak to Rosalie was a bit of a compromise for me. Maybe if she saw one of her friends for a bit, she would come around and stop wanting to get away.
There was a sound at the tent flap, and I looked up to see a soldier standing there, peering in at me. I hated not having a door that could handle a knock. “What?” I called.
“Pardon me, Alpha,” he said, his voice cracking a bit, his eyes wide with fear. “Miss Rosalie is asking to speak to you.” I flew out of my chair and covered the distance between myself and the gangly young man in a few seconds, grabbing him by the collar.
“What are you talking about?” I asked him. “Rosalie is asking to speak to me about what?”
He began to shake as he looked up at me, his mouth open, but no words forming. I gave him a hard shake, and he said, “That’s all I know… s-s-sir.”
I released him and turned around, taking a few deep breaths. Perhaps I had overreacted.
“Get out of here,” I told him. “You can go.”
“Yes, sir.” He was gone in a flash, but I just stood there for a moment, wondering what Rosalie wanted to talk to me about. Likely, she wanted to demand to be released again.
She could forget about that.
I decided I’d better be prepared before I went in to speak to her. Using the mind-link, I summoned Vicky to my tent and went back to my desk, trying to calm myself. Getting angry wasn’t going to help anyone.
Vicky walked in a few moments later, and I could tell that she was nervous around me. She kept her distance, her face a pale shade of white. “You wanted to see me, sir?”
“Come in, Vicky,” I said, letting out a sigh. I gestured at a chair across from my desk. She had to know I wasn’t going to hurt her. “Did you visit Rosalie?” It took her a moment to walk over and sit down. She sat rigidly, on the edge of the chair, her hands folded in her lap. “Yes, Alpha. I did speak to her.”
“About what?” I demanded.
Vicky’s eyes widened further. “Uhm, just about how things were going. We talked about our trips here.” She shrugged. “Not much else. The baby….” I assumed there had to be more.
“What else?” I barked.
She shook her head. “Nothing… that I can remember.”
Vicky was lying to me. But I didn’t want to push her. That last thing I needed was to make her cry again. Why did women always have to cry over everything?
“Fine,” I told her. “If you don’t want to tell me, then you can get out.”
“Alpha…we also talked about Paul…and she told me about becoming queen.”
I stared at her for a long moment. If they talked about Paul, they had to have spoken about me as well. Vicky probably told Rosalie about how loving and doting Paul was, how he would always be concerned with how she was doing and if she needed anything.
Rosalie probably told Vicky I was an uncaring a*s*shole who only thought about himself.
“Leave,” I told her.
Vicky got up out of the chair and moved swiftly to the exit, but by the time she got to the door, I stopped her.
“Did you…” I cleared my throat, “did you guys talk about me?”
Vicky paused for a moment, and she nodded. She wanted to say something, but she bit her lips waiting for my reaction.
I stared at her for a moment, and I couldn’t describe how I felt. I guess no matter if her answer was yes or no, it wouldn’t matter. Either way, I wouldn’t be happy about it.
I didn’t say anything else and only waved my hands to dismiss her.
I decided I needed to go talk to Rosalie. Abandoning my unfinished work, I headed out the door and across the camp to the tent where Rosalie was being kept.
I walked right past the guards and threw the tent flap open, seeing her sitting on the cot, staring at nothing again.
Had she really summoned me for more of this?
Irritated, I bit out, “You’re not leaving, so don’t even bother to ask.”
She turned her head to look in my direction but didn’t look me in the face. “I didn’t ask,” she said, that assertive tone I wasn’t used to from her taking me by surprise.
“What is it, then?” I folded my arms, returning her annoyance with more of my own.
Rosalie sighed and shifted her position slightly on the bed. “These rogues that you’re holding, intending to execute, I don’t think that’s a good idea.”
“F*eking Vicky,” I muttered, pissed that she’d told Rosalie my business.
“It wasn’t Vicky,” she said. “I overheard. This is a tent, not a castle with stone walls.”
Somehow, I doubted that was true, though I had noticed her sticking her head out earlier when I was talking to Talon and Vicky about the situation.
“I don’t really care what you think,” I told her. “They’ve failed me in battle, and they deserve to die.”
“They joined you, and just because they’re not skilled, that doesn’t make them worthless, criminals, or otherwise worthy of death!” she spat, still not looking into my face, but obviously pointing her statement in my direction.
I tried my best to give her my perspective. “Rosalie, those are rogues. The rogues your people had been fighting and killing. I don’t see any differences between what you were doing and what I’m doing now.”
“Ethan, first, unlike you, my people do not initiate attacks unless we know for sure those groups were ruthless and aggressive. Second, you and I both know that most of the rogues in the northern borders are displaced civilians to begin with. They joined the rogue groups because that’s the only way for them to survive. Third, even if they are criminals, you can’t just kill them without justification”
It was almost amusing to see her act this way, so confident and strong. “Why do you even care?” I asked her. “It’s not like you even know any of them.”
“I don’t need to know them to understand that what you’re planning is wrong, Ethan,” she told me. “Now, I respectfully ask you, from one leader to another, not to do that.”
I moved toward her and hovered over her, willing her to look up into my eyes. She didn’t. Once again, her vacant eyes were locked on a spot across the room.
Tired of all of this, I considered what she was asking. Rosalie had changed, but her heart was still the same. She would still do anything to help others. “You and I would have to agree to disagree,” I finally said, and I could tell from her expression that she was disappointed. Even disappointment was better than her plain indifference.
Therefore, I continued with my offer, “However, I’ll make a deal with you.” Her head jerked in my direction for a moment, but she quickly looked away and didn’t speak. “If you will snap the f*ck out of this funk and start acting like a woman who gives a damn about her existence, then I’ll concede.”
“What are you talking about?” she asked me, but her tone conveyed that she knew exactly what I was getting at.
“I will grant your request if you agree to start eating properly and taking better care of yourself,” I explained. “I’m sick and tired of having to worry about your condition. So, if you’ll start acting like you don’t think you’d be better off dead, then I’ll let them live.”
For the first time since we’d been reunited, Rosalie lifted her gaze, and her eyes locked on mine. Her head rocked back once and then moved forward—a sharp nod.
“Is that a yes?” I asked, looking for confirmation.
“Yes,” she told me, still looking into my eyes. “If you allow them to live, I promise to start taking better care of myself.”
A smile formed on my face, and at that moment, all I wanted to do was lunge at her. I wanted to tangle my hands in her hair and swallow her whole, to kiss her like I had earlier when we were making love.
I wanted to sink my teeth into the warm flesh of her neck and taste her, to leave the imprint of my teeth on her skin for all to see. Marked forever as mine, no one would ever try to take her from me again.
Before I could move, I heard Talon’s voice behind me and wondered when the h*ll he’d even come into the tent.
“I’m so sorry to interrupt, Alpha, but we have another problem.”
I cursed beneath my breath and managed to pull my eyes away from Rosalie. “What is it now?” I asked him.
He gestured for me to leave with him, and I sighed. Returning my gaze to Rosalie, I was happy to see she hadn’t slipped back into her trance. “Don’t forget our deal,” I told her.
“You neither,” she replied with one arched eyebrow.
Goddess, was she s*e*xy.
I followed Talon out, stepping away from the tent so that Rosalie was no longer able to overhear my business. “What’s going on?” I asked him. “Some of the guards on patrol just came back to say they’ve seen some rogues on the border of our territory again. We’re not sure if it’s the same group that attacked before, trying again, or if this is another force, but we should prepare for another attack.”
Would it never end?
All right,” I told him. “Inform Richard and Paul. Let’s get everyone ready, just in case.”
He nodded at me and headed off to do what I’d asked, and I went to do my own preparation.
Eventually, word would get out that the Rogue King was not one to be trifled with and people would leave us the h’ll alone.
But this was not that day.