Sold as the Alpha King’s Breeder

Chapter 15 : Why Can’t You Just Listen?

*Soren*

I waited for Mila to go into her room and shut the door. I stayed there a few moments longer and waited to see if

she'd try to run right away.

Going to her door, I listened in until I heard the shower turn on. Nodding to myself, I headed to my own room.

I shut the door and it immediately opened again. Payne came in and slouched down in a nearby armchair.

“I caught up with her attacker. It took a while, but I got answers out of him," he reported with a heavy sigh.

“What did you learn?" I questioned.

“The people after Mila tonight were related to Norwind. They aren't just sending their own tracking parties after

her. It seems like Norwind has reached out to a lot of bounty hunters, the underground kind, to hunt her," he

explained.

“And I guess the unsavory people she met in the woods are those bounty hunters?" I asked.

“Yes," Payne nodded.

Norwind was one of the most powerful, wealthiest packs. I couldn't fathom why they were after an omega.

Mila was certainly pretty, there was no doubt about that.

However, I doubted Alpha Chandler would recruit underground bounty hunters and waste so many resources just to

come after a pretty face. He was smarter than that.

Besides, with his wealth, he could get whatever woman he wanted, and that meant he had his pick of beautiful

women.

Whatever he wanted from Mila was something different than why he claimed to be buying young women. It had

nothing to do with loneliness or companionship, otherwise, he wouldn't be so fixated.

Whatever her value, it wasn't common knowledge.

Mila had said it herself, Saboreef had left her for dead. They didn't care what happened to her. So, they obviously

had no idea why Norwind was after Mila.

If they had, they wouldn't have let her poison herself. They would have demanded more money from Norwind and

they would have kept a closer eye on her.

Saboreef had no idea what her importance was. If they did, a greedy, money-grubbing pack like that would have

held onto her for longer. They would have created a bidding war among other packs to drive up her price.

Instead, they let her poison herself and then left her to die, or in her case escape.

To Saboreef, Mila was a worthless omega.

That was a shame. It meant going to Saboreef and doing more digging would be useless. But it would save time,

now that I knew they were oblivious.

So, whatever Norwind wanted from Mila, they also wanted to keep it as a secret.

I wondered if revealing their desire for her would somehow be advantageous. It would make life very dangerous for

her but it could create enough chaos that Norwind would be slowed down.

I shook my head.

That probably wasn't the best idea.

With Norwind after her, I couldn't help but wonder why Mila risked coming to Miltern. What was her relationship with

this pack? She'd come here as soon as she was strong enough to move.

There was something urgent here she desired.

“Soren, I can hear you thinking. What's on your mind?" Payne asked, pulling me from my thoughts.

“I was trying to figure out why Mila came here. What her connection is to Miltern," I admitted.

It wasn't a coincidence. She wouldn't have rushed off if she didn't have a destination in mind. She had a ring from a

Miltern seer. Did that mean this was her home pack?

Based on our little interaction, it didn't seem like she was planning to settle down here. It was more like she came

here on a mission.

Payne rubbed his cheek and sighed. “You're guess is as good as mine. We hardly know anything about her, even

after all our investigating."

“That's another curiosity," I said, shaking my head.

“Agreed. Although, in regards to Miltern, there is something that… Well, didn't you notice how strange this pack is?"

“What do you mean?" I asked, arching an eyebrow. I'd been more focused on finding Mila and keeping her from

running off again.

“In the woods, while I was chasing that guy, I saw a group of Miltern residents in the woods. I mean, I think they

were Miltern. They looked ragged, insane, and… hopeless.

I nodded. “Mila mentioned them. She was trying to go back and help them.

“Was she? Help them from what?" Payne asked.

I shrugged. She hadn't told me anything about what she thought was wrong with them, just that she wanted to go

after them.

“Well… anyway, I thought they were just some random outcasts. After dealing with the bounty hunter, I went to

check them out and I checked out the town a little more," Payne told me.

“And, what did you find?" I pressed.

“I didn't notice it when we first arrived because we headed straight after Mila. But I checked out the town to

familiarize myself with my surroundings. People were acting very strangely, a lot like the group in the woods, more

or less," he reported.

Payne sighed and creased his brow. It seemed like he was having trouble thinking of the words to describe what

he'd seen and experienced.

“The whole pack… it is like there is no hope or happiness here. I tried to get information out of them but they were

very evasive. Most of them wouldn't talk to me and walked off. When I brought up the group in the woods, they

locked up tighter than a bank vault. Everything here is cold… and I don't mean the temperature, the atmosphere,"

he continued.

I nodded slowly. When Mila and I came to the hotel, I hadn't given it much thought. The man at the front desk

hadn't said anything or even spared us a glance. How did he know we even had rooms?

Suddenly, I gasped and rubbed my throat. It wasn't just the Miltern pack. I could feel it deep in my chest, an

overwhelming feeling of sadness and hopelessness.

“You're right. Ever since we've come here there's been a depressing cloud over everything, even us. It seems like it

is slowly draining our energy and happiness away," I agreed.

“No wonder not a lot of people live here, now. I thought Miltern pack was thriving but this… it is not what I

expected," Payne said.

“It's true. This is different from the last time I visited," I admitted with a nod.

“Can you blame them? It is such a gloomy climate. There's fog all day and the sun barely breaks through. Then at

night, it clears enough to see the sky, but everything is dark. I can imagine it is hard to find happiness in a place like

this," Payne suggested.

“Hmm."

“Do you think it is something else?" he asked me.

“Before we entered Miltern packland, it was very sunny and clear. Almost as soon as we crossed into the packland,

a thick fog consumed us. It thinned throughout the day but it never fully dissipated," I recounted.

“It had done a good job blocking out the sunshine," Payne recalled.

“Is it blocking out the happiness too? Is there… something wrong with the fog?" I queried.

Before Payne could answer, I held a hand up to silence him. Footsteps in the hall pricked my ears.

They were light and quick. Whoever it was didn't want to be heard or caught.

I glanced at Payne and nodded to the door.

He nodded his understanding.

We went to the door and Payne yanked it open.

Down the hall, I saw the flash of a shadow.

Without hesitation or an order, Payne took off after the shadow.

I hesitated and looked around. There was a bouquet of fresh flowers resting in front of Mila's bedroom door.

I quirked an eyebrow and bent down. Carefully, I peeled the wrapping back and looked over the flowers.

They were common daisies. Nothing special but nothing out of the ordinary, either. I didn't smell anything wrong

with them. There were no poisons or toxins in the flowers. They were completely harmless.

There was a small envelope tucked into the bouquet with Mila's name written on it.

Carefully, I pulled the envelope out and took the card out from inside. The note was handwritten in lovely, cursive

handwriting.

“Tonight. Central Temple. Please Help!"

The flowers were safe, but someone was using them to reach out to Mila.

Not to mention, how many flower delivery services run at night?

I slid the card back in the envelope and replaced it in the bouquet. Carefully, I set the wrapping back in place. I

didn't want it to look like the bouquet had been tampered with.

Whoever left the card was reaching out to Mila for a reason and it wasn't just an everyday, average gift.

I returned to my room and shut the door. Eventually, Mila would come out and see the flowers.

Kneeling down, I kept my eye pressed to the peephole and watched her door.

Mila was nothing if not a woman of secrets. What she'd told me about herself hardly elaborated on what I already

knew. Though, since she'd heard what Payne learned about her, I suspected that was the purpose behind what she

told me.

If Lee's reaction was anything to go off of, and it usually was when it came to people mysteriously immune to

poisons, she was something special.

Couple that with Alpha Chandler's desire to get his hands on her, I could only imagine what she was hiding.

Whoever sent those flowers was leading her into something. Perhaps, something that only Mila could do based on

her secrets.

I needed to know what it was about.

Ideally, she'd see the flowers and then come to me and we could figure this out together. I wasn't taking chances,

though.

A few moments passed before Mila opened the door. She took one step into the hallway and the flowers crunched

under her feet.

“Oh…" she whispered.

So, if it wasn't for the flowers, why had she stepped into the hall so secretively? Was she going to make another run

for it?

Well, that didn't matter now. What was important was what she did next.

Her eyes widened as she bent down and picked up the flowers. I saw her read the little card. She turned on her heel

and disappeared into her room, shutting the door swiftly.

Minutes later she came back out. She'd changed into something different, something a little sleeker that would help

her be stealthy.

She paused in the hallway and looked at my door.

I waited for her to close the distance and knock. After all I'd done to impress upon her that I was not her enemy and

I would help her, now was her chance to show me that she believed me.

Sighing, I hung my head when Mila darted down the hall as quietly as possible.

Of course, she would think she could handle this herself and go off on her own.

If I wasn't so irritated, I might have been impressed with her independence and confidence.

As it was, she was just creating more headaches for me.

I was positive she was following up on what the card said. Otherwise, why would she change?

Payne was still tracking the flower delivery person so I scrawled him a quick note and left it on the bed.

“Payne, Central Temple ASAP."

I slipped out of the room and followed after Mila.

Outside, the fog had started to thicken again. That probably meant dawn was coming.

I caught sight of Mila through the fog. She was disappearing quickly into the thick chowder. I tried to run after her

but she was gone, swallowed up.

“f**k, why couldn't she just listen?"