Sold as the Alpha King’s Breeder

Chapter 65 : Finding the Second Piece

Soren curled around me and then shifted into his wolf form. He stayed curled up next to me, keeping me warm

through the night.

I couldn't believe I'd done that! Sure, I had wanted to know what Soren felt for me but seducing him wasn't the right

thing to do for that. He'd been the one to suggest we go for a run in wolf form but I was the one playing with him.

I closed my eyes and curled up into the soft fur of his wolf. Leaning into his warmth, I felt better but I still couldn't

believe what I'd done! Taking a deep breath, I started to feel tired.

Soren's deep breaths made it sound like he was asleep but I didn't think he was. I clung to his fur and nuzzled

against him, trying to relax enough to sleep.

The necklace that held the Moonlit Crystal felt heavy around my neck suddenly. I grabbed it and the pendant

warmed my skin. Quickly, I opened the box and dropped the crystal in my palm. It hummed heavily and got

warmer.

It glowed strangely in my hand and I held it up to the moonlight. The weird glowing light didn't change. It was like

the glow was coming from inside, not reflecting off the outside.

“Soren," I said, shaking him slightly.

His wolf snorted and lifted his head. I held the crystal out so he could see.

“Look at this. The crystal is glowing. It keeps flickering and… well, I think it is trying to show me something," I said.

The majestic, dark wolf snorted again.

“Think about it. You're the one that said my mom left clues for me. What if part of finding the artifact requires

locating the pieces in a specific order? The Moonlit Crystal could have been the hardest one to get, with the traps,

because it leads us to the next pieces," I guessed.

The wolf nodded in agreement.

“I bet this will lead us to the next piece," I said.

I stood up and held the crystal in my palm like it was a compass. I moved my hand around. When it flickered, I

made the same motion again and the stone flickered the exact same way.

“Come one, we have to go this way," I said, pointing down the border between the two territories.

Soren stood up and shook off. He made a small growling sound and nodded to his back.

“Right."

I climbed onto his back and grabbed the fur at his neck.

“I'm good, let's go," I said. “I'll tell you where."

Soren huffed and started jogging. His gait was lumbering but I held on with my knees and with one hand. The

crystal stayed in my palm and I watched for little flickers.

“Left, go left," I said, pointing.

Soren started to turn and I yelped, grabbing his fur.

“No, right! I mean right," I said. “I'm sorry."

Soren growled but corrected his trajectory. Whenever he turned off the necessary trail, the stone got cooler and

the glowing flickers died down.

“Okay, can you go a little more to the right?" I asked when the crystal started to cool again.

It was very subtle but I could feel the changes enough to direct Soren almost with every step he took.

“Now we've got to go to the left. We need to go deeper in Marno territory," I instructed, pointing.

Soren slowed down slightly, probably tired of all my quick instructions and his knee-jerk reactions.

“It feels like the closer we get, the warmer the stone is getting. Right now, it is almost too hot to touch, I think we're

getting close," I told Soren.

He grunted in response. He slowed to a walk and I slid off his back, my bare feet landing in the sand. It was cold

now in the night air but the Moonlit Crystal stayed warm in my hand.

“It's starting to vibrate," I told Soren. I walked in the direction that made the stone vibrate more.

Soren, in wolf form, followed closely.

Suddenly, the stone started vibrating so much that it nearly jumped out of my hand.

“Here, right here," I said, pointing with my foot.

It didn't look at all special. The area was just like any other part of the border. Miles and miles of border, and the

Moonlit Crystal led us to the right spot.

The glows and flickers got even brighter now that we were at the right spot. There was a tree growing right across

the border between the desert and the forest. It was a normal tree and didn't look any different than the other

trees growing nearby.

The only difference was that several of its roots were digging into the desert sand. Somehow, I just knew that was

where the artifact piece would be.

I was grateful that we had the Moonlit Crystal. It saved us a ton of time searching the border for miles.

“Soren, the tree. Look under the tree roots," I said, pointing.

Soren immediately started digging, scooping out huge chunks of sand in a pile. It didn't take long before half his

body was down the hole.

He growled and stopped digging. A few seconds ticked by and Soren pulled himself from the hole. There was

something in his mouth. Something I couldn't see until he came over to me and dropped it on the ground.

It was a dagger sheath. It didn't look very special.

Kneeling down, I picked it up and examined it.

“Wow, this looks like just a plain leather sheath," I said, shaking my head.

I shrugged and held it tightly in my hand as I put the stone back in the necklace. It was a good thing I'd figured out

what the Moonlit Crystal was doing. Otherwise, we could have spent our whole lives searching.

Even if there were no booby traps, it could still take forever to locate it based on the size of the border.

It was so plain and dingy we might have thought it was just a scrap of junk and not related it back to the artifact we

were searching for. That might have been another defense mechanism built in.

Anyone that happened across it would think it was lame garbage.

But I knew it was part of the Blade of Souls. Between the size and the message from the Moonlit Crystal, I knew this

was part of the artifact. The next piece would probably be a dagger itself.

I sat down in the sand and patted the space beside me. Soren sat down and curled up with me. His body was warm

in the cold air and I needed to take a quick break before heading back to the camp.

It was almost dawn when I was ready to go back. I climbed onto Soren's back again and he jogged back to camp. I

laid down on him and rested against him, still pretty tired. I hadn't even slept, despite how tired I felt.

Just on the outskirts of camp, I realized something.

“Hey, wait," I said, stopping Soren. “Before we get back to camp…"

I slid off his back again and motioned to my naked body. Soren's eyes lit up and he licked his lips.

“Quit it with that! I just don't want Ashley and Payne to see me naked," I said. I shifted and picked the sheath up in

my mouth.

We hadn't brought any clothes with us and hadn't anticipated needing them to go back to camp. It wasn't like I

wasn't used to running around nude or seeing others nude. That was part of being a shifter and life in a pack.

Still, I didn't know Ashley and Payne that well! I wasn't ready to show them my entire body. Soren had seen it more

than once so that was… okay. But for the others, I wanted to keep it private.

Ashley was asleep in her tent when we got back but Payne was waiting up for us. He stood up when he saw us.

“Boss, Miss Mila… you were out all night. Is everything alright?" he asked.

Soren nodded and we slipped into his tent. I set the sheath aside and quickly, we shifted and put our clothes back

on.

Payne waited for us outside the tent.

“We found the second part of the artifact," I told him.

“That's good. Although, I was expecting the search to be more… intense," he admitted, glancing at the expanse of

the border.

“So were we, but we got lucky," Soren said, smirking.

I felt his eyes on me but I ignored them. I didn't want to look at him because I knew I would blush and feel all giddy.

“If we got what we came for, where are we going next?" Payne asked.

Something like a foghorn went off, making me jump.

Ashley emerged from her tent. She yawned and stretched. “What's going on?"

“We found what we came for. It is time to pack up and move on," Soren explained.

“Wait, what? We're leaving already?" Ashley asked, pouting. “But this time of year… the Marno pack has the biggest

Fall Festival in Egoren! We're already here. I don't want to miss it! Please, please, please, can we go?"

She looked at Soren and batted her eyelashes. Then Ashley looked at me.

“Besides, even if you, Boss, are energetic, Mila looks a little tired. You guys were gone all night! We should go into

town, get some rest, and replenish our supplies. Right?"

Ashley gave Soren another pleading look. She looked at Payne, pouting.

Payne looked at me.

Ashley looked at Soren again and Soren glanced at me.

Then Ashley turned and looked at me too.

I looked at each of them. They all just stared at me.

“Why are you all looking at me?" I asked. I looped my arms around myself self-consciously.

“Mila, it is up to you to decide. This is your mission," Soren said.

Ashley smiled at me hopefully. She bit her lower lip and held my gaze. Excitedly, she bounced on the balls of her

feet. I thought if she didn't get to go to the festival, she might explode.

I looked over at Soren. He was almost completely healed but he had gone through a lot. I wasn't sure if he was

back up to his full strength yet. Besides, the cuts on his leg weren't fully healed yet and he was probably still tired.

He could use some real rest in a real bed with real food.

Not to mention, Ashley's mention of the Harvest Festival intrigued me. In Saboreef, they'd had some festivals but I'd

never been allowed to go. My foster mother forbade it. I always got to see the other children playing together, and

with toys, and eating fun snacks.

I'd never experienced that and I wanted to have the chance to experience it while I was still young.

We had two pieces of the artifact. Even if someone else got ahead of us and found the other piece, it would be

useless to them. It wouldn't do what they wanted it to do without me and without the other pieces.

I had no intention of using the Blade of Souls, I was just keeping it from people that wanted to use it.

There was no longer a huge rush to find the final piece. We were finally ahead of the game.

Not to mention, once we found the last piece of the artifact, what would happen to my trip with Soren? It would

come to an end really quickly. I didn't want the trip to be over yet. We'd gotten closer and there were still things

about him and what he thought about me that I wanted to figure out.

Besides, I was really having a good time with him.

If he wasn't my mate, once this trip was over, we'd probably be going our separate ways. I was really enjoying his

company and I wanted as many enjoyable memories as possible with him.

I looked back at everyone. They were still staring at me, waiting for me to sift through my thoughts and make a

final decision.

It was strange to have them all looking at me and blinking at me.

“Ashley is right. We should take a break, rest, and replenish the supplies. Once we recuperate we can get a fresh

start and look at this with new eyes," I suggested. “Plus, we can check out the festival.

Ashley jumped up. “Hooray!"