Sold as the Alpha King's Breeder

Chapter 1362 - 117 : A Splintering Heart

*Zara*

I sat next to my mother on one of the plush sofas in the large sitting room of the safe house. Noah’s aunts were standing in the center of the room, telling us some gripping stories about their childhoods.

“Harriet was always the instigator among us girls,” Marguerite was saying, throwing her sister a fond but amused look.

“Only because you two tended to be so annoyingly obedient at times,” Harriet argued, but she threw both her sisters a similarly affectionate look.

“I feel as though I was the only one who truly wished to stay out of trouble,” Genevieve added despairingly, but she was smiling as well.

We all giggled at the women’s stories, enthralled by their fun personalities and gifted storytelling skills. I felt like it warmed all of our hearts to see the three so happy to have one another.

I honestly couldn’t imagine going through this terrifying time without these women. They had been so helpful not only with baby Briella but also as support and comfort systems as I worried about Noah and the rest of our pack members back home.

Well, almost everyone had anyway.

I snuck a glance at Luna Estella, who had been acting strangely ever since we arrived at the safe house. I was growing more concerned about her each day. She seemed even more distraught about the outcome of the war raging back home than I did.

Even now, as she sat across the room from me with Lorelei, I could tell she was anxious, the lines on her face seeming to deepen as she seemed to stare at nothing even though her eyes were settled on the three sisters in the center of the room as well.

Noah’s stepmother was currently wringing her hands together, fraying the fabric of her skirt. It was so unlike her to be this distraught, but then again, this was the first time that a brutal war was happening in her home.

I urged her to rest more since she seemed even more stressed than I did, but she just waved me off a bit impatiently. I tried not to be hurt by it, convincing myself that she just wished she could be by her husband’s side just like I sorely wished to be by Noah’s. Neither of us wanted to be hiding far away from the action.

“Luna Estella?”

Lorelei was trying to get her attention. Even though Luna was just a couple of feet from the girl, she seemed not to hear her.

Lorelei’s eyebrows rose in concern. “Luna Estella?”

Finally, Noah’s stepmother raised her eyes and looked at Lorelei. “Yes, what is it?”

Lorelei seemed only momentarily caught off guard by the coldness in the other woman’s voice. “Sorry for bothering you, but I just wanted to say that I enjoyed my stay at the mansion very much. I just wanted to thank you again for the hospitality during my time there.”

Luna Estella looked confused. A far-off look appeared in her usually warm brown eyes for a moment. Finally, she nodded a hard nod. “Yes, yes. You don’t need to thank me. I had to do it.” She waved Lorelei off, almost impatiently.

Lorelei was quiet for a moment but shook off the shock and pressed on. “Well, I still would like to thank you. Everyone was so kind to me, Miss Tallula included.”

Luna Estella blinked. “Who?” she asked flatly.

Lorelei’s lips thinned. “Your head maid.”

By this time, every woman in the room turned to stare as Luna Estella blinked again and then laughed lightly once she realized everyone was watching them. “Oh, of course, of course. Yes, Tallula, right. You must forgive me, dear. I’m afraid I’m just not myself tonight.”

Lorelei, ever the sweetest, nodded her head, her large hazel eyes sorrowful. “It’s no problem at all, Luna Esetella. I’m sure you have much on your mind considering everything that’s going on back home. I do admire your strength as a Luna very much.”

Luna Estella just nodded before turning away from the girl, ending the conversation.

I felt a little bit of anger toward the Luna. Lorelei was a sweet girl and just wanted to thank her. Even if she was just worried, it didn’t excuse being rude.

Suddenly, Briella let out a wail. I jolted out of my thoughts and started to bounce her up and down soothingly.

“Oh, is she alright?” Harriet asked as the majority of the women rushed over to pat and console the little girl.

“She’s fine,” I assured them, glancing at a nearby wall clock. “We’re just nearing her next feeding time.”

“I swear that child just ate.”

We all stared at Luna Estella in shock. I narrowed my eyes briefly before standing up from the couch, carrying my daughter away from the stressed Luna.

I was seething as I shut my bedroom door behind me and started to nurse little Briella, who suckled hungrily. I gritted my teeth together, praying to the goddess for patience in this trying time.

Luna Estella was beginning to tip me over the edge of my breaking point. All the women were doing their best to take care of one another, but lately, she was behaving as if she didn’t care about any of us.

A gentle knock sounded, and I called for the visitor to enter.

My mother poked her head in. “Are you alright, sweetheart?”

I let out a breath. “Fine,” I mumbled.

Mother gave me a compassionate look before stepping fully into the room and shutting the door behind her. She sat beside me on the bed and traced Briella’s cheek with the tip of her finger lovingly. “I’m sure Luna Estella didn’t mean to be cross.”

“No, I know,” I said, my shoulders slumping. “I’m just getting a little frustrated with her I suppose. We’re all stressed out. I think I just need to give her some space.”

“Yes, I think that would be best for now,” my mother agreed.

I pressed my lips together. “Did you notice that her memory appears oddly faulty?” I mused. “I wonder if her age is finally catching up with her at long last.”

“Hey, now,” my mother chided teasingly. “I am around that woman’s age, you know, young lady.”

I giggled lightly, feeling instantly better just having my mother there.

One afternoon, I stepped into my room to a shocking sight.

Luna Estella was rifling through some documents I had left out on the desk in the guest room I was staying in. Her back was to me, and she somehow hadn’t heard me come in.

“Luna Estella?”

The Luna gasped in surprise and whirled around to face me, her light brown eyes wide.

I just blinked at her, still not entirely recovered from my shock. “What are you doing?”

“Zara, dear, I just...” She seemed to fumble for an excuse. “I misplaced an earring earlier is all... but that doesn’t really matter anymore. I should probably get out of your way. You must be exhausted.” She started to slip past me, but I caught her arm.

I almost immediately recoiled as a strange mystical signature aura came off of the woman’s skin. My stomach dropped. This wasn’t Luna Estella.

My hand tightened on the imposter’s arm. Before I could react or try to raise an alarm, the woman raised a hand in a sharp wave, causing mystic ropes to rise and wrap around my body, successfully binding me. I sucked in a gasp and filled my lungs further, getting ready to scream with my entire being, but more magic appeared and tightly gagged my mouth.

The imposter stepped away from me, her eyes dark and amused as I struggled violently against the invisible binds. Desperation welled up inside of me as I tried to scream through the magical gag in my mouth, but it felt as if I was drowning. I curled my fingers, trying to grasp onto something, anything, to free myself.

I watched in horror as the fake Estella pulled a familiar shell pendant from beneath her shirt and ripped it off. She morphed right before my eyes into the woman I hated just as much as I feared her.

Serena.

“I bet you thought you could honestly live happily ever after with your precious Noah,” she taunted, her cool eyes locking with my panicked ones. “Well, I’m here to prove that that sadly isn’t the case for scum like you. You’re finally going to get what you so richly deserve.”

Serena calmly replaced her pendant, once again transforming into Luna Esetella before she took a calm step toward Briella’s crib.

No.

I screamed into the gag and tried to twist ferociously against the binds that tied me, but it was no use. A searing pain filled my limbs as if the ties were cutting into my skin. I could do nothing but watch helplessly as my baby was lifted from her crib and swaddled in a sling secured around Serena’s body.

I screamed for Noah in my mind, but it was no use. We were too far away from Drogomor for communication through the mate bond. I started to scream in my head for the goddess and anyone else I could think of to save my baby.

Serena looked down at Briella before throwing a smirk over her shoulder at me before strolling out of the room and into the hallway, leaving me alone to thrash around wildly.

I felt my breaths coming out harshly through my nose as panic seized me around the throat. Serena had my baby, and I could do nothing about it.

I started to grow dizzy as the helplessness surged through me, and my entire world went black.

I awoke to the sound of my name being shouted desperately.

“Zara! Zara, please, wake up!”

I gasped and shot up, staring down at my limbs that were now free from the magical bindings. Lorelei’s shocked and relieved face was looking down at me. She helped me to my feet, but I pulled away from her and stumbled toward the crib.

It was empty.

My breathing quickened as the memories came crashing back. Briella was gone without a trace.

And it was all my fault.

I was only vaguely aware of my room suddenly being flooded by the other women in the safe house. I was helped to my feet a couple more times before I fell to my knees again. It seemed like they were all yelling, calling someone to get a doctor and get me some water.

I sucked in a sharp breath as I realized that nothing could fix this. Nothing was going to bring my baby back to me. Tears filled my eyes.

It felt like every woman in the room suddenly had a hand on me, trying to console me just as they had done for my Briella just hours earlier. I felt my mother’s firm but gentle hands gripping my shoulders as she supported me.

As my heart started to splinter in my chest, I realized I didn’t deserve to be supported or consoled.

An anguished wail flew from my lips as I crumbled to the hardwood floor. Grief, fury, and guilt slammed into me like an unforgiving wave. I allowed this. I let Serena take my precious child out from right under my nose.

I failed to protect her.