Sold as the Alpha King's Breeder

Chapter 1387 - 142 : Instability Rises

*Noah*

The journey on the ship was a long one. I spent half of it preparing to face these rumors and the other half spending time with my mate and daughter.

They kept me strong. Although I was nervous, I was reassured that we could take on anything together. Zara was right. We had to. If we got through the hell that was that demon and its darkness, we could get through this too.

Anger and relief surged through me as land came in sight while I stood on the side of the ship, gazing out across the sea. I was angry because what happened had been twisted.

I felt relief because we were finally close to home, regardless of the troubles that we’d face. As we got off the ship, I offered a hand to Zara, kissing the top of hers and causing her to blush. I grinned.

“Ready to face the world again, beautiful?” I asked. I shot our daughter a light smile as she rested safely in my mate’s arms. I felt my heart leap with joy when she returned it.

Zara blushed and nodded in response to me. “I am,” she said with confidence, which filled with pride when meeting her gaze.

Lumina turned toward us, dipping her head and clearing her throat. “We need to travel carefully,” she said in a quiet, very serious tone. “As you know, it’s best to be in disguise. There will be people after us. I have the proper items prepared.

With that, she procured some cloaks, which we donned quickly. I shot a worried look toward Briella, but she’d quieted down and even had fallen asleep in Zara’s arms.

Hopefully, she would stay that way, even though I adored hearing her giggles.

We landed onshore in a spot I recognized. We were near the borders of Drogomor territory, something that made me catch my breath as I gazed around the territory.

This was my home, my pack, which I had been away from for so long. It was longer to me than them, apparently, but a while nonetheless.

They likely thought we were slain or, worse, had abandoned them. I hoped for the former, as the latter was just something I did not want anyone contemplating at all.

Our longer, more intense journey started through the dense forest toward the packlands. I knew this place had a fair number of dangers, even if not the Dark Woods themselves.

We all had our cloaks drawn up to hide our faces in case we ran into any familiar faces that would be less than happy to see we had returned due to the terrible rumors.

At one point, there was rustling in the undergrowth, which indicated the presence of something huge on its way. I stopped.

I wondered if it was another shifter. The wind was blowing away from us, so I couldn’t get a clear indication of what it was in time. I was itching to shift, but Lumina quickly held up her arm, signaling for us to stop.

She whispered, “Trust in my power.”

I recalled our conversation as we’d been putting on our cloaks. She mentioned some sort of concealment abilities to mask our presence. To avoid battle and endangering my mate and child, I needed to hold myself back.

We stuck to the shadows as a large grizzly bear emerged, its eyes concentrated on the ground as its nose sniffed. I felt Zara tense beside me and held my breath as the bear reared up and sniffed the air.

It turned its head away from us and carried on as if it had not detected us at all. I let out a sigh of relief, realizing Lumina’s powers were no joke. They would definitely come in handy on this journey.

When we were in the clear, we continued our journey while discussing the strategies we should consider for proving our innocence.

Lumina asked, “Can you give me a rundown of what happened?”

I nodded, explaining to her the reason Damascus was so aggressive and eventually slain. “Malphas,” I finished, “was the primary problem in this. We took care of him. Well, Zara did, but his legacy clearly lives on.”

She nodded thoughtfully, letting out a sigh. “Well, there will be doubters in the truth. Any recordings at all of this ordeal? Testimony?”

“I don’t think phones work across realms,” Zara murmured. “It would be convenient if they did. But no, we had no time to record a thing.” She winced, shaking her head.

I leaned over and placed a gentle hand on her shoulder, hearing the worry in her voice. I squeezed it, and she relaxed, closing her eyes and exhaling softly. I felt a sense of pride rush through me that I could calm my mate.

“They will have to take our word for it,” I murmured. “We could approach the elders of the pack, and others with spiritual abilities to confirm the amount of magic saturating us.”

“There does seem to be residual magic,” Lumina agreed, eying us up and down. “I can sense it. I can also be here to back you up as my mother explained the entire situation.”

“We appreciate that,” Zara said to her with a smile, one she returned with confidence. I was glad we had this woman on our side. She was a fierce one and clearly wouldn’t back down when presenting the truth.

“It’s the best idea we have for now. And if that doesn’t work,” I mumbled. “we will need to scope things out and see who supports us. We can get messages out from there. For now, we need to weigh the political status of the pack.”

As we drew closer and closer, I noticed things were wrong. We stuck to the shadows but were able to get into a piece of the territory that should have been difficult.

Lumina had assured us her cloaking magic would hide us from Drogomor guards for a while, so I wanted specifically to see this area.

It was abandoned with no nearby patrols, nothing at all. I went by a small post to discover a huge amount of dust and scattered papers inside, with no trace of recent warriors.

When we got closer to pack territory, I heard voices. They were raised, argumentative, and certainly nothing like the calm, collected pack I knew and loved.

“Listen, our enemies are closing in. We need to move on from Noah. He’s not fit to be an alpha.”

“We shouldn’t move on. We can handle this. We are Drogomor. He will return. Rumors or not, he will face this.”

“And what if the rumors are true? We can’t handle even more enemies. He and Zara have brought enough trouble to the pack.”

I winced, exchanging a glance with Zara. There was a spark of hurt in her eyes that made my heart lurch with sadness. We needed to resolve this. I hoped she understood this wasn’t her fault.

It never had been.

We moved on, scoping out more of the territory and discovering the lack of life in general, which was alarming, to say the least.

There were many ominous signs that my absence from the pack had caused it to become divided and strained.

My father and Luna Estella couldn’t keep things together for long, not when they were on the brink of retirement with their heir missing.

I couldn’t bring myself to feel guilty. I would never feel guilty for being there for my mate and child.

More voices from the pack swirled around as we got closer, listening from the shadows. Some regular members of the pack walked by our secret vantage point on the border, completely tense and wary.

“I don’t feel safe in this area like I used to,” one woman in the group muttered.

“Well, when Noah and Zara come back, they will take care of things. Noah’s meant to be a strong alpha.”

“I suppose you’re right. It’s inevitable their innocence will be proven. These alleged crimes are hogwash.”

“Exactly,” another member agreed, and a few more sounded out in agreement.

However, someone scoffed from the edge of the group, crossing his arms. “Look, we’re going to need evidence and an explanation. Them vanishing like this doesn’t make them innocent.”

“It doesn’t, but they were chased away by these false crimes.”

“Supposedly false, yes.”

Not many voices spoke up, but the arguments swelled and swayed in this group and a few others we managed to overhear, something I confirmed with Caleb from his scouting as well.

My heart lurched. The instability of my pack caused anxiety and frustration to rush through my body. My lips twisted into a frown as I met up with the group again.

We sat by a fire we set up in the woods. I hoped this would not become a regular thing since baby Briella was with us and in potential danger.

I didn’t know how long Lumina’s cloaking magic would help us. She assured me it would last a few days more, but I didn’t want to take any chances or risk someone somehow seeing through it.

I began to eat my rations, thinking things over. My hopes for the pack accepting us again existed, but they were very fragile, considering Drogomor was hurtling toward instability.

I shook my head and then spoke up in a low tone. “We need to do something now,” I said firmly. “I have an idea. Lumina, can you protect Zara and Briella here?” I looked toward her, and she gave a fierce nod.

Zara smiled but continued to focus on me, holding Briella close to her chest. “What do you have in mind, Noah? Not something rash, I hope.”

“Nothing rash, beautiful,” I said, giving a half-smile and attempting to keep my tone light. It was strained, and she noticed. A flash of empathy rang out in her eyes. She nodded, moving to sit next to me and lean on me.

I let out a soft sigh, leaning down to kiss her on her head before continuing. “I’m going to go with Caleb in secret to meet with my father. If Caleb’s up for that.”

“I am, Noah,” Caleb said in an amused but serious tone. He straightened up, giving a bow before looking off toward the territory and steeling himself.

I smiled. “Good. I can always count on you,” I said. I then looked toward Lumina. “If I don’t return, can you get Zara and our baby to safety?”

I felt Zara wince beside me at the prospect of not returning, but I needed that backup plan for my ease of mind. Plus, there was a very real possibility this could go wrong.

“You can count on me,” Lumina said firmly, gazing off toward our pack territory before giving a nod and regarding me.

“Good. I appreciate that. We should get going right away,” I said. “With our bellies full and minds focused, it’s time to get started on this.”

I turned to Zara, wrapping my arms around her and holding her close for a moment. Briella breathed softly in her arms, resting gently against my chest as she leaned into my embrace.

When I pulled away, she gazed into my eyes with her emerald green. Concern radiated from them and the light frown on her face.

“Promise you will return?” she asked, trying and failing to give a light smile.

“I can’t make the promise. I can say that I’ll be stubborn, as I always am, and enough to assure you that there’s a high chance that I will.” I winked at her. “It takes a lot to keep me down, and death itself to keep me from my family.”

“Not even that, I bet,” she teased gently. She tilted her head up and kissed me on the cheek. It was something that made me close my eyes and smile as I accepted it.

A soft tear glided down my cheek at this farewell. “Be safe,” I said gently. I looked toward Briella and leaned down to give her a soft kiss on the forehead.

“You too, my love.”

“I’ll try.”

With that, I set off toward Drogomor, my home, and hopefully my family’s future.