Sold as the Alpha King's Breeder-Chapter 1354 - 109 : Waking Up

*Noah*

Zara and I burst through the shadows, the moonstone rings resting on our fingers glowing brightly. The shouting and cried pains from combat were growing stronger.

The scent of blood was rising into the air too. We were completely out of time, but at least we’d arrived with the guidance of the moonstones.

They lit up the entire clearing like a full moon was casting its glow in the area. What had been a pool of dull moonlight before suddenly was much brighter, which revealed the entire conflict.

Gray and Aaron were locked in combat, and Gray was bleeding. I noticed how much he was parrying the blows of my half-brother, impressively, but something that would not be enough.

In a complete, uncontrolled rage, Aaron was bearing down on Gray, slashing with such fury that I knew he’d kill him when he had the chance.

Meanwhile, Lorelei was being held back by Brandon but struggling hard, likely to try to get between them. Lorelei screamed, “Please! Stop, both of you stop! I don’t want this, Aaron, I am meant to be with Gray!” 𝕗𝗿𝕖𝐞𝐰𝗲𝕓𝐧𝕠𝕧𝗲𝐥.𝚌𝐨𝚖

“Bullshit!” Aaron screamed, going for another strike and landing a successful blow on Gray’s leg, causing him to cry out in pain and drop his sword.

Gray fell to his knees. Blood started to flow from his wound. Thankfully, Aaron didn’t slice through a major vein or artery, but the flash of pain and wound already on him were doing him in.

It’s all Aaron would need. He’d have a chance to go for the killing blow, and it was all happening fast enough that we wouldn’t have a chance to do anything.

At least, we couldn’t do anything physically.

As Aaron took a step toward Gray, raising his sword, I gave a low, rumbling growl. My commanding voice sliced through the air, causing Zara to freeze and focus beside me.

Most attention shifted to me at that moment.

“Aaron. Back off. Stand down from Gray, now,” I commanded. “You will listen to me.”

I kept my expression focused and without emotion, despite the roiling anger within me.

For a split second, nothing happened, and I thought my damn brother would continue. But a very short moment later, the moonstone ring on my finger pulsed with an intense burst of power.

I felt a rush of sheer energy flow through me at that burst, my eyes widening from the potency of the magic. These were definitely real.

The haze all around us began to part at each pulse, especially as it grew more powerful radiating from the rings themselves.

They dripped with so much magic that I briefly wondered where my aunts had gotten them.

Shit, maybe they were witches.

I resisted the urge to burst into laughter, the stress of the situation entirely getting to my head.

This was serious, and I needed to pay attention no matter how badly I wanted to sweep Zara up into my arms and return to bed.

I resisted the urge to reach up and rub my temples to clear my head, wanting to remain as focused as I could on my brother before he did something he’d regret.

Aaron lowered his sword for a split second, turning his head to look at me following that command. He didn’t look as though he was going to argue with me.

He locked eyes with me, and I saw the spark of recognition flash in his eyes.

I thanked the moon goddess.

He could see who I really was, rather than whatever the dream was telling him. I had no idea at this point myself. Maybe he thought I was a random Drogomor warrior. That was probably how he should have seen Brandon but saw him as a servant instead.

This gave Gray the opportunity to recover and lunge upward, capitalizing on the distraction and twisting Aaron’s sword away from him.

A swift kick to the center of Aaron’s chest sent him stumbling back. Gray’s eyes flashed in sheer triumph as victory was now within his grasp.

“What the f-fuck?” Aaron sputtered, trying to look around and just stumbling, entirely out of it now.

The rings continued to pulse with power. The clearing lit up even further now. It was as if the full moon was visiting us during this dance in the dream world, parting the mist to reality.

Brandon let go of Lorelei and took that opportunity to rush over with her to grab Aaron by one arm while Lorelei grabbed the other.

Tears were streaming down her cheeks, and she was shuddering. She held strong, unwilling to let go of my entirely deranged brother, knowing he’d try to kill Gray again otherwise.

I stared at Gray, wondering if I should say anything else. I wondered if he would try to go for revenge knowing Aaron had intended to kill him no matter what.

No.

He did nothing of the sort, which caused both relief and pride to flow through me. I’d made the right decision by giving the ex-Silver Fang wolf a chance.

Gray raised his sword, keeping his blade up with an exhausted, wary expression in his eyes. He made no move to attack Aaron as he was being restrained by the others.

Gray said, “Aaron. I know it is difficult to find out your love is a lie. I felt something similar every time I saw you with Lorelei. I tried so hard to let it go. But...”

“But here you are trying to get at her again!” Aaron snapped, though his tone was exhausted as well. He made no move to struggle against Brandon or Lorelei.

“No. This is on her terms. I am not making her say any of this, Alpha. You will find your Luna. I know you will. You are a strong person, someone who used to know how to laugh and play around.”

“Used to?”

“Yes. It saddens me that you stopped years ago. You are too focused on advancement, too focused on getting someone who just isn’t for you. She thought so too. But this is her decision, Aaron.”

Aaron went quiet. He then asked in a broken tone, “Lorelei. Is... is it true? Do you not love me?”

“I don’t want to hurt you, Aaron, but I can’t deny the truth. It hurts both of us if I do. I do not love you. I did not see you in that mirror. I... I saw Gray.”

Suddenly, the rings on Zara and my hands flared even brighter. The mist evaporated further. Though the hazy dream state remained, I felt the illusion dispel more.

A surge of relief rushed through me at the realization we were finally waking up from this complete nightmare.

Not to mention, the haze of confusion and rage began to fade from Aaron’s eyes as he looked toward me, locking his eyes on me again.

There was the recognition again. He went entirely still, not even bothering to strain even a little against Brandon and Lorelei.

“Noah,” he muttered. “Brother, w-what is going on?” he asked, his voice breaking. The violent haze cleared entirely from his eyes, but now he was completely disoriented.

His eyes were wide with fear. He looked around and then back to me. “What have I done? We’re still here, but there’s... there’s still something wrong.”

Gray furrowed his brow in confusion as well. Relief flowed through me as I studied everyone else in the clearing. Lorelei and Brandon let go of him and reached up to hold their heads.

All of my senses told me that the spell was unraveling, whatever had caused that horrible confusion that didn’t apply to either Zara or me.

They all thought years had passed, and some of us were completely different people from who we really were.

In a terrified voice, Aaron asked, “What do we do now? Noah, Zara? Do you have any idea?”

I thought for a moment and then nodded. “Let’s go see our aunts. It will be okay.” I wasn’t sure if I was right, but it was the best thing to say right now.

The group followed Zara and me as we led them on, heading back to the Drogomor pack house from this conflict. Thankfully, we had some idea of where we were going.

While we walked, my thoughts turned to the source of the issue. Those Luna lilies were dangerous, but I wondered what other applications they could be used for.

The thought of them had me glancing toward Zara. “You doing alright?” I asked gently. After all, this recent confrontation had been very intense.

Zara was silent for a moment before replying, “I don’t know.” She frowned deeply. “There’s more and more to these flowers that we’re learning. And... I can’t help but feel this was my fault.”

“What? How?”

“Noah, think about it. I didn’t stop you from drinking the tea, didn’t stop cultivation before now, and tried to dry them. They–”

“My love,” I said, my tone gentle but firm. I placed a hand on her shoulder as we walked. “This isn’t on you. When it comes to things like this, risks need to be taken.”

“There’s been more than enough evidence that we should have just abandoned the project totally.”

“If we ran from what we perceived as danger every time, Zara, we wouldn’t get anywhere, and we wouldn’t learn new things.” My eyes fastened on Gray as we walked along in silence.

The new Drogomor warrior had his head down in concentration, and he was tense. He walked next to Lorelei, his arm over her shoulder, and kept casting wary glances toward Aaron.

I continued, “For example. I wouldn’t have given Gray a chance. You taught me to do that, beautiful.”

Zara blinked, realization dawning on her. She glanced toward me and gave a soft smile. “There does seem to be a happy ending to nightmares sometimes,” she muttered.

“That’s exactly right. This one included. Look at how beautiful our daughter is. That was no small task, getting through that to finally stabilize as a family.”

“Stabilize is a strong term, but yes, I understand.” She chuckled, and I snickered right along with her.

“Fair point,” I muttered. I took this opportunity to look around and check to see if we were in the clear.

The swirling mist everywhere and weird glitch-like images on the side of my vision told me were still in this odd dream state.

Hopefully, my aunts would be able to get us out of here. I still found it highly unusual that Zara and I weren’t completely stuck like everyone else.

Come to think of it, I wondered if they were. They seemed to have some semblance of what was going on, but I wasn’t sure.

I carried on, hoping my aunts had the key to getting out of here.