Sold as the Alpha King's Breeder-Chapter 1578 - 20 : Selfless but Destructive

*Kryzen*

I sighed heavily, feeling like I was a hundred years old as I passed Briella’s tightly shut door.

It had been a couple of days since the ball, and she had shut herself up in that room and barely came out. She was very quiet, only answering us if we asked a direct question. Even then, she was speaking little.

I couldn’t really blame her. That night had been traumatic for the entire Celestial City. I was at a loss myself, unable to completely fathom what had happened that night.

I dragged myself into the kitchen where Roy was sitting at the table with a plate of bread and fruit in front of him. It looked like it had barely been touched.

“How is she?” he asked as I sat across from him.

I raised an eyebrow at him. “I’m assuming the same,” I said. “She hasn’t come out of that room today, has she? How should I know the status of her well-being?”

Roy just sighed, looking as exhausted as I felt.

The whole city was in a state of unrest since the violent ball. Roy and I ventured into town the other day to gather groceries and other supplies. The lively festival we had seen just days earlier seemed like a dream compared to the streets now, which were riddled with fearful whispers and uncertainty.

“Supposedly, the elders have been trying to perform cleansing rituals throughout the city,” Roy informed me.

I felt my eyebrows raise. “Trying?” I echoed.

Roy nodded grimly. “Yes, it appears they’ve only been able to rid the city of the dark energy to an extent. It’s as if a dark cloud has fallen over the city. The elders describe it as the city trying to fight the black magic but can’t do so fully.”

I felt my mouth tighten. “Any signs of the demon creatures?”

Roy shook his head. “No, fortunately, but the fact that the cleansing rituals are proving ineffective is obviously cause for concern. They’re talking about seeking outside help, elders from neighboring cities.”

I gritted my teeth. “Well, we saw how that turned out.” I felt a growl trying to bubble its way up my throat. I slammed my palm down on the kitchen table. “We can’t just sit around. We should be taking matters into our own hands.”

Roy shook his head, his voice patronizingly patient. “It’s not our place,” he reminded me. “We aren’t even citizens of this city. We have to let them figure things out in their own way before even offering aid. We don’t want to become suspects.”

I ground my teeth together but knew my friend spoke true. Plus, we weren’t just waiting around for the Alpha and elders to complete their rituals and investigations.

I glanced down the hall toward Briella’s door, concern twisting my gut and making me more irritable.

I could barely breathe a couple of nights ago during the battle against the shadow creatures. I was fending off a few of them when I heard Briella cry out. It felt as if my chest was constricting when I saw her face off against one of the demon shadows. She looked so small as the sinister entity towered over her.

My hands clenched at my sides as I continued to stare at her door. It was a miracle that she hadn’t been harmed. She could have easily been the one who became possessed and had the life sucked out of her. She was lucky that she hadn’t been.

“Maybe we should bring her some food,” Roy suggested after a moment of silence. He followed my gaze down the hall to the small wooden door, his eyebrows furrowing. “I don’t believe she’s eaten much in the past few days.”

I felt frustration course through me. “I don’t think she ate at all yesterday,” I said. “She’s being foolish by not taking care of herself.”

Roy sent me a reproachful look. “That is understandable considering what she’s been through,” he said. “She’s going through a lot even right now, I imagine. She is obviously blaming herself for that woman’s death.”

That wasn’t any less foolish in my opinion. I shot up from my chair without a word, wandering through the kitchen and searching for soup ingredients. Roy watched me quietly as I moved around the kitchen, tossing ingredients into a pot.

“I didn’t realize you could cook,” Roy said with a small smirk.

I rolled my eyes as I watched the soup begin to simmer. “It’s never came up,” I said dryly.

Roy was still smirking when I turned the stove off about a half hour later and poured some of the soup into a bowl. I set the bowl and some bread on a wooden tray and gave my friend a glare from over my shoulder as I headed down the hall with the food.

I hesitated in front of the door before balancing the tray on one arm and rapping my knuckles against the wood carefully. I waited a beat, but there was no response or sound of footsteps on the other side.

I sighed heavily, leaning toward the door. “Briella,” I said, raising my voice slightly so I could be heard through the wood.

There was still no answer.

I knocked one more time, slightly louder, and waited a couple more seconds before gritting my teeth and pushing the door open.

Darkness greeted me as the door creaked open. It took a couple of seconds for my eyes to adjust to the lack of light. I stepped inside before shutting the door carefully behind me, using the stream of light coming in through the drawn curtains to lead me toward the small bed on the other side of the room.

There was a defined lump beneath the covers. It didn’t even stir as I grimaced and set the tray on the nightstand by the head of the bed.

“Briella,” I said, standing over the bed and staring down at the covers. She had drawn the blankets up over her head. I wondered idly how she managed to breathe through the thick comforter.

I wondered if she was really sleeping that deeply. “Briella,” I repeated, bending a bit and raising my voice slightly. I reached out to shake her, my fingers grazing the blanket about where I assumed her shoulder would be. Briella shifted away from my touch as soon as my fingers made contact with the thick fabric.

I narrowed my eyes. The movement had been too quick for her to be rousing from slumber. She was clearly awake, which meant she had been ignoring me the whole time. Frustration welled up inside me. I grabbed the blanket and yanked it off of her in one swift movement.

I immediately regretted my harsh actions when my eyes studied the woman curled up on the mattress. Her petite form was dressed in a pale blue nightgown with lace on the hem and sleeves. Her dark wavy hair was mussed and lying in disarray around her head. Her heart-shaped face was pale, and her usually bright green eyes were dull and red-rimmed.

She didn’t even lift her head as she looked up at me, the corners of her smooth lips turned down. “What is it?” she asked, her voice thick and weak.

Guilt slammed into me. We should have checked on her sooner, but we had wanted to give her space and time to process what had happened. It seemed like giving her distance was the best way to handle it.

It was clear looking at her now that that had been a mistake on our part.

I gestured to the tray I had set on the nightstand. “You need to eat,” I told her, my voice coming out much gruffer than I intended. I took a breath before attempting to soften my tone. “You haven’t eaten in over a day, right? That isn’t wise. You need your strength.”

She shifted slightly so she was no longer looking at me. “I’m not hungry,” she said after a long moment.

“I guarantee that isn’t true,” I said. I took a step toward her, my knees nearly touching the bed. “You should sit up. I’ll leave after you’ve started eating.”

She turned her head slightly so she could glower up at me. “Thank you for the food,” she said. “I will eat it later.”

I didn’t answer. I just continued to stand there staring back at her, my eyes narrowing after each passing moment.

Just as I was a mere second away from ordering her to eat, Briella let out a long breath and pushed herself up, putting her back against the headboard. She shivered, and I saw goosebumps rise on her bare legs.

Hating that I was feeling like a complete ass, even though I was just in there to check up on her, I snatched the blanket from where I had tossed it onto a nearby chair and handed it back to her. She nodded in thanks and spread it over her lap before looking at the soup on the nightstand. I watched her as she sipped at the broth.

She dabbed at the corner of her mouth with a napkin before giving me a pointed look. “Thank you,” she said dismissively, but I didn’t miss the way her voice broke.

I nodded curtly and turned to go but then hesitated. I turned around and met her gaze firmly. “You should know that what happened wasn’t your fault.”

Briella lowered the spoon and stared at me, biting her lip hard. I wondered if she was trying to keep from crying again.

“It was my fault,” she said, her voice quivering. “If I had gotten there quicker, I could have saved her.”

I reeled slightly at her faulty logic. “You shouldn’t beat yourself up because you could have been faster,” I said. “We were all caught off guard. You were still the quickest one to act, the only one that came to that woman’s aid.”

Briella’s head snapped up, her red-rimmed eyes widening.

I was trying to control the anger that was suddenly coursing through me. I couldn’t believe that she was torturing herself when she had been the brave one of us, rushing to that woman’s side without knowing if it was safe to do so. I sucked in a breath as I remembered the devastation that crossed her face when Briella realized the woman was dead.

Briella Black wasn’t just brave. She was selfless to the point of being self-destructive.

She looked small as she gazed up at me. I was a bit relieved to see that her eyes were already brighter than when I had walked in, the green in them shimmering like gemstones.

“Why are you bothering to comfort me?” she asked after a long quiet moment.

I just stared at her, pondering the answer to that question myself. I thought about the very real fear that I felt when I saw her facing that shadow creature or the overwhelming relief I felt when I realized she was alright.

“You are supposedly vital to this mission,” I said at last, allowing a smirk to tilt up one side of my mouth. “I can’t have you wasting away in here, wallowing in self-pity.”

I chuckled inwardly when she returned my smirk and reached for the bowl, taking a bite of the soup I had made for her. “Thank you,” she murmured, not meeting my gaze.

I swallowed, feeling warmth flow through me. I coughed once and looked away.

I was relieved when a knock sounded on the door and Roy’s head poked in. “I’m glad to see you eating, Briella,” he said, smiling gently. He looked between us before his gaze turned serious. “We’ve just received a summons from the Alpha.”