Chapter 11. Truth and Rumors

*Isla*

“I’m… what?”

I need to sit down. I find a way to sit on the bed, struggling to catch my breath, the pajamas I was getting ready to put on forgotten on the bed next to me since I’ve heard Poppy’s words. That’s what breeder means??

Poppy is looking at me from across the bedroom, a puzzled expression on her face.

“You… didn’t know?” she asks me. “How is it that you didn’t know? How did you get here?”

“I…” I feel my face flush as I lean back against the pillows, trying to process everything.

How is this possible?

That’s what Alpha Ernest sold me to Alpha Maddox to do?

To be his breeder?

“I’m so sorry,” Poppy says, coming over and resting her hand on my leg. “I just assumed that you either had done this before or had taken it upon yourself to make this into your career. I had no idea you had no idea, dear. And don’t think that I was judging you because of it! I mean… who wouldn’t want to be a breeder for Alpha Maddox?” She smiles at me and waggles her eyebrows, and I know that she’s trying to make me laugh, but it’s not working.

I want to bury my face in my hands and cry.

I think of my poor mother back home and how hard she’s worked for all of her children, how my dad saved when I was little to be able to afford to bring us all to a new land to start over after political insurrection made us flee his homeland.

How I’ve spent so many hours slaving away at so many jobs over the last two years trying to erase this debt that just keeps mounting because of my brother… through absolutely no fault of his own, bless his soul.

And this is where I end up.

My mom would be so disappointed in me. When my parents find out that this is what I’m doing, that this is what Alpha Ernest has traded me off to do… they will disown me.

No, they are too sweet for that, but they will be so disappointed in me that they will never be able to look me in the eye again.

Tears begin to stream down my face. I can’t help it. Poppy wraps her arm around me. “I am so sorry, sweetie. You know, Alpha King Maddox is scary on the outside, but I bet if you tell him your situation, that you didn’t know, I bet he will let you go. I’m sure, however, you got here, he’ll reverse it.”

I think about her words for about five seconds and then shake my head. “I can’t do that,” I say, sitting up and wiping my eyes on the back of my hand. Poppy grabs a tissue for me from the nightstand. “Thank you.”

I dry my face and try to get myself under control before I tell her, “My Alpha brought me here. My family owes him a lot of money. I went to him this morning to see if there was any work I could do to pay off our debt, and he brought me here. If I go back now, he will not be fulfilling his promise to Alpha Maddox, and I won’t be fulfilling my promise to him. So… my family will either still owe him money, or he’ll make me become some sort of sex slave to him.” The thought of servicing Alpha Ernest makes my blood run cold.

“I take it that your Alpha is not as… fetching as the king?” Poppy asks, and I nearly throw up all of the food I just ate.

I make a face and shake my head, and she laughs, which makes me laugh.

“Well, of all of the jobs to have, honey, it could be worse. I mean… at least he looks like a god and not like your Alpha,” she says with a shrug.”

I want to think that that’s true, and it is, but still… the idea of Alpha Maddox on top of me, of my naked body underneath his as he enters me... No, I can’t let my mind go there. I spit out, “I’m a virgin.”

“Oh,” she says, her eyes wide. She opens her mouth, closes it, and then says, “Oh,” again. “I guess… that’s why you’re worth so much, perhaps?”

“I don’t know,” I tell her. “My mother told me a bit. I have a lot of brothers and sisters, so I know how it all works. But… that doesn’t mean I’m comfortable with it.”

“How old are you, sweetie?” Poppy asks.

“Twenty,” I tell her. “Just barely. My birthday was a few weeks ago.”

She smiles. “I’m twenty-three, and I’ve been with two different men. Neither of them was my mate. I haven’t found him yet. It’s okay, though. It can be fun. Well, it depends on the man. Anyway, I’m sure, with the king… it’ll be pretty amazing.”

I can only stare at her. “But… what about having a baby? And giving birth? And then what? I suppose he’ll hire a nanny or something, and I’ll leave here. I’ll go back to my pack, and I’ll never see my baby again?”

Poppy sits down near my feet and lets out a sigh. “Yes, I do think that’s how it normally works. I don’t have a lot of experience with breeders, but I do know of another maid who used to work at Alpha Samuel’s estate in his pack lands, and he had a few breeders. Each one had a child, and every time, he’d send them away.” She looks at me, a sad expression in her eyes. “Maybe knowing it ahead of time will help you to keep from getting too attached.”

“Maybe,” I say, but I doubt it. I don’t think I can carry a baby for nine months and not love it completely.

But then… I don’t think I can make love to a man and not love him, either.

“Why doesn’t he just find another Luna?” I ask. “I know what you said about him loving his first wife and mate so much that he swears he’ll never have another wife, but I can’t imagine what could’ve possibly happened to Luna Rebecca that has made him decide he’d never fall in love again.”

Poppy makes a face, and I’m not sure what it means. “No one knows for sure what happened to her,” she says, her voice a whisper.

I look around. No one is here, so I don’t know why she is whispering. I shrug. “Well, it couldn’t be so awful that he thinks he should be forced to live the rest of his life alone. If he is a good man, as you say, then he shouldn’t have a breeder. He should find a worthy woman, an Alpha’s daughter, and marry again. He deserves a second chance at happiness.”

Poppy shrugs. “Perhaps, but not if the rumors are true…”

“Rumors?” I ask. “What rumors?”

“About what happened to Luna Rebecca,” she says, still whispering.

I am getting tired of playing guessing games. “And what, exactly, is that?” I ask her.

Poppy clears her throat and says, “That he killed her.”