Breeder To The Brutal Alpha King

​Rebecca’s POV (in Stephanie’s body)

​Kaden’s grip on my arms tightened, his large, rough fingers digging deep into Stephanie’s soft skin.

​”Answer me,” he demanded, his deep voice dropping to a harsh, desperate whisper.

​I stared past his broad shoulder, my eyes landing right back on the pale, motionless girl lying on the bed.

Why would she come back?

The bitter, painful question echoed inside my head.

She was free from the chains now. She was free from the emotional and physical torture... so why should she return?

​Slowly, I forced my eyes up to look at him, meeting his intense, bloodshot green gaze.

​”You can’t,” I said. The two words fell into the heavy silence of the room like a heavy stone.

​Kaden froze. His jaw clenched so tightly the muscles along his neck turned rigid. ”What did you say?”

​”You asked how to bring her back,” my voice trembled, but it wasn’t just from Stephanie’s natural fear anymore. It was from the raw, burning anger twisting my own soul. ”You can’t.”

​A dangerous, frightening look flashed across his exhausted face. He looked like an animal ready to strike, but for some reason, the fear didn’t stop me. Looking at my own pale face on that pillow, I couldn’t stop the words from rushing out.

​”Why would she ever want to wake up?”

​Kaden’s entire body went completely rigid.

​”You called her a murderer,” I said, words dripping from my tongue before I could check myself. ”A slave. You treated her like an animal. You humiliated her, punished her, and broke her spirit over and over again until there was nothing left.”

​”Enough,” Kaden growled, a dark warning vibrating in his chest.

​”No!”

​The word slipped out, sharp and loud, before I could stop it. My heart pounded wildly against Stephanie’s ribs. For a terrifying second, I wasn’t just a maid standing in the shadows anymore. I wasn’t Stephanie.

​I was Rebecca.

​I was the broken girl he had destroyed, speaking directly to her executioner. Her tormentor.

​”If she’s hiding somewhere deep inside herself, maybe she’s finally at peace,” I whispered, my voice shaking with an unbearable pain. ”Maybe she doesn’t want to come back to a world where nobody ever protected her. Especially not you.”

​Kaden’s expression darkened into something truly terrifying, the golden glint of his wolf flaring at the edges of his green eyes. ”Watch your tongue, maid.”

​”Why?” I let out a bitter, breathless laugh, staring right into his deadly face. ”Because the truth hurts? Because you can’t order a comatose girl to wake up and take your abuse anymore?”

​The room became suffocatingly silent, the air turning thick and heavy. I could see the dark, violent anger building inside him, tightening his fists until his knuckles turned stark white. But beneath that monstrous fury, I saw it again.

​Pain.

​Raw, agonizing pain.

​And suddenly, all the built-up agony and rage I had buried since the day I was dragged into this pack territory exploded. The weeks of being framed, hated, and beaten came rushing to the surface, blinding my common sense.

​”Have you ever even tried to investigate your wife’s death?” I snapped.

​Kaden froze completely. The entire energy in the room instantly changed, turning freezing cold.

​”What?” he breathed out.

​”You heard me,” I said, stepping closer into his space, completely forgetting that a normal maid would have been on her knees begging for mercy by now.

​His eyes narrowed furiously, his angry gaze fixed on me. ”What are you saying? What does this matter have to do with you?”

​Everything. It had everything to do with me. It was the reason I was lying lifeless on a bed, the reason my life had been turned into a living hell. But the adrenaline was pumping too hard through Stephanie’s veins, and I couldn’t stop.

​”What if Rebecca was set up?” I demanded, my voice shaking with a mixture of tears and anger. ”What if someone framed her?”

​His face became harder. ”What are you talking about?”

​”What if the evidence wasn’t what it seemed?” I stepped even closer, the words pouring out like water from a broken dam. ”What if the fingerprints on the weapon were planted? What if the person you condemned, the person you tortured, was completely innocent?”

​Kaden took a slow, heavy step toward me.

​Every single instinct in my soul screamed at me to shut up, to back down, to remember that I was wearing a maid’s face. But the unfairness of it all was burning me alive from the inside out.

​”Did you ever ask questions?” I pushed, my eyes wide.

​Another step from Kaden. His shadow swallowed me whole.

​”Did you ever wonder why Rebecca would suddenly murder a woman she didn’t even know? A queen she had no reason to hate?”

​Another step. He was so close I could feel the scorching heat radiating from his bare chest.

​”Did you ever investigate anything beyond what was neatly placed right in front of you?”

​His eyes locked onto mine. Cold. Sharp. Utterly terrifying. The room felt smaller, much smaller, the walls closing in on us until there was no air left to breathe.

​My breathing became uneven. The anger suddenly drained away, replaced by a sudden, icy wave of fear.

​I had said too much. Way too much.

​”Interesting,” Kaden murmured.

​My stomach dropped into a bottomless pit. His voice wasn’t angry anymore. It was terrifyingly calm, smooth, and laced with suspicion.

​”Tell me, Stephanie...” He moved closer, tilting his upper body down until he was standing directly in front of my face. ”How exactly do you know what evidence was found at the crime scene?”

​My blood turned to pure ice.

​His gaze sharpened, dissecting every single expression on Stephanie’s face. ”Because the details about the weapon and the fingerprints were strictly confidential. That information was never released to the pack, much less to the servants.”

​Silence. Complete, agonizing silence.

​My heart felt like it had stopped beating entirely. Kaden slowly tilted his head, his sharp eyes locking onto mine with a terrifying intensity. For the first time since I had entered the room, genuine suspicion appeared in his eyes. He wasn’t looking at a maid anymore. He was looking at a threat.

​I forced my hands to clench in my skirt, trying desperately to find an escape. I frowned, forcing a panicked, defensive look onto Stephanie’s face.

​”Rebecca did,” I lied quickly, my voice cracking under the pressure. ”She... she told me herself before she went into the coma. We were friends, Alpha King. She trusted me.”

​Kaden looked down at me, a dark, skeptical look crossing his face. He let out a harsh, mocking scoff. ”Yeah? And why exactly would she tell you the truth? People lie to save their skin.”

​”Because she is innocent!” I shouted.

​The words echoed off the stone walls, loud and defiant.

​Shit. The thought hit me like a slap to the face. I just shouted at the Alpha King. A mere maid had just yelled directly into the face of the most feared wolf in the world.

​Before I could even take a step back to apologize, Kaden’s hand shot out like lightning.

​His large, powerful fingers wrapped around my neck, gripping so tight that it forced my face up toward his. The pressure of his grip made a gasp escape my throat, my eyes watering from the pain as his green eyes burned down into mine, staring at me suspiciously.

​Oh shit!