Breeder To The Brutal Alpha King

​Kaden’s POV

​There was something wrong with this maid.

​My fingers dug into her neck and jaw, the small bones shifting slightly under my strength, but she didn’t scream. She didn’t drop to her knees and beg for her life like any normal servant would.

There was something entirely different about her—something I couldn’t pinpoint. Her eyes didn’t look like the eyes of a terrified maid. They were burning with a sharp, deep-seated hatred that felt dangerously familiar.

​And the boldness. What gave a low-ranking servant the boldness to speak to the Alpha King in such a manner? To look me in the eye and accuse me of breaking a prisoner’s spirit?

​Realizing that she was starting to choke under the pressure of my hand, I let go.

​Stephanie staggered backward, gasping for air as she fell straight to the floor. She sat on the floor, coughing softly and massaging her neck where my fingers had just been. Her hands were shaking, but she kept her gaze fixed on the floor, hiding her face from me.

​I turned away from her, my chest heaving as I stared back down at the lifeless body of Rebecca.

​The room was silent again, save for the faint, steady sound of the breathing machine, but my mind was a chaotic mess. Stephanie’s words kept replaying in my head like a record, cutting through my thoughts over and over again.

​What if Rebecca was set up? What if someone framed her?

​I shook my head tightly, my jaw clenching. No. It was impossible. Who would dare to pull off such an act? Who would have the power to murder the Lunar Queen and plant evidence so perfectly?

​Rebecca had obviously lied to Stephanie. She had used her pathetic, weak, pitiful tears to manipulate this maid, and Stephanie had been stupid enough to believe her. Rebecca was such a good actress that her lies were spreading through my palace like a disease. She was so convincing that, for a split second, even I had felt a silly doubt creeping into my chest.

​I turned back around, looking straight down at Stephanie as she huddled on the floor.

​”Rebecca is going to come back to me,” I said, my voice dropping into a dark, freezing promise that echoed off the walls. ”She will wake up, she will fulfill her duty as my breeder, and she will pay every single day for killing my wife. Even if I have to reach into hell and drag her soul back myself, I will do it. Do you understand me?”

​Stephanie didn’t answer. She just kept massaging her neck, her shoulders tense.

​I didn’t care to wait for a response. I turned on my heel and stormed out of the room, the heavy wooden doors slamming shut behind me. The guards outside straightened up in terror, but I ignored them, my boots pounding against the stone floor as I marched through the dark corridors and arrived back at my private chambers.

​The silence of my room was suffocating. I walked straight over to the crystal decanter on the side table, pouring myself a heavy glass of whiskey. My hands were trembling slightly—not from fear, but from the pure, unadulterated exhaustion that had been weighing down my bones for three weeks.

​I raised the glass to my lips, ready to burn the thoughts out of my throat.

​’If you keep drinking like this, you will damage your liver,’ a voice echoed.

​I froze, the glass stopping just an inch from my mouth. The voice was deep, gravelly, and completely clear. It wasn’t a wild howl or a painful whimper. It was my wolf, speaking to me clearly for the first time in the three weeks since the night we lost Helen.

​My eyes widened in the dim light of the room. ’You’re back,’ I thought back, my heart taking a sudden leap.

​’I have always been here,’ he replied smoothly, his tone dry and unimpressed. ’I just wasn’t in the mood to communicate with you.’

​I let out a long, heavy sigh of relief, setting the glass down on the table. Getting my wolf back was an absolute blessing. I had truly believed he would be gone for months, completely shut away in the dark while mourning our dead mate.

​But my relief didn’t last long.

​’I would advise you to listen to that maid,’ my wolf muttered, his mental voice pacing back and forth in my mind. ’Kaden, you are supposed to be sharp and wise. But in this case... why are you acting so foolish?’

​I frowned deeply, the remarks instantly striking a nerve. ’What are you talking about? She killed Helen... she bragged about it.’

​’You didn’t even look into the case properly,’ he countered, his tone turning sharp and accusatory. ’You took the weapon, you saw the prints, and you closed your mind. You let your anger blind us.’

​”Are you being brainwashed now too?!” I shouted aloud to the empty room, my anger flaring up as I gripped the edge of the wooden table. ”The evidence was clear! Helen’s blood was on her hands! Are you forgetting what she took from us?!”

​’I am not forgetting anything, Kaden,’ my wolf growled back, his voice vibrating in my skull. ’But I am asking you a simple question. What are you so afraid of? Why don’t you want to look into this matter again?’

​I grabbed the glass of whiskey and emptied it in one single, burning gulp. My heart was racing wildly against my ribs, the alcohol doing nothing to calm the sudden fire in my chest.

​My wolf was right.

​I was scared. I was a king, a ruthless Alpha who feared no man, but right now, I was terrified. I was terrified of investigating the murder now. I was terrified of opening that murder case, asking those questions, and finding out if I might be wrong... that terrifying fear that I might have been wrong about Rebecca all along was stopping me.

​I shook my head violently, slamming the empty glass down on the table.

​No. I wasn’t wrong. I couldn’t be wrong.

​Rebecca was just using her weak, pitiful act to play everyone in this palace, and now she had somehow managed to confuse my wolf too. She was a master liar, but I wasn’t going to let her fool me. I was going to prove them all wrong. I was going to find more proof, bury her lies once and for all, and show everyone that she was the monster I knew she was.

​Without wasting another second, I opened the mind link to my Beta.

​’Logan,’ I snapped into his mind, my voice sharp and demanding.

​It took only a second for Logan to answer, his mental voice alert and focused. ’Yes, Alpha King? I’m down in the courtyard with the guards. Is everything alright?’

​’I want to dig back into Helen’s murder case,’ I ordered coldly. ’Right now.’

​There was a long, heavy silence on the other end of the link. I could feel Logan’s sudden confusion and shock bleeding through the mental bond. ’The murder case? But Alpha... we already closed it. We’ve examined the weapon. We have her fingerprints. What is happening?’

​”Nothing,” I lied through the link, my jaw clenching tight. I didn’t want to tell him about the crazy thoughts running through my mind.

​I forced my tone to remain completely hard and steady. ’I just want to review everything again before the court trial with Kane. Gather all the security files. I want the footage from every single camera around that library room and the back hallways from that night. I want every single detail, and I want it fast.’

​’Yes, Alpha King,’ Logan replied, his voice turning serious and professional. ’I will contact the Full Moon Pack and get our security team on it immediately and bring the files to your study.’

​I broke the mind link, cutting off the connection before he could ask any more questions.

​I stood alone in the dim light of my room, my chest rising and falling as a dark, dangerous determination took over my body. I looked down at the table, then closed my eyes to face the heavy presence in my mind.

​”You just wait,” I muttered aloud to my wolf. ”All of you just wait. I am going to look at everything again, and I am going to prove you all wrong.”