Mated to the Alpha: Sold to the King

Chapter 13: 0013

Lorelei POV

I had really underestimated the pain of a rejected bond.

Even knowing there was a high possibility I would die, I had accepted it.

So why the hell was I still alive?

And where was I?

I blinked as my eyes tried to adjust to the darkness around me. The world swayed gently beneath me, and a low engine hummed somewhere nearby.

It wasn’t until my vision fully cleared that I realized I was lying across the back seat of a moving vehicle.

I tried to push myself up, only to grit my teeth in pain. Every single muscle in my body screamed in protest, so I dropped back down with a weak gasp.

"Oh good, you’re awake," a female voice said, poking her head back from the driver’s seat, and my eyes widened when I realized it was Raven, Jaxen’s older sister.

"What..." I breathed, my voice barely above a whisper. "What’s going on? What are you..."

I tried to sit up again, only to collapse back against the seat, and this time the pain was so unbearable I groaned loudly.

"You should take it easy. Your body is way too weak for sudden movements," Raven said. "Also, this is the part where you stay as quiet as possible if you don’t want to get caught."

Get caught?

I frowned, still biting hard against my lip from the pain.

Why should I worry about getting caught?

"Are we really doing this again?"

Raven spoke again, but this time her words were directed at someone outside the car.

It was too dark for me to fully make out the person, but I caught the badge on his uniform, one I had become very familiar with because of how many times I’d been punished and locked away.

It was a guard.

"You guys just seem to forget who I am."

"I’m sorry, Lady Raven," the guard replied nervously. "This is just normal procedure. It won’t take long."

"Whatever," Raven muttered with an exaggerated exhale.

At that, the guard pulled out a flashlight and aimed it into the back seat.

I immediately held my breath as the beam swept across the seats, pausing briefly on the pile of blankets Raven had thrown over me. I quickly pulled them higher over my face and trembling hands.

"See?" Raven said impatiently. "Just me and my luggage. Happy?"

The guard hesitated for a moment, his flashlight lingering on the blankets as he sniffed the air suspiciously.

For one horrifying second, I thought he had caught my scent.

Then he finally stepped back.

"Sorry for the inconvenience, Lady Raven. You’re free to go."

Only then did Raven let out a long breath.

The flashlight clicked off, the window rolled back up, and the car finally began moving again.

I stayed completely still even as the massive gates slowly creaked open and we made our way out of the estate.

More than ten minutes passed before Raven finally spoke again.

"You can talk now, you know. We’re out of the red zone."

"What’s going on?" I whispered immediately, using every bit of strength I had to ignore the pain as I forced myself upright into a sitting position.

Pain instantly shot through my chest and stomach so violently my vision blurred for a second, but I gritted my teeth and endured it. ƒreewebɳovel.com

"We’re escaping," Raven said simply, then paused briefly before adding, "And by we, I mean you."

My eyes widened.

I instinctively glanced back toward the pack estate, which was now nothing more than a distant cluster of lights fading into the darkness behind us.

"Why?" I asked, and her brows furrowed slightly as she looked at me through the rearview mirror.

"Do you want to die?" she asked flatly. freewebnσvel.cѳm

Yes.

The answer rose instantly in my throat.

But I swallowed it back down and pressed my lips tightly together instead.

"You were sentenced to death," Raven continued, her grip tightening around the steering wheel. "I couldn’t just sit back and do nothing."

My eyes widened briefly at that, though honestly... what had I expected?

That they would suddenly become decent human beings and spare me because Callista and her child were alive?

"How long was I out?" I asked quietly, remembering how everything had gone black after the rejection.

"Five days, from what I gathered."

"Five days?" I repeated in complete shock.

How the hell was I still alive after being unconscious that long?

"When I found you, you were practically a corpse," Raven went on, her voice dropping lower. "Your heartbeat was weak and your body temperature kept dropping. Honestly, I thought you were already dead."

A strange emptiness settled heavily in my chest at her words.

"So why didn’t you leave me there?" I asked weakly.

Raven stayed silent for a few seconds before finally answering.

"Because even if there was a high possibility you’d die, I still couldn’t leave you there like that." Her jaw tightened slightly. "They wouldn’t have even given you a proper burial."

I sighed quietly because unfortunately... she was right.

They probably would have thrown my body off a cliff somewhere just to avoid "contaminating" pack soil with the cursed twin’s corpse.

I stared at her silently for a moment before whispering,

"Thank you."

A small smile briefly appeared on her lips, but it looked sad more than anything else.

"Where are we going?" I asked, my gaze drifting toward the window.

"My place," she replied. "Well... one of them. I have houses scattered around because I travel a lot."

Then after a short pause, she added more quietly,

"But honestly, it’s mostly because I can’t stand the memories the pack estate holds."

Instantly, I knew she was talking about her mother.

I didn’t know every detail since I had been too young when it happened, but even years later the servants still whispered about how the former Luna had committed suicide.

And afterward, the Alpha had apparently become a completely different person. Colder. More unstable. His health deteriorated rapidly over the years until the estate itself started feeling less like a home and more like a graveyard pretending to still be alive.

The second Raven turned eighteen, she practically moved out of the estate completely.

I guessed she had only returned because of Jaxen’s wedding and coronation.

Raven and I had barely interacted growing up beyond occasional glances in hallways or during pack events.

That was why this entire situation felt unreal.

I still couldn’t fully understand why she was helping me at all.

Almost like she could hear my thoughts, Raven suddenly spoke again.

"You know," she said quietly, "I used to think staying out of things made me better than the rest of them."

I looked at her silently.

"But watching everybody slowly destroy you while pretending it was justified?" She let out a bitter laugh. "Turns out doing nothing makes you just as guilty."

The car fell silent again after that, and I awkwardly clutched the hem of the blankets.

"Wouldn’t they realize I’ve gone missing?" I asked, voicing the question that had been tugging at the back of my mind.

"Today is Jaxen’s coronation," Raven replied, her smile stretching slightly wider. "The entire pack is in celebration mode. By the time they realize, it’ll already be too late."

Hearing that, I slowly sank back into the car seat.

Was this it?

Was I really escaping?

I wondered quietly, clutching at my racing heart.

For twenty years, I had been trapped in that hellhole, but now...

Was I truly free?