Sold as the Alpha King's Breeder-Chapter 1352 - 107 : Puppets of the Dreamscape

*Zara*

I wondered why the wedding was happening so fast.

Not only was I shocked about them apparently being mates in this weird dream world, but now they were engaged and this was supposed to be on the night before their wedding.

I had many questions running in my mind. Were Noah and I out for an extended period of time? Had a bunch of dreams played out between people that we were not privy to?

Feeling completely out of place as the surreal vibe swirled in my mind, I had to ground myself to not feel as though I was flowing. Odd colors popped in and out of my vision, but I tried to dismiss that.

I looked at Noah from the corner of my eye as he processed the situation in front of us and quickly relaxed his shocked expression. No one seemed to notice our reactions, which was a relief.

I didn’t quite know what they’d do in this odd dream state.

We took our seats as the toast continued. I tried to get a grasp on how I’d talk to Noah about this later, and how we could possibly wake everyone up. My stomach twisted anxiously at the situation.

Suddenly, the grand doors blew open as a gust of autumn leaves swirled inside.

Wait... There had just been snowfall. This made no sense. Plus, the grand hall doors didn’t lead outside.

I couldn’t figure out what was going on.

“This is so exciting, darling!” Aunt Genevieve’s voice rang out, dripping with excitement. She walked in, leading Harriet and Marguerite with her.

Their wispy grey hair flowed behind them as if there was some sort of wind flowing through the hall. More autumn leaves swirled around them as if captured in their own dance. It was all so... strange.

I blinked and put a hand on my forehead, glancing over toward Noah.

He leaned to whisper into my ear, “In all fairness, this is characteristic of them.”

I stifled a smirk and watched the scene play out.

Wait a second... Were they supposed to be woodland witches? Did this dream state grant them magic? Did they have magic to begin with I hadn’t known about?

These questions and many more swirled in my head as they brought out some gifts for Aaron and Lorelei. Marguerite had one gift, which she placed on the table.

The three cackled at the same time, a more goofy laugh than something actually haunting. Again, I had to stifle a smile at their theatrics.

The gift one of the aunts placed on the table was a golden chalice. Like some other portions of this dream, mist swirled and thickened around it. I could sense the radiating power from it.

That was, needless to say, no ordinary chalice.

“This is a chalice, dear,” Harriet said, stating the obvious before moving on to the point of it. “It is to share true love’s elixir, something dazzling and wonderful to behold.”

Aaron and Lorelei exchanged a delighted glance. Lorelei said softly, “That is wonderful. Thank you so much.” She grinned from ear to ear.

Next, Genevieve brought forward a mirror, something she handed to Lorelei with a smile. It had a certain glow to it, golden in a way.

I realized it looked similar to the glow of the golden threads I saw with the matches. I widened my eyes, leaning forward curiously.

I wondered what she was up to and if it was real, as well as if anyone else saw the glow.

“Darling, this is a wonderful gift that you will very much appreciate,” Genevieve said. “Why, it will reflect your soulmate back to you. It’s something wonderful, isn’t it?”

Lorelei let out a breath, dipping her head and clutching the mirror as if she never wanted to let it go. Before looking into it, she looked toward Aaron with an adoring smile.

One that he returned.

Questions continued to swirl in my head. Would the mirror tell them that they were soulmates? Was this dream going to lie to them? Or did it make some sort of different reality?

Marguerite stepped forward, spreading her arms and doing a twirl. She was in the most extravagant of outfits, her dress flowing with many autumn leaves like she was the season itself.

“So, you two, the lovely couple, the future leaders of this pack, oh, how wonderful,” she said. “Have you found your destined match?”

Aaron’s eyes sparkled as he, completely caught up in the fantasy, confirmed with a strong, “Yes. I have.” He reached over to squeeze Lorelei’s free hand.

She returned the gesture and giggled softly, her eyes sparkling with joy. “I have as well. I am so happy, this is amazing.”

She then looked into the mirror, and a peculiar expression crossed her face. It was doubt. For the first time since we saw her in this odd dream, her expression dropped.

Then, everything went to hell.

Suddenly, Gray lunged for Lorelei, sweeping her up into his arms as she let out a shocked gasp and dropped the mirror. Thankfully, it didn’t shatter upon hitting the ground.

He darted out of the grand hall in haste with Aaron snarling out in sheer surprise. I placed a hand over my heart, feeling as though I was playing a part in some performance without my lines.

It had happened so fast, and they were gone. Aaron whirled and attempted to rush out after him but was intercepted by Caleb, who knocked him back.

Letting out a loud, furious growl, his eyes locked on Brandon. “You, help me track them. And you, stay the fuck out of my way.” He bared his teeth in a scowl toward Caleb.

Before Caleb could intercept him again, Aaron rushed out after where Gray had taken Lorelei. Brandon shuddered, timid and staring off after them.

He was the opposite of what he’d been when I first met him. This dream state was shifting the very nature of people or, at least, showing them another part of themselves they’d never seen before.

I wasn’t sure why Noah and I weren’t as deeply affected, but I tried not to dwell on that.

Noah’s eyes were locked on Brandon in evident confusion at his state as well, but he didn’t speak up. He had no time to do so nor a reason as we had other priorities.

“Shit, I have a feeling this is going to turn violent,” Noah muttered, watching as Brandon shifted and charged onward in the direction of the “Alpha.”

“My sentiments exactly. We should go after them.”

“Yep, come on.”

We started to rush after the group of Drogomor warriors now in pursuit of Grey and Lorelei when we were intercepted by Noah’s aunts.

“Wait, darlings!” Genevieve exclaimed, waving her hands. Harriet grabbed Noah’s arm, and Marguerite stared after those who’d left with a deep frown.

“Yes, what is it?” Noah asked with haste, trying to humor them but at the same time needing to get to where the problem was going to erupt as soon as possible. 𝚏𝐫𝚎𝗲𝕨𝐞𝐛𝕟𝚘𝐯𝚎𝗹.𝕔𝐨𝗺

“We have something important for you dears,” Harriet said, letting go of Noah and taking out a box from within her dress. “Here, put these on.”

She withdrew some beautiful alabaster rings that seemed to almost have a glowing white aura around them from the box. No doubt, magic dripped from the rings. I furrowed my brow, trying to grasp whether it was real or not.

“What are these for?” Noah asked, sounding skeptical.

“Darling, they’re moonstone rings. We charmed them to guide your way to Lorelei,” Genevieve said in a light tone as if that were obvious.

“When did you get pow–” Noah began but shook his head. “Never mind that. We need to get to them as soon as possible. Thank you.”

“You are very welcome,” Marguerite said, giving a wave. “Now go intercept them before something terrible happens.”

Now that we had a guide to where the inevitable conflict was happening, we were off. I followed Noah. Both of us needed to use those rings, so we resisted the urge to shift at the moment.

My wolf pulled at me to do so, as we’d get there faster, but we couldn’t afford to get lost, and we didn’t know where Gray and Lorelei were at this point.

It all happened so fast.

As I rushed after Noah to the source of the problem, my heart pounded as all manner of dark scenarios ran through my head. I breathed heavily as I ran, swallowing.

Noah asked in a quick whisper, “Are you feeling alright?”

“Yes, just very stressed. Noah, what if we can’t snap them out of this? We still have no idea how long we’ve been out. A day? A week?”

“Hopefully, just a day, if that. Dreams are strange. A huge amount of time can play out in a dream in flashes of what’s happening when really just minutes are passing.”

“Good point. That’s why it feels like so much happened while we were passed out. I wonder who they think we are.”

Noah snorted as we got closer, grumbling, “Well, I wasn’t ordered around like a certain servant, so at least I was spared that very odd misconception.”

“He is acting entirely different than, well...”

“Than that egotistical, stubborn, confident attitude of his?”

“Right.”

“Yeah, I’m put off by it too. Aaron seemed more malicious than he should have been, ordering Brandon around like that. My parents seemed normal, as did my aunts, though.”

“Well, your aunts did somehow get magic.”

“Yeah, I have no idea how they got that. Either they’ve had it the entire time and we didn’t know, or something granted it to them like the lilies.”

I swallowed. I wondered if the lilies could cause that. It would have been entirely odd. If they did, I questioned whether the effect would be permanent or just temporary.

My thoughts briefly brushed on the sigils on my back, the still-unsolved dilemma. If my powers were tied to those, and they were removed, perhaps I would lose them. I still didn’t know if it was a “once you have it, you always do” thing.

I wondered if the sigils and the lilies were related in terms of magic. This situation was definitely being caused by the lily dust, which was unsettling.

It was potent magic indeed.

My stomach clenched as I realized my insistence on drying them was the cause of this. I should have known it was too dangerous to mess with them.

My thoughts snapped back to reality at the sound of shouting up ahead. There was no time to mope about what I had done. I needed to pay attention.

I prayed to the goddess that we would get there before blood was shed in this dream-turned-nightmare.

By how the ring was glowing, we were definitely on the right track. It was their shouting up ahead, and the glow got brighter and brighter the closer to the shouting we got.

The shouting intensified.

We needed to make it now, or someone was going to do something they regretted horribly.