“She’s safe, for now. I assure you this home is well-fortified. I’d do nothing to put Katie in jeopardy. But you can’t hide Dani away forever. You must find the culprit and eliminate him. While there could be others, you and Dani must live the life you were both destined to live.”
“But Dani—”
“The marks prove she was destined to be your princess. You must let her fulfill that role. It’s her destiny, Gage. Not just yours. Not anymore.”
I knew his words to be accurate, but I felt the sharp bite of fear of something happening to Dani. “Will it lessen? This need to protect? To claim?” I asked.
Bryn stepped back and his shoulders relaxed, the corner of his mouth tipped up. “Hell, no. No one will hurt Katie. No one,” he growled. “As for claiming? That need hasn’t lessened yet and it will only do so when I am dead. I assume you’ve not completed the Sacred Order of Three?”
“Not yet, but now that we are together, I anticipate the claiming to be finished by dawn.” I thought of how she’d writhed beneath my hands, my mouth, in the tub. She was so responsive, passionate.
Bryn grinned, pushed off the wall, slapped me on the back as he stood beside me. I’d slipped on my socks and was ready to return to our mates. “One night? You sure you want to give her that long?”
I laughed, followed him back to the main room, my mind spinning with the thought of taking her back the bedroom and claiming her second virginity now. Perhaps that was a better idea. Complete the ritual, claim her ass, today, before we had to return to my home in the capital and everyone would want a piece of me again. Bryn’s logic was sound. Before I left, I’d make sure she was one step closer to being mine forever.
Her shocked gasp halted my thinking as I entered the sitting area. All three women were still seated on the large couch, watching the screen. The face on display one I recognized well.
“She’s so pretty,” I heard. It wasn’t Dani, but Lexi, Von’s mate. “I can’t believe they were engaged.”
“She’s his stepsister. It was kind of an arranged thing.” Dani shifted in her seat, but I heard the doubt creeping into her voice as Rayla spoke from the garden in front of my ancestral home, begging for my safe return.
The large comms display changed as the news feed showed clips of me with Rayla and my stepmother. They showed even older images of me when I was a young man standing next to my father. Seeing his smiling face made my chest ache all over again. Only now that I had Dani did I understand what hell he’d survived when he’d lost my mother, been left to raise a son alone.
The screen changed back to that of my stepmother. There were lines of strain around her eyes and mouth and she looked older than when I’d last seen her. Exhausted. Yet her voice was clear and strong as she stood, holding Rayla’s hand offering a reward for any information leading to my return.
At the bottom of the display were the words ‘REWARD FOR MISSING PRINCE’. And a staggering number of credits.
“Holy shit. He’s a prince?” Katie asked.
“Does that make you a princess?” Lexi immediately asked.
I waited, sensing unease from my mate that I did not like. She was staring at Rayla and my mother. Their clothing was of the finest quality, their hair perfectly arranged and jewels and marks of their station as members of my family adorned their necks. They were beautiful and elegant, a stark contrast to the wild thing wearing borrowed clothing, her lips still pink and flushed from my kisses, her hair a wild tangle I couldn’t wait to touch.
She licked her lips and took a deep breath. “Crazy, right? Me! A princess. I won’t ever look like that.” The whispered words felt like a confession from the deepest part of her, and there was sadness in the words. Acceptance.
“Mate,” I said, my voice deep. Clear.
All three females whipped their heads about to look at me.
“Do I have to spank your ass so that you remember that you are the one I want? The one my mark calls to? The one whose mark proves she is the princess she was born to be? The most beautiful woman I have ever seen? The only female on any planet I will ever desire?” I walked forward slowly and placed my fingers under her chin, gently lifting her face up to meet my gaze. “The woman whose sweet pussy I tasted last night and hunger to taste again?”
5
Gage
She gasped and turned bright red as her friends laughed. Bryn slapped me on the shoulder as he walked by. I released my mate, but not before I made sure she saw the promise in my eyes. Later, I thought. We’ll finish this conversation when my cock is buried balls deep and you no longer doubt who you belong to.
“See that man beside Rayla?” I asked, pointing my finger at the big display.
“There are three of them. Which one?” Lexi asked.
“The two men with dark hair, Geoffrey and Thomar, are my mother’s most trusted guards. They served my father before his death. Now they serve Rayla.” Lexi nodded. All three of them did. “Do you see the man with golden hair, standing directly behind my sister, his body between her and the others?”
“Yes,” Dani said as she nodded.
“That is Elon. He is the leader of her personal security team and the one she loves. I assure you, her eyes are solely on him. Especially since he most likely claimed her first virginity by now, tasted her pussy and made her beg for more before letting her come.”
Dani popped up, jumped over the back of the sofa with the easy grace of a true Hunter and placed her hand over my mouth. “Stop talking about tasting pussies.”
I grinned against her fingers, then wrapped my arm about her, scooped her up and carried her to a large, comfortable looking chair where I dropped down, settling Dani on my lap. “I only care about one pussy, mate. Yours.”
She blushed further.
“If she’s in love with that Elon guy, why is her mother going on and on about the two of you being betrothed?” Katie crossed her arms and arched a brow at me. Bryn leaned a hip against the couch directly behind her, the warning on his face making me choose my words carefully, despite her disrespectful tone. Bryn was right. These Earth females played by rules I did not yet understand.
But I would learn. My arms tightened around Dani.
“We have been betrothed for the last two years,” I admitted. “As I had no Marked Mate, the union was a politically powerful one that would cement the status and wealth of both families. But when my mark came to life, and I shared my first dream with Danielle, I told Rayla the truth. I would not keep something like that from her. It was not fair, kind or something I wished to have looming over me as I went to the Touchstone to claim my Marked Mate.”
Dani’s shoulder settled under my chin and she rubbed her head against me, seeking comfort as her friend, Lexi, asked a question. “Did you break her heart?”
“Not at all.” Lifting Dani’s face to mine, I placed a chaste kiss on her lips and held her gaze. “She confessed her heart belonged to another, to Elon. She was overjoyed to know Danielle existed, that she would be free from the betrothal. As was I.”
Dani’s blush, and the softness radiating from her, was more than enough reward for the confession. She smiled shyly. “I just…I’m sorry. I had no idea I could be so…jealous. I don’t really know anything about you. And they aren’t talking about Elon, they’re talking about you. Your betrothal to someone else. Does your stepmother know about me?”
“Here on Everis, there isn’t the term stepmother. When my father married her, she became my mother, even if she didn’t birth me. But yes. Of course I told her about you, that I was going to the Touchstone to claim you.”
“Then why are they still talking about you and Rayla like it’s a done deal?” Lexi asked. “And that Geoffrey guy, he looks a lot like you, especially when he scowls like that.”
I chuckled, staring at Geoffrey. It was not the first time someone had mentioned other Hunters who resembled royals, but he was a Hunter born in my home city. We both had dark hair and dark eyes, but that was where the similarities end
ed, except for the scowl, which I was quite proud of. As Hunters, looking fierce was part of the job description. Lexi’s other question, however, bothered me and I stared at the screen, working through the possible explanations I could give to my mate. But I was saved as it was Von who answered. He’d been observing everything silently from the edge of the room. “It makes sense. More sympathy when it’s a beautiful, young princess begging for the return of her one true love.”
Dani nodded and returned her attention to the screen, although I felt her tense muscles. She was not happy I was betrothed to another, even if it was all for the benefit of the media and politics. “Totally true. She looks devastated.”
Indeed, Rayla did not look well. Her usual glowing complexion was pale, and she had dark circles under her eyes. The normally bright green color was surrounded by red instead of white, her eyelids swollen as if she’d spent many, many hours crying. “She cares about me, as a brother.” I added the last to reinforce I only wanted Dani.
Katie snorted, the sound oddly cynical coming from a woman. “Yeah, well, that monster-sized reward is going to motivate a lot more people to find you than a sappy, spoiled princess will. Trust me.”
“You’re such a pessimist,” Lexi accused.
“I’m a realist, honey. You should try it sometime. Get your head out of the clouds once in a while.” Katie’s grin was suggestive. “Get down and dirty with the rest of us.”
“Do not dare.” Von leaned down and claimed Lexi’s mouth in a kiss that made Dani sigh, and my cock harden before he pulled away. “I love you as you are.”
Lexi’s smile was blinding, trusting, completely lacking in guile, and I looked away, uncomfortable with the obvious display of devotion. Dani was mine. Without doubt. But she did not look at me like that—with absolute love and complete trust. Not yet, and I was shocked at just how deeply I hungered for it. I glanced down at my mate.
“You wish to know about me, then you shall. With pictures.” I pointed at the display again, where Rayla and her mother still stood. “That is Mauve. My mother. As I said, stepmother, on Earth.”
She had the regal bearing of a member of the royal lineage. Indeed, she was a descendant of the Seven, a distant cousin to another sitting council member, but still treated like royalty, especially after she married my father. Not born to the role of princess, she had embraced it fully in her years with my father. She liked the status, the fame, the power behind my job more than I did. The fact that both she and my father had told me their marriage was political and not based in love had kept me from embracing her as a true mother, no matter how she’d tried to play the part over the years. And she had tried. But I had been young and stubborn, and too full of my own importance to accept her as a true mother.
“They still believe you are missing,” Bryn stated. He sat beside Katie, pulled her into his side and lifted her legs over his lap. “Although, we don’t know who they are.”
Dani stiffened in my arms. “You have to tell them. Mauve and Rayla have got to be making themselves sick with worry.” She pointed at the display. “Look at them.”
“Your sister looks like she’s about to drop,” Lexi added. “Poor thing.”
“I still say, one comm call and we’re rich. Then you two go back to your palace. No harm. No foul.” Katie’s words were ominous, but there was laughter in her blue eyes.
Bryn silenced her with a kiss. “I am already wealthy, mate. You need for nothing. Mind your manners. And don’t forget, whoever did kidnap Gage is still out there.”
“Yeah, bee-atch. Our best friend is about to be a princess. You better behave,” Lexi added.
“Where’s the fun in that?” Katie asked.
“Who you calling a bitch? As princess, I’ll throw you in the dungeon, woman.” Dani laughed and I relaxed, realized her friends were teasing her. No, teasing us.
It was an unusual, but not unwelcome, experience.
Dani looked up at me. “We do have dungeons, right?”
Smiling myself, I made my face stern. “With viper pits and diseased rodents to chew the meat from her bones should she ever threaten you again.”
“Gross,” Lexi blanched and reached for Von’s hand.
Katie threw her head back and a burst of glee filled the room. “Bring it on, Your Majesty.”
My mate settled into my arms again, her smile still there, but tempered by worry as she returned her attention to my sister’s tearful face on the screen. “Well, dungeon master, we better figure out what to do, because I don’t think your sister is going to last very long looking like that.”
“No, she is not.” We watched in silence until the report was over and the screen returned to the normal cycle of news. Planetary shifts. News from the front and the war with the Hive. Crop reports from the farming moon of Seladon.
Life. I could have died in that cave and nothing would have changed. The universe would move on. Time stood still for no man, not even a prince.
It was humbling, but it also made me realize just how precious my life was to me now that I had Dani in my arms. She offered a future brighter than anything I had dared imagine. A Marked Mate was rare. She was truly a gift from the gods, one I would die to protect and was honored to love.
“I must tell my family that I am well. I do not want them to suffer. I must do that in person, when I return to the palace.”
“What?” Dani stiffened and pulled away to look up at me, a storm brewing in her blue eyes. “What do you mean, when you return to the palace?”
I cupped her face. “I will go soon. Tonight. The ascension ceremony is fast approaching.” I looked down at my mate, who was biting her lip to keep from interrupting. I found the move adorable. Enchanting. I kissed her. “After the ceremony, you will follow me to the palace, and we will announce our mating to the world.”
“But you don’t know who tried to kill you,” Dani stated. “It could be anyone, even the royal guards.”
Bryn’s gaze lifted to Von’s, who nodded. “I can call in the Hunters from the outpost at Feris 5. We have fifty Hunters there, men who fought with us in the Hive wars. Men we trust. I will go to them and bring at least a dozen here to escort you back to the palace. It shouldn’t take long.”
“Escort him?” Katie asked. “You mean escort us. All of us. There’s no way I’m missing my BFF becoming a princess.” She raised a brow, her gaze darted to Dani and that grin widened to a full-blown smile but it was me she addressed. “And if you think your new mate is going to sit here like a pet dog while you go back to face your enemies, you don’t know Earth women very well, Your Highness.”
No one had dared speak to me in such a tone, not since my tutors had chastised me when I was a boy. But Dani was agreeing with her and Bryn gave me a telling look. Earth mates were stubborn creatures. He had warned me.
“Danielle, I don’t think…”
Her hand came up. “Don’t Danielle me. Stop talking now. I am not staying here. Not happening.”
“It’s not safe in the capital.”
“It’s not safe anywhere, Gage.”
I sighed, regretting the necessity, but knowing I had to do what would keep Dani safe. “I will give orders for you to be confined to the bedroom, mate. It is only for a few days.”
“I’ll be gone in a few hours, Gage. And when I track you down, I will not be happy.”
“Dani, please, be reasonable.”
She held up her hand, mark toward me. “I found you. I saved you. I escaped from the Touchstone under all of their Elite Hunters’ noses. I am a hunter. Make peace with that now or we are going to have problems, baby.”
Baby?
“We will take enough men to ensure their safety,” Von said. “I would feel better with our mates close.”
“Where we can keep an eye on them,” Bryn added, sharing a look with Katie that I was sure had a vast amount of history behind it. Based on what I’d heard about her following him to Rogue 5, I was almost afraid to ask.
“Very well.” W
e would all have to go. While Lexi hadn’t spoken up, I knew now that she would have if Katie hadn’t. Von had no choice but to bring enough guards to protect us all. And I had to admit that I was comforted by the idea of keeping Dani where I could see her. Hopefully often. And naked.
“Yes!” Dani pumped her fist in the air and the other females smiled. All too easily their reaction pleased me.
Was this to be my fate; bending over backwards to please one human female?
I looked at Dani, at the sparkle and happiness in her blue eyes, and I realized that, yes, most likely, I was doomed.
“We will all be going once Von has secured the contingency of trusted guards.”
While he’d agreed to the plan, I could tell from his tone that he wasn’t as eager as his mate. But from what we’d talked about, we had no choice. If Dani could escape this place and follow me to the capital, Lexi and Katie would, no doubt, accompany her. And the three of them roaming the world unprotected? Unacceptable.
I was grateful for his caution. Together, we could protect our mates, but I would feel better once Von brought the full contingent of Hunters he trusted, men who had no reason to betray me. I would complete the ascension, ensure the familial claim to the seat on the Seven, and assume my throne, so to speak.
And whoever had threatened my life? He would be found and eliminated.
“Thank you all.” I meant it. Without their help, I had no idea where we would be now. And I was shocked at how quickly I had come to trust both Von and Bryn, Hunters I didn’t know, but whose mates, with their happy smiles and glowing eyes, vouched for their standing as men of honor better than a dozen oaths of loyalty could have.
They all nodded and I heard Dani’s stomach rumble.
She leaned up to murmur directly in my ear. “Someone made me hungry.”
I stood, keeping her in my arms.
“Based on what you guys did last night, I’m surprised you lasted this long without tearing the kitchen apart.” Katie’s grin was accompanied by a wink as she stood and led the way to the kitchens. “There’s a ton of food in here. Enough for a small army, which is good, since Von’s bringing one.”
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