Be My Princess: A Billionaire and Virgin Romance

by Lauren Wood

  “A shifter that I have never seen before forced his way into the castle. The guards shouted out to warn us but you know your father. He always wishes the best for all beings. Your father tried to speak to him to find out his name. The creature would not listen. As he approached us we knew it was not one of us, it was not a Bataran. Then it pounced on top of him until his body fell limp.” She ducked her face into Kit’s arm, shuddering as she relived the moment.

  “Mira.” Kit stood and looked directly into my eyes. “Stay here with Mother.” He pushed past me and headed straight for the doors. I knew exactly what he was about to do. I feared for my Brother and Darden.

  The entire kingdom was outraged at the sudden loss of King Laurence Bataran. The entire town was stirring as the news spread to the men, women, and children. Something had to be done and they looked to their new King Kit Bataran for guidance. His decision for action had already been made.

  Kit had decided that his only option was to avenge his father and mine by hunting down the shifter, my brother. All of the men in Soundsforth gathered their horses and set out to find this beast. Kit knew exactly where he would find King Montgomery. They galloped through the thick forest toward the clearing where I had found Kit the night before.

  Through the dark clouds, the moon fought to show its blue face. I watched out the window beside Elmire, our hands clasped together. It took everything I had to remain strong for this woman who had just lost her husband. Every so often she would rise out of her chair and pace the lengths of the room. The baby seemed to keep her mind calm. Every time he would make a sound she would immediately tend to his need.

  “He looks so much like his father.” She would repeat over and over again. “He will be a great king someday. Has he a name yet?”

  Through all of the madness that engulfed this day I hadn’t thought to give my son a name. The choice was clear. “His name is Erroll.” I replied. “He is named after my father who was the greatest king I have ever known.” I smiled down at that helplessly small child but couldn’t help but worry for my husband and my brother as the day grew darker.

  Thoughts continued to spin through my mind. Why would Brother want to kill Father? I always knew that Brother wanted so badly to be king but I never expected him to take such extreme actions to achieve it. Flashes of the angry beast attacking my father played in my head. My fears shifted back to my husband leading the townsmen toward such danger.

  When they had reached the clearing the men saw King Laurence’s body propped up against a tree stump. Motionless. One man, unable to contain his outrage, tore through the clearing with a baton above his head charging into the night. Out of nowhere, the creature pounced through the darkness killing the man in one motion. This caused many of the men to step back closer to the tree-line.

  Kit’s mind raced as he attempted to conjure up a plan. So far he had only been seeing red and marched forward. Now that he was here, in front of the beast, he needed a plan. He decided to use his voice.

  “King Montgomery Nord.” There was silence and the beast took a step toward Kit. “I am Kit Bataran of Soundsforth. You are trespassing on our land. Please, return to your kingdom. We mean you no harm.” Kit took a step toward the creature. “Haven’t you already gotten what you wanted? You are a king are you not?” The two stepped even closer together. “Why must you take our king away from us? He could have taught you so much, he was a great king.”

  The beast hissed and spat in Kit’s direction. “You do not know what a great king is!” he laughed a sickening laugh.

  “I may not know what it takes to be as great as King Laurence Bataran or King Erroll Nord, this is true. What I do know is that killing kings is not the best starting strategy.” At that the beast launched himself at Kit with his jagged teeth glaring in the darkness. Kit expected this reaction and managed to shift himself just in time and knocked Brother against a tree. He held him there with extreme force. “We could have been brothers, King Montgomery. But now it seems as though you will never even meet your nephew.” with a quick swipe, the beast fell to the forest floor. His breathing labored and eventually seized.

  The townsmen gathered themselves and headed back to the town to share the news that the beast had been eliminated. They made sure to bring back the body of their fallen king for a proper royal burial. Before they reached the town, they heard a rustling in the bushes. Out came Mr. Toil Germaine, trembling and begging for forgiveness.

  “I’m so sorry but what is a starving man to do?” He pleaded.

  “Mr. Germaine?” Kit began. He walked over to the bush and placed his hand over Toil’s shoulder “What a pleasure to see you again.” He taunted.

  Toil’s body shook in fear that he would be executed for high treason. “P-Please sir. I mean, King Kit. I will do anything you desire of me, just please do not kill me.”

  Kit thought to himself what pleasure it would bring to him and the people of Soundsforth to eliminate the man who plotted with King Montgomery to kill two great men. He decided that it would bring him much more pleasure to see Mr. Toil Germaine carry out his days slaving away as a servant to all of the townspeople. So that is what he did.

  When King Kit Bataran returned to the castle, I felt a wave of relief wash over my entire being. I didn’t care to know what had happened in the forest. All that mattered in this exact moment was that my husband, the king, was home safe. He reached over and placed his strong hand against my cheek, pulling me in for a kiss. When he let go he said, “I promise to love you.”

  The baby cooed in the corner awaking in his father’s presence. Kit smiled over to me before gently picking him up. “Say hello to Erroll.” I told him.

  “My son. Prince Erroll Bataran.” He pulled me closer with baby Erroll in his arms and I breathed them in. These were the two men in my life that I would do anything to protect. For them my heart raised its guard, to protect the radiating love inside of me.

  THE END

  TWIN ALIEN

  Chapter 1

  “I can’t believe that I’m left holding the bag and my sister has decided to wash her hands of the entire ordeal. Louise can be a bit of a handful, but at least I always knew that she had my back. I guess I didn’t know much about her relationship with our father. They apparently never saw eye to eye on anything, especially her mixed marriage with Thomas.” This was not the highlight of Vanessa’s week and their father had not been in the grave more than two months. She knew that this would be something that she would have to contend with eventually, but she really did think that her sister Louise would be standing right by her side.

  “I’m sorry, Vanessa, but this is something that you’re going to have to deal with on your own and I just can’t stand being in that house any longer than necessary. I think it’s a good idea that we get rid of it, as soon as possible. You can even have the profits from it. I want nothing to do with it and having him out of my life has given me a sense of freedom that I’ve never had before.” Vanessa could hear the relief in her sister’s voice and she had a momentary attack of the conscience. If their relationship was that bad, then she had no choice, but to allow her sister to walk away cleanly.

  “Its okay, Louise and I’ll do what I can to make this easy on you. I’m sorry that I didn’t know about the rift between you and father. I guess I had blinders on this entire time.” Vanessa was twirling her hair around on her finger and now she was biting into the strands. It was a nervous habit that she picked up from her mother. Her dark hair was the perfect contrast to her sisters blond locks. You wouldn’t even know that they were sisters, except for the slight resemblance in their faces. They had their own attitude, their own way of thinking about things and the only thing they really did have in common was a stubborn streak.

  This was something that they inherited from their father, a scientist that was discredited by the community for his belief that aliens were among them. He had several pieces of documented proof, but each time that he tried to claim something in the scientific co
mmunity, they would find a way to make it look like he was out of his mind. Vanessa believed in her heart that her father was grasping at straws and there were times that they had knockdown drag out fights about where his career was going.

  “I know that this is not what you want to hear, Vanessa, but this is the way that it has to be. You don’t know the hell I went through caring for him, when you were off with your own life.”

  Vanessa really didn’t think that she had a life and there were moments that she thought that she was just going through the motions. Her job was not something that she wanted to do for the rest of her life and her true passion was in taking photos. Unfortunately, photographers was one of those professions that were a dime a dozen.

  “If only she knew that my life has not been the rosy picture that she has made it out to be. Ever since father’s death, I’ve been struggling to find my own way in the world. I want to tell my bosses that I’ve decided to move on, but without anything permanent, I feel like I’m stunted and not able to move forward.” She felt bad for trying to put her sister into a position that would find her uncomfortable. This whole thing with their father was something that came out of left field. They didn’t even know that he was sick and to find him face down in his oatmeal was a bit shocking to say the least.

  “Louise, I believe that a lot of his stuff will be put out into the trash or sent to goodwill. You know his god awful suits and each time he wore one, he was proud to be one of the only ones that stood out from the rest of the crowd. I think that was one of the main problems. They just didn’t know how to take him seriously in a lime green suit.” Vanessa had never been much of the caregiver and growing up, her main problem was trying to emulate some of her heroes. Andy Warhol and Annie Liebowitz were her main inspirations to try to find that perfect picture that would make everybody stand up.

  She had her cell phone in your hand, as she smoothed down her blue leather skirt and then looked at her reflection in the door of her dearly departed father’s house. The wood was chipping and if she was so inclined, she could call some handyman and do some necessary renovations to get a better price on the market.

  “I’m sorry, but I really do have to go, Vanessa. Let me know how you make out.” Vanessa knew in the back of her mind that her sister really didn’t care one way or the other. It was a little disconcerting to see that their relationship had turned to only seeing each other on holidays and special occasions. Without mother and father to referee, them being in the same room could only lend to backbiting and harsh words.

  “I hope she knows what she’s asking me to do. I’ve been very emotional ever since my father died. I can’t go more than a day without seeing something that reminds me of him. Now that I was back in the family homestead, I could see all of these memories flooding back. To me, he was my hero and even though he was ridiculed for his beliefs, he still managed to eke out a living doing lectures around the globe.”

  She was about to say something, but Louise hung up and left her standing there with only the dial tone. Vanessa placed the key into the lock and listened to the telltale click of the mechanism falling into place. She opened the door and was immediately accosted with the smell of cigars. There were no windows open and she quite hastily went around to air out the place. This was the first time that she had the courage to walk into the place. Just being there at the doorway was enough to bring back a vivid image of him standing in the kitchen when she was three years old burning dinner. They had to order takeout and mother wasn’t very happy about finding old pizza boxes when she came back from work.

  “This is not going to be easy, but I only have a couple of days off. I’m just going to have to dive in head first. I think the best way to do that is to tackle downstairs in his office.” Vanessa walked downstairs hearing the creaking of the house and looking at the various awards that he had gotten early on in his career. “I’ll always remember you as a friend and somebody that I could rely on to take into my confidence. You often just sat there and listened, never judged and that was worth more to me than you could ever know.”

  Vanessa had on her customary brown leather coat with the leather belt tied at the waist. It was vintage and she found that bringing the old back in style was something that she got from her father.

  It was a little chilly on this October morning and there was the first frost of the season on the ground. She could actually see a semblance of her breath in the air.

  She took a deep breath and opened up the door to his office. At first, she didn’t quite believe what she was seeing. Her father was mostly anal about everything, but his office looked like a cyclone went through it. There was no denying that somebody was interested or at least looking for something that her father had. There was no way that her father would keep things in such disarray.

  “Father, I know that this wasn’t your doing, which leads me to believe that somebody has been here without my permission. I did not see any signs of a break in upstairs. There were no windows broken and the door lock didn’t look like it had been played with. That only tells me that either the person knew you quite well, or somebody with a unique skill set was sent in here to retrieve something.”

  It was still pretty early in the morning and even when she arrived, there was nobody up at this time. There were no joggers or those that were out walking their dog. It was her wish that nobody was going to interfere in the business at hand.

  Looking out the window, she noticed that the lawn had a medley of different colored leaves on the ground. They would need to be cleaned up.

  Vanessa sat down at his desk and could feel this presence, like he was standing over her shoulder. He did that, while she was doing her homework. Mother was mostly away on business, but it was soon learned that some of that business was not exactly concerning her job. Her parents’ marriage wasn’t what she thought it was. They divorced when she was 18 and Louise was only 16. Louise opted to stay with their mother and Vanessa, feeling sorry for her father decided to stay with him.

  Unfortunately, when their father got a bit of dementia, Vanessa made every effort to be out of town, as much as possible. She begged and pleaded on bended knee to her bosses that she could handle being away from home for days on end. Thankfully, they needed somebody to make some international calls and her volunteering had given them a way out.

  Vanessa might have only been 5 foot four, 115 pounds, but she had enough baggage that would make any relationship fold under from the very beginning. She was always judging and measuring those men that came into her life. They didn’t know it, but that measuring stick came in the form of her father. If they couldn’t match up to her expectations, she would show them the door in short order.

  For the next 2 hours, she boxed up various pieces of information and labeled them to make sure that she knew exactly where everything was. Vanessa was tempted to call the police, but there didn’t seem to be any need. He was gone and there was nothing that anybody could do to him ever again. He was at peace and there wasn’t much here that was worth anything. Some of it was ramblings and when he started to get dementia, things began to unravel in a hurry.

  The office was almost completely empty with only boxes left behind to inform anybody that this was his legacy. Vanessa laid back and looked at the ceiling, when she noticed something sticking out from one of the overhead beams. Standing on the chair, she balanced herself and reached up. Straining every muscle, she felt like her shoulder was going to give out, when she finally grasped onto this blue sphere.

  At first, she thought it might be some kind of stone or maybe even a shell that was found on a beach somewhere. She never did take her father to be the outdoorsy type. Looking at the blue sphere in her hand, she weighed it and handled it very carefully. There seemed to be some sort of heat emanating from within.

  “I remember something in one of these files that mentioned a blue sphere. I thought it was just another one of his mental breakdowns. If I recall, I believe he said that this was some sort of device to c
ontact a civilization known as Tu’Fallian. Wouldn’t it be something if I could actually visit another world? I could bring back photographs and become a sensation overnight. There would be no stopping how far I could go. I only wish that something like that could happen.” The blue sphere began to glow and then there was some kind of voice coming from within. It was garbled and didn’t sound human. It stopped, as soon as it began. She placed the sphere on the table and walked away from it, having no idea what kind of Pandora’s Box she opened.

  Chapter 2

  Vanessa was getting tired and after the second day of going through everything in her father’s house, she had just about had it. Charity had picked up most of the furniture and even his suits. She did notice that they looked at her kinda funny when they saw the multicolored designs that her father liked to wear to shock the masses. He always said that you could get a person’s attention with more than just your words. It was a credo that she lived by even today. She had a sense of whimsy and she always wore something that would be the talk of the office.

  “I think that just about does it, Ms. Lasky.” It sounded, so weird for somebody to call her miss. It seemed only yesterday that she was running down to the convenience store for an ice pop in the middle of summer. It would always drip on her clothes and leave a sticky mess. “I’ll just give you this receipt and then we’ll be on our way. Is there anything that you want us to do about the boxes in the office? I noticed that when I was down there picking up the desk that there were several things that would be a little too heavy for somebody like you.”

  “He looks at me like I’m a frail fragile doll, but he doesn’t know that I work out constantly. I probably have better upper body strength than even he does. Maybe that’s a bit of an exaggeration, considering that he is kind of muscle-bound.” Vanessa wanted to reach out and touch him, but she knew that it would probably be frowned upon. Besides, she wasn’t looking for any satisfaction. She could get that at any dive bar in the middle of the night…not that she was ever that desperate. “I appreciate the offer, but I think I can handle it.” She saw him shrug his shoulders and then he walked down the stairs to the white panel truck.