“What’s wrong with you?!” Ryan screamed, yanking on my arm harder.
“I don’t know,” I whimpered, still desperately trying to keep up.
He was panting heavily, but he still paused for a brief second and I was almost certain he was debating carrying me. I opened my mouth to tell him he couldn’t. He was too thin and he was having a hard enough time just bearing his own weight but he came to the same conclusion just as quickly. Without any more hesitation, he slid his arm around my waist and began running again, now able to keep me on my feet and apply constant support and pressure.
But we were too slow and the millisecond that we stopped had been enough for Preston to catch up to us. We both heard his paws hitting the forest floor with intense speed. Neither of us turning to look behind us but we both knew he was getting tremendously close.
I was expecting to feel Preston’s paws on my back and I began bracing for the impact. I imagined his claws sinking into my skin and shortly after his teeth would come down on my neck.
But when I heard Ryan cry out I realized I was not the target here.
“Get off him!” I shrieked.
My shaky legs gave out and I fell to my knees.
I watched in horror as Ryan fell forward, his body unable to support the additional weight. He slammed into the dirt hard and Preston instantly went for his neck, trying to get the fatal bite as quickly as possible. Ryan shouted and clawed at Preston, but his human fingers were no match for the thick wolf skin and sharp canines.
“What are you doing?!” I wailed, crawling over to Ryan. “You hate me! Attack me!” I begged.
When I got close enough I began grabbing at Preston’s fur, yanking as hard as I could. I didn’t care if I pulled him off Ryan or just caused his intense amounts of pain, I just wanted him to stop his assault on my mate.
“Now, now Princess, don’t be so hasty,” Lucas purred from behind me. “Your turn will come soon enough, I promise.”
I ignored him, still shoving and pulling at Preston’s furious wolf despite the fact that I had made no progress. But Lucas would not be pushed aside, I felt his hands slip under my arm pits and he lifted me to my feet, not caring about my wails of despair and anger.
“What the hell are you doing? Help him!” I cried, slamming my fists into his chest with all my might.
“Oh Princess, this would’ve been so much easier if you had just picked me instead,” Lucas murmured in my ear, “Well, no matter, once I finish you off there will be no one left to take the crown and I’ll be the obvious choice,”
“What the hell are you talking about; if you so much as lay another hand on me you’ll be a convicted criminal,”
“Sorry Princess, but it seems that you missed one detail. Your mate’s wolf’s bite marks are easily accessible in the international database because he’s wanted for murder. As luck would have it, your mate and I have fairly similar patterns. So let me run you through a scenario.
“You got kidnapped by your mate’s beta and taken here. Ares tracks you down after he broke out of his cell, and he drugged you thoroughly with silver so you wouldn’t be able to use your royal commands against him. And out here, away from anyone who could come to your aid, he slaughters you. My dear father kills him in an effort to save you, but it’s too late and you both die a slow and painful death. No one will believe any differently because your dear mate Ares is already known as a cold-blooded killer. There won’t be an investigation. A few months down the road I get the crown and all is well again.”
Chapter 44
I screamed. I screamed for all I was worth and thrashed as hard as my body would allow me. I swore as loud as I could and tried to jab Lucas with my elbows. I slammed my feet down on his toes with all my might; I even bit his arm as hard as I could, not stopping until I genuinely feared my teeth would shatter. I kicked backwards, hoping to slam into a kneecap. I punched blindly. None of it worked. Lucas kept his arms wrapped tightly around me and didn’t even flinch when I tried my hardest to attack him.
I decided that being in my human form at this time was nothing if not useless. I stopped fighting for a moment, nearly going limp in Lucas’s arms. Then I shut my eyes and focused all my strength on my body. I clenched my muscles and prepared for complete and utter agony as my bones moved into new places, changed length and contorted me. I even held my breath to prevent myself from screaming through the ordeal.
I was not expecting the pain that came. It felt like my blood was lava flowing through my veins, burning everything as it went. I couldn’t hold back my wails of agony. My knees gave out instantly and tears began pouring down my face before I could even fully process the pain.
Thankfully, the pain subsided rather quickly once my attention was pulled away from the concept of shifting. I was left dangling weakly in Lucas’s arms, panting and sweating from the pain while fat tears continued to roll down my cheeks.
“Oh Princess, haven’t you read the effects of silver in the blood stream? No? Let me fill you in. Nearly all of your werewolf capabilities will be dismantled. You have already found out that you are completely unable to use your royal tone. You will not be able to shift for several hours, your mate bond is weakened, and your normal reflexes and muscle control are nearly non-existent.” Lucas’s hot breath touch my ear as he moved in close, “So how about you stop trying to fight me and you just enjoy the show.”
“Ryan!” I screamed, disregarding Lucas’s comments.
I watched in absolute horror as my mate struggled against my mother’s prized guard. I had always assumed that Ryan was one hell of a fighter, but he was no match for Preston now. My mate was weak, deeply malnourished, and didn’t have enough muscle mass to force the grey wolf away. Ryan was still trying, but it was a losing battle.
His fingers and knuckles were bloody, the skin getting torn when he attempted to wrestle Preston’s sharp canines away from this throat. He was breathing hard and sweating madly, his body unable to keep up this intense fight on such little energy stores. He had scrapes and scratches along his back, proof that Preston’s claws were violently tearing into him.
But Preston didn’t really seem to be intent on killing my mate. At least not yet. It was more like he was taunting him with the threat of death.
“You sick fuck!” I hollered. “You bastard!”
Ryan managed to flip himself over on his back, so he could now actually see his opponent. At least Ryan had more of a chance now. With one hard kick to Preston’s gut, the large silver wolf was flung off my mate who scrambled to his feet. Preston seemed dazed and winded, his big grey head lying softly on the grass for a few seconds.
“Dad!” Lucas shouted.
His hold on me loosened just enough for me to jut my elbow out. With his attention on his injured father, he didn’t realize that my elbow was coming towards his delicate nose before it was too late. An instant later, the sound of a sickening crack filled the air and his hold melted as he became concerned with his own well-being.
I heard him shout something, but I didn’t listen enough to know if it was about his nose or if he was cursing me out. I just stumbled towards Ryan who was already on his feet. Once I was within arm’s reach he grabbed me and awkwardly hoisted me onto his back. I knew better than to complain, I wrapped my arms around him and clenched my legs around his waist, hoping that he had enough energy to run with the two of us. It didn’t seem like my weight much of a difference to him at first. He took off sprinting as quickly as he could and I clung to him for dear life.
Still, I knew we couldn’t make it far. He would get tired very quickly this way and once he was too exhausted to keep going Preston and Lucas would catch up. Neither of us would have much energy left to fight then anyway.
I wanted to let out a defeated cry and bury my face in Ryan’s torn shirt, but just as I felt my lower lip begin to tremble, a large wolf leapt into our path, stopping us immediately.
Chapter 45
Ryan dropped me, effectively saving me from being cru
shed when the massive wolf leapt at him, slamming him back to the ground. I tucked my body up as best as I could, trying to roll through the fall, but I ended up flailing and crashing flat on my back. I let out a gasp just as Ryan let out a cry of pain.
I looked up to see the wolf had its jaw locked on my mate’s wrist and was shaking his head viciously, trying to break the bone. The werewolf’s claws had torn through the front of his shirt, leaving bloody gouges in the skin. Ryan was trying to force the beast off him, but he knew that if he pushed the animal too hard it would end up breaking his arm anyway. We both knew there was a slim chance of survival at this point, and with a broken arm our odds were even lower.
“Dad stop!” I screamed.
My father didn’t seem to hear me. He kept his teeth latched on to Ryan’s arm and he continued to shake his head vigorously. We both knew it would only take him a few more shakes to get the right angle and snap both bones entirely.
“Dad!” I shrieked.
I ambled to my feet. It took several attempts which made frustrated tears streak down my cheeks. It wasted the precious seconds, I was already borrowing. Eventually I was able to stand on my weakened legs and I stumbled over to my father’s wolf who was still trying to snap Ryan’s wrist.
“Grant!” the powerful female voice made everyone freeze.
We all turned to look at my mother. She was sweating and panting, evidently from running here in her human form. She had swapped out her long gowns for yoga pants and a frumpy tee shirt I would never dream of her wearing. Her brown eyes were locked onto the mess that was her mate and my own, fighting for their lives.
As my mother stepped towards the pair, my father bared his bloody teeth and growled out a warning to her, something I never thought my father would do. Ryan let out a groan when the teeth tightened on his wrist.
Nevertheless, my mother continued to progress towards them anyway. She kept her chin up and didn’t seem bothered by the bloody violent scene in front of her and her hysterical daughter. My father continued to snarl at her, while Ryan kept moaning in agony, but she didn’t even blink.
“So lovely to meet you again, Ar–” my mother suddenly stopped, her eyes falling on my mate’s chest. She took a deep breath, almost like she didn’t believe what she was seeing, then turned her attention to my father. “Get off him, Grant.”
Everyone stayed perfectly still. I briefly wondered if we had all begun holding our breath.
“Grant, now!” my mother ordered again.
My father let out a huff of frustration but released my mate and slowly stepped off his heaving body. I nearly sighed in relief; my mate was no longer being subjected to intense pain at the hands of my father but my mother latched on to his wounded wrist and yanked hard. My mate grunted through gritted teeth and moved to his feet to alleviate the pressure on his wrist.
“What are you doing?” I asked, finally finding my voice. It still came out shaky and weak.
My mom didn’t seem to hear me. She stared at my mate intently, like he was a puzzle she was determined to crack. Her eyes moved from his bloodied face to his bruised and battered torso, then back up again. No one breathed as she studied him. Then, without warning, she grabbed two torn chunks of his shirt and yanked on them until the whole shirt was split open.
“Mom!” I yelled, confused beyond belief.
“You aren’t Ares,” my mother whispered so quietly I barely heard it.
“What?” I whispered.
“I attacked Ares one night. He tried to pillage the West River pack while I was visiting. Before he could even make a move against one of the pack members, I shifted, lunged at him, and slit his chest open from his collar bone to nearly his belly button.” My mother shook her head as if she were trying to wake up from a dream.
“Every time I saw him after that you could see the scar peeking out beneath his shirt, too high to be covered by normal clothing. But you, you don’t have a scar.” My mother stared at him again and repeated. “You aren’t Ares.”
“It’s a pleasure to finally meet you, your majesty.” Ryan attempted to bow, but winced as he moved and quickly rose again. “You’re right, I am not Ares. My name is Orion, but I’ve shortened it to Ryan for simplicities sake.”
“What?” I breathed. I attempted to move closer, to look my mate in the eye while I dealt with this shocking revelation, but the silver hadn’t worn off yet and I tumbled back down onto my knees.
My father’s large wolf seemed to forget about Ryan instantly and he bolted to my side, allowing me to use his sturdy body as a crutch while I righted myself again. When I felt stable enough, my father side stepped away. I was honestly just so thankful he wasn’t trying to rip out Ryan’s throat anymore, but now I feel like I had been punched in the gut, I felt winded and blindsided.
“Adeline, what’s wrong?” my mother asked, her voice worried.
“She was drugged. Apparently injected with silver,” Ryan answered softly.
My father, who was calmly watching me a second ago now snarled and lowered himself into a stalking position. The hackles on the back of his neck raised and he bared his sharp teeth, slowly inching towards my mate.
“Not by Ryan,” I blurted quickly, then added, “I mean, Orion.”
“Then who?” the queen demanded.
As if on cue we all paused at the sound of pounding foot falls and loud breathing. I turned around slowly, knowing I would hate who I saw. Yet I couldn’t stop myself from cursing under my breath when I saw Preston and his dear son racing towards us in human form, both dressed in royal uniforms.
The hatred I had always had for this man was nothing compared to what I was feeling now. I loathed that man more than anything. He and his disgusting son could burn in hell. They deserved to burn.
To my surprise, I felt my bones begin to shift under my skin on their own accord. I tilted my head back and let out a bloodcurdling scream as hair sprouted from my pores and my teeth elongated in my mouth. My eyes rolled back when I felt my legs start to reconstruct themselves as I barely clung to consciousness, the pain too much for my brain and body to bear.
My body was shifting through the effects of the silver.
Chapter 46
“Addy,” Ryan said softly. His voice was uncertain and worried. He didn’t know what was going on, and was probably confused on whether I was either going to pass out or try to murder someone.
But I didn’t care. I didn’t care about anything in that moment. My body was in searing agony and the silver that was flowing through my bloodstream made every move torture. I kept my eyes focused on Preston anyway as I slowly stalked closer to him and lowered myself to the ground.
I had no training in wolf form but that didn’t seem to matter either. Somehow I knew that my fury would guide me through this attack, regardless of what Preston thought.
“Oh, thank god you’re okay!” Preston rasped out, his voice hoarse and winded from running. “When Lucas had noticed that Ares had broken out of his cell, we followed his scent instead! He led us right to the princess so he must’ve been plotting to kill her!” he lied.
His eyes flickered to me, and I saw a brief flash of fear in them. He thought my parents were going to leap into the situation and protect him like they always did, but I wasn’t going to give them a chance this time.
I lowered myself down to the ground, then propelled myself towards Preston. My paws slamming into Preston’s chest with enough strength to topple Preston onto his back. My sharp claws then started digging into his chest, just as his had dug into Ryan’s. I would’ve laughed out loud when he screamed in terror, but my wolf’s focus was intent on killing the man who had the audacity to harm my mate.
Before we even hit the ground, I was snarling and snapping my jaws towards his throat, trying to get my teeth locked around the delicate skin so I could crash the critical bones underneath. His arms came up to defend his head and neck, making my teeth sink into those instead. This didn’t help my fury, if anything, it made me more frustr
ated which made me more violent.
A gasp came from someone and a second later two hands were gripping my scruff, yanking hard. My balance slipped and I slid off Preston for a split-second. The bite that I left on his arm was gone and I gave my head a quick shake to clear the confusion. Unfortunately, it was enough for the sleazy bastard to bat away my snapping jaws and stand up on his own two feet.
I gave a wolfish smirk when I saw the blood trickling down from his chest couple with a few gashes on his neck. His arms were battered and bleeding as well. The absolute terror in his eyes filled me with pride. He thought I was weak. He thought I couldn’t fight him, that he had fooled the entire royal family, and that he would walk away with the crown because I was nothing but an ignorant coward.
But he was wrong.
“Queen Vienna, aren’t you going to stop her?” Preston demanded. He sidestepped and nearly fell to his knees when I took a slow, patient step towards him.
“She’s trying to kill me just to save that…that worthless rogue who thinks he can be an alpha! Princess, do you not understand that he was trying to kill you?” he wailed.
His lies made me growl in fury and my hackles rose. I had tasted his blood and now I wanted more.
“Get away from my dad you crazy bitch!” Lucas shouted when I stalked a little closer.
Lucas was feeling brave, which is something I didn’t expect from the refined alpha who came to my gala. However, all of this was coming as quite a surprise, so I shouldn’t have been that astonished when he grabbed my scruff and thrust my body away from himself and his injured father.
At his aggression I remembered the soft way he spoke to me when we first met. I also remembered the lies he told me when he came back. My blood boiled when I thought of how I vented to him endlessly while we rode horses, but then my heart clenched tightly when I realized that I had actually considered him as a second option if Ryan really was the awful alpha described in old journal. At the thought of his betrayal, my blood and fury surged once more. This fool didn’t want anything from me. He didn’t want to wake up beside me in the morning, didn’t want me telling him he was handsome when we lazed around in sweat pants. He and his father just wanted my crown.
The Princess and the Alpha: A Shifter Romance Page 18