Taken By Werewolves (Lost Princess 0f Howling Sky Book 1)

by Kamryn Hart

  “What’ll it be, Aerre?” Rodrick asked.

  I didn’t want to babysit this oaf all night, and what if Zecke decided to slink back to the Tech Off Zone for my sister? He wasn’t allowed there anymore. That didn’t mean he wouldn’t do it. Caspian was only going to be gone an hour. I was torn because none of this mattered to me if my sister and mother were killed. I couldn’t stand another moment away from them. I hadn’t gotten to check up on them since we came back from collecting the Lost Princess. The Lost Princess, Rodrick, everything was beginning to spiral. If we were met with more hellfire, would I be able to get my mother and sister out before we burned up too? What about Caspian? Did any of this even matter? Was I just delaying the inevitable?

  “Congratulations,” I said. “You’ve got a free pass. Don’t fuck up while we’re gone.”

  I exited the lair and slammed the door behind me.

  The nearly full moon made my skin buzz. My body was changed on a fundamental level when I became tethered to Caspian. I had instincts that were werewolf. This reaction to the moon was that werewolf in me, craving the power of moonlight. It got more intense as the full moon drew closer.

  The south side of the Tech Off Zone was quiet this late at night. None of the lights were on inside of the houses. Aside from the moon, there was only the light cast by lamp posts. It almost looked peaceful—or deserted. It could have gone either way, but tonight it felt deserted. My heart was constricting in my chest. It was hard to breathe.

  I walked silently down lit roads until I found the small house I grew up in. It didn’t stand out from the rest of Wolf Bridge, certainly not from the Tech Off Zone. It was quaint, but it had everything we needed. It was warm, never let in a draft, and it was large enough for the three of us. The tan walls and dark-blue detailing were a little scuffed, but no one would look at this home, or the Tech Off Zone in general, and think “poverty.”

  And that was because it was true. Life in Wolf Bridge wasn’t terrible.

  Most of the time.

  It wasn’t terrible enough to justify agitators.

  I hung back in the shadows when a light turned on inside of the house. It wasn’t the light created by an electrical bulb. It was the flickering of a gas lamp. That was something growing up in the Tech Off Zone had taught me: Tech wasn’t a necessity. It was a luxury. Wolf Bridge treated humans well enough that we wouldn’t rebel. King Philip really had that logic down to a fine art. He knew exactly what to tug and what to adjust. Those micro-adjustments meant everything. Take away too much and you had an uprising. Give too much and you had an uprising. Society was nothing but a scale always being adjusted to find a perfect balance that couldn’t be achieved until something went too far and everything fell off into fire and brimstone.

  It was amazing any of us existed when existence itself was so chaotic.

  I found some crates that made it easy to climb onto the roof of the house across the street. From this vantage point, I could watch over my mother and sister effectively and quietly. I wondered what my mother and sister were doing up so late. They were in the kitchen, dressed in nightgowns, and their long blond hair draped over their shoulders. Mom often got the compliment that she looked more like Trace’s twin sister than her mother.

  If I activated the moonlight resting inside of me, I’d be able to hear their conversation. It looked like it was getting a bit heated, a mother’s scalding lecture.

  I didn’t have much moonlight left, but I decided it was worth using it to hear this conversation. I closed my eyes and concentrated on the dormant, dark energy resting at the base of my stomach. As soon as my consciousness brushed against it, it lit up into multiple shades of blue. It vibrated inside of me and phased outside of my flesh into harmless flames. I concentrated the moonlight in my ears, hiding the blue flames except for where they gently kissed my ears.

  “I’m just worried, Trace. You need to be careful,” Mother said as she took a seat beside my sister at the kitchen table. “You know what werewolves are… are capable of.”

  “Not just werewolves,” Trace shot back. “Plenty of the men around here have made unwelcome advances toward me.”

  My hackles rose at my sister’s words. She deserved the highest respect, and she didn’t even get it from our own species. The worst part was I knew that. I couldn’t stand by my sister’s side and protect her since I was tethered now. It would have only made things worse for her. I had to watch over her in the shadows, at night, and just wait until things went too far. Because if they ever did, I would step in, rules or no rules, there would be no choice. No man had attempted anything unforgivable, but Zecke had. He raped my sister. If that werewolf bastard ever came back, I would kill him and face the consequences. The only thing that stopped me from hunting him down was the fact that my sister and mother would share those same consequences.

  I became tethered to help my family, but it also meant I could never see them again. It was an unspoken rule. Werewolves tolerated humans. Humans tolerated werewolves. Smiles and laughter were allowed, but they were all a facade. I was an outcast, a freak. Humans considered me a werewolf. They wouldn’t speak out against me. They’d feign welcoming smiles. Werewolves still considered me a human. They tolerated me as such. Becoming a tethered and protecting Wolf Bridge was the best way to keep my family safe, but it left no place for me to fit in.

  Giving everything I was to Caspian was the best way to keep Trace and Mom safe. They tried to talk me out of it. They even cried, but I chose to become tethered to Caspian anyway. I knew it wasn’t perfect, but it was the best I could do. It was worth the sacrifice of belonging anywhere.

  I gave everything to Caspian and gave up my life as a human when I turned seventeen. I’d never marry, never have a wife or kids. I was sterile and couldn’t pass on my bloodline. I was nothing but a shield erected to protect a tenuous peace. I gave innocent princesses to corrupt kings so that they could be defiled to spare my sister that repeated fate.

  Thinking about the Lost Princess made me cringe. She was an enigma. I was determined to hate her because she was just another werewolf in the end, but she stirred things in me, in Phantom Fangs. I tried to ignore it and to leave her out of my thoughts, but she kept coming in at random times. I had to keep actively burying her. Now that she was in King Philip’s hands, there was no telling what would happen to her. Hate or not, the thought of what her own kind would do to her made me sick.

  “I love him, Mom. I really love him,” Trace said. “I didn’t tell you until now because I knew you would react like this.”

  So my sister was seeing someone. I had my suspicions. I watched her get home late more than once. It had me worried before, but it made me more worried after hearing what she said. Werewolves… why were they talking about werewolves?

  “Who is this werewolf, then?” Mom said the words and a shiver broke out across my skin. I didn’t want to believe it.

  “His name is Koren. Mom, he’s so wonderful and sweet. He even gives me updates on Aerre, letting me know he’s safe and when he’s out on missions. He’d probably get a message to Aerre if I asked him too, but I know Aerre wouldn’t approve, so I haven’t. Oh, but I want to. I hope that little brother of mine is doing well. I wish I could tell him about Koren.”

  Mom somehow managed to frown and smile at the same time. “Me too, honey. Me too.”

  I wanted to scream. Mom needed to talk Trace out of whatever crazy idea she had in her head. A human in love with a werewolf? Talk about taboos, the ultimate of taboos. How could Trace even consider this after what Zecke had done to her? How long had this been going on and I had been fucking clueless?

  “Trace, I know… you think you love this werewolf, but it simply isn’t done.”

  Thank you, Mom.

  “I know I do, and no one will change my mind. You’ll like him when you meet him. Aerre would, too.”

  “When I meet him?”

  “Things can change!”

  “At what expense, though?”

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nbsp; “At no expense, Mother! We’ll be careful. We’ll take it slow. We can figure it out. Don’t you feel like things are changing? I do. I think there’s a beautiful future ahead of us.”

  Werewolves treated wereas as nothing but breeders. They locked them away. Men and women were more or less equal in my experience. At the very least, women weren’t locked away and told their only purpose was to breed. I had seen unwelcome advances from men toward women as well as women toward men among humans, but it was completely one-sided with werewolves. Vampires were the opposite of werewolves. Vampires ruled, and vampyres, males, were locked away. Very locked away. I shuddered at the memory. None of the three mixed. Interbreeding was impossible. Racking my brain to try and understand how my sister could say she was in love with a werewolf wasn’t helping me find an answer. It just didn’t make sense.

  Then I thought of Caspian. I thought about how he’d be thrilled to hear this because this was the kind of world he wanted, wasn’t it? It was certainly a whole new world if werewolves and humans suddenly married or became mates or whatever the term would be coined. If Trace loved this werewolf and he could treat her like a living thing, since she couldn’t be used as a breeder… I couldn’t fathom it. Could he treat her like a living thing or would he just use her for sex? Was he using her for sex now? He couldn’t love her. Love across two different species that have hated each other for how many years? Impossible.

  Is this the start of the future you see, Caspian? Is it going to be at my sister’s expense, or are there other werewolves out there with a heart like yours?

  Caspian would never take a mate, lock her away, and force her to be a breeder. I knew that when I looked past what he was because I knew him. I didn’t know Koren.

  I needed to do some investigating.

  “Why don’t you go to them?”

  “Shit!” I hissed in surprise and nearly jumped off the roof. The drop of moonlight I had left settled back into my core as I looked behind me to see none other than the Lost Princess herself. Did she ever sneak up on me. She almost gave me a fucking heart attack.

  She giggled softly, pressing her hand to her mouth like she was trying to hide it. The smile was clear in her dark-brown eyes, though. I couldn’t look away. Those eyes were dancing lights, reflections of the moon. Her eyelashes fluttered like butterfly wings, and her smile was the most beautiful thing I had ever seen. Her lips looked like they had been painted by a rose, but it was just their natural color and texture. Her bronze skin was luminous with a natural glow that somehow resembled moonlight. And she was wearing a sheer nightdress that made it impossible not to see her hard nipples, a reaction to the chilly night air. The fabric fell around her body so perfectly. It hardly hid anything.

  My body flooded with heat, and I tried to ignore the ache in my dick. No one made me feel this way, certainly not since I became tethered, and I didn’t like it. It reminded me of things I couldn’t have.

  Sorissa ran her hand through the long curls of her hair. “I’m sorry if I scared you.”

  “You’re not supposed to be out here,” I said.

  “No one said I couldn’t, but I also didn’t ask.”

  “How long were you watching?” I managed to tear my eyes away from her to see Trace and Mom finally calling it a night. The gas lamp flickered off, and the house became as dark as all of those surrounding it.

  “Long enough. You look alike. I’m glad your sister is my ‘maid.’”

  I had to close my eyes and take a deep breath before I exploded. My sister was even working inside of the castle? I thought she’d be working in the farms. Watching over my family at night obviously wasn’t enough. Zecke had been stationed as a guard in the Tech Off Zone when he raped my sister. Caspian took the issue straight to the king. Zecke was reassigned to guard the east gate. Because of that, I would have preferred Trace not to be anywhere near the Tech On Zone, but I supposed the castle was as safe a place as any.

  “Caspian must have picked her for that reason,” Sorissa continued. “He knew we’d get along, though she was a little shy at first.”

  Did Caspian handpick Trace for this position? I doubted it. She must have applied for a position in the castle herself. How my sister could stand to be surrounded by werewolves like that after what happened with Zecke, I had no idea.

  “Koren seems nice. I like him.”

  “You’ve met him?” I asked.

  “He escorted me to the throne room again after Trace got me all dressed up.” She rolled her eyes. “At least she dressed me in something comfortable.” She gave me a thoughtful look, eyes wide and questioning. “Can werewolves and humans actually breed then? You’re a werewolf.”

  “No. I’m a tethered.”

  “A human turned werewolf. You said something about that before.”

  “Well, it has nothing to do with breeding,” I growled.

  “You don’t want to talk about it.”

  “What gave you that impression?”

  “Why are you angry, Aerre?”

  I was angry for a lot of reasons. At least one of them involved her.

  “I’m sorry,” I said. I couldn’t be this hostile around the Lost Princess. There was no telling how that could end for me. If she wanted my head, the king would give it to her. For some reason, my tongue was loose around her. I only revealed my true thoughts around Phantom Fangs.

  She reached out a slender hand and bent down to touch my forearm. I was still wearing my Phantom Fangs uniform, that meant long, tight sleeves, and I couldn’t feel her skin against mine, but her warmth made me shiver anyway. It was disarming, a balm for the rage constantly boiling inside of me.

  I didn’t look at her, but I spoke. “A werewolf can change a human and bind them into servitude by biting them, a lot like that bite Prince Charles gave you. It’s different of course. I have no idea what your bite feels like, but it all involves moonlight and the intent behind the bite. If I was still human and you bit me in your moonlight form or with moonlight concentrated in your teeth, you could either seriously injure me, depending on your intent, or you could tether me. Submission seals the deal. Charles bit you with the intent to claim you, but the Mate Claim also has to be sealed with a form of submission, sex, after the bite—apparently.”

  “I have a hard time envisioning Caspian making anyone submit,” the princess commented.

  “You’d be surprised, but he didn’t make me submit. I chose to. Rodrick, too.”

  I shuddered at the memory of Caspian laying his teeth into me. I was seventeen and Caspian was only fifteen. Maybe it wasn’t fair to ask him to do it, but I did. I chose it because it was the best I could do, the most power I could have, the way I could be with Caspian and get information without being frowned upon because he was a werewolf and I was a human. The bite and change following were probably the most painful things I had ever experienced. The loss of freedom. And worst of all, Caspian cried.

  If the Mate Claim was even remotely a similar experience, I pitied Sorissa.

  “So Caspian is your alpha. Rodrick’s, too.”

  “Basically. He can use us however he wants to, and we can’t say no.” Curse my loose tongue.

  “Where’s your bite?”

  “The back of my neck. It’s faded some. Rodrick’s would be a lot easier to see if he didn’t have so many damn tattoos.”

  The princess stood up and touched the back of my neck, moving down the collar of my uniform. I tried to ignore the buzz she sent through my skin as her fingers brushed across my mark. Then she sat down next to me.

  “I don’t think Caspian sees you as expendable submissives. I don’t think he sees you as submissives at all.”

  “You like Caspian,” I noted. I was glad she did. If there was even the slightest chance Caspian could become her mate, I would support it. I knew he would treat her well. But I couldn’t stop this pang of jealousy in my chest.

  “You do, too,” she said.

  “Funny, Princess, but he’s not my type.”

&nbs
p; She squeezed my arm. “I like you, too. I like Phantom Fangs. You’re different from everyone else.”

  I laughed. “Because we’re fuckups.”

  “You’re kinder. It seems like what I say actually matters to you. You answer my questions even when you don’t want to. You’re the first friends I’ve made outside of my woods.”

  I wanted to say something to combat that, maybe tell her that she needed to get to know more people, but I couldn’t bring myself to joke about that. The king would lock her away soon enough—unless she really did like Caspian and he could convince the king to let him take her as his mate. It was a long shot, but it was her best shot.

  “You said I’m not supposed to be out here, but you haven’t marched me back to the castle yet.” Sorissa sat beside me and leaned against me. My skin felt like it was about to combust. It was then I realized she had been shivering, and her lips had taken on a bluish tint. Hesitantly, I wrapped my arm around her waist. It seemed to be the right thing to do since she melted into me, readily accepting the gesture.

  “It’s cold out here!” she exclaimed. “I should have found something else to wear, but the only things in that closet are dresses and more dresses. Where are all the pants and sweaters? It’s spring, but the nights are still cold.”

  “Criminal,” I murmured. I could barely manage that one word. This wasn’t good. What was she doing to me? I wanted to be closer. I needed to be closer. My body ached, but my soul was aching at the same time. It was insanity. Was this unbearable attraction because of her power as the Moonlight Child?

  “You should see your sister and mother.”

  “I can’t.”

  “Because you’re tethered?”

  “Yes.”

  “Caspian won’t let you?”

  “It’s not… it’s not that simple.”

  “They love you a lot.”

  “I wonder about that sometimes.”

  “They do.”

  “Even though becoming a tethered betrayed them? Do you still love your witch even though she betrayed you?”