by Kim Fox
Royal tried to understand as he walked back to the truck. She was standing by the passenger side door, tapping her foot impatiently as she waited for him to unlock it. Elsa glanced back at the woman as he slid the key in.
“Did I say or do something to-”
She just barreled past him, not even letting him finish and closed the door in his face. Royal sighed as he walked around the truck and climbed into the driver’s side.
The blonde woman with the dark eyebrows threw her smoking cigarette on the ground and jumped in her car. She pulled out behind them and followed them onto the main road.
Elsa had her arms crossed over her chest and her eyes closed. Royal wanted to comfort her. He wanted to talk to her and see what was wrong but she didn’t look interested. Just give her some time. She’s been through a lot.
They drove home in silence and Royal kept glancing into his rear view mirror at the red car following them. The blonde girl was behind the wheel. There was something fishy about it.
“Do you know that girl?”
Elsa turned around to look out of the back window. “Shit,” she muttered under her breath.
“Who is she?” Royal asked, glancing back at her for the fiftieth time.
“I don’t know,” she said, turning back around with her arms crossed.
“Then why did you say shit?” Something was up with that girl. Maybe she worked for Elsa’s father.
Elsa chewed on her fingernail. “Because I just remembered that I forgot the dog food.”
Royal rubbed his chin as he glanced back. The woman was still following them.
The road to their ranch was coming up and Royal turned onto it. He slowed down waiting to see if the red car would follow him onto his property but she just kept driving.
Probably nothing.
But Elsa was staring into the side mirror with a look of dread on her face.
twelve
It was time to leave.
As much as Camilla hated to admit it. She had done enough damage. Royal was the best man that she had ever met and he didn’t deserve any of this.
And she didn’t deserve him.
She had told him that she hadn’t been feeling well all day and she just laid in his bed, enjoying his smell one last time before she would hitchhike into town, get on the first bus out of there, and leave forever. She had no idea where she would go but it would be far away from here.
It was dark and quiet when Royal knocked on the front door. “I just want to see if you’re okay,” he called out.
She sat up in bed and smoothed out her hair. She took a deep breath and walked to the door. Royal was standing in front of her looking nervous and unsure. The camp was unusually quiet.
“Where is everybody?”
“They went into town for some beers,” he said, running his hand over his beard.
“You didn’t want to go with them?”
He shook his head. “I wanted to stay with you. Are you okay?”
It was time to tell him the truth. All of it.
And she was going to start with her name. She always wanted to hear the way it would sound in his deep, sexy voice. She wanted to see how his soft lips would crack and mold as he sounded it out. But now he would probably say it with disgust.
“There’s something that I have to tell you,” she said as butterflies invaded her stomach. “I wasn’t exactly-”
A car drove down the gravel road into the camp, interrupting her. Crap. She really didn’t need Slate and Karl interrupting another moment.
But the car was red. With a blonde driver.
She gulped as Angela parked the car and stepped out.
“That’s the girl who followed us this morning,” Royal said, glaring at her. “Who is she?”
“I’m a private investigator,” Angela called out in an official sounding voice. “I was hired by the king, your father, to bring you back in.”
Camilla dropped her head down. What the fuck is she doing?
“Elsa is not going anywhere,” Royal said, stepping in front of Camilla. He stood in front of her protectively with his muscular legs parted and his hands on his hips.
This had gone on long enough.
“Angela, stop,” Camilla said, taking a deep breath.
Royal sprang forward like a bullet and Camilla gasped. Angela yanked out a gun from behind her purse and pointed it right in the middle of his broad chest. His chest was so wide that she couldn’t have missed it even if she tried.
“Angela!” she screamed. “Stop! I love him.”
Royal skidded to a stop and turned with a look of pure happiness on his face. It made it that much more heartbreaking to tell him the truth. He would hate her after.
“You hear that?” Angela said, still pointing the gun at Royal. “She loves you. And if you don’t give me fifty grand, I’ll bring her back to her father where she’ll be married off to an abusive prince.”
“She’s not going anywhere,” Royal said, turning back to Angela. His hands were shaking and a low growl escaped from his throat. His arms were flexed and he was hunched over with his back looking bigger than ever. He looked terrifying.
“Yes, she is!” Angela said. “I have the gun so she’s going to do what I say. Get in the car Elsa!”
“Angela!” Camilla screamed. “I said that’s enough. I’m not doing this anymore!”
Angela gritted her teeth as she furrowed her black eyebrows at Royal. “I’ll shoot her if you don’t pay,” she warned, still acting in character.
Royal was shaking uncontrollably now. His body convulsed and jerked wildly. What the hell?
Camilla could only stand there and stare. She was too stunned to do anything. His arms and back were swelling up, ripping through his t-shirt.
Her mouth dropped open and her heartbeat raced as long brown hairs sprouted out of his skin. She had no idea what was happening.
Neither did Angela, but she didn’t just stand there and stare.
She fired the gun into Royal’s chest over and over again, until it was empty.
The ringing in Camilla’s ears was so loud that she couldn’t hear herself screaming as Royal collapsed to the ground.
She rushed over as his body shrank back to its normal size. His body was still and littered with bullet wounds. Deep red blood was oozing out of them and pooling on the dirt ground.
“No!” she screamed as she dropped to her knees and rolled him over. His eyes were half closed and his mouth was hanging open. The man that she loved was dying in front of her.
“Why did you do that?” Camilla screamed at Angela. She was still holding the smoking gun in her hand staring at the body in shock.
“He must have been a shifter,” she said with a disbelieving voice. She shook her head and darted her head around. “We have to get out of here!”
“You killed him!” Camilla screamed, standing up with her hands clenched into fists. “I loved him!”
“Camilla,” Angela said with a serious face. “We have to get out of here, now.”
“So go!” Camilla cried as tears streamed down her face. She was done with this life. Done with Angela. Done with the lies. “Just get out of my life. Take the car and leave me alone.”
Camilla turned and dropped to her knees cradling Royal’s head in her bloody hands. This was her fault. This beautiful man, this amazing prince, was dead and it was all because of her.
“He’s a monster, Camilla,” Angela said, placing her hand on Camilla’s shoulder. “You saw what he was turning into. I had to kill him.”
Camilla swatted her hand away. “Just leave,” she said, sobbing. “Go.”
Angela hesitated and then ran to the car. “You tell anyone that I shot him and I’ll kill you,” she said before disappearing into the car. The engine roared to life and she peeled out of there leaving Camilla alone with Royal’s dead body.
“I’m sorry,” she said, as her tears mixed with his blood. “I love you and I’m sorry that I lied. My real name is Camilla. Camilla
Hill. I just wanted you to hear it once.”
She dropped her head and sobbed. She had just lost the two people who had been like family to her. But she was only mourning one.
Ow.
I fucking hate guns.
Royal had been shot over a dozen times. It must have been a new record. Nope. Gulestan. He had been shot nineteen times in the small mountain town in Afghanistan. Stetson had counted the bullet holes after he dragged Royal’s unconscious body back to safety. The big guy had taken six bullets in the back just to get him out of there.
It wasn’t as much as Gulestan but it still fucking hurt.
Royal could barely open his eyes. His body had pretty much shut down, using all of its resources and energy to get him healed. It would be a few minutes at least before he could even talk.
But he could see.
And the beautiful sight of Elsa crying over him was good enough to pass the time. Now that the threat was gone he could just relax while his muscle tissue pushed out the bullets and then healed itself.
It broke his heart to see Elsa sobbing but he couldn’t move to tell her that he was okay.
“I’m sorry,” she said, as tears rained down from her eyes. “I love you and I’m sorry that I lied. My real name is Camilla. Camilla Hill. I just wanted you to hear it once.”
What? Did he just hear that right? Her name was Camilla? And she loved him?
“I’m not a princess,” she said as she held his head in her lap. “I’m not rich. I’m a street kid and a con artist. My mother abandoned me when I was eleven and that woman that shot you, Angela, was the only one who helped me out. She taught me how to survive by conning people out of money and I was trying to con you at first.”
She was speaking so fast and her sobs were making it hard to understand but Royal caught the most important part. She’s not a princess?
“I’m sorry,” she said as she ran the back of her hand up his cheek. “I wanted to tell you the truth. I did. I fell in love with you and it just made it harder. I wasn’t going to take your money. You gave me so much more.”
She leaned over and kissed his lips. “I’m sorry I wasn’t the princess that you deserve.”
She had lied. She wasn’t a princess.
It was weird but Royal didn’t care. He didn’t care what her name was or what type of blood was running through her veins. He just wanted to be with her.
He loved her.
Not her title or birthright or stature.
He loved the way that she made him feel when he held her hand. He loved the way that she made him laugh when she asked a ridiculous question and then analyzed his ridiculous answer.
If Elsa, or Camilla, was not a princess, then he didn’t want one. Not anymore.
He only wanted her.
He had seen her true self, the real her, and she was beautiful. She may have fooled him with the whole princess thing but she couldn’t fool him about who she really was.
Royal gasped as his whole body seized up. His eyes locked onto the beautiful woman in front of him and he groaned as he felt pulled towards her in a way that he’d never experience before. The night sky and dark trees behind her started to black out until only Camilla was in full, brilliant view.
He smiled and Camilla gasped, her tears stopping at once.
Fuck yeah!
He was bonding to his princess.
thirteen
“Royal!” Camilla screamed as she cupped his cheeks in her hands. “Are you okay?”
His lips were curled up into a smile. How could that be?
She scanned his body and jerked her head back when she saw the impossible happening. Every bullet hole in his body was healing. One at a time, the bullets popped out from the wounds that they had caused and then the skin behind it healed into a pink scar that was fading before her very eyes.
“It’s a miracle,” she whispered. “Or, I’m going crazy.”
Royal reached up and grabbed her wrist. “You’re not going crazy. Camilla.”
She gasped at the sound of him saying her real name. Had he heard everything?
“I’m sorry, Royal,” she said, burying her head into his chest as fresh tears came pouring out. This was the part where he would ask her to leave forever. “I didn’t mean to hurt you.”
“You didn’t,” Royal said, threading his hands through her hair. She closed her eyes and kissed his warm skin, thankful that she had found such an amazing guy. He had to be to forgive her.
“I guess that I haven’t been completely honest with you either,” he said. “I’m a bear shifter. We all are.”
“Oh my God,” she said with a gasp. So it wasn’t a miracle. He was a shifter. That explained the growling sounds and his incredible strength. “So you can change into a bear?”
Camilla had heard rumors of strange mountain men who could phase into animals but she thought they were just urban legends. Well, she believed it now.
“A grizzly bear,” he answered. He pushed up to a sitting position as his face twisted into a painful grimace.
She had a lot of questions for him but now was not the time to get into them all. He still looked like he was hurting pretty badly.
“I’m sorry that you had such a tough life growing up,” he said, clutching his ribs. “But that’s all over now if you want it to be. I would like to be your family.”
Camilla swallowed hard as she looked at him through teary eyes. “You can forgive me?”
He rubbed his short beard and grinned. “I don’t care what you lied about,” he said. “I don’t care if your name is Elsa, Camilla, or Fucky McFuckPants.”
She laughed and he smiled.
“I’ve seen the real you and I only care about one thing,” he continued. “Were you telling the truth when you said that you loved me?”
Camilla lunged forward and kissed him hard on the lips. “One hundred percent. I love you like crazy.”
The look of relief on Royal’s face made her kiss him again.
“I love you too,” he said. “Do you want to give this a shot? A real shot?”
She nodded enthusiastically. “Yes!”
“Good,” he said with a sly smile. “Because you’re my mate.”
Camilla scrunched her nose up in confusion. “Your what?”
“Help me up,” he said, pushing up to his shaky legs with a grunt. “Let’s go to my cabin and I’ll explain all about it. After some make-up sex.”
Camilla laughed as she pulled his heavy arm over the back of her shoulders. He could barely stand. How was he going to make love?
“And you,” he said, touching the tip of her nose with his index finger, “are going to do all of the work.”
She smiled as they stumbled to his cabin. “Deal!”
“So,” Camilla said as she stood in front of the squad of bear shifters the following night. “I’m so sorry for deceiving you all. I hope you guys can forgive me.”
She had just opened up to them and told them the truth about everything as Royal stood beside her. She told them about her past and she even confessed about lying to them and trying to steal their money. Camilla hung her head low while she waited for them to kick her out.
Royal slid his hand over hers and her heart panged. He was the one who mattered the most but she also cared deeply about what Thorn, Tyler, Stetson, Kylee, and the twins all thought. She desperately wanted to join the fun group and have a family for the first time in her life.
“So you’re like a master con artist?” Slate asked.
“Was a master con artist,” Royal corrected. Camilla loved how he was always standing up for her.
Slate grinned. “That’s so cool!”
Thorn stood up from where they were sitting around the campfire. Scrappy was asleep in his arms. “We’ve all had our shady pasts,” he said with a nod of his head. “Every single one of us has been to jail.”
“Not me,” Kylee said, jutting her hand into the air.
“There’s a jail at your office,” Karl said. “You�
��re telling me you’ve never been inside?”
Kylee frowned. “That’s not what Thorn meant.”
“Have you been inside?” Karl asked, pressing her.
Kylee shifted in her seat. “Yeah, but I-”
“Then you’ve been to jail and you’re one of us,” Karl said, turning away as if his ludicrous point was made.
“Anyways,” Thorn said with a shake of his head as he pet Scrappy’s back. “We’ve all had our dark pasts. Royal was in jail for assault, Stetson for battery, the twins for grand theft auto, Tyler for espionage, and I, well, I was in jail too.” His charcoal gray eyes dropped to the fire and he took a deep breath. “People can change. I would like you to stay, Camilla.”
“You just don’t want Scrappy to go,” Tyler said with a laugh. Their leader and alpha, Thorn, had become pretty attached to Camilla’s puppy lately. Scrappy had even started sleeping in his cabin.
“Maybe,” Thorn said with a grin. “But I like Camilla too.”
“Me too,” Karl said.
Slate raised his hand. “I vote that she stays under one condition.”
“Anything,” Camilla said in a low voice.
Slate smirked. “You come wingsuit flying with me and Karl.”
“Anything but that,” she corrected.
“Okay, fine,” Slate said, rolling his eyes. “You can stay anyways.”
Stetson nodded. “She’s good enough for Royal even though she’s not a princess. That means she’s good enough for me.”
Tyler grinned. “She can stay as long as she promises not to save any more lobsters.”
Camilla raised her chin in the air and crossed her arms. “I promise nothing.”
“Fine,” Tyler said with a laugh. “You still have my vote regardless.”
Camilla tensed up as she looked at Kylee. The newest member of the Clawed Squad was also the hardest to win over. She was a cop after all and sworn to arrest and imprison people like her.
“I don’t know,” Kylee asked, biting her bottom lip as she studied Camilla. “I have a duty to report you. I am the Sheriff after all.”
Royal took a step forward. “She’s not going to do it again,” he said with a tight voice.