by Reana Malori
Raven's Crown
Reana Malori
Raven’s Crown Copyright © 2019 Reana Malori
All rights reserved under the International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.
This is a work of fiction. Names, places, characters and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to any actual persons, living or dead, organizations, events or locales is entirely coincidental.
Warning: the unauthorized reproduction or distribution of this copyrighted work is illegal. Criminal copyright infringement, including infringement without monetary gain, is investigated by the FBI and is punishable by up to 5 years in prison and a fine of $250,000.
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CONTENTS
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Thank You!
Dark Angel – Excerpt
Let’s Stay in Touch
About the Author
Also by Reana Malori
Raven’s Crown
Summary
He’ll follow her across an ocean to claim her as his own.
Dexter
She ran from me. Not just to her home across town, but to another country. She swore she loved me with every word, every kiss, every time I took her to heaven with our bodies. I never cared that she was a princess in her country, heir to the throne, and richer than King Midas. All that matters is that she’s mine. I’ll do whatever is necessary to make her my wife. Even if that means her kingdom will never be the same.
Raven
Loving him was all that mattered to me. Until the day I was called home to take my rightful place as the heir to my father’s throne. Leaving him almost broke me but there was no other choice. Then he shows up unannounced and looking more handsome than I’d ever imagined. My entire heart, body, and soul belong to him, but I need to protect him from the politics of my world. He doesn’t understand but I left to protect him. Now that’s he’s come for me, I don’t have the strength to walk away from him again.
CHAPTER 1
Raven
Raven couldn't focus on the scene in front of her. Her eyes moved from person to person, her stomach clenching in fear and anxiety. Not a concern for her life or safety. No. It was fear that Dexter would give away their secret. That he would tell her parents about what they'd shared together in Washington, D.C., where she lived full time.
Dexter was her past. Her recent past, but he could no longer be part of her life. She'd made sure of that. He would always be the one she'd let go. Something she would regret as long as she lived. At one point, she was confident he'd be her future. She'd loved that man almost more than she loved herself. His every touch made her body writhe with need. Whenever he slid his thick cock inside her body, a feeling of completeness came over her.
The look in his eyes as they lay in bed together, their naked bodies entwined, and lips softly kissing, told her she was the only woman he needed. God, how she'd missed that. Dexter hadn't cared about her title, who her parents were, or how much money she had. As a boy from a small town in Tennessee, he grew up in a world so different from hers.
When they were alone in his small apartment or her townhouse in Northeast DC, nothing about their outside worlds could intrude. Their only focus had been on loving each other. Being with each other. Until the moment she chose to ruin everything they had. Everything they'd meant to each other.
She still remembered the day her world had come crashing down around her. Thick clouds hovered in the sky all day, threatening to pour rain down at any moment. Her mood had been dark, and she'd snapped at more people than usual. Working for Boekons, LLC as a business analyst, she dealt with risk all day, and for some reason, that day had been more taxing. As soon as she walked through the front door of her townhouse, her phone rang. Glancing at the screen, she noticed her parents’ number.
That’s the moment all her running, and her efforts to leave the life in her home country of Abingdon behind, officially ended.
A loud noise broke through the memories, jarring her back to the present. Her head turned, and her eyes immediately found Dexter. His gaze was laser-focused on her, his green eyes intense. Those beautiful lips that brought her so much pleasure every night for more than a year were held in a thin line. A look she'd seen before on those occasions when he'd been unhappy with her.
"Daughter? Why do you have that look on your face?"
Turning to her father, she attempted a smile. "What look?" She knew exactly what he saw because she felt it with every fiber of her being. She wanted to run. Get as far away from here as she could. But there was no escape. How did he even get here? Why was he here?
"You look as if you just saw a ghost," her father responded to his original question.
"Maybe I just need a break. It's been a long weekend. So much to do. All these things I need to learn. I never expected to be here in this moment, stepping into a role I’m not sure I’m ready for," Raven admitted.
A soft touch on her arm turned her attention to her mother. This woman she'd emulated for so many years still had a quiet elegance about her. Her mother's dark skin glowed in the afternoon sunlight, her hair perfectly coiffed, and her crown twinkled from the light reflecting off the jewels. When her parents met, her mother had been a newly graduated nurse. She'd been on duty the night a handsome man with sun-streaked blond hair came rushing into the Emergency Room with a gash on his left palm.
That blond-haired, blue-eyed man had been her father, the Crown Prince of Abingdon, a small country next to Switzerland. According to the tale, her father had fallen head over heels for her mother within moments of meeting her. Determined to never be without her by his side, he'd asked her to marry him that very first day. Her mother, a brilliant woman on her own, refused him. From that point, she’d refused each of the thirty times he asked her after that. Whatever it was that finally convinced her mother to say yes, she knew it involved her father threatening to abdicate from the throne. They were married in April. She was born just thirteen months later in May.
A wave of sadness came over her as she thought of her parents’ marriage and what they'd gone through to be together. Her father allowed nothing to come between him and the woman he wanted to marry. He fought for the right to marry whomever he wanted, and the world would have to get on board.
If nothing else, that's what her parents taught her over the years. Be who you are, no matter what, and fight for what you want. She'd lived by those rules her entire life.
Glancing over at the man standing across the ballroom, it felt as if her heart were in a vice. Her breath caught in her chest, and her eyes welled with tears she refused to let fall. She'd given up on Dexter. Walked away from what they had, even as he stood in front of her begging her not to go. Pleaded with her to explain to him what he'd done wrong. To tell him what mistake he’d made.
She didn't answer him because nothing she said would have sufficed. No answer would be good enough to explain the selfish decision she made about their lives. He hadn't done anything wrong. Everything about him was amazing. When with him, her world felt right, and her
soul felt content.
But she had a responsibility to the crown, the throne, her parent's legacy, and the people of her country. Dexter didn't have a title. He didn't come from royal lineage. Hell, Dexter was the first person in his family to attend college. After growing up in Jackson, Tennessee, he'd left home to pursue his law degree. From what she knew, it hadn't been an easy decision for him. His family didn't understand why he wanted to leave. He and his father only began speaking again about two years ago, and his extended family still accused him of abandoning his roots.
It was funny, but not funny at the same time. When Dexter’s family thought of her as an average girl who'd caught their son's eye, they were hesitant, but she won them over. It wasn't that they disliked her, but they initially questioned the cultural differences. Their family had a history of not being too kind to people with her skin color, even if Raven's father was Caucasian. At the end of the day, she was still a woman of color.
It wasn't until she had to disclose her wealthy and privileged background that things became a little more complicated. Raven had been invited to Christmas dinner and was excited about the chance to meet Dexter's extended family. Although she'd gone off on her own to spread her wings, there were some rules she still followed. One of those rules was to always have an advance protection team to perform a location check to identify any potential security gaps. No matter where she was in the world, her safety was her parents' primary concern. When she gave a little, so did they.
After the visit from her security detail, the Sorenson family seemed to give her the cold shoulder. The warmth she'd felt from them over the phone and video chats no longer existed. It wasn't until she overheard Dexter speaking with his mother once they'd returned that she understood what happened. From what she could gather, his mother believed Raven was using him. That Raven was slumming with him until it was time for her to go back home. They’d accused Raven of using Dexter as a temporary plaything until she had to go back to her wealthy family.
His defense of her made her heart swell with love, but it also highlighted that they came from two different worlds. Although she and her parents hadn't discussed her future with Dexter, she'd still been worried about their response to him. For all intents and purposes, Dexter was a commoner. He had no pedigree in his family lineage to speak of. He grew up in a small town where almost every family worked the land, everyone knew each other, and hard work was the town's mantra.
Fear had begun to bubble inside her. Concern about where they were truly headed began to fill her head. Would they grow to hate each other? What if her parents didn't approve of him? What if his parents truly hated who she was and refused to acknowledge her place in his life? When that call came through, the decision was practically made for her.
She'd have to leave Dexter. The love she had for him would last through any situation. But she was unsure if his feelings for her were strong enough to do the same.
"Raven."
Jarred from her internal musings, she looked up and saw the face of the man who filled her dreams at night. She took a deep inhale of breath, her hand going to her throat. How did she not notice him walking over to her?
"Dexter. What-What are you doing here?"
His forest green eyes bored into her brown ones. His brow creased in a frown, and his lips pursed in frustration. "Raven, sweetheart. Don't you know? I came for you."
CHAPTER 2
Dexter
She ran away from me.
Denied who we are to each other and how we feel about each other. My Raven. Beautiful, sexy, luscious Raven. She was the only woman he'd felt this way about. She was the other half of his soul. The one person he was willing to give it all up for, just to be with her.
And she'd tried to break his fucking heart. Then she ran. That was the one thing he could never allow. If he believed for one minute that she didn't love him, or thought their relationship had run its course, he would have left it alone.
But he knew it was a bag full of lies. Every word that fell from Raven’s lips that final day at his apartment in Washington, DC had been false. They'd been inseparable for more than a year. When she told him who she was, he hadn't believed her at first. It had been too sensational. The Crown Princess of a fucking country? Really?
But none of that changed how he felt about her. Lying in bed with her soft body cradled in his arms after making love, the only thing that mattered to him was sinking his dick inside her again. Once she made her confession, he never brought it up again. Not because he didn’t understand the importance of who she was, but because it didn't matter to him. If anything, he was even more concerned that he wasn’t good enough for her. After a few minutes of that defeatist thinking, he pushed that thought from his head.
With Raven by his side, it didn't matter what other people thought. Her opinion is the only one he cared about. Dexter would kiss her soft lips as he whispered words of need and desire. He’d played with her body on a nightly basis, placing sweet kisses along her smooth skin. His lips suckled her pebbled nipples, the brown flesh puckered and standing up at the ready. She was always so primed, her juices flowing from her wet channel even before his hard member entered her welcoming pussy. He’d use one hand to travel down her body, rubbing along her flat stomach until reaching her bare mound, and the little pearl of flesh he loved so much. His favorite visual of Raven was when he’d rub against her clit as her hips bucked underneath him.
Dexter would position his body between her legs, sliding his thick cock inside Raven's body while capturing her lips in a soft, sensual kiss. As he stroked inside her tight sheath, they’d moan in unison as they became one. Raven’s thick thighs would cradle his body as they writhed on top of the bed.
After every session of lovemaking, he’d lean his head down in the crook of her neck. Her unique scent was his favorite perfume, and he loved to smell their scents mingled together after they made love. It always had a calming effect on him. If he could, he’d willingly get lost in the sensation of her pussy wrapped around his cock as they slumbered in his bed.
Thinking of the two of them together in bed brought back memories of her whimpers as he stroked inside her slick channel. He remembered the first night Raven told him she loved him. His heart still stuttered as her breathless words floated through his mind.
It had brought him to his knees when he’d heard the words fall from her lips. It was at that moment when he realized he’d never let her go. No matter what issues they had to face as a couple, they would handle them together.
She was his.
He was hers.
Until the day she'd become spooked, running away from the life they had together. Left her job, packed up her townhouse, and hopped on a plane to return to Shularia, the location of her family's royal home.
Angry at first, Dexter had begun to doubt what they'd felt for each other. That every look of passion he'd seen reflected in her eyes had been a lie. When Dexter calmed down, he knew that hadn't been the case. She loved him just as he loved her. She'd run from him for another reason, and he wasn't going to let her throw away everything they had.
If she no longer wanted him or loved him, Dexter wanted her to tell him to his face that her feelings for him no longer existed. Because until he genuinely believed she was telling him the truth, he wasn't giving her up without a fight.
Using some money from his savings, he'd booked the first available flight. He then called out of work for some urgent leave and packed his tuxedo—one of the best investments he'd ever made. Within three days of Raven’s departure, he made his way across the vast ocean to go claim his woman.
As he watched her eyes widen in surprise at seeing him across the room, he smirked. Raven knew the kind of man he was. She should have known he'd show up. When had he ever backed away from a challenge? Dexter placed his empty glass on a passing tray before making his way across the room. His focus was on Raven, his intent clear.
"Raven," he said in greeting with a
sneer on his face. He knew she was surprised to see him here.
"Dexter? What are you doing here?"
That she actually questioned why he'd come pissed him off. "Raven, sweetheart. Don't you know? I came for you."
The older man standing next to her glanced his way, one eyebrow raised. "Raven, do you know this young man?"
Men in dark suits with earpieces came closer to their small group. The blond man dressed in the full regalia of the royal family, shook his head at them, pausing their steps. Glancing between the older man and Raven, Dexter saw the resemblance between the two and realized this was her father, King Hans of Abingdon.
Her brown eyes were widened with fear as they stared at him. Her pleading message was coming through loud and clear. Please. Don’t. He could tell she wanted him to walk away. To not cause a scene in the middle of the ballroom, with reporters hovering like vultures. Although he understood her fears, there was no chance in hell of that happening. He wasn't walking away from her. Raven owed him some answers, and he was getting them today. Dexter watched and waited as Raven squirmed under the scrutiny of his gaze. He wondered how she'd respond to her father's question. Had she explained their relationship to them? Was her father aware of what they'd meant to each other? Did anyone know they'd planned to marry, have children, and grow old together? From the looks of things, Raven never had any intentions of telling her family about their relationship.
"Raven?" Dexter prompted. Her silence unnerved him, but there was no way she was getting out of this. He knew she was scared and nervous about his presence here, but her frozen state was unexpected. "Raven!" he exclaimed a bit louder, causing her to jump.