“Are you afraid she’ll come back as a tiger, since you were in tiger form when you killed her?”
“No,” I said, shaking my big head. “It has to be a real tiger, not a shifter, to make you come back. That’s how I know she meant for this to happen to me. Why else would she choose a tiger of all things to kill me? She could have scraped up a pack of wild dogs on the streets of the Ocelot Kingdom. They don’t want you to know they have that kind of thing there, but they do. In the poor human neighborhoods? Shit, you can find anything.”
“What about here?” she asked. “Were you poor here, too?”
I shrugged. “Yeah. It’s hard to get a job when you can’t speak the language. The shah speaks many languages, so he gave me a job, but I’m worse off here than back home. There, I was skilled. Here, I’m a fucking janitor. And it’s not like I have my boys to go out with. I’m a transplant. I’m not even the same race as the other tigers. I don’t know why the shah didn’t just tell King Ocelot to keep me. I’m sure Itzel could have found some new torture for me there.”
Shah Tiger owned my life now. He was twice as perverted as King Ocelot but not near as bloodthirsty. I’d take it, if I had to stay in this world.
“The shah, is he good to you?” Ebele asked.
I knew a trap when I heard it. This damn interview was going to get me killed. Oh, well. The shah had given me permission to do it.
“I haven’t been beaten here,” I said. “I haven’t been forced to fight to the death with no chance of winning. In fact, I’ve never heard about the shah ordering a single execution in all the months I’ve been here. I’ve never even gotten wind of a death under mysterious circumstances—King Ocelot’s favorite. That way, he could also execute some guards or a few others he pretended to suspect.”
“It sounds like the Ocelot Nation is a dangerous place,” Ebele said. “They won’t accept foreigners to film or interview anyone there, so this is a rare glimpse into their kingdom. Can you tell us some more about that?”
“I wasn’t part of palace life,” I said. “I was in the stables, just outside it. Sometimes we heard gossip, or we heard about the big things, like when the queen died. The guards who were supposed to be on duty the night she was kidnapped, they were all strung up and shot by the new guards taking their place. No one will ever forget that day. I think that’s when we all realized exactly how disposable we were to the royal family. How obedient we had to be, and what could happen to us if we weren’t.”
“Were the guards celebrating their promotion?” Ebele asked. “The ones shooting the bodies as they hung. Were they proving how loyal they were?”
I shrugged. “They’re shifters. I didn’t know them. But if they were smart, they were following the king’s orders and praying like fuck they didn’t end up there next. The guards usually work the streets for a while. A palace guard position is a huge promotion. But it’s probably the most dangerous job in the world. In the stables, we called them ‘dead men walking.’ We took bets on how long they’d last before the king had them executed.”
“Why would they want that position?”
“Money,” I said. “Money to send back to their families, if they have someone to take care of at home. Prestige. The hope they might be moved off guard duty and into the court itself, be given land and a title. The chance to one day sway the king’s decisions… If they live that long.”
“Was that your goal?”
“Fuck no,” I said, shifting in my seat. “Even the stable boys know not to get too close to the royals. Anyone in spitting distance is in blaming distance. The minute one of them annoys a royal, he ends up where I did. Hell, he might end up there for no reason other than he was the first person the king saw when he needed someone to blame for a murder he committed.”
“That does sound like a dangerous job,” Ebele said. “But let’s talk about your job. You said even a stable boy knows not to get too close to the royals. And yet, that’s exactly what you did.”
I cracked a grin at her. “I never said I was smart.”
“What made you break your rules and befriend the princess?”
I laughed, but there was no humor in me. “I was twelve. I didn’t have rules of life back then. If I had, I wouldn’t have lost my life. But she came out there crying one day, must have been about five years old, wanted to hide in the loft. You try saying no to a crying kid—even a princess. At first, she was more like the annoying kid sister who liked to tag along. But she grew up good.”
“As her friend, did you enjoy certain… Privileges?”
“You mean, did I fuck her? No.”
“Anything else, though?” Ebele pressed. “Maybe some leniency, a little more freedom?”
“I guess so,” I admitted at last. “In a country where you’re so unimportant that you can be killed and no one blinks twice, but so dangerous that even speaking the king’s name in vain earns you a death sentence, you take whatever protection you can get. Even if it turns out to be a trap.”
“You think Princess Itzel planned to have you killed all along?”
“Not all along,” I said. “But at some point. I don’t know when. I only know that she set me up that night. She lured me into thinking she was going to give herself to me, that we’d really be together. And then she sent ocelot guards after me.”
“You still don’t know why?”
I shook my head, my fists clenching on the table between us. “No,” I said. “The guards grabbed me out of my apartment, but they wouldn’t tell me what I’d done. Later, one of them brought me dinner and told me that Itzel had ordered my arrest. She’d told her father that I’d offended her with my presumptuousness because I’d thought I was good enough to fuck her. She couldn’t believe I thought I had the right to her virginity. She wanted to give it to someone important.”
“Did that sound like something she’d say?”
“I didn’t believe it at first,” I said. “But he knew how I’d die, what she’d ordered for me. I don’t think I believed it still, not until I was led out and killed for sport in front of an entire arena. And the princess, she just sat there in her fancy dress with her royal family, in the best seats in the house, and watched me die.”
“That convinced you,” Ebele said. “Because you saw that she was like her father after all.”
“That, and one more thing.” The memory made me see red, anger pulsing in the corner of my vision like an exposed heart.
“What thing?” Ebele asked, leaning forward, her inky eyes alight with eagerness. She wanted the good stuff. The stuff that turned to poison in my veins, burned like cinders in my throat.
“That night, after I’d been killed,” I started, grinding out the words. “I asked to see her. The guard left and came back with her sister—Camila. She said Itzel didn’t want to see me. That she was done with me, and she’d ordered me shipped out so she never had to lay eyes on me again. When I told that bitch I didn’t believe her, Camila said Itzel wanted me out of the way. She’d already set her sights higher, and she wanted me gone so the rumors about our relationship wouldn’t tarnish her reputation or make her new lover doubt her purity.” I laughed, the sound slicing at my throat like razorblades.
“Because rumor had it, you’d already been with the princess.”
“I hadn’t fucked her, but there was nothing pure about Itzel. She’d been sucking my dick for years, just stringing me along until she was ready to move on to more important men, ones with titles, who could give her the status she’d been so desperate for all her life. I’d never finished the job and fucked her properly, but she was anything but innocent. And not just in terms of sex. She was always scheming, wanting closer to the throne. Wanting influence.”
“That’s why you don’t feel any remorse for killing her?”
“I’ll pay for what I did. The shah will make sure of it. I accept that. But feeling remorse? Why should I? She felt none for killing me.”
Nine
Itzel
Prince
ss, Ocelot Nation
“Oh my god,” I groaned, covering my face with both hands. “The fucking curse.”
And then I started laughing. Because what else could I do? I’d come back from the dead, but I could never mate with my mates. I was still cursed. My pussy literally brought death to the world. Well, maybe not the world, but all the men I loved.
Not to mention that we’d once called them the “fucking amulets,” which was just about as fitting as calling this the “fucking curse.”
I got up from the bed and started dressing, ignoring the swollen ache of arousal between my thighs. “I don’t know how long I’m going to last before I think one last fuck is worth dying for,” Lord Balam said, watching me re-wrap the silk dress around my body.
“Can we do other stuff?” I asked. “Maybe we can still fool around. Can you consult the oracle or something?”
“You want me to ask the oracle if I can still fuck you with my fingers and my tongue?”
God, yes. I’d have let him ask my own mother that question if it meant he’d satisfy the hunger to be filled.
He ran his tongue slowly along his upper lip, his eyes hooded as he stared at my bare tits. My clit throbbed, and my gaze was captivated by the obscenity of his pink cat tongue stroking the flesh of his mouth.
“I’m sure it’s not worth asking,” I said with a shrug, as if he had no effect on me.
A soft tap sounded on the door, and Shadow stuck his head in. When he saw that I was awake, he stepped into the room with Kwame on his heels.
Kwame came to me and took both my hands in his. “My queen,” he said. “The king is requesting your presence at dinner.”
I’d barely gotten back on my feet, but I knew there was no time to lounge around and recover. I’d already been in bed for too long.
“I owe him my gratitude,” I said. “We’d better make an appearance.”
“Yes,” Kwame said. “He’s been most hospitable while you recovered.”
“We should go and see the king before Camila gets here,” Shadow said.
I stilled, pain squeezing inside me at the reminder of the rift between me and my sister. A strange sensation rippled through me following the pain, defensive and alert. Something that didn’t like that I was hurting.
I realized with a jolt that it was Kenosi’s cheetah. He may have been gone, but he’d left a piece of himself with me—inside me.
The knowledge unsettled me, but not as much as the meaning of Shadow’s words.
“You think I’m going to try to steal the tiger amulet from Camila?”
“You already have four of them,” Lord Balam said, nodding to the bag containing the amulets. “You only need two more.”
“And the ocelot amulet,” I pointed out. “You think Camila’s going to hand that over to me willingly?”
“If we can get the tiger amulet before she arrives, we can start for snow leopard territory,” Prince Kwame said. “We’ll be a step ahead.”
“We’ll need it,” Lord Balam said. “The snow leopard amulet is owned by a hermit monk who makes Shadow look like an international celebrity. Finding him will be the real challenge.”
My heart skipped. “A hermit?”
My brother. I knew nothing about him. All Tsewang had told me was that he had the amulet, and I had to find him. But right now I had something else to think about—my sister.
I stared at my men, anger building inside me. Camila might think I was a usurper, but I wasn’t. I wouldn’t be. If that’s how I had to get to the throne, she could have it. I had no right to that throne. I didn’t even have ocelot royal blood. I was the upstart, the common human born from her non-royal mother’s affair with a man from another clan altogether.
I had no claim.
If fate was going to put me there, it could do that, but I wasn’t going to murder my sister to make a curse come true, especially since that curse was on me, and it wasn’t doing me any favors. I turned to my men, planting my hands on my hips. “You’re all serious? You think this is decided, and I’m going to steal the throne from my own sister? She’s still the rightful heir.”
“The curse says otherwise,” Shadow reminded me, his gaze unflinching.
“The curse said someday I’ll be queen,” I said. “It doesn’t say when. If somehow that happens, which seems impossible since I’m not an ocelot, it won’t happen like this. I’m not going to stab her in the back to get there.”
Shadow’s brows lowered. “Have you forgotten what she did to you?”
“I pushed her out of a helicopter.”
“For a reason.”
“Look, I’m not going to argue with you about this,” I said. “I don’t expect you to understand, but I love my sister. Even if she’s weak, and even if that hurts me. I left Camila in the Lion Nation because I didn’t want her to come here and get herself killed. I haven’t changed my mind. I’m going to get the amulet, but I’m getting it for her.”
“Are you fucking kidding?” Shadow growled.
The muscle in Lord Balam’s jaw tensed, but he didn’t speak.
“It is most noble to protect one’s family,” Prince Kwame said. “I also wouldn’t want the throne if I had to murder my sister to get it. A reign that begins with bloodshed ends with bloodshed.”
“Thank you,” I said, taking his hand and squeezing. He beamed like he’d won a prize, and Shadow growled in disgust.
I turned to Lord Balam. “Do I have your support?”
“Always,” he said simply.
The sincerity in his gaze reminded me of his unwavering presence throughout the whole tour, and a flood of warmth filled me. I took a breath and turned to Shadow.
“You said you’d do anything to make your mate happy,” I reminded him. “I won’t ask you to support me in this or to like my sister. But this is something I have to do. Please let me do it.”
He stared at me a long moment, his green eyes electric. My pulse pounded as I waited, sure he’d say no. He was going to walk away. I’d asked too much.
“Why do you insist on being a martyr for your sister?” Shadow hissed. “You know she wouldn’t do the same for you.”
“I’m not being a martyr,” I snapped. “But if I don’t get the amulets, my father will stay on the throne forever, and I’m not about to let that happen.”
“You should be on that throne. You’ve done what was needed to get the amulets. She hasn’t.”
“Because she can’t,” I blurted out, finally admitting a truth I hadn’t even accepted for myself yet.
I stood staring at my men, the truth of my words sinking in. I wasn’t just getting the amulets to protect her. I was getting them because I didn’t believe she was capable of getting them.
“And you’re sure you want her on the throne?” Lord Balam asked at last.
“I want my father off it,” I said. “And truthfully, she’s probably better equipped to lead the ocelots than I am. I’m not one of them. They’ve known Camila all her life. They trust her. If they want her, I’m prepared to give them what they want. If she fucks up? Then we can talk about the prophecy.”
Finally, Shadow nodded. “The prophecy will come to pass one way or another. You’re prolonging the inevitable.”
“You’re probably right,” I admitted. “But I won’t be the hand that makes it come true.”
“I think we’re all in agreement about one thing,” Lord Balam said. “Let’s get the amulet before Camila gets here and does something stupid.”
Shadow picked up the small velvet bag Camila had used to store the amulet and slipped it into his pocket.
“You know I have to give those back,” I said, fixing him with a stern look.
“I know.”
“We shouldn’t keep the shah waiting,” Kwame said, swinging open the door.
I took a deep breath to steady myself, feeling the odd and somewhat invasive restlessness of the cheetah still inside me. I wasn’t sure how long he was hitching a ride with me, or if I wanted him there, but for
now, I had him. From the way he reacted to my emotions, he wanted to protect me. Sir Kenosi was gone, but his cheetah felt like another member of my team, someone who was on my side just as Prince Kwame, Lord Balam, and Shadow were.
As we strode toward the dining hall, my nerves settled, and I felt strong again, stronger than I had before. I was surrounded by three strong, incredible men. As my mates, I knew they would do anything for me. And even though I could feel a gaping emptiness where Kenosi should have been, the presence of his cheetah comforted me.
I mentally replayed the basics of what I knew of the Tiger Empire as we approached the court. The largest of the Feline Nations, it had a complicated government that I should know better than I did. Unlike a lot of other Feline Nations, tiger shifters didn’t separate themselves from humans or other supernaturals. The Tiger Empire was a part of the larger country of India, like a state within the country. Humans and other supernaturals of all types all lived together within the empire, but Shah Tiger only governed the tiger shifters, while human laws governed humans. The shah’s rule extended to all tiger shifters in the world, even the ones who didn’t live within the borders of his empire.
My thoughts were interrupted by our arrival at the end of the corridor. There, we were ushered through a tall set of double doors into the dining hall. The large hall was circular, with windows high in the ceiling. Wall sconces provided ambient lighting to the diners, who were seated around the outside of a long, U-shaped arrangement of tables. We’d entered at the opening to the tables, directly opposite the shah’s seat. A long rug of gold-colored wool led down the center of the room between the tables, leading to his seat at the apex of the arrangement. Everything in the room—the table setup, the rug, the entrance—led the eye directly to the shah.
“The princess has arrived,” he said in a creaky old voice that was tinged with humor and thick with an accent. “Let us have a look at you.”
Hunted Princess: A Paranormal Dark Romance (Feline Royals Book 3) Page 7