Page 106 of Settle Down, Princess

“Not all of you.” Arik knew what I meant, otherwise why would he turn to face me? Why would his lips thin down to a hard line? “But you will, in time, of that I can be sure. You’ll see this is the only way. Creed says we are fated to be together.”

“It's written in the stars, love,” he told me in a hoarse voice, his eyes more green than brown. “This is always the way it was supposed to be.”

“Then anything I do going forward is just the hand of fate at work.”

I didn’t wait for a reply, turning towards the dining hall as the elders rose to their feet to announce the beginning of the feast. Yes, I had to believe I had fate’s favour, otherwise I’d be quivering in a corner, terrified of the doom that no doubt awaited me.

Chapter 61

Arik

I should’ve known this would happen. Wasn’t every part of me watchful, scanning my environment at all times, looking for clues? It was the only way I could keep ahead of my brother’s sly attempts to end me.

I’d deflected a knife directed at Roan while he showered in the soldier’s mess, breaking the assassin’s wrist, then his neck. It made clear to anyone else thinking to take my brother’s coin what a mistake that would be and stopped those in high command who supported the king from protecting the attempted murderer. It had me wearing a ring carved from unicorn’s horn, something that had made Silas laugh, right up until the point it glowed red at an inn we were staying in. Ten or more people died that night from poison, but not me.

In my defence, I usually relaxed a little while on the packlands. The beasts that were the other half of the wolf shifters’ souls seemed to prevent my brother from finding a foothold on the packlands. It was something that no doubt made him furious, helping convince me that we needed to spend every moment we could here. But the biggest distraction wasn’t the habitual feeling of safety, the novelty of being able to take a full breath and loosen muscles held tight.

It was her.

If this is what Creed felt, I owed my brother-in-arms an apology. The minute Jessalyn swept in with her retinue, my mouth went dry. Of course she turned the sweet natured girls of the packlands into imperious princesses. The woman was a bloody force to reckon with, sweeping everyone up into her wake and transforming everything.

Which is why I needed to protect her.

Magnus was many things, but he wasn’t a complete idiot. I’d be able to persuade him, I was sure, of the need to ‘gift’ Jessalyn to Creed. It would buy further loyalty from the wolf shifters. He might even use this to bargain for more of the menfolk being sent to the army. Without the beast men, we’d have been overrun by Lanzene and Matteau within week, the two opposing countries joining forces for just long enough to wipe us out, then the fighting would start between the two of them as to how they would divide up what was left of Khean. I could rely on Magnus’ sense of self-preservation I told myself over and over.

But the key bargaining chip I held was me.

I’d be isolated. The Bastard Prince and his men would be disbanded, and with its demise would go any legend I’d managed to create. I’d be easy to take out. Gods, I’d even welcome the next assassin he sent my way. I was tired, so fucking tired, of carrying the burden of my own survival. I’d stayed alive just to spite Magnus, then because I needed to maintain command of our band. The better, stronger, we’d gotten, the more I’d needed to live. Forming a pack seemed a natural extension of that, the creation of just this one thing that gave meaning to my life. I didn’t aim too high, didn’t want for much, just the opportunity to fight for my country as a common soldier. But when I saw Jessalyn draw closer, I felt a sadness as my eyes slid down her form.

My fingers flexed, wanting to tug that pretty bodice down and free those tits with the rosy-red nipples that pulled so tight when I sucked them. My tongue slid around my mouth, as if seeking the imprint they’d left there. I wanted to jerk what remained of that dress down, off her hips, and leave it in tatters on the floor, ruined for the temerity of making me want her so very violently that my balls ached. Because it was only when she was naked that I felt in control. I could make her sigh, pant, come apart, messing up that perfectly beautiful facade, turning her from a princess into something else. Not a whore, like her father would’ve thought, but…

Mine.

I was human. There was no hint of wolf shifter in my mother or my father’s bloodlines, so I shouldn’t have felt this. A burning need to take her, claim her, and right when I was burying myself so deep inside her I couldn’t tell where I ended and she started, my blunt teeth would sink into her flesh, leaving a mark that would forever declare my claim. She was fucking mine, my heart told me with every beat, but I didn’t say a thing about that, just keeping my mouth shut for once as she sat down and exchanged a little banter.

When Roan’s eyes lit up and Creed’s whole face did. When Silas sat taller, watching her like a cat might a mouse, I caught the moment when my pack transformed, becoming completely focused on Jessalyn. The commander in me wanted to demand they paid attention to their surroundings because staying alert was the only thing that kept us alive, but I couldn’t. We were safe here, I told myself. We had to be. I’d take this moment in this haven to renegotiate the deal between my brother and I, then when the four of them were safely mated, I’d leave and… Let my brother have me finally, I thought. I’d want to die when the pack bond broke, legend told me, so why not end things how they begun? To finally finish the fight between me and my brother.

Of course, I couldn’t be allowed that luxury, could I?

I forced my attention away from my girl and over to Elder Wren as she rose to her feet.

“I would like to welcome all of you to this year’s mating games. We sit together now to celebrate this next evolution of life.” She glanced at us and smiled. “When our young people move from a carefree life of no responsibilities…” A small chuckle went through the crowd. “To becoming adults. Where they find their purpose in life, the other half of their hearts. To grow past the selfish impulses of the young towards the importance of caring for others. Each individual pack is just a reflection of the greater collective. You come to love each member fiercely.”

I watched Creed’s hand slid across the table to grip Jessalyn’s. Silas did the same, holding her other hand with a kind of reverence that seemed to surprise even him.

“You realise that their happiness is just as important, if not more than your own…”

She said more, some great lesson about putting the needs of the individual second to the needs of the collective, but I didn’t hear it. My mind was caught on that last bit. Their happiness is just as important, if not more than your own. In an instant, my heart shifted. I wasn’t aching with the pain of what I had to do, I was running towards it.

I never expected happiness. When the light went out in Ariel’s eyes, something died in me too. Any moments of pleasure were snatched greedily, unearned and undeserved, but I couldn’t stop myself gorging on them.

Like I had the princess.

I often wondered what the fuck was going through my head that night, but it was only now I think I realised what it was. Jessalyn irritated me, confounded me, and finally amused me far more than she should’ve. I was caught up in that determined look in her eyes, despite her terrible naiveté, because it reminded me so much of another girls. If I stared at the princess, I could pretend that all the pain and horror of the past hadn’t happened.

Well, I swore I’d do things better this time. I’d do right by her now, even though I hadn’t before. I’d protect Jessalyn in the ways I was never able to Ariel.

Was this love? I’d been exposed to few healthy models of it growing up, so it was hard to say, but surely that’s what this was. If hope was a flickering flame, love was a fire that burned all the doubt and anger and frustration away, leaving just certainty. They had to survive. I needed to see Jessalyn standing in the door of her cottage, waiting for the others to arrive home from their labour. The men would be chuckling, jostling, and bickering like they always did, right up until the point they saw her. Then the smiles would fade away and something else would rise. Hotter, harder than the bonds of brotherhood. They’d rush towards her just to feel their hands around her waist as they lifted her into the air and—

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