Page 90 of Settle Down, Princess

“Capture it,” came the answer. “Some hold it close, holding it hostage until they find their own, and others…” Fern turned to me with a grin. “They destroy it, driving the pack it belongs to off the field. This is the closest thing you’ll come to a war on the packlands. The fighting is brutal, to find your flag, their flags, as fast as you can, then to try and hold them, because the winner…”

My smile had long since faded as a strange kind of tension built to replace it.

“A great feast will occur once the melee is over, and the winning pack and their mate will take the seat of honour up on the dais. Every eye will be upon them as they lead the feast. Then, when the eating is done, the males will be given an opportunity to court the female alone, away from all the chaperones.”

I stared at the proceedings now, my gaze sharpening as I took in the freshly raked earth. It was as if I was one of the contenders out there on the field, even though I didn’t want to win this event. Quite the contrary. I sent up frantic little prayers to the gods of my homeland and those that ruled the packlands, willing them to turn Creed’s pack away from my flag, wherever it might be. Let it be destroyed, I thought. Let them be escorted off the grounds. Let them fail at this endeavour, because… My breath was coming in too fast, my chest aching with the effort. I didn’t know what I’d do if they won.

Chapter 52

Arik

“So, this is capture the flag then?” I asked as we stood under the bloody beating sun. As if my skin wasn’t already bright red and stinging enough, with sweat sliding down my back.

“Worse than that,” was all Creed would say in response.

“How can it be worse than capture the flag?” I heard the sharp note in Roan’s voice, so I shot him a dark look. “Cadets nearly fucking died when we were forced to play that during our training.”

“Enough of that.” Silas’ tone was abrupt and full of command. “The objective is to find the flag with Jessalyn’s scent?”

“Creed will need to take care of that then,” Roan said. “Our noses are not good for anything but hanging a pair of spectacles on.”

“So that’s the strategy that everyone uses?” I asked. “The one with the keenest nose is the one that finds the flags, and the rest of the pack protects him?” Creed nodded sharply. “Then we’re not doing that.”

“What?”

I hated that look on Silas’ face, on Roan’s. They used to trust me to make the calls, knowing I’d get them through whatever challenge we faced. Each one of them knew my methods were unorthodox, but hadn’t I always ensured we won the day?

“Think about it.” I watched our competitors, not my pack, trying to get a read on each one of them. “If that’s the tactic everyone else is using, then it won’t work for us. For one, each one of those bastards is a wolf shifter, whereas only one of us is. They have us beat when it comes to brute strength.”

“So we must use cunning.”

I didn’t realise how much I’d missed Silas’s sharp smile until I saw it again. His face was flushed bright red, sweat dripping from his brow, and while I wanted to say this was the most ridiculous moment we’d endured as a pack, it wasn’t.

“How are the flags hidden around the arena?” he asked Creed.

“They’re buried, but—”

“I’ll look for signs of disturbed earth.” Those green eyes scanned the plain far more closely now. “On my own. If the focus is our flag and all the others buried, then they’re not likely to pay much attention to a single human on the outskirts of the arena.”

“But the wisdom of our ancestors says that we are strongest when together as a pack,” Creed said.

I saw then the futility of what I had planned for the princess. It’d been hard enough, forcing the lot of them to fulfil my brother’s orders and bring the other victims to the capital. It was only the dire threats each and every one of their families faced if we didn’t that made them compliant. But now…? He’d found the other half of his heart, and nothing would stop him until he finally had Jessalyn in his arms.

So I had to ensure that happened.

“We are, brother.” They were the ones I gave that title to, not the man who sat on the throne, because in my heart, they were the ones I shared a familial bond with. I’d walk through hell for each one of them, and looking at the hulking bastards on the field, that might just happen today. “Just because we don’t fight side by side doesn’t mean we’re not working together.”

“Destroy as many of these fuckers as you can,” Silas said with a nod, jogging away from us, his eyes taking in everything as he moved. I saw the nearest pack glance his way, but just as he said, their focus wasn’t on a human, but their prize.

I dared to look out over the crowd then, seeing a sea of faces staring down at us. Was Jessalyn sitting there, watching us? I couldn’t help but stand straighter, just in case she was. I tried to tell myself I was doing this for my brothers, to assuage the pain in Creed’s heart that burned just as fiercely as our skin did right now. That Roan would stop looking like someone kicked his puppy if we won the day, but I was never that selfless. See the objective and move heaven and earth to make it happen, that’s what our drill sergeants had always said to us while we were still cadets. It was advice I’d used over and over, and it held true now. So, for just a second, I had to imagine it.

What would it be like to hold Jessalyn in my arms? I hadn’t even dared think it the night we met, so the feel of her body against mine had come as a great surprise. It was not as if I hadn’t held a lot of women. Wenches, whores, or even fine ladies, I’d dallied with them all, but it was something else holding a princess. Her body seemed to fit mine perfectly, like a key in a lock, and my arms had gone around her on instinct. I’d wanted to protect her in that moment, the urge beating hot and hard and true, until I’d forced the feeling away, knowing that only heartbreak would follow if I indulged it.

But what if it didn’t?

What if we could be happy as a pack? Would my brothers stop eyeing me in the same way one does dog shit smeared on your shoes? Would the easy banter of before be restored? Would their eyes light up first, then their faces, because of the little princess? She felt like the fire around which we warmed our hands.

Something I really didn’t need right now.

---