Page 91 of Settle Down, Princess

My heart was pounding, adrenaline pumping in my veins, because we were facing another impossible battle. The reason why wolf shifters were so valued was due to their sheer brute strength. One of them could flatten me and Roan both, which was a problem.

“How the fuck are we going to survive this?” Roan said, his mind already racing down the same track. “We can’t take on pack after pack of wolf shifters and hope to survive.”

“Not if we play by their rules.”

I loved this fucking feeling, when my mind became sharp as a knife edge. Everything extraneous fell away, leaving only this. Shadowy forms raced across the ground in my mind, showing me where each pack was likely to go and what they’d do to achieve their goal, because it was now do or die time. Everyone wanted the same thing, but we… We needed to want it more. Go harder, work smarter, be faster…

“Speed…”

Roan’s eyes locked with mine, and he nodded, a reckless smile spreading across his face.

“Remember when they pit us against that bloody pack of wolf shifters in basic training?” he said, but I was already nodding.

“The Yael pack,” Creed growled.

“Meanest bastards to ever grace the earth.” Roan said that with a note of pride in his voice. “And we took them down.” He nodded. “We took them down. They had height, weight, age, and experience on us, but we still managed to survive that bout.”

“And we will again. Creed, you take the full-frontal assaults.”

“Gladly.”

His arms went out by his side, claws forming at the ends of his hands. Fur prickled across his skin as wolf and man fused to become more than the sum of their parts.

“Roan, you know what it takes to get through this,” I said.

“They’re strong, but we’re faster, more agile. Out dance the pricks and then use all those hulking muscles of theirs against them to bring them down.”

The Kheanian army used wolf shifters like other countries used cavalry. A brute force that smashed into an enemy line en masse, it punched a hole that the human infantry could then use to try and overcome the enemy. But just like a massive charger, they were good at full-frontal assaults, but not great at pivoting and shifting in response to an unpredictable threat.

“That’s it, brother.”

I moved in close, the lot of us sharing a little moment of peace, one I’m not sure we’d felt since we met the princess.

One we wouldn’t be able to hold onto until we had her in our arms.

For a moment, I just focused on my breathing, hearing my heart beat, my breath coming in and out, theirs quickly matching the pace of mine. As I looked out over the field, catching Silas now halfway around the perimeter, I was sure his breathing was doing the same. Slowing down, finding our centre, and then when we were ready…

Wren detailed all the rules of the melee, but I didn’t hear a single one. My ears were trained only to hear this.

“The first to take possession of their mate’s flag wins an opportunity to spend the evening with their heart’s desire,” the elder said, and the crowd responded like a hound with the scent of prey in its nose. They wanted blood, they wanted passion, they wanted to see the path of true love run smoothly.

And so did I.

That was the thing I never dared to admit to anyone, that the means to carry me forward was a belief that would be denied. My brother had brutalised me since birth, and while he was capricious and cruel, he did so for a reason. To beat me down, to make sure I knew my place.

Lest I try to rise above it again.

I didn’t know if I would’ve wanted to if he treated me kindly, but his cruelty ensured this. He’d shoved me into the army, hoping I’d die like a dog on the battlefield, but I refused to submit to my fate. I would choose my own way every time, and when I bonded with my pack, I knew I’d always take them with me. Towards survival at first, but then as we gained greater mastery, we wanted more.

And right now, it was the princess.

“She’ll never share a word with us willingly,” I growled, every muscle tensing as the energy in the arena rose. “I steered us down the wrong path, forced her to harden her heart just like I did mine, but no more. If we win this, we don’t win her, but we win…”

“A chance.” Creed nodded then, eyes shining, the wolf and the man staring at me. “It’s not what the wolf wants, but it’s all we’re likely to get.”

“Then let’s snatch this victory from the jaws of those big bastards.” Roan’s teeth flashed in the bright sun. “We’ve managed it before. We can do it again.”

“And go!” Wren cried, right before we unleashed hell.

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