Page 99 of Settle Down, Princess

Right up until the end of the melee.

Creed had won. He’d won me, a feeling that made me feel hot and cold by turns. I didn’t want to be anyone’s prize, but there was something to be said for a male that would destroy the world to get to you. I shook my head, trying to dislodge that traitorous thought, but it stayed there as his chest heaved, as he towered over the others, staring Arik down with a fury I knew well.

“You hurt her!” The crowd’s din seemed to fall away as his shout reverberated out. “You were going to take her to the king! You were going to let them kill her!”

He shouldn’t say those words, steal them from my throat, from my heart. He shouldn’t stab a claw in Arik’s direction, the threat clear, but there was trouble brewing. The shifters that had acted as umpires for the entire event rushed the field en masse, obviously determined to stop whatever this was.

“My brother’s turning feral,” Fern snapped, shooting me an apologetic look. “I’ve got to go.”

And with that, she ran off down the hill, towards the danger, not away from it.

Feral.

The state was spoken about with titillated whispers around the fireside back home, the feared beast men losing all control and turning into ferocious killing machines. The savagery of those affected made the berserkers of the frozen north look like toddling children. Those that succumbed were either kept chained up and unleashed only on a battlefield, where even then they were a double-edged sword. They were just as likely to turn on their masters as they were the enemy. Or…

My feet moved without thinking, taking one unsteady step, then another, getting faster and faster as Creed’s litany continued.

“You made her run from us. You’re the one that knocked her fucking unconscious. You had her tied up in chains.”

“Brother—”

“Not brother!” I stopped still as Creed’s jaws snapped the air in front of Arik’s face. “No brother of mine would let this happen. No…”

Had I ever seen a beast cry? I’d heard the yelps of beaten dogs, the squalls of swatted cats, but not one of them had shed a tear. It seemed a human conceit, so it was odd to see one pearly tear form in the eye socket of the beast man.

“All of those girls. Princess after princess—”

“I know, brother.” Arik’s voice broke for the first time since I’d heard his insolent tones. “I know. When I sleep, when I close my eyes for just a second, I see them too. I thought I was doing the right thing then, and now—”

Arik didn’t get to finish his speech. He was taking too long, or whatever devil spurred Creed on had reached his limit. Those massive jaws lunged forward, ready to make a very permanent, fatal mistake when my mouth opened.

“Master Creed.” I’d always been stunned at my mother’s ability to get people’s attention, or even better silence them, so it came as a surprise when I achieved the same effect with my crisp tones. I used his title instinctually, trying to stuff the monster back into the man. I strode forward much more purposefully now. “You’ve won the day.” I swallowed hard. “You’ve won me.”

Fern shot me a frantic look, no doubt trying to warn me of the danger I was putting myself in, but she’d rushed towards it, so why not me? Especially as I had succeeded in stopping Creed from eating Arik’s arrogant head.

“Did you want to argue with your pack brothers or claim what you see as yours?”

I thought I knew the danger I was putting myself in. My nanny used to tell me story after story of beautiful princesses who married beasts, no doubt some fanciful analogy for the actual animals in human skin we’d be forced to marry, so I assumed I knew what to do. Beauty soothes the savage beast, so I stepped forward, hand upraised.

Only for him to swoop forward and grab me.

I let out a very unladylike squeak as I was thrown up in the air before landing on his shoulders. My nails dug deep into the muscle, trying to gain purchase, lest I drop to the ground. A massive claw grabbed me, helping me to gain purchase, right as he rumbled, “Hold on.” My hands wrapped tight around his throat, no doubt compressing his airway, but I couldn’t seem to let myself loosen up. For good reason, it appeared. He turned to the rest of his pack, the elders, everyone and made clear his intent.

“I won Jessalyn. I did, and I will be the one to claim my prize.”

Without even so much as a by your leave, he wheeled around then, taking us running off into the bushes, then the forest proper. Away from the crowd, the games, the village, everything.

As a princess, I had been trained to deal with many a difficult situation, but my education was quite lacking when it came to riding on the back of a rampaging beast man.

My hands clung tight. Wind was rushing at my face, and so were the branches of the trees we crashed through. I was forced to flatten myself against Creed’s back, lest I get knocked off, something he seemed to realise relatively quickly. His pace slowed, and he grew more careful about his progress. I could almost enjoy the ride as he took me far, far away from the arena. That allowed me to take a full shuddering breath before we reached our destination. Instead of a chaotic battlefield, I noted that the trees had thinned, revealing a rocky rise and a waterfall.

It was quiet here. The songs of birds in the trees and the trickle of the water greeted me as I slid to the ground. The only real noise interfering with that was Creed’s breath and mine. My heart rate picked up as he turned towards me. The last time I saw his beast-man form, I’d been swaying on the end of the rope, so I’d missed a lot of the details. The way his fur covered his body. The way his face had become misshapen, part man, part wolf. The way his yellow-green eyes stared, taking every piece of me in. At first, it’d been a relief to escape the crowd, people’s expectations and the pomp and ceremony of the mating games, but now…

“Master Creed…” I held up a hand as he took a step towards me, then another. A million horrific stories about the beast men of Khean filled my head right then. “Master Creed, I know you defeated all the other packs—”

“For you.” He shook his head, the fur receding so fast it was as if it never existed in the first place. “For you, Jessalyn.”

“I think I prefer to be called Jess.”

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