Page 1 of Tangled Hearts

PROLOGUE

190 years ago

She’s gone. The princess was taken, and I have no one else to blame but myself. I shouldn’t have left her, my shift was over, but I had a feeling in my gut that I should have stayed. My jaw clenched as I scoured the forest looking for her. I was in my wolf form. I knew he had the best nose and I needed every extra ability I had to find her.

My heart was pounding as I ran. It had been four days since she had gone missing and every hour that went by was sealing her fate. I growled, hating myself for letting myself think the worst. She was everything to the kingdom and everything to me. I had to find her.

Shouts came from behind me and I picked up my pace. Everyone was looking for her, even the king and queen had made it out of the castle to look for their daughter, their heir. The entire guard was out, as were many townspeople, and even her fiancé too.

I snarled at the thought of him. There was something that wasn’t right about him, and after she had been taken, my suspicions had only gotten worse. His concern seemed false, but I didn’t know how to prove it. If we found her, I would do everything I could to show the kingdom his true self, that he wasn’t who he said he was. He didn’t love her. He was marrying her for power, wealth and control, while she only thought he loved her.

She was mine.

“Smell anything, Maxton?”

I growled, contemplating biting him, but I’d play nice for now; I had to.

Taylin would get what was coming to him, even if I had to do it myself.

1

MAXTON

The stunned silence was unnerving. A wolf and a vampire looked at me like they were ready to tear me apart. I fought the instinct to make myself look bigger and ooze dominance; I didn’t want to make the situation worse. My old instincts came barreling back to protect the princess. My hand twitched, ready to grab my nonexistent sword.

For the first time in almost two hundred years, I was human again. My body felt foreign. It was amazing to be me again, not ideal that I was naked, but I couldn’t complain. I was standing on two legs in front of the woman who I was supposed to protect and had failed. I took a deep breath, the ache inside of me easing a bit, now that I could finally communicate instead of meowing and hissing.

“P-princess?” Oria looked at me, confusion marred her beautiful face.

“Yes, my princess,” I said, kneeling on instinct, trying not to topple over from only being on two legs now. “I am at your service once again.”

I wanted to tell her everything, but I didn't know if she was ready for the truth. Everything was on the tip of my tongue, waiting to be let out, even though I knew this wasn't an ideal time.

“I… I don’t understand, I can’t be a princess and how the hell were you my guard?” She looked around at us, the panic in her voice making us all tense. “You were just my cat, Loki, not even a few hours ago.”

I tried not to sneer at the stupid name Laima had given me.

“There’s a lot to tell you. Like, my name isn’t Loki,” I said, eager to blurt out everything. “There’s a reason you don’t remember your life, before going into hiding with Laima.”

Her breathing was labored; she looked lost and confused.

She grimaced in pain. “I just thought, the trauma….”

“No, princess, I don’t want to overwhelm you, but you deserve the truth,” I said, hating that I was the one who had to tell her everything.

“How do we know you're not some elaborate plan to keep tabs on her?” Soren stepped forward, pushing her behind him. “To feed her these lies and keep her pliant to whatever plan Laima has.”

A growl threatened to escape. He wasn’t my enemy and if I were in his position, I knew I would be wary too. We all should be wary of everything at this point. Laima was an extremely smart woman; she didn’t want to do anything to lose her investment.

“You don’t,” I replied truthfully, standing up on shaky legs. “I made a promise to her and our king that I would lay my life on the line for hers. I was appointed her personal guard, and I don’t plan to break that promise ever.”

I tried to pour every ounce of honesty I had into those words. They looked at me with varying degrees of distrust and wariness. Oria’s gaze was the most heart wrenching. There once was a time when she only looked at me with trust, and never once questioned my loyalty.

Now she looked at me with fear and wariness.

Memories came back to me of growing up and playing together. Our families were close and once I was old enough, I joined the royal guard. My father took care of the king, and it was only logical that I would protect the princess. She already trusted me, so it made protecting her easier.

Soren looked like he was ready to leave me, but Ryder's gaze told me he was on the fence. The wolf and I had unfortunately bonded through our shared feelings of hatred for the twins that were bonded with Oria. I think it was the shifter in us that recognized each other as allies. He was my ticket in, hopefully.

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