Page 1 of The Prince's Mate

Prologue

Walker

I didn’t remember much of my life in the human realm. I couldn’t remember my birth parents or if my mother had the same amber eyes as me, or if my birth father had jet black wavy hair like mine. I couldn’t remember if they’d felt even a speck of remorse when they sold me to a gang—or if they were aware the gang was actually a vampire coven.

I didn’t remember any of it. What I did remember was the day I’d died.

My last day in the human realm—and every day since—was as clear in my mind as if it’d happened just yesterday. I remembered every moment of it. I remembered waking up in the dank room with the six other humans. I remembered eating the sludge the vampires fed us. I remembered the other humans—four men and two women—being addicted to the drops ofvampire blood they ‘earned’ after they let the vampires feed, and the way it’d turned them into mindless animals.

I remembered the way the human men had hurt me. I hadn’t understood then what they were doing to me, but I knew now, though I’d never say the words out loud. I remembered wishing I’d die, because even as a five-year-old, I’d known death was supposed to be peaceful.

So when a vampire got a little too carried away with their favorite dessert—me—and they decided to turn me since I was their coven leader’sfavorite, I decided death would be a better choice. When they’d filled my mouth with vampire blood, I waited for them to turn away before spitting it out.

I remembered dying and feeling warmth and comfort for the very first time.

And then I woke up in Otherworld.

No one knew why I’d ended up there, and after a while, my dads—the three mighty rulers of Otherworld—decided it didn’t matter. They were just happy to have me.

When I’d arrived in Otherworld as a five-year-old, I’d only trusted two people: my dad, the king of Otherworld, and his second-in-command, Caelan. Neither of them had looked like a human or a vampire, and that, in my mind, made them the good guys.

Even though I loved my dad, I’d found it easier to trust Caelan, easier to befriend him. He’d been my Kitty, my confidant, my playmate.

Until the day he up and left without even a proper goodbye.

He came back a few times, but every time, I felt like he was avoiding me. Maybe he’d gotten tired of babysitting the broken kid. Maybe he had better things to do.

Whatever it was, by the time the battle with Meredith—the fallen queen of Underworld—ended, I’d had enough. WhenCaelan told me he was leaving again, I broke. I told him I never wanted to see him again, and for years, I kept my promise.

Over the years, the adoration I’d felt for him twisted and darkened into something awful, and even though I remembered everything from my life in Otherworld, I couldn’t remember the warm feelings he had made me feel all those years ago.

Now, whenever Caelan was around, we fought like alley cats, snapping and cursing at each other like kids, which was crazy since I was an adult and Caelan was a 900-plus-year-old ancient. I was pretty sure it was driving my dads crazy, but they’d never said a word, not to me at least. They couldn’t understand why I hated him with every fiber of my being, and I didn’t know how to explain it to them.

I hadn’t mattered enough to either of my birth parents. They hadn’t wanted me, so they’d sold me to the highest bidder. The humans I’d been kept with had used me like a toy because I was worthless to them.

When Kitty became my friend, I’d thought I mattered to him, that I was finally enough. But then he left.

My dads were the only ones who cared, the only ones who wanted me. And Ro’Shassz, of course. He might be a snake, but he was also my best friend. They loved me, so they were the only ones I would love.

Caelan had once been among the few people I loved, but now he was the one person I hated with my whole being, and that would never change.

Ro’Shassz

Or so he thought…

One

Walker

After the battle with Meredith had ended, things had settled down in Otherworld. There had been some brief trouble with a few dark souls who had managed to escape with a demon’s help, but the demons my dads had stationed in the human realm had helped capture them all. As a reward for their help, my dads had extended the contracts of all the demons, giving them the freedom to live in the human realm as long as they kept the secret and did whatever they could to keep the humans around them safe.

Now, fifteen years after the battle, everything was peaceful in Otherworld. There had been no more incidents at the Burning Chasm since, and Kym’s fire—a fire that purified instead of punished—burned as bright as ever inside it. Harlan and Wren—the two warlocks who lived in Otherworld—had finally figuredout a way to keep the fire going even if Kym decided to move on to Afterworld, not that he was planning to do so anytime soon. Mated to the fiercest warrior of Otherworld, Kym was a cheerful kitsune-human tattooist who loved living in Otherworld almost as much as me,

“These journals would be worth a lot of money if they ended up in the human realm,” Ro’Shassz hissed from where he was wrapped around the curtain rod. When I was a kid, I’d spent every waking moment with the snake wrapped around my neck. He’d been my security blanket, and sometimes, he still was, though I’d gotten a lot better at not needing him around 24/7.

“Are you planning to smuggle them to the human realm?” I asked without looking up. I had a shit ton of these journals, and they contained any and all information about my day over the years. I’d started with drawings and random thoughts after my therapist—who was also Fate, because of course they were—Celeste had told me about it in one of our sessions—I was so glad my dads had taken me to them when I was younger—and over time, I’d turned into writing down all the thoughts swirling around my mind.

“Nah, what do I need money for?” he said, and I chuckled.

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