Page 58 of Their Princess

Piper growled. “Reinforcements are on the way. We just have to hold out until they arrive.”

Turning my head, I found Mason about four feet from us, unconscious on the ground. I hissed in pain as I forced my body to walk over to him. “Mas?” I whispered and slid to my knees next to him, resting a hand on his back. He was breathing, but there was a puddle of blood near his head that worried me.

Trey tugged on the bond and I tugged harder as Kayden took a hard hit to the face from Alexander. I knew Trey and I should be able to communicate mentally, but the four of us hadn’t figured it quite out yet.

A wolf howled and my hair stood on end as I turned to look behind us. Three werewolves in warrior form approached, snarling and prepared to fight.

“If you do this, your life is forfeit,” Piper yelled out to them. “King Deryn and Dan will not forgive you harming Lily. You know this. Why are you being stupid?”

“Once we end her life, they’ll see the demons for the true threat that they are. She’s just covering for them, putting them in a positive light. We know. We’ve been attacked and had family killed by them,” one of the wolves said.

Ah, it made sense now. These were people who had experienced loss at the hands of the demons and couldn’t let it go. Couldn’t accept that things that had happened before our truce could be forgiven. That there were bad apples in every group.

“I… didn’t do anything,” I challenged. “I’ve always… supported the wolves and other races.”

If Mason would just wake up, be safe, he could protect us. He was our best fighter.

Reaching into my pocket, I pulled out my phone, but the device was completely destroyed. Useless.

“Mine’s broken, too,” Piper whispered and gripped her sword harder.

“I can’t hold a shield… much… longer,” Jeremy gasped.

People had started to come out of their houses, but when they saw there was a battle about to happen, they went back inside. At least they had seen us, perhaps they would call to get us help.

“Hurry, before they get help,” one of the wolves snarled and charged at us.

Protect. I had to protect Mason. Had to help keep Piper and the others safe, too. It wasn’t their fault they were assigned to us. They didn’t deserve to die because of who I was.

Reaching deep within myself, I drew on my power and coaxed what I could out to take a partial warrior shift, scales flowing over my vital parts as the werewolves breached the shield. I also made sure that my shift included a partial tail.

The first werewolf reached me and I punched him as hard as I could in the chest, sending him backwards, away from Mason’s prone form. I seemed to be their target, but I couldn’t let them get Mason while he was vulnerable. Risking them getting Mason to hurt me wasn’t an option.

The werewolf swiped his claws down my arm, slicing through skin down to the bone and causing me to cry out in pain.

I kicked him away, clutching my arm, which bled profusely.

“We can make this easy, Princess. Let us put you out of your misery,” he said as he circled me.

“I am Princess Liliana of the Hybrids and Demons. I will purge your hatred from the clans. I will go down fighting you to protect others you may target next.”

“You can’t even protect yourself,” he scoffed and kicked me in the chest.

My broken ribs that had just started repairing themselves cracked again from the kick and worse from hitting the ground.

The air whooshed from my lungs and I couldn’t breathe. Black tendrils clouded my vision.

More dragons roared, but I had no idea if they were friend or foe.

Was this it? Was this how I died?

Getting to my feet, I barely stood upright before he tried to slice his claws across my face. Spinning around, I hit him with my tail, sending him flying into one of his accomplices that had been fighting Piper, saving her from his attack.

“Get Mason and get out of here,” I ordered her.

She gritted her teeth and shook her head. “Not leaving you.”

“I am ordering you!” I shouted.

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