Page 1 of The King's Mate

Prologue

“Get your hands off me! I didn’t do anything wrong!”

Piper Marsh lifted her head from the desk she’d been hunched over for the past three hours. With a quick glimpse out the window, she saw the king’s emblem and hurried to the door. Struggling in one of the king’s guard’s grip, her father protested his arrest.

“What are you doing?” she yelled at the men. “Let him go!”

A guard stopped her. “Your father was reported trespassing in the village. A lion shifter said a human fitting his description was harassing them which you know is against the rules.”

“I did no such thing, Piper,” her father objected. “They’re lying.”

She stared at the guard. Unfortunately, she knew all the king’s guards a little more than she wanted. They knew her quite well, too. The one standing before her leered at her a little too much. The damn past was coming back to bite her in the ass.

“What do I have to do to make this right? Pay a fine?”

His gaze raked over her body. “A fine isn’t going to fix the issue.”

She scowled at him. “Then I’ll have a meeting with the king.”

“Good luck with that. The matching ceremony is in a few days. You can’t get anywhere near the palace unless you’re a shifter. And we all know you’re not.” The guard reached out to touch her arm, and Piper flinched. “You’re smart if you’re scared of our kind. I could have you if I wanted. I could also kill you with a flick of my wrist. Let this be a lesson to you. Don’t cause trouble in the village. Other lion shifters aren’t so nice.”

Piper watched as they carted her father off. He yelled back at her about his innocence. He shouted that the king would understand, that she just needed to speak with him.

She watched them until they left her sight.

The king.

She ran her fingers through her hair as she thought about their situation now. Piper didn’t know how the king would react to her coming to see him, but he was her best and only shot of getting her father out of the dungeon. If she had to suck up her pride and face the king, then so be it. She’d do whatever it took.

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