Page 23 of The Lost Princess

Her eyes glazed slightly as if imagining herself with wings. Perhaps it never occurred to her to imagine herself with wings. Why would she?

A large ripping sound filled the cavern. She screamed in pain and panic, blood and mucus pouring down her back as the most beautiful, majestic white wings sprouted from her back, covered in delicate, iridescent white scales. I couldn’t look away.

I blinked and the wings were gone, leaving only a mess behind and Kaida’s trembling, shivering form. The dress she had been wearing (already filthy and torn) was all but ruined, the back shredded beyond repair. The tattered fabric fell down around her waist, exposing her upper body and breasts. A spike of arousal bolted through me, but quickly extinguished in the wake of the shock and horror written on her face.

“K-Kaida. Ok?” I whispered, reaching out toward her. My fingertip brushed her shoulder, and she jerked away from me.

A heavy pain settled in my chest and ached. I’d do anything to take away her fear and her pain. I glanced around the cave for something to wipe away the blood with, but found nothing.

Of course I had nothing. I’d been living like an animal. I picked up the scraps of her dress, determined to do my best.

“It isn’t real. It’s a trick,” she muttered, hugging her arms around her chest and torso. Her fingertips were coated in blood as they slicked through the visible damage her first wing manifestation had left behind. Surely she couldn’t ignore that, could she?

Another cry of pain as her wings came back, bursting through her skin but bleeding less this time.

“Bath,” I suggested, nudging against her shoulder. There were several pools behind the crevice in the wall that we could choose from. I bent down to guide her along, and to my surprise her arms seized my neck and hung on tightly. Her shoulders kept shaking as she silently cried against me, and I gathered her close to me, mindful of her long wings that trailed on the ground.

“It’s ok,” I murmured against her ear.

She shook her head violently from side to side, holding onto me tighter. The scent of desperation flared again in my nostrils. I stopped and kneeled on the ground with her in my arms.

“I don’t understand. I don’t understand. It hurts. Make it stop.” She kept whispering it over and over again, and it took me a moment to realize she wasn’t talking to me, not really.

I pushed her head deeper into my neck, an instinctual move I knew from watching countless draken mothers do the same to their young. A flash of memory showed my own mother doing it to me when I was upset. The scent of your family member or an older draken was supposed to calm and soothe.

So I wasn’t prepared when fangs erupted from Kaida’s gums, and without hesitation she bit down hard into my neck.

I groaned, white-hot pain erupting along my throat and racing down through my blood. Every instinct of mine was instantly on fire, trying to seize back control as the flare of a mating bond took hold and refused to let go.

I recoiled, horrified.

Kaida didn’t know what she was doing. She didn’t understand what she was or the implications. She was trying to heal herself, not mate me.

Kaida couldn’t give consent to a mate bond. Not as she was now. Just like me, she was lost and following instincts, confused and frightened.

My inner draken snarled in rage and frustration, threatening to overtake me again. I’d never wanted anything more badly in my life, but I refused to win her like this. It was dishonorable. It wasn’t her choice; not really. And gods above, I wanted her towantme. She would be my mate because it was what she wished.

Not because I took advantage of her ignorance.

I didn’t draw away yet because she still needed the blood. Needed it to heal the open wounds on her back. It would likely happen again if she refused to practice shifting between forms. There was a reason draklings were born in our natural forms. It took time and patience to manage smooth, painless transformations.

When I felt she had enough, I gently pushed her off.

My instincts screamed and raged as I formally rejected the mate bond, putting space between us and refusing to bite her back. The two puncture wounds in my neck ached and throbbed, but I would deal with it. It was my choice.

Fuck your choice! It’s wrong! She is our mate! Take her now!

I shook my head, trying to clear my thoughts. The darkness was creeping in, threatening to take over. I would not become a mindless beast again. If I lost myself in my instincts once more, I would hurt Kaida. I’d force something on her she didn’t understand. She would hate me.

Those thoughts kept my mind clear and beat the darkness back. I remained myself.

Kaida had crumpled to the ground when I pushed her away, her wounds healed but knowing instinctively something was very, very wrong. I couldn’t even begin to explain to her what she felt or what her inner draken likely felt. Rejected mateships didn’t happen very often.

“C-come,” I interjected, bending down and scooping her up. I would pretend nothing was wrong. I would get Kaida through this.

Quickly, I squeezed us both through the crevice and walked past the first large pool used for drinking water. Much further back was another pool, which was more of an underground waterfall that drained slowly out down the cliffside. It would be perfect for bathing.

Kaida still clung to me, her sobs softer than they’d been previously. I descended us both into the pool, the edge shallow enough that I could sit her down and lean her against a large stone. With clumsy hands I scooped water up on her back, and rubbed away the blood and mucus. Once again I cursed how lost I’d been when feral. I didn’t have any soap or oils. Nothing for her hair. No clean towels. Kaida wouldn’t even have any clean clothing once she was done.

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