His Virgin Princess

by Grace Goodwin

  Me? I only had eyes for Danielle as she and the others took their seats. The sight of her took my breath away and my cock hardened in anticipation of taking that beautiful gown from her body and kissing every inch of her soft skin. The taste of her was still on my tongue from waking her this morning, settled between her thighs, my mouth on her pussy.

  I don't know how long I stared, but the leader of the Seven cleared her throat to regain my attention. As she drew a ceremonial dagger from its place at her side and laid it on the table pointed toward the center, the soft whispers that had begun to circulate the room died immediately.

  “We are here today to welcome Prince Gage of Everis to his seat on the Seven.” Her voice was thready with age, but clear and loud.

  As she spoke, the other five around the circle drew the daggers from their sheaths at their waists and placed them on the round table in a similar fashion, blades pointing toward the middle. When they were done, she looked at me.

  “Gage, son of Gandar, son of our forefather, Prince Greggor, do you accept your seat on this council and vow to uphold the laws of Everis to protect her people? Do you pledge your life, your blood, and your honor to serving Everis and this council?”

  With those words, the weight of the moment bore down on me. I remembered standing here as a boy, watching my father being asked the exact same questions, take this exact same oath. It was one of my earliest memories, and also one of the most vivid because he had looked like a giant among men, like a god, so strong, so powerful. Even as a child, I’d known what was happening at the time was important. Bigger than just family. Once the oath was said, everyone on the planet had counted on him to take care of them, to do what was best, to be a true and strong leader.

  That feeling of pride and awe I had felt as a boy surged to life inside me and, as I looked around those gathered in the room, I recognized what I saw reflected in their eyes. I drew my dagger from my hip, held it high as I sought and held my mate’s gaze, the love I saw shining there making me stronger than I'd ever imagined possible.

  There was nothing that I could not do with her by my side.

  “I do. I pledge my life, my blood, my honor to serving Everis and this council.”

  I made my solemn vow and meant every word. My life. My blood. My honor. But not just to the people of Everis: to her.

  I placed my dagger on the table and took my seat as one of the council attendants held out the gold inlaid band that would attach to my shirt collars. The elder walked around the table to place it around my neck. Murmurs from the audience began, knowing that with the vows said, this was all protocol.

  I knew on other worlds their leaders wore ornate jewels and crowns on their heads, or held massive swords the size of a man. Diamond encrusted scepters. Pomp. Baubles.

  But we were Hunters. I would be recognized by scent before I entered a room. I did not need a crown. In truth, I didn’t need this ceremony, but the planet needed to hear my oath. The only thing I needed was Dani, by my side, in my bed, looking at me with trust in her eyes and tenderness in her touch. If she loved me, nothing else mattered.

  The ceremony was being broadcast to every corner of the planet, and beyond, to the colony on Everis 8, to the green farm moon of Seladon and to every prisoner, guard, bounty hunter and judge serving on the prison moon of Incar. The broadcasts would be sent across the galaxy, to all of the Coalition planets, all the way back to Earth.

  No, I did not need a crown to hold power. I stood tall, rising from my seat once the band of gold was placed around my neck. Raising my hand to address both those gathered and those watching all around the Coalition of Planets, I spoke clearly, so that no one would mistake the most important and humbling announcement of my life.

  “Thank you all. As my first official act as a member of the Seven, I would like to introduce my friends, my family, my fellow Everians and all members of the Coalition to my Marked Mate, Danielle Gunderson, from the planet Earth. She has accepted my claim and the mating ceremony is complete. She is your princess.”

  I held out my hand to her. She looked shocked. Her cheeks turned the delightful pink usually reserved for our bed chamber and decidedly less clothing. But she was glowing, beautiful, a glittering vision as she stood and walked toward me.

  Everyone in the chamber erupted in applause even as they bowed in deference. As she acknowledged them with a regal nod, her elegance flowed naturally, and I realized she was born for this, born for me.

  When she stood by my side, I took her hand, lifted it to my mouth and kissed her knuckles. Once the cheers died down, I pulled her close, her arm linked with mine, before I raised my hand to silence everyone. “As my second official announcement, I would like to introduce my beautiful sister, Rayla, and her mate, the Elite Hunter Elon of Everis.”

  The applause was just as loud as before, for my sister was well-loved by the people. At first, she blushed at the center of attention shifting to her, but Elon strode forward swiftly, clearly eager to make her his in front of everyone, and looked to her. After giving him a brilliant smile, she took his hand and he pulled her to him. The only person with a shocked expression was my mother, whose smile was brittle. Her skin looked pale and when her gaze met mine, her eyes narrowed. I knew she would be angry at this plot that I had hatched with my sister. But Rayla had felt strongly that the public announcement was the only way to thwart our mother's attempts to assure a politically advantageous match for her. Rayla’s fate was now sealed, and I hoped it was with a lifetime of happiness.

  Elon escorted Rayla to stand behind me, her smile radiant. He leaned down, kissed her and swung her in the air, her blue colored gown twirling like a glittering cloud. The applause echoed off the walls of the chamber.

  Beside me, Dani squeezed my arm. I turned to her. She stood on tiptoe and whispered, “Diamonds? Seriously?”

  I grinned as I let my gaze roam over her gown, admiring the way it curved to accentuate her small breasts and narrow waist, the soft womanly flare of her hips.

  Kissing here, in the council chamber, was a breach of protocol, at least for a member of the Seven. A brush of my lips on her knuckles was one thing, but the kiss I gave her, on the lips and with a fair amount of tongue, was something else entirely. But I would be my own prince and I would make my own protocols. Showing appropriate affection for my mate would show the depth of our love, the bond with family, that was important for the entire planet to witness.

  “There is not a diamond that exists more beautiful than you are,” I murmured.

  Then I joined Elon, who had yet to allow my sister to come up for air.

  Although, the woman wasn’t complaining. She was, in fact, clinging to him like he was her heart and soul, her everything. I could not envy him, but I was eager to join him.

  Framing Dani’s delicate face in my hands, I kissed her again. Claimed her. There was nothing shy in the kiss, I held nothing back.

  My mate, my fierce, fearless mate, kissed me back like she’d never get enough, like I was her life and she didn’t care who was watching.

  I’d never loved her more than I did in that moment.

  As the assembly cheered, I knew I would be seen as a young, foolish man compared to the staunch, elder members of the Council of the Seven. But I didn't care. She was my Marked Mate. A miracle who would give others hope.

  And I would not deny myself this pleasure.

  13

  Dani

  The balcony where I stood overlooked the most lavish ballroom I’d ever seen. Mauve had outdone herself and everything glittered. The flowers. Our gowns. Even the elaborate and elegant chandeliers hanging over our guests. They sparkled as if lit from within by a thousand stars, and I imagined that they, too, were diamonds, not crystal or glass. Insane!

  God, Gage was rich. He’d told me as much, told me he was a prince, heir to the seat on the Seven, a royal bloodline that they could trace back for over a thousand years.

  And I’d believed him. I had.

  But seeing was
believing. The family wealth, the respect, the pomp and circumstance surrounding his ascension to his seat? I was a middle-class girl from a small town. Not an alien princess. Wearing a fancy dress was one thing, but this? I felt like a fish out of water, the ugly duckling surrounded by swans. Every cliché I could think of was rattling around inside my head. And worse, when I looked in the mirror, I didn’t recognize myself. This beautiful dress wasn’t mine. The fancy hair wasn’t me. I was a jeans and t-shirt kind of girl. Casual ponytail and sneakers. I did not take an hour to do my hair, let alone have someone do it for me.

  And I did not wear dresses covered in diamond dust. Dust, yes. Diamonds? Hell, no.

  Standing alone, looking over a ballroom full of wealthy Everians, of judges and senators and other royals I’d met in passing but couldn’t remember their names, my stomach was in my throat. One night, I’d thought. One night and I could go back to just being me.

  The longer I stared at the smiling women, the Hunters prowling around the edges of the room, their gazes roaming over each one of them, even the scent of power and money and privilege in the room, I realized it was never going to end. This was my new life. Was this really Gage’s?

  “I don’t belong here.” I was thinking out loud, but the large, warm hands that wrapped around me from behind alerted me that my new mate, my prince, had heard every word. I sensed him, knew him. Scented him and I was relieved. Soothed by his presence, his touch. His comforting—and firm—hold.

  “You are the only one who does belong here,” he murmured in my ear, his breath fanning my neck. “This is your home now. Our home.”

  “I’m not used to living in a home that has a ballroom. Can’t we just go back to our bedroom?” I angled my head to the side to give his lips better access. “That room I like very much, especially with you in it.”

  He growled as he kissed my neck. “Ballroom now, bedroom later.”

  I sighed at the promise in those words. “All right. But I don’t fit in with these people. I don’t know anything about politics or what they all expect. I haven’t been on this planet for very long. I don’t know how to be a princess.” There, I’d said it, admitted my biggest fear…that I’d fail him.

  “I don’t want them, Dani.” He leaned down, his chin resting on my shoulder as we watched the sway and current of the party, the dancing, the flirting and deal-making. “You are real. You care about me, not my money or position or family history. You are mine and I am yours.” His arms tightened around me, his embrace solid, sure. “You are the only one in this room I care about.”

  I leaned into his warmth, let his touch soothe me as I laughed. “That’s because Elon stole Rayla away to have his wicked way with her.” I’d laughed at the shocked expression on my new sister’s face when her mate had said their good-byes, thrown her over his shoulder and carted her out of the ascension ceremony. Even I knew it wasn’t proper etiquette, but still. It was somewhat romantic: Elon publicly and blatantly claiming her for his own. I guessed he didn’t want anyone to doubt that it was…official. And the longer they were away from the party, the more official it became.

  With a playful growl in my ear, Gage pressed his hard cock into my back so there would be no mistaking his own interest. “As I should be doing with you, mate. I should toss you over my shoulder and have my way with you, fuck you in a dark corner somewhere.”

  A thrill shot through me at the very idea. “Please?” I asked.

  He laughed softly. “I have turned you into an insatiable wench.”

  I turned my head to the side, so he could kiss me. He took the hint, so in tune with me that I still couldn’t grasp the fact that he was real. Here. Mine. His arms around me. Loving me. For so long he’d been nothing more than a dream. Not the dream sharing, but the dream of having a man of my own, who loved me, cherished me, put me first. I’d had that for years on Earth, never imagined it happening.

  “You have. So, the dark corner? Hmmm. Where would you start, I wonder?” I blinked slowly, opening my eyes to stare up at the man I’d come to love more than my own heart beating.

  “Start?” Lowering his forehead to mine, he held my gaze. “I’d start by sliding this dress off your body one delicate curve at a time, kissing every single part of you as it is revealed.”

  I licked my lips and let him see the fire he was kindling starting in my gaze. “And then?”

  “I’d drop to my knees, spread open those soft, wet, pink pussy lips and devour your sweet juices until your fingers are buried in my hair and you’re whimpering my name. Coming all over my tongue.”

  My grin felt devilish, and I knew we were catching the attention of the crowd below, but I didn’t care. The idea of his head between my legs again had me rubbing my thighs together to ease the ache. It wasn’t working. “Whimpering? Not screaming?”

  He chuckled, pulling me close, so close his heat scorched even through all of our clothes. “The screaming comes later, mate, when your legs are wrapped around my hips and your pussy is squeezing my hard cock, milking all my seed from my balls.”

  I closed my eyes with a soft moan and lifted on tiptoe to close the small space between us, my lips brushing his as I whispered, “I’ll hold you to that, my prince. And soon.”

  My kiss was soft and tender, not meant to stoke his passion, but to let him know that I was his, that no one else in this room mattered more to me. That he was right. I didn’t care about diamonds or dresses or who his father had been. Gage was mine. That was the only thing that mattered to me.

  Lips still touching, Gage whispered back. “Like I said, ballroom then bedroom. Shall we enter the fray?”

  I sighed. “I can hardly wait.” I left him to wonder if I meant about joining the party or getting back to our room and getting him between my thighs.

  “Let’s dance.” He twirled me out of his arms as if we’d been dancing a waltz, then pulled me back in.

  I laughed at the playfulness and I was out of breath. I could track a mountain lion or a bear, but dancing?

  “Dancing isn’t one of my specialties.” And with this dress? These shoes? They weren’t four-inch, spike heels, but they weren’t hiking boots either.

  “Nonsense, mate. All you have to do is hold on. I shall lead, shall take care of you as I always will.”

  Smiling so hard my face was beginning to hurt, I realized I’d never been this happy. I held his hand as he led me down the curving, grand staircase to the ballroom floor where a slow, dreamy song was being played on stringed instruments that looked oddly similar to those on Earth. He pulled me close, lifted me off my feet, and swirled me around the room as if I were floating on a cloud. I kissed the side of his neck. “You’re right. This dancing stuff is easy.”

  Everything was fine, until I lost a shoe. It flew into the groin of one of the judges, an ancient Everian who was ninety if he was a day. “I’m so sorry!”

  He grunted, then smiled as his much younger companion, a young man who looked like he must be a grandson, bent down to pick up the shoe and held it out to me. Gage took it from his hand before I could react. “Thank you, Zandor.”

  “My pleasure.” The young man looked at me with something I recognized as desire in his eyes as Gage knelt at my feet, slipping the wayward shoe back into place.

  The old man’s face was lined with wrinkles, his dark gray eyes filled with humor as he stared down at my mate. “Don’t do that, Son. Don’t reload the cannon. She has quite the aim.”

  Gage froze under my hand, his shoulder stiff until he slid the shoe in place, lowered my foot to the floor and burst into laughter. “I’ll try to be more careful where I set my target, my lord.”

  The elder was stooped, but his shoulders were broad, his bearing regal and I reassessed his age to be at least a century. Maybe more, which was insane because I didn’t think I’d ever seen one so elderly out and about. Only on TV for being the oldest person on Earth.

  Gage stood and bowed at the waist. “Prince Zaylen, young prince Zandor, may I introduce my
beautiful mate, Danielle. Danielle, this is Prince Zaylen, who resigned from the Seven last year. He is well missed at the circle table. And this is his grandson, heir to a seat on the council of the Seven.”

  The young man reached eagerly for my hand, but his grandfather swatted him away like a fly and took his place, his touch gentle, his kiss to the back of my hand very formal, yet friendly. I laughed when I saw the flustered look on his grandson’s face, his pink cheeks, and the satisfied look on Gage’s. Prince Zaylen chuckled and murmured, “Age before beauty, Zandor.”

  “Of course, sir.” The young prince was probably around twenty years old, young and obviously in his prime. He was handsome, with fair looks—blond hair and green eyes—which I was sure attracted many young ladies to his side. But not me. He looked like a child next to my mate, a child who had yet to master his impulses. Learn the level of respect necessary for his lofty future position.

  Gage made small talk with the elderly prince for a few minutes before we were pulled away to a new introduction, a new family, a new name.

  “That’s a lot of Z’s,” I commented as we strolled.

  “Tradition. As you heard at the ascension ceremony, I am from a family of G’s.”

  I thought about it as we continued along. “So that means I have to think of a G name for our first child?”

  Gage stopped and turned to face me. Tilted my chin up. “Mate, do you know something I don’t?” he asked, eyes serious, the swirl of the ball around us forgotten.

  “What? No. It’s too soon. I just want to make sure I don’t fall in love with the name Joshua or Olivia.”

  He smiled then, leaned in and kissed my forehead. It was so tender I ached with the love from it. “I am pleased to hear you thinking this way, that perhaps we have already made this child you are wanting to name.”

  I huffed out a little laugh.