Wanted By The Werewolf Prince: a paranormal space adventure fantasy romance (Space Shifters Chronicles Book 1)

by Kara Lockharte

  This was a mistake.

  I should never have come here.

  I should never have given him a chance.

  I should never have loved him.

  I heard Xavier’s voice first. “She doesn’t want to see you.”

  I looked up and saw Ral giving his alpha death-glare to Xavier who stood with his back to me. There was a growl, almost sub-vocal but enough to send goosebumps along my skin. It was the warning of a predator before it disemboweled you. Ral growled, his voice deeper and more beast-like than I had ever heard before, as if he were already shifting. “Move. Now.”

  I looked up and saw the two of them circling each other. “Stop it!”

  Xavier said, his back to me. “Do you want to see him, Skye?”

  Fangs began to emerge and eyes began to glow, and Ral’s gorgeous suit tightened and began to tear as the wolf began to emerge.

  He may be a prince, but at his core, he was a wolf.

  I sighed. Fine. We could have this fight out now. It was what I had come for anyway. “Xavier, let him through."

  Xavier glanced back at me. “Are you sure?”

  I held Ral’s gaze. “Yes. It will be over in a few moments.”

  Ral brushed past Xavier as if he wasn't even there and kneeled before me. What the fuck?

  “Skye.” He looked around and realized we had an audience. “Everyone. Out. Now.”

  And they listened. They actually fucking listened. All except for Xavier, who looked at me expectantly. I drew my hand across my face. “You might as well go, Xavier.”

  Xavier squeezed my shoulder, ignoring the growl from Ral when he touched me. “I’ll be outside waiting if you need me, Skye.”

  Ral waited until the double door closed behind Xavier. His hand closed over mine. The scar on the back of his right hand had faded but it was still there, a memory of the Teeth carved into his flesh forever. His voice was low. “You were unexpected.”

  Huh. Unexpected. Like a sudden rainstorm. I was the weather. Incidental. I wasn’t going to be “incidental” to anyone, him least of all. “Why are you still here harassing me? You’ve won. Open war. A unified planet to rule. Your own version of a Starbolt. Oh wait, you still need pilots. There are others –”

  He interrupted me with a firm, “No. Finding you was unexpected. I didn’t think –”

  If I heard any more I would burst into tears. And there was no way in the universe I would give him that satisfaction. I shoved him as hard as I could. The suddenness of my movement almost dropped him on his ass, but he caught himself. It would’ve almost been funny in a different situation. “Stop pretending now. There’s nothing to be gained.”

  He leapt up, my hand back on his. “There is an entire lifetime at stake.” He took my hand and placed it on his chest.

  He was so warm.

  “What are you talking about?”

  “Us. Don’t you feel the truth of what we have, Skye?”

  My heart was tight. “What did you ever tell me that was the truth?”

  “I never lied to you. But I couldn’t tell you the whole truth.”

  “Let me guess. It’s complicated. The wolves needed to show those damn tiger shifters they couldn’t go and imprison two royal werewolves without consequences. When you went back, you were daring them to fire on you to start a war. Having them fire on a Coalition ship meant you turned the tigers into a Coalition enemy.”

  “Skye! My brave beautiful Captain Skye!” He crushed me to him. He smelled amazing. His voice lowered to a whisper. “I didn’t know I would meet you. I didn’t know how important you would be.”

  I tried to pull back. “Yes, important to your plans –”

  He grabbed me by the shoulders. “No. Not just to my plans. To me. To my heart. To my future. I don’t want a future without you.”

  I clenched my fists, trying to keep the tears from coming to my eyes. “I can’t give you what you want.”

  “All I want is your forgiveness, Skye.”

  “Now you’re the one who is lying.”

  “You’re right. I want you with me for a lifetime.”

  The words started to sink in slowly. Improbable. Impossible.

  “After all that’s been said and done? There’s something wrong with your screws.”

  “I have nothing to lose.”

  I looked at him in his classic black suit, the crispness of the white collar at his throat, the carefully tousled hair, and the intense focused gaze that had the power to make my knees weak.

  He knelt again before me. He pulled me against him, his breath warm against the thin fabric against my abdomen.

  I was no match for him. It was all I could do to hold the line. I had to hold the line. My life was on the line. My voice trembled. “Stop it. I’m not royalty. I’m not a werewolf. I’m not even a Coalition soldier anymore. I’m not anything. I can’t be your concubine on the side while you go make legacy babies with a werewolf princess.”

  “You’re the best pilot in the known universe. You’re a warrior who takes impossible odds and smashes them to atoms. I don’t want you to be my limited term contract bride. I want you to be my wife. Always. Forever.”

  My head echoed with the enormity of his words.

  I was trembling. No more exo-armor. No more defenses.

  If I let him in, I would be gone forever. I would go beyond the stars for him. I would face space dragons and fly to the edge of a black hole for him.

  A small voice, that couldn’t possibly belong to me. “Is that even possible?”

  His hands steadied mine. “If you say yes, it is.”

  He would utterly and completely destroy me.

  “It can’t be that simple.”

  His hands tightened against the fabric, crumpling some parts of the dress that probably shouldn’t be crumpled. “I’m a prince, Skye. It is that simple. Say yes.”

  But without him, I was a crashed flaming wreck.

  I forced myself to breathe, stiffened my spine. “I thought I told you. I don’t take orders from you. Why don’t you put it in writing, make it an official request.”

  Ral’s smile was wicked. “If it pleases you I will. For now, please accept my humble request. Please, marry me. Please, Skye. Please, be my wife.”

  For every ‘please’ I utter, there will be a time when you will return them to me tenfold.

  His hand found the slit of my dress. Fingers with calluses stroked the skin of my upper thigh. The sensation was at odds with the image of the perfect prince in front of me. It reminded me of who Ral really was: a warrior.

  A man who loved me.

  It really was that simple.

  Epilogue

  Princess Seria of House Nightclaw

  War Star Shakai of House Stargazer, Tigrantine Empire

  The children slept, but I couldn’t.

  Red and I were still trying to convince the children they wouldn’t be eaten. Although we had made some progress, they wouldn’t stay in human form unless we were with them. The tigers had ended up giving us a suite of two rooms on the War Star. Red and I were theoretically supposed to sleep in the outer room, and the children in the interior. However, they had really taken to Red who was sound asleep on one of the bunks in the children’s room.

  I went into the other room.

  Floor to ceiling windows took up the expanse of two walls. Stars twinkled and a red moon hovered in the distance.

  The room was sparsely furnished. There was a cushioned seating area in the corner that turned into a bed. Over by the window there was a small round table. I walked toward it and saw the pieces of a Zhangqi set laid out, ready for a game.

  Chills pricked my skin. It was a game of Zhangqi that had changed my fate so long ago. Without Zhangqi, I wouldn’t be alive today. I picked up a worn stone disk. I rubbed my thumb over the smooth, ancient engraved characters. For some reason, I heard Kai’s words in my head.

  You are important.

  I set down the pawn.

  You are not alone. />
  I picked up a cannon on the opposing side.

  This is real.

  It had all been lies. Lies of omission, perhaps, but the result was all the same. He had loved me, lied to me, and left me.

  Kanona’s voice startled me. “Do you play?”

  She stood beside the opened door, unarmored now but still in military uniform. She carried herself with efficiency and command.

  I set the piece down. “Not for awhile.”

  Kanona strode towards me, and took a seat at the table. “One doesn’t forget the lessons of zhangqi.” She pushed a soldier forward in challenge. “Let’s play.”

  We played in silence. She was good. She executed the appropriate strategies flawlessly. But I always played to survive.

  When I ended the game by taking her general, I looked up to see Kanona studying me with an evaluating gaze.

  “Thank you,” I said.

  “For the game? Or for coming for you?”

  “Both.”

  Kanona stood up. “We sent people to release you and your brother from the Teeth, but you were already gone by the time they arrived.”

  I hated that I had given in and asked Kai of all people for help.

  Tears threatened to spill from my eyes. I wouldn’t, couldn’t let her see that weakness. Time to change the subject. Another game, and this time I would let her win. I began resetting the Zhangqi board. “I am sorry for your mother’s passing.”

  Kanona went still as if I had hit her.

  “Thank you,” she said slowly. “Her time was too short.”

  “And now Kai is Lord Stargazer?” I asked. I knew but I wanted her affirmation to drive another blade into any future I thought we once had. It would be simpler that way.

  “And now Kai is Lord Stargazer,” she confirmed.

  Kai wasn’t just any tiger Lord, but now a ruler in his own right. House Stargazer was one of the Twelve Noble Families who alternated in ruling the Protectorate.

  Kanona picked up a pawn. “He will be the head of House Stargazer until his death or until he disqualifies himself from the position.”

  There was something almost too controlled about her tone.

  Kanona set down the pawn and picked up the Zhangqi cannon. It flipped between her fingers. “House Stargazer has had a longstanding betrothal agreement with House Moonglaw, to be honored within a year upon Kai’s elevation to Lordship. Should he renege on the agreement, he would be forced to renounce his position as Lord.”

  I had always known it would be a possibility ever since I had discovered who he truly was. And yet it didn’t stop my heart becoming a cold lump in my chest.

  I hated this feeling. I hated that despite the fact that he had proven I couldn’t trust him, I still had hopes. Hopes that should be, needed to be crushed into crumbling ancient dust.

  I knew this by Kai’s actions and Kanona had confirmed it with his obligations.

  He was never mine to have in the first place.

  I took my hands off the Zhangqi pieces, folded them into my lap, my fingernails digging tight into my palm. “I understand.”

  Kanona watched me with that calculating gaze. “Do you?” She leaned forward. “There’s something else. Kai doesn’t know you’re coming. I was the one who received your messages. And I made the decision to come for you. I wanted to meet the woman my brother spoke of to our dying mother in her final moments.”

  I had no words.

  Kanona stood up, keeping me in her line of sight as she faced the window. “I want you to understand. I love my older brother. He was the heir and I was the spare. Throughout my childhood, I looked up to him. I wanted to be just like him. So we were assigned the same lessons, given the same assignments. The philosophy, languages, the art of war and peace, logistics, management, resource allocation every thing the proper leader of a House should know. And Kai…” She laughed. “Kai would avoid his lessons like a strain of Ubnian plague. He’d rather be climbing to the top of the castle, hunting marbits in the forest, or swimming in a nearby creek. I, on the other hand, studied during all my waking hours and received full marks across the board.”

  She looked at me again. I had the feeling that if she could scan me with her vision she would. “Do you care for him?”

  I couldn’t lie to her. But I wasn’t ready to truly feel, let alone say my thoughts on the matter. If I were honest with myself, I wasn’t really sure what they were. So I said the most accurate thing I could.

  “I thought I did. But many things have changed since I last saw Kai.”

  She turned back toward me, her arms clasped behind her back in thought. “That is truth enough for now. My brother always means well. But despite his great vision, despite his gifts, he is often blind to the obvious. He was on Harmony tracking down another dead end on mythical Dragonlords wasn’t he?

  “I thought his family supported his search.”

  “I believed in my brother, and honestly I still do. Even now, he continues his search. But things have changed and so must our priorities. We have lands under siege. We have people dying. We have people to save.” Kanona tapped her vambrace. “Bring them in.”

  The doors opened and three came in, garbed in the retainer livery of Stargazer. Two men pushed forward a floating cart laden with bolt after bolt of the most decadent shimmering fabrics. A small petite woman came forward wearing a vivid blue head covering.

  “This is Rayana, my personal coutourier. She will take your measurements and begin making arrangements for what you will need.”

  I couldn’t help but finger one silken white fabric, sparkling like stars, as light as air, and almost as sheer. “I appreciate your efforts. But I must decline. I’m a Librarian, and disowned from Nightclaw, or so I’ve heard. What would I ever need with clothing like this?”

  The tailor pulled the fabric from my hand. “Angel-made,” she said as she deployed tiny drones that hovered around me, pulsing flashes of measuring lights. “It’s also blade, claw, and laser-proof. Excellent choice.”

  “No, wait –“

  Kanona made a dismissive sound. “I will not let it be said that our House failed to treat you as befitting your blood. We wouldn’t want you be dressed in anything less than the very best at Kai’s wedding now, would we?”

  The reality of it slammed into me like a hammer.

  She was bringing me to Kai’s wedding, to show me how impossible it all had been. She wanted to make sure I knew that Kai could never be anything to me.

  I couldn’t breathe. For a moment I felt as if I were on the other side of the window in the sub-zero temperatures of space. I was going to crumble into dust and blow away into nothing.

  “Kai’s wedding.” I repeated, my mouth as parched as a desiccated ancient book. He was getting married.

  I almost laughed. Actually, this would be precisely what I needed to make sure I would never think of him in that way again.

  I squared my shoulders. I had faced my father and rejected him. I wouldn’t be rattled by this woman. I wouldn’t give her that satisfaction. I forced a smile on to my face that was so sweet my teeth should have fallen out. “Who is Kai marrying?

  She gave me a smile, the kind a cat might have before pouncing on unsuspecting prey. “Why, you, of course.”

  Seria’s story continues in TAKEN BY THE TIGERLORD!

  Available November 15, 2017 from Amazon!

  Discovering she was a werewolf princess was one thing…

  Making peace with the Tiger Lord who forced her into marriage is something else altogether….

  Preorder Taken By the Tigerlord NOW!

  Thank You and Author Notes

  Thank you so much for reading! I hope you enjoyed this book! You've helped make my dreams come true.

  I wrote terrible things left unfinished for so long it started to seem like I would never be a real writer.

  And then my first child was born (no, not this book as much as books are every author’s baby, an actual real baby).

  Funny how havi
ng a child awakens your sense of mortality. Life is finite. Holding this tiny little exquisite baby to my chest reminded me just how precious and beautiful life is.

  (Yes, it's a cliché that I should know better than to write, but it's a cliché because it's TRUE.)

  Wanted By The Werewolf Prince is the very first novel I finished after having my first baby. It was the hardest book I've ever written, made even more difficult by 2 am wake ups and lengthy nap refusals, and the job of catering to a baby's EVERY SINGLE NEED (oh, how much more I appreciated my parents once I had a kid of my own).

  I'm still chasing the dream. The truth is that reviews are crucial to the success of authors because they help other readers discover new books to enjoy.

  So, dear reader, if you enjoyed this book, please help me write more by leaving a review on Amazon or goodreads. Reviews are crucial to every author's, especially this author's, success.

  THANK YOU!

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  About the Author

  Kara Lockharte is the author of the Space Shifters Chronicles. She loves writing romances with sexy alpha shifters and the strong heroines who can't resist them.

  She lives on Planet Earth and LOVES connecting with readers!

  www.karalockharte.com

  kara@karalockharte.com

  Copyright © 2017 by Smartia Publishing

  Cover design by Croco Designs

  Developmental Editing by Jodi Henley

  Copyediting by Erica Satifka

  All rights reserved.

  No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.