Determined Prince

by Michelle M. Pillow

  Eve made a small noise and placed her hand on the side of his face. “You’re very lucky you did not pick up a high-strung woman, prince dragon.” She started to laugh before stopping to add, “Hey, there’s that guy again. I swear I see him everywhere.”

  Kyran turned only to catch a glimpse of a servant’s tunic as the man turned a corner. He laughed. “He works in the palace. You will have to get used to seeing servants around.”

  Eve kicked her feet lightly. “Keep walking.”

  Kyran hurried with her through the halls toward their home. “I wish to be with you again.”

  She gave a sultry laugh. “Only if you promise me one thing.”

  “Anything your heart desires, m’lady.”

  “Don’t go announcing to anyone afterward that we joined. I mean, sure people probably know we’re having sex, but I’m not comfortable talking about it with your family.”

  It took a moment, but he realized what she meant. “You think…no, no. I said our joining was done, our connection as mates. It is the final step to marriage.”

  Eve blushed. “Oh, okay, good, so he wasn’t talking about me sleeping with you.”

  Kyran shook his head in denial and felt her relief. “Not at all.”

  Once inside their home, he carried her to the bedroom. She practically melted against him, her body relaxing into his. Eve pressed kisses to his neck, each touch sending a shiver along his body.

  He laid her on the bed and eagerly stripped out of his clothing. Eve pushed her pants from her hips, baring her legs. Kyran paused mid-movement to stare at her. Emotion overwhelmed him and he couldn’t speak. This was everything a man could want—a wife, hope of a family, a future he could commit to.

  Eve grinned and took off her shirt. She threw it at him. “Come here already.”

  Kyran obeyed, crawling over her. Her lips parted, accepting his kiss. She lifted her arms and spread her legs, accepting his body. She made tiny noises of pleasure, so soft and feminine. He never wanted to stop kissing her.

  He ran his hand over her naked hip. The contact of their skin caused an electrical current to run between them. He felt her desire as if it were his own. Eve closed her eyes, gasping and trembling.

  They made love slowly, exploring and discovering. When he finally entered her, pressing his arousal into her warmth, the moment was perfection. Only when he felt her body tremble did he let himself have release.

  “My princess,” he whispered against her neck.

  She wound her fingers into his hair. “Meeting you has been a surreal adventure.”

  CHAPTER TWELVE

  K yran felt his wife wasn’t in the room the moment he opened his eyes. Stretching his arms, he tossed the covers aside and hopped off the platform bed. Excitement filled him at the thought of Eve. He wanted to shift and run the forest, roaring his happiness to the trees. He wanted to hold her forever, worship at her feet, make love to her until they couldn’t move. He didn’t need his head to tell him what his heart innately knew. She was made for him. He’d known it the first moment he saw her on stage. Her song had been a shockwave that shook him to his very core.

  “I love you, Eve,” he whispered, never having been so sure of anything in his life.

  Eager to tell her, he found himself tossing on clothes and going in search of her. She wasn’t in their home. The connection they shared was still new, but he tried to sense her location anyway. He detected nothing. Letting the shift ripple over his body, he closed his eyes and breathed deeply to catch her scent. It was faint but there.

  Without thought, he followed her trail. To his surprise, it led him deeper into the palace, away from the main section to the narrow old tunnels and finally the steep stairwell. His heart pounded heavily. He’d told Eve about the tunnels. It had never occurred to him that she would use them to leave him.

  The old tunnels were treacherous, which was why the shifters never used them, but he smelled her down there amongst the damp stone. In fact, it was the only thing his dragon senses could focus on—finding his wife.

  He heard the activated portal before he saw the soft purple glow of its power. The valley entrance was blocked and so the air of the cave was stagnant. Dragons and cats were carved into the stone chamber, pointing away from the portal, a symbol of their exodus from Earth.

  The elders called it magic. Their scholars called it technology. Kyran didn’t know who to believe, he only knew that the portal worked. Without thought, he went after his wife. He couldn’t force her to stay with him, but he wouldn’t let her go without a fight. He would tell her how he felt. He would beg her to stay, for without her, he could never be whole.

  CHAPTER THIRTEEN

  P assing through the portal stirred Eve’s memories. However, she didn’t have time to dwell on them as she was tossed to the hard ground on the other side. Her body tingled from the trip, the pins and needles of slowed blood returning to normal speed. She felt as if a piece of herself had been ripped out, left behind with her dragonshifter husband.

  Husband. The very thought caused her to fill with joy and sorrow. It was the first time she’d allowed herself to think of him in such a way. But something had happened in her short time with him. She’d found her purpose. She’d found a family. The full ache of having that ripped from her left sharp pain in her chest. It was true when people said you didn’t know fully what you had until it was taken away. Desperation filled her and she tried to crawl back to the portal—only it was gone. She was trapped on Earth.

  “Get up,” a gruff voice demanded.

  Eve looked up at the shifted cat-man who stood over her. Kyran had called him a servant, but she wasn’t as sure. When he’d first approached her, she’d ignored her instinct to run. Oh, why hadn’t she run? Years on the street had taught her to trust her gut. This man had been following her. She shouldn’t have ignored it.

  She looked behind her to the cracked rock wall that they’d come through for a hint of how to get back to Kyran. It was useless. The portal was gone. How would Kyran find her? Would he even know to look? When she left him he’d been sleeping. Not wanting to wake him with her insomnia, she’d merely thought to walk the halls. They were peaceful and quiet in the night hours.

  “Just tell me what you want?” Eve said, not for the first time.

  “I want your kind off my planet. Your weak blood will taint ours, turn us feeble.” Brown hair framed wild eyes as he reached for her. At least he’d shifted back into his man form. He grabbed her arm and dragged her toward an old white building she didn’t recognize. Shouts sounded in the distance followed by singing. They emerged from their hidden alcove to a courtyard. His eyes glowed with the power of his shift, but there was more. There was hate in his gaze, disgust. He sniffed the air and curled his lips. “Such drunken filth. Your kind has no discipline.”

  Eve’s heart pounded as they made their way through the dark yard. As they pushed through an iron door into a narrow street, she saw a sign that read Old Ursuline Convent, Louisiana.

  “We’re in New Orleans?” The question was more a confirmation of her surprise than an actual question. He quickened his pace, forcing her to move. “I thought the portal went to Ohio.”

  “It goes to a different place each Earth night, so do not think of ever finding it again.” He gripped her arm tighter as a group of people crossed the street. She felt his claws digging into her flesh. Eve had seen this man shift when she tried to run from him and knew that the drunken college kids taking a haunted history tour would be no match for a catshifter. “Not that I have to worry about you after tonight.”

  “What do you mean?” Eve demanded.

  “This is the Lalaurie Mansion, recognized not only as one of the most haunted houses in the French Quarter, but perhaps in all of the United States,” the tour guide boasted. “It is now owned by a very famous celebrity, but he never stays here—not since he heard the stories I’m about to tell you about its previous owner, Madame Delphine Lalaurie.”

  The catshifter s
topped and glanced up the three-story mansion on the corner of the block, as if considering taking her inside the empty home.

  “You got me back to Earth,” Eve said. “Now just go.”

  She was sure she could find her way back to the place they’d come through the portal. If she found that, she’d find a way to get back to Qurilixen, to Kyran, to the man she wanted to spend forever with.

  “Ghosts aren’t real,” a man heckled the crowd, sounding more angry than mischievous. “Get out of the way. Sidewalks are for pedestrians. You know, pedestrians, it’s from the Latin for to walk, not for to stand.”

  “You’re a dumbass,” someone answered him. “Sober up!”

  The catshifter aggressively led her around the corner, away from the group into an empty street. They kept moving away from the crowd.

  “Just go,” Eve said. “I’m off your planet. Mission accomplished. No need to hurt anyone here.”

  “I saw you in the woods,” he stated.

  “What?”

  “I followed you. I saw you join with him. Even now you might carry his child. I cannot allow a shifter to be born in your world. I cannot risk your people trying to find us. The portal should never have been reopened, and after I’m finished, it will never be again.”

  “I thought you needed women.” Eve tried desperately to keep him talking. She saw the deadly intent in his eyes.

  “Shifter women,” he clarified. “It’s only a matter of time before we are blessed once more. We cannot lose faith by allowing humans into our world. Any child you bear will be an aberration.”

  The man continued to mumble under his breath, but she could not understand the Qurilixian language. She felt the bite of his claws in her arm and the wet trickle of blood as he punctured the skin.

  Eve ignored the pain. “If we’re so awful, why come here at all? Why not kill me back home? Scared the others will find out what you did, coward?”

  “And let your human filth rot on our sacred planet?” The very idea seemed to make him shudder in revulsion.

  A man came striding around the corner wearing absolutely nothing but a short pink tutu. She never thought she’d be so glad to see a crazy eccentric so much in her life. Mr. Tutu marched with purpose, and the sight of his pale naked ass was enough to distract her captor long enough for her to rip her arm free. Eve didn’t hesitate. She ran back the way they’d come.

  The catshifter gave chase. He growled. The noise caused her to run faster. She turned the corner in front of Lalaurie Mansion. The tour had moved along, their absence emptying the street to being nearly abandoned.

  Another growl sounded as she was hit in the back. Eve flew forward and braced herself for a hard concrete landing. Instead, arms caught her and she instantly knew she was safe.

  “Kyran,” she said in surprise even before she looked up to confirm what her body knew.

  “Are you injured?” he demanded. Eve shook her head in denial and he pushed her behind his back.

  The second she was shoved to safety, he shifted and charged forward. Her husband’s roar met with the cat’s growl. Talons formed on Kyran’s outstretched hand as his body hardened with brown armor. The catshifter leapt. Blond fur sprouted on his features and covered his forearms. He didn’t fully turn into a feline, but to a standing cat.

  Eve had seen Kyran shift, but the full extent of what that meant became incredibly clear. The cat slashed. Kyran deflected the blow and swung the man up and over so that he was launched into the air.

  “Yeah!” someone yelled. The noise soon attracted others and a crowd began to gather. The cat slammed into the street, only to instantly push back to his feet to keep fighting.

  “Get him!” another screamed.

  “Whoo-hoo!”

  “Yeah!”

  Eve ignored the onlookers. She tried to find an opening to help Kyran. Though it was evident he didn’t need her help. He held his own.

  The shifters fought their way down the street, toward the convent. The crowds followed, cheering and clapping. Eve screamed as Kyran was slammed into the wall. She surged forward to thump her fists against the catshifter’s back. Before she made contact, Kyran kicked, launching the man over the wall into the convent yard. Kyran leapt high into the air as he propelled himself over the wall to give chase.

  The crowd clapped wildly now that the show was over. Eve looked for a way to go after the shifters. She felt people pressing forward. She turned, lifting her hands to push them back. Only they shoved money at her, tipping her for the performance.

  Eve tried to smile, well aware that Kyran would want her to keep the dragonshifter secret even though he’d just battled down the French Quarter. When finally she broke free of the crowd, she ran down the sidewalk to the iron gate they’d used to leave the convent’s courtyard. Once inside, she found Kyran coming back from the portal alone.

  “What happened?” She ran for him.

  “He’s dead,” Kyran said. “I pushed him through to our side so he would not be found by humans.”

  “How? The portal closed.” Eve wrapped her arms around his neck.

  “No, it’s only hidden. If you touch the wall it will pull you in. Once activated, the portal will remain open for several hours.”

  Holding him tight, she whispered, “I was so scared I’d never see you again.”

  “I should have listened when you said you felt like we were being followed. I’m sorry I didn’t see it. The Var have never attacked us.”

  “He said he didn’t want human blood polluting the shifter gene pool.” Eve began to shake violently now that it was over. Tears streamed down her face. “He was going to kill me. He…he…you came. I didn’t know if you would find me.”

  “I will always come for you, my princess. You are as much of me as my own heart.” Kyran held her tighter. “I was worried you’d left me to come back here.”

  Eve opened herself up to him, letting him feel her emotions—relief, happiness, love. “I love you, Kyran. I should have said it sooner.”

  He smiled and nodded. “I feel it. I love you, m’lady. But when you were gone I worried you’d decided a life with me wouldn’t be enough. I saw you on stage with your music.”

  “Yes, I do want to visit Earth, and I will, with you. As for music, I can make music anywhere. All I need is a guitar and my voice. And who knows, maybe I’ll find some dragons and start a band.” She stroked her fist against this cheek.

  He pulled at her wrist so he could look at her hand. “What is this?”

  “Oh,” Eve had forgotten she clutched the money. “Locals thought you were street performers putting on a show. They tipped you.”

  “For fighting?”

  She nodded. “If you’re going to go full-out dragon in the middle of a city, you picked the right one. New Orleans embraces the strange and unusual. You blended right in.”

  “The gods truly bless us,” he said. “Shall we go home?”

  Eve looked at her closed fists and then toward the hidden alcove where the portal was. “Not quite yet. We need to go on a small errand first.”

  “You wish to use the trading paper to get a guitar?”

  Eve laughed. “It’s going to take more than one fight to earn enough for a guitar.”

  “Then?”

  “Cheeseburgers,” she stated, keeping the money in her fist as she wrapped an arm around his waist. “We’re going to buy lots and lots of cheeseburgers. You can buy me a guitar later.”

  “Mm,” he moaned thoughtfully. “I should like to see your cheeseburger ritual. I did not realize we are near the water so that you may enjoy it in your hip coverings.”

  “You think cheeseburgers are only for the beach?”

  He nodded eagerly. “I have seen your transmissions.” Kyran opened his mouth and gave a slow lick of his lips, mimicking a very seductive fast food commercial model.

  A jolt of desire filled her at the gesture and she quickened her pace. “Well done, dragon. That’s exactly how you eat it.” They slipped through
the gate to the street. “By the way, I won your little game. I never said I am your wife and you are my prince before having sex with you.”

  “Aw, but you did tell me, wife,” Kyran pointed at her chest and then rested his hand over his heart. “And I heard it clearly, here.”

  “I can’t argue with that.” She accepted his kiss, stopping to press her body against his. His arousal formed against her stomach. “Mm, we’d better make those cheeseburgers to go.”

  “Always as you wish, my bride.”

  * * *

  The End

  ABOUT THE AUTHOR

  New York Times and USA Today Bestseller

  Michelle M. Pillow, Author of All Things Romance™, is a multi-published, award winning author writing in many romance fiction genres including futuristic, paranormal, historical, contemporary, fantasy and dark paranormal. Ever since she can remember, Michelle has had a strange fascination with anything supernatural and sci-fi. After discovering historical romance novels, it was only natural that the supernatural and love/romance elements should someday meet in her wonderland of a brain. She’s glad they did for their children have been pouring onto the computer screen ever since.

  Michelle loves to travel and try new things, whether it’s a paranormal investigation of an old Vaudeville Theatre or climbing Mayan temples in Belize. She’s addicted to movies and used to drive her mother crazy while quoting random scenes with her brother. Though it has yet to happen, her dream is to be in a horror movie as 1. A zombie or 2. The expendable screaming chick who gets it in the beginning credits. But for the most part she can be found writing in her office with a cup of coffee in pajama pants.

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