Forbidden Mate

by Stacey Espino

  “What? I’m not a fucking doctor!” Wesley dropped down to his knees and cradled Helen’s hand in his. She was still warm, but for how long? The frail little human was the center of his universe. He hadn’t even had a chance to show her how much she meant to him. All he’d done was push her away for his damn status at the palace. Being a Royal Elite couldn’t save Helen.

  Marco was beside him, their shoulders butting against each other as they tended Helen. “You have to save her, Wesley,” he whispered. “Only the blood of a princess can help her now. She’s beyond the care of a doctor, and you know it.”

  He really looked at Helen. Even in sleep, her body battered, she looked like an angel. Just imagining her beautiful brown eyes never looking at him again, made his heart ache. His panther clawed inside him, desperate to save its mate no matter the consequences.

  “How the fuck am I supposed to accomplish that? You think they’re just going to let me waltz in with a human? The royal palace is the most protected structure in the shifter world, and I should know.”

  “So you’ll watch her die?” asked Targus.

  Wesley scrubbed his face with his hands. “Let’s get her to the palace.”

  Without a vehicle, it took too long getting Helen through the forest to the rear border of the palace grounds. He knew Ronan would be on duty tonight until he relieved him, but the perimeter wouldn’t be as heavily guarded until the queen returned home. How was he supposed to get into the grounds and then break into the palace unnoticed, never mind get ahold of one of the three royal princesses? They all had mates who rarely left them unattended.

  Why would they even agree to help a human? They refused to dabble in human politics, and since human and shifter worlds were supposed to remain hidden from each other, it was futile to ask for their assistance. Still, he had to try, not for the wolves, but for himself. Helen gave him a glimpse of the possibilities. His life could be so much more.

  Darkness aided their entry onto castle grounds. The perfectly manicured lawns around the palace were greener than a golf course. It was quiet and dark, only a few distant lights sweeping the land for intruders. He knew all the security points and tried his best to outsmart the system.

  “Who’s most likely to help us?” asked Marco. “Should we ask the princess with the human mate?”

  “They aren’t exactly going to line up for this. I’ll be lucky to get any of them to agree to help us. That’s if I can even get close enough. They’re all mated and next to impossible to get near.”

  Helen’s shirt was soaked through with blood, her skin turning ashen. He began to panic.

  “She doesn’t have much fucking time. We need to do this now!” said Marco.

  They rested her body on the grass, all three of them crouched low as they studied the land around them. “One of you has to stay here with Helen, and one of you has to come with me.”

  “I’ll stay,” said Marco. “Targus, don’t waste time.”

  Targus shifted alongside him. They both ran in stealth mode, following the shadows and barely making a sound. Wesley led them to the network of underground tunnels. Only a few months ago a fox had found his way into these same tunnels in an attempt to kidnap a princess. Their security was the best in the world, and it still had serious flaws.

  When he reached the fourth hidden doorway, Wesley shifted back into his skin. His spare pack of smokes still rested on the ledge where he’d left them. He reached under a loose exterior stone on the wall and flipped the switch to open the secret door. It clicked as expected, allowing him to push open the heavy stone barrier.

  “What’s going on?”

  He whirled around, Ronan was standing in the path with his arms crossed over his chest. Fuck, he should have come alone. His Royal Elite brother stared down Targus with a look of pure malice. He had no time to explain, not with Helen’s life hanging in the balance.

  “I’m sorry, old friend. I owe you one.” He nodded to Targus and then slipped inside the palace. The sound of hand to hand combat was muted once he sealed himself behind the heavy door. Targus could take care of himself. He’d been trained nearly as well as an Elite for the right to court a princess. At least he’d be able to hold Ronan off long enough so he could find a princess.

  He ran through the hallways of the castle. Everything was a maze to him, everything minimally illuminated with old world wall sconces. Although he’d studied the specs of the castle during his training, he’d never had the honor of gracing the interior first hand. It was indeed regal, and he couldn’t help but feel a sense of awe as he walked along the sprawling red runner in the hallway.

  There were voices ahead in a room to the left. A slice of warm light highlighted the floor in front of the open door. He stopped before the threshold. How would he explain this to the queen? Even though he was ready to walk away from his position, he didn’t want to disappoint her. His sense of loyalty ran deep and always would.

  He heard male voices. Alexander and Ulric, two of Delia’s mates. The wolf shifters were right—he needed to find Freya. She had a human mate and would be the most sympathetic to their plight.

  “Playing hide and seek?”

  His heart raced and his nerves spiked. He should have known the three males wouldn’t be far from their woman. Delia’s voice was right beside him, her body a second shadow along the wall. She was known as the most ruthless of the princesses, and she was the last one he hoped to find.

  Wesley slowly turned around. She had a confident grin on her face. With a bear shifting mate a few feet away, she had nothing to worry about. He was pretty sure she could handle herself, too.

  “Just checking on the palace?” It wasn’t supposed to be a question, but she must know he was only supposed to patrol the exterior.

  “Very thorough of you, Elite.” She pushed off from the wall, walking towards the open door. He instinctively grabbed her arm and pulled her against him. She gasped.

  “I need to find Freya. It’s important. Where is she?”

  Delia attempted to shrug him off, but he held her steady. “You think I’ll tell you where my little sister is? You don’t know me very well.” She had no fear, not even a trickle.

  “My mate is dying. Royal blood’s the only thing that will help her.” There was no sense hiding the truth when every second counted.

  She narrowed her eyes. “The Royal Elite don’t normally take mates, do they?”

  “Ulric was once an Elite, if I remember correctly.”

  “Don’t be a smart ass, panther. I wasn’t aware any others had used their new freedom.”

  Wesley pleaded with her, “Please, can you help me?”

  “Why can’t she heal herself? How bad is it?”

  He swallowed hard, afraid to speak the forbidden truth. “She’s human.”

  Delia exhaled, turning her back. “You know I can’t help you.”

  “What about Freya?” He couldn’t keep his voice from rising. “Where is she?”

  “Freya can’t help you, either. None of us can.”

  “So it’s okay for her to change a fucking human male but it’s not okay to save my mate?”

  A chair scraped the hardwood in the next room and footsteps neared the doorway. Delia shoved Wesley toward a stairwell, keeping them out of sight. “Come on,” she called as she raced down the spiraling stone steps.

  She led him to a room on the next level. The young fox shifter she’d taken as a mate was sitting at a large oak desk in the far corner of the dimly lit room.

  “What’s going on?” he asked, when they both entered the room.

  “I need your help, Caleb. You seem to know more about the royal family than I do,” said Delia. “Come on, it’s important.”

  The three of them left the safety of the castle. It was pitch black outside, only the distant lights illuminating the manicured lawns.

  “She’s over here,” he said, running in the direction he’d left Marco and Helen. They were just where he’d left them, but there was no sign of T
argus. He worried about the wolf. Ronan was a lethal Elite and would happily die protecting the palace.

  Helen looked terrible, her face nearly as white as the moon. Marco had her head cradled on his lap. He was too lost to even look up at them. Wesley’s heart pounded in his chest. He hoped Delia had had a change of heart.

  “Can you help her?” asked Wesley.

  Delia knelt down and ran the backs of her fingers along Helen’s forehead. “I’ve never seen her before. She’s pretty.”

  “She’s a human,” said Caleb. “Why is she here?”

  “She’s my mate, fox,” Wesley warned. “If you want to be helpful, you’ll tell me how I can save her life. I’ll give her mine if I have to.”

  Caleb scoffed. “Relax, there’s no need for anyone to become a martyr.” He squatted down beside Delia. “Can you help her?”

  She smiled without humor and shook her head. “She’s too badly hurt. I’m sorry. If I could have helped I really would have. I have a lot of respect for the Royal Elite and everything you do for our family.”

  Tears burned in Wesley’s eyes but he forced them away. They only reminded him of his weaknesses and limitations. Nothing he could do would bring Helen back.

  Marco leapt to his feet, bared his fangs, and lunged forward. “Are you too good to save her, princess? Is she not regal enough for your precious blood?”

  “I said she’s too far gone.”

  The feral look in the wolf’s eyes was testament to his loss of humanity. Wesley rested a strong hand on Marco’s shoulder. He was still a Royal Elite hardwired to protect the royal family, and always would be.

  Marco looked at him with a mix of shock and disappointment. “I thought you loved Helen. I guess I was wrong.”

  He wanted to shout from the highest tower of the castle that he loved Helen with his whole heart, that the thought of losing her before really getting to know her made him sick to his stomach, and that it tore him apart that he couldn’t have a future with his true mate. Instead he said nothing at all. Wesley didn’t have any fight left in him.

  Chapter Eleven

  Targus paced the jail cell, occasionally rattling the bars in a fit of rage. “Let me the fuck out!”

  “I know who you are,” said the Elite.

  “And who am I?”

  “You’re one of the old royal suitors. Jilted suitors. Must really piss you off, eh?”

  “Not enough to hurt a princess, if that’s what you’re implying. I came here for my own reasons. I don’t give two shits about anyone but my mate right now.”

  “You have a mate? Really? Where is she, wolf?”

  “Dying on your front lawn! Why do you think Wesley broke into the castle? We need royal blood to heal her.”

  “Wesley’s helping you? Like I’ve already told you, that’s laughable.”

  The guard had bested him after a good old-fashioned brawl in the underground tunnels. He had to buy time for Wesley, and he hoped to the gods his new friend had found a princess willing to help. After tossing Targus into the cell, the guard studied him, refusing to confirm his story with Wesley.

  Two other males entered the small prison room. Wesley watched from behind the wall of aged iron bars. The cells were an original feature of the castle. “Where’s Delia, Ronan? You see her?” The oversized male had to be a bear shifter. He briefly glared at Targus before giving his attention to the Elite guarding him.

  “No clue. I’m just trying to figure out why this wolf was trying to sneak into the castle. He was with Wesley, but I have no clue where Wesley’s disappeared to.”

  “A wolf?” said the other male. “Wesley told me he was on the hunt for a wolf yesterday. Maybe this is the culprit.”

  “Just let me out. I don’t want any trouble. We came to get help from one of the princesses. Only they have the power to heal our mate.”

  “What do you make of it, Alexander?”

  The wolf shrugged. “I assume Delia agreed to help since we can’t find her.”

  “Or she was forced,” said the bear shifter, the bass in his voice filling the room. “Let him out so he can lead us to his mate.”

  Ronan slowly approached the gate with the keys. He looked Targus in the eyes as he unlocked the door. “Don’t try anything stupid. I got you in here once, and I can do it again.”

  Targus kept his mouth shut, not wanting to antagonize his captor until he was free of the iron bars.

  He couldn’t stop envisioning Helen at his cabin, her body painted with blood. The fucking she-wolf had moved so fast, he hadn’t anticipated it. By the time he’d sunk his fangs into her hide to protect his woman, it was too late. The damage had been done. If she’d been a shifter, her body would have been able to recuperate in time. But her human body was weak and delicate and didn’t regenerate like a shifter’s. This was their only chance to save Helen and a new future for all of them. It had only taken one scent of Helen to recognize the mating call. It was irrefutable and potent. He couldn’t live without her now that he knew what he was missing in his life.

  He wasted no time in rushing back to Helen and Marco. Had Wesley found Freya? Was Helen okay? While he’d been locked up, anything could have happened. He felt desperate and anxious not knowing what was happening.

  When they approached the exact spot he’d left Helen, she was gone. There was no sign of anyone. “She was right here.”

  “He’s not lying,” said Alexander. “I can smell wolf. A lot of it.”

  “Where did they go?” asked Targus, hoping something had some fucking answers.

  “I don’t know, but it’s a full moon tomorrow, and I don’t want Delia running around alone in town. Every male will be on her like white on rice.”

  “It’s time to go hunting,” said Alexander. “This should be fun. Gods know there’s little excitement to be had under the castle roof.”

  They all shifted and began to track the scent towards the small shifter town.

  ****

  Marco helped bring Helen to Wesley’s apartment in town. Her body was lifeless as they carried her, making the short trip more difficult. Caleb and Delia entered the apartment behind them. It was odd seeing royalty in such a shitty little apartment. He was surprised the princess agreed to come along at all, especially since she claimed Helen was beyond saving. Did she want to gloat over his loss?

  “Put her on the sofa,” said Wesley, rushing about, tossing clothes out of the way.

  “What can I do to help?” asked Delia. She looked genuinely concerned, but Marco refused to fall for her act. The royal family only cared for themselves and their bloodline. Outside shifters were a low priority, humans not a priority at all.

  “Nothing,” said Caleb. “Nothing legal.”

  Marco glared at the fox. “We’re not here to go over the rules with you, computer boy. We’re here for Helen, legal or not.”

  “Well, it’s beyond breaking the law. It’s a moral issue,” said Caleb. “There are lines that can never be crossed.”

  Delia sat on the edge of the sofa. “I know,” she whispered. “I just don’t know what’s the right thing to do. Just because she’s a human doesn’t make her life any less valuable. It doesn’t feel right to stand back and do nothing.”

  Marco suddenly clued in. If the princess claimed she couldn’t save her, she might be able to change her, just like Freya changed her human mate. He had to appeal to Delia. “I came to the palace many years ago when humans killed my first mate. I wanted revenge, wanted justice—I got neither.” He swallowed hard, trying to keep the bitterness out of his tone. “There was nothing that could be done for her. But you can still save Helen.”

  “We aren’t supposed to interfere with humans. Changing one into a wolf would be seen as an act of war,” said Delia. She twirled her long hair into a rope, pacing the small room.

  “Not if she wants it to happen,” said Wesley, suddenly just as interested as Marco.

  “She’s unconscious. I have no clue what she wants or even who she is. Gods, I th
ink I’ve stirred up enough controversy since coming home.”

  “Look at her neck. She’s been marked by me and another wolf. We’ll both take full responsibility for her. No human will ever know.” Marco was desperate to convince Delia. He wasn’t sure if his pleas were working or not.

  “Actually, there’re three of us,” said Wesley. “That means three oaths to keep everything quiet. It’s no different than my vow to protect the monarchy.”

  “What do you think, Caleb? Did Darius have any long term effects from being changed?”

  Caleb ran a hand through his hair. “He looks just as much wolf as any other. I haven’t heard of any problems, but I also haven’t heard of any other humans being changed. This sounds like a bad idea any way I spin it.”

  Marco heard numerous steps coming up the fire escape to Wesley’s little apartment above the store. He moved closer to Helen, ready for a fight. If the Royal Elite were coming to protect the princess, he’d lose his chance to save Helen.

  Targus entered through the open window first, followed by three other males from the palace. Two were Elites, the marks on their arms evidence of their station. There were so many males cramped into the one-room bachelor apartment. If a fight broke out, it would be chaos.

  “There you are, Wesley!” shouted one of the Elites. “You said you’d owe me one. All I want to know is what the fuck is going on.”

  “I needed royal blood, the one thing you couldn’t let me take,” said Wesley.

  “For what?”

  The other Elite grabbed Delia’s wrist, pulling her up from the sofa and against his massive bear-shifting body. “Did they force you here?”

  She frowned. “No, I came to help, Ulric.” She ran her palm over his bare chest in a loving gesture. “And I’m going to help. My mind is already made up.”

  “Help? How?”

  “I’m changing that girl into a shifter. She won’t live long if I don’t. I refuse to let Marco lose a second mate, or let one of my Royal Elite lose his first.”

  “I don’t like the sound of that,” said Ulric. “You know the rules, Delia. The queen would never allow it. We don’t need any more heat.”