Lycan Legacy - 4 - 5 - 6: Princess - Progeny - Paladin: Book 4 - 5 - 6 in the Lycan Legacy Series

by Veronica Singer

  Yeah, pull me in to your mouth, you Jaws-wannabe. I'll reach through your eyes and pull your tiny brain out.

  But his brain wasn't that tiny. Not as smart as Ferdinand the man-bull, but he was smart enough to push against me, keeping me away from his head. Like an alligator, he would try to drown his prey before eating.

  The exertion had used up my tiny ration of air; my oxygen would quickly run out. I was still trying to think of a way to escape as my vision dimmed. My hands slashed at the restraining tentacles but grew weaker and weaker as the oxygen diminished. I had damaged the tentacles, but not enough to force them to release me.

  I fought to the end but soon succumbed to the lack of air. As my consciousness ebbed, the urge to breathe overcame me and I took a deep breath of—

  Air? What the hell? Was this some kind of dream as I lost consciousness? I had read about drowning victims and the delusions that appeared at the edge of death.

  Dream or not, it was the sweetest air I had ever breathed, as pure as the purest blast from my oxygen mask spell. But that spell wouldn't work underwater; that was why I hadn't even tried it.

  Another nip of phantom teeth on my ass gave the answer. I had believed the oxygen mask spell wouldn't work underwater. My inner wolf, however, didn't overthink it—she just activated the damn spell and saved our lives.

  The water in front of my face bubbled furiously as my spell extracted life-giving oxygen from the water and fed it to my lungs. With a thought, I cleared the water in front of my eyes, allowing clear vision. After several breaths, I noticed that the shark-thing's movements seemed to be slowing. It wasn't until I noticed that the bubbles were also moving in slow motion that I realized the extra oxygen was boosting my metabolism, speeding up my reaction times.

  I had once overclocked my metabolism to save my life during a fight against multiple werewolves while in prison. That had resulted in the loss of ten pounds of body mass in minutes and had nearly brought about my death. The excess magic here in fairy-tale land made my oxygen mask spell too efficient, blasting pure oxygen into my lungs.

  For a moment, it thrilled me; the extra speed and strength would make killing this overgrown trout easy. Then I felt the nip on my ass as my wolf objected. A sensation of her wrapping her warm body around my belly made her message clear. She was telling me that racing my body so hard would endanger the babies. For a mental phantom, she was good at making her points.

  I gave my wolf a mental hug, lowered the spell and my acceleration, and turned my attention to my opponent. We were still trapped in the clutches of a water-breathing monster, but now that I didn’t need to fear drowning, I could match my strength and claws against this creature.

  The tentacle around my chest squeezed tighter, trying in vain to prevent me from breathing. Too bad—my armor was more than strong enough to resist his greatest efforts.

  Then a tentacle reached toward my neck to strangle me. Too slow. I grabbed it with one hand and pulled it to my mouth, extending teeth built for slashing.

  Under my teeth, the fairy-tale monster's flesh shredded, filling my mouth with the sweet taste of cold blood and salmon-flavored gibbets of meat. The remnant of that tentacle jerked from my grasp, shooting blood into the water.

  I pushed harder against the restraining tentacles. As I inched closer, the monster's eyes jittered in fear as his prey turned on him.

  Another tentacle flashed toward my head, only to jerk back as I opened my mouth for another bite.

  I took another step closer. The monster tried to pull his tentacles away, but I had an iron-hard grip on the largest tentacle. Oh, yes, just pull me close enough to rip your head off.

  Twenty minutes later, I trudged up the bank of the river, dragging what was left of the creature behind me. I was covered in mud, slime, seaweed, and monster blood.

  I controlled my breathing as I tossed the five-hundred-pound carcass in front of Princess Citrine.

  "Anybody want sushi?" I said. "There's plenty for everyone." I wiped the blood from my face and continued, "Although we must do without wasabi."

  Mason's smile warmed my heart. I didn't want him to know how close I had been to defeat. He might do something regrettable.

  "But before we feast," I said, staring Princess Citrine in the eyes, "there's a duty you must perform."

  Her head was shaking, and her heart was tripping at an alarming rate. In a human, I would have predicted a heart attack about now, but fairies were different.

  "You were underwater almost thirty minutes," she said. "Werewolves hate the water. You should have drowned."

  "Yet here I am," I said. "Alive. And your chosen champion carp is dead."

  "That's not possible," she said.

  "I'm not a good swimmer," I said in a ‘letting-you-in-on-a-secret’ voice. "But I can hold my breath for a long time." No sense letting them know I had a spell to breathe underwater.

  "Mother, help me, please," she whispered.

  But Princess Perla turned her back. Was that the tiniest scent of fear from the mother of these bitches?

  "Citrine," I commanded, "lay your fairy ass down now and accept the consequences."

  Her eyes widened in fear and she shook her head violently, then pointed to me and ordered her guards to attack.

  She knew she was lost when the guards, instead of jumping to her defense, looked to her mother for orders. A tiny head-shake dashed all her hopes and dreams.

  "Down, girl," I said, pointing to the muddy dirt in front of me, in the voice you would use to scold a puppy that had peed the carpet.

  Her eyes flashed with magically-fueled fire and she raised her hands to cast a spell. Silence swept out from her, like the quiet before a thunder strike.

  She smiled in triumph as she cast a bolt of eldritch flame at my chest. Thunder crashed as the bolt hit—hit and died without a whimper. Citrine was gasping for breath and her face was flushed, totally spent from that magical display. Her calm, superior princess image was ruined.

  I looked down at my armor, where her fiercest magic had only left a burn spot on my armor.

  "Ouch," I said. "It will take you a long time to polish that out."

  "Polish?" she asked, then shook her head in disbelief. "That should have incinerated you. You cheated with magic. There's no way you could survive that!"

  "Oh, my little pet princess," I said, "there's no magic involved, just natural werewolf nature."

  Another of my secrets revealed. They had known that I was stronger, faster, and more vicious than their best warriors; they now knew that some fairy spells wouldn't work on me.

  I stared into her eyes, an alpha staring down a challenger who had lost badly. I pointed again at the muddy spot in front of me.

  She blinked once, then again several times; finally her face crumbled like a toddler caught stealing cookies.

  "Please don't make me," she whispered.

  "Citrine!" I commanded in a ‘no-more-chances’ tone.

  This cold, inhuman, fairy-tale princess, strongest of her clan, dropped to her knees in the mud in front of me. She clasped her hands in front of herself and began. "I acknowledge your victory—"

  "Bullshit!" I shouted. "On your back, bitch."

  She hesitated a half-second, just enough time for me to pop a claw, then slid to her back and tilted her head back to expose her throat.

  As a gesture of contempt for her ‘mangy cur’ remark, I shifted my right foot to a paw and placed the blood-soaked appendage on her throat.

  "Say the words," I cooed. "You know you want to." I pushed down with my foot to emphasize her helplessness.

  "I, Princess Citrine," she said, "acknowledge Luna—" I pushed down harder, cutting off her air, then raised it just enough to her to take a tiny breath. "— acknowledge Princess Luna of Luna Pack as my alpha."

  I stared at her mother, Princess Perla. I smiled with too many teeth and said to Citrine, "I accept your surrender. Welcome to Luna Pack."

  25

  The not-quite-a-pack-link magic
took hold and I could feel Citrine's submission. I still didn't trust the fairies enough to let my guard down around them, but now I could sense incipient betrayal.

  I lifted her to her feet and hugged her. She sniffled like a child and nuzzled my neck, eager for the touch and scent of her alpha.

  I pushed her back, and she whimpered a bit. Too bad. She wasn't about to get a lot of sympathy from me.

  I reached down and flipped open the buckles that held my breastplate on, then pulled the two halves over my head.

  "You have a duty to perform," I said. I handed the armor to her with one hand. Her arms trembled at the weight she could barely support.

  "What, what—" she sputtered, and anger flashed over her face. One look and she backed down. "What do you want me to do?"

  "I said you would have to clean my armor," I said.

  "I can get my guards to— " she started, then stopped before she got in trouble. "I have nothing to clean it with," she protested.

  Naomi stepped close, producing a knife from nowhere, and made two horizontal slashes followed by a long vertical slash. Citrine's orange-colored gown, made of the finest silk, fell from her shoulders and puddled on the ground.

  "There," said Naomi with a self-satisfied grin. "Now you have plenty of rags to wipe with."

  Naomi having stripped off her gown left Citrine nearly naked, clad in only a tiny pair of orange silk panties. She covered her small breasts with her hands. Then she gritted her teeth and dropped her arms to her sides.

  This was my first look at a nearly naked fairy. Small breasts topped by pale nipples. Slim to the point of boyishness, but she had a well-defined set of abs. Dancer-slim, not an ounce of excess fat, the kind of woman others would hate.

  Nudity wasn't a problem for me—werewolves don't care about that—but I noticed that Mason had turned away to avoid looking at her. Stepsister or not, he was avoiding embarrassing her.

  I was both relieved and irritated. My mate was a good man, sensitive to others, but too nice.

  "Get to work," I ordered Citrine. She laid the remnants of her gown on the muddy ground, set my armor down on the silk, then folded herself to a kneeling position on the silk.

  She ripped off a section of silk—a difficult task, as that silk was tough. Maybe these fairies had nails almost as strong as a werewolf's?

  I looked at Citrine's guards. "Don't the rules state that you work for me now?"

  Reluctant nods confirmed my statement.

  "Then get your asses to work filleting that big fish. We’ll have a sushi feast. I worked up an appetite during that little swim."

  There were some disgusted looks, so I added, "Those who don't like their fish fresh can start a fire and cook it."

  Mason had assured me that Princess Chrysoberyl was the friendliest of his sisters and he had a good relationship with her.

  We set out the next morning, marching down Mason's magic road. Occasionally, we would pass wagons loaded with produce headed toward the capital. When we passed the slow-time orchard, the bird was still flitting from branch to branch in slow-motion.

  After noon, we turned off the well-maintained highway onto a secondary road. Within a few miles, the condition of the road deteriorated. The number of wagons, pedestrians, and riders was much lower now.

  The peasants here were not as healthy and happy as the ones on Perla's lands. Less magic to use? Difference in governing style between Perla and Chrysoberyl? I had no idea—but this was a poor country compared to the others.

  As we neared the capital, Mason pointed to the mountains that towered over the city. “Those mountains are called ‘Greet-the-Day.’ It’s said that from those peaks the summer sun can be seen.”

  “Your world has a sun?” I blurted in surprise.

  “Of course. You’ve seen the stars in the sky at night. Our world circles a star, much like Earth. Unlike Earth, we do not spin. One half of our world belongs to Summer, the other half belongs to Winter. We survive in the twilight zones.”

  “Wouldn’t not spinning cause one side to bake and the other to freeze? Like Mercury?”

  Mason smiled and replied. “If we were in your universe, that would be true. Here, magic transfers heat and energy from Summer to Winter.”

  “Can we climb that mountain and see the sun?” I asked, realizing how much I missed the warm light of the sun.

  “Sorry, it’s just an expression. You can’t really see the sun from the peaks.”

  We arrived at the capital in the late afternoon. Like the other lands, there was a castle, but this one was much more run-down than I had expected.

  At the entrance to Princess Chrysoberyl's castle, I stopped for a second to sniff the air to detect an attack. Then I looked around the high walls. Far above were tiny windows cut through the stone, probably to allow archers to fire on invaders.

  Still, knowing that there were windows and a rough wall I could climb down was enough to calm my wolf. I might have to kill a bunch of soldiers, but I could get out.

  Mason waited patiently while I made my inspection, then followed me through the door. The thick door slammed shut behind us.

  It was a ten-minute walk to the princess's chamber. We entered to find a long table set for a meal.

  Princess Chrysoberyl was dressed in her colors—daffodil yellow, with hints of canary. Her hair matched, and I realized her blond hair made her the most human-looking of Mason's siblings. Except for those gleaming yellow eyes.

  The princess rushed over and hugged Mason tightly, the smile on her face so very unlike her ice-cold sisters. I watched her hands for hidden daggers.

  "I've missed you, Little Rock," she said, in intimate mode. This was the first time I'd heard any of his family use that mode of address.

  "I've missed you too, Yellow Stone."

  Then she shocked me by turning to me for a hug. I hate hugs from people I might have to kill within the hour. Naomi gave me the sign that she didn't sense imminent violence from the princess.

  Reassured, I hugged her back. Her guards were giving me the same looks Naomi and I had given her. I made sure I kept my fingers spread as I hugged her.

  Aside from Mason and the princess, there wasn't a lot of trust in the room.

  "Please call me Chrys," she said in intimate mode, an invitation to use the same familiarity with her.

  "Please call me Luna," I responded in the same mode.

  We sat at the table and started dinner. Hidden background music flowed through the room, failing to relax everyone.

  Over dessert, we finally got down to business.

  "Let's get this Challenge over with," said Chrys. Her head guard stiffened. Did he expect me to attack her?

  I looked him in the eyes. "I won't hurt her unless she acts against me or my family." I nodded at Naomi and Kuga to show that I included them in my definition of ‘family.’

  Chrys laughed. "Let’s all calm down. No one will fight here."

  "Don't start none, won't be none," I said. At her puzzled look, I added, "Trouble. The saying doesn't translate well into your language."

  She turned to her guards and said, "Don't start none."

  Then she turned to me. "So, tell me," she asked. "When did you realize you loved my little brother?"

  Her question surprised me. I’d thought fairies didn't feel human emotions. Or at least, not as strongly as we did. I thought only Mason, with his half-human heritage, could feel deep emotions.

  "Is this the Challenge? You want to know about love? What do you know about love?" I asked.

  "We hide our emotions well," said the princess, "but love is something we all need."

  She reached out and stroked the hand of her champion, who still stood at attention by her side.

  At her touch, his scent changed. Even without moving, he seemed to relax slightly.

  She was staring at me with those glowing eyes, waiting for my answer.

  "The first time I said 'I love you' to Mason was—"

  "Not the words," she interrupted, "the
first time you felt love."

  Could she tell if I lied? Would that make her the winner of this Challenge?

  I went with the truth.

  "You're right," I said. "It wasn't the first time I said it, it was the first time I felt it. It wasn’t until much later that I realized that had been the moment."

  "The moment?"

  "I had run from my family and ended up in Tokyo," I said. "My brother Dmitri came to pull me back, back to my prospective mate." No sense going into all the details of alphas, female weres, and werewolf reproduction.

  "Mason challenged Dmitri, bested him in a contest of speed and strength. Dmitri said my return was inevitable, as no one would dare challenge my prospective mate.

  "Mason's words warmed my heart," I said. Then I quoted Mason: "'Luna's a stubborn bitch, but I like her this way. If she doesn't want to return, I'll kick the ass of every werewolf in the world to let her choose her own life.'

  "It was the first time in my life that anyone had stood up to the alpha for me. Not treating me as a prize to be won, but to let me make my own decisions."

  I picked up my glass, which was shaped like a champagne flute but filled with the juice of a fruit unknown on Earth. Sweet and tart, the sip refreshed and soothed my throat. Had I really been talking long enough to get a sore throat?

  "It wasn't until much later that I realized how important those words were to me."

  I waved around to include everyone in the room. "We all want someone in our lives who will defend us if necessary." I nodded at her champion. "But still loves us enough to let us make our own path."

  Instead of answering, she turned to Mason. "Little Rock, I like your mate."

  She nodded to me and said, "I've made my decision. I will submit to your will, and I hope you will show the same attitude as my little brother."

  Her champion exuded waves of anger but made no comment. He was either well-disciplined or had the same attitude as Mason.