The Royal Shifters Complete Series Boxed Set

by Alice Wilde

  “I’m going to go find Ero,” Li says. “I need to let him in on the plan, and you two obviously have a lot to figure out about each other before you become man and wife.”

  Li gives Roan a look, then gives him what looks like a mock pat on his back as he turns and walks away. If I didn’t know better, I’d almost say he looks smug.

  I breathe deeply and then look up at Roan. “You better tell me everything.”

  “Perhaps we should find somewhere to sit?”

  Roan offers me his hand and I take it, although with more unease in my mind than I had hoped would be there.

  We stroll without speaking for a long while until Roan stops and turns me to face him.

  “Lass, I am going to need you to listen. I don’t want there to be any secrets between us, but please hold onto your thoughts until I’ve finished.”

  “I’ll try.”

  Roan takes a deep breath and then looks me in the eye, taking both my hands in his own. “Her name was Isla.”

  Just knowing her name, I already feel like I know too much, but I bite my tongue.

  “I was, well, I suppose I was forty years younger then,” Roan says with a nervous laugh. “My father was pressuring me about marriage since my military training was coming to an end and he thought I’d wasted enough time chasing after my own dreams.”

  I find it funny to think men get pressured into marriage as well, especially Roan. As much as I like him, I can’t imagine how much more reckless and immature he was…forty years ago? He’s old enough to be my grandfather. I want to laugh at the thought, as cringeworthy as it would be if the curse hadn’t stopped their aging process. Focus.

  “The girl my father wanted me to marry was kind, good, and boring. She lacked all the spunk and craving for life that I had learned to appreciate. Her bloodline was pure, her background impeccable, and her title and lands perfect for a laird’s heir, but I didn’t want her. I argued with my Da for days, weeks about it, but he finally gave me an ultimatum. Marry her or get out,” Roan says. “So, I decided I was going to leave, but I didn’t say anything right away. Something in me had snapped. I was angry and I wanted to prove that I was capable of making my own decisions.”

  Roan looks away, what little of his expression I can still see letting slip his great discomfort.

  “Go on.”

  “Perhaps we should walk a bit more?”

  “Roan, just tell me.”

  “Okay,” Roan says, sighing deeply. “After that last argument with my father, I stormed back to my room, throwing the door open and slamming it shut behind me in almost the same movement, and there she was, tending to the fire in my room. I’d never seen her before, but I honestly hadn’t paid much attention to women up until that point.”

  Roan pauses, looking away for a moment and then down at our hands as he continues.

  “She was fair, her hair falling in wet ringlets around her face as she worked. The racket I had made entering my room startled her and she leapt up. She had unlaced her bodice to help with the heat and her breasts were all but exposed to me. I don’t know what came over me, but it didn’t take any convincing to get her into bed with me. I’ve always regretted it, but there hasn’t been anyone since.”

  “There hasn’t been anyone because you were captured and trapped as a shifter or because you chose not to?”

  “A fair question. It was only a few weeks later that I was kidnapped, so I can’t tell you for certain that there wouldn’t have been others. But I promise to keep my vows to you for as long as I live.”

  “This is what you’re afraid they’ll tell me?”

  “I’m sure they’ll paint me in a far worse light, but I swear to you, this is the truth of it all.”

  I’m not pleased by the story, but I can’t really hold it against him. I have an irrational sense of jealousy of this woman from his past, but I wasn’t even born yet. By all accounts, we shouldn’t have even met in this lifetime.

  “I don’t like it, but I can accept it.”

  “Glad to hear it, lass,” Roan says with a small smile. “Especially since we’re already married.”

  “You’re terrible.”

  “I know.” Roan kisses my forehead and we turn and walk back to the castle. If this was just a tame preview of what I’m about to experience, these next few days are going to be very interesting.

  Nineteen

  Ero

  I knew that bastard would screw things up. Technically speaking, I’m the youngest, if you want to count years trapped in shifter form, but Roan is the youngest of us all by years as an adult prior to being kidnapped, and it’s really starting to become apparent.

  I feel like an idiot. I knew it was a bad idea to let him take Annalise with him into the Fae realm. If I’m completely honest with myself, I still don’t believe the Fae even exist. I thought they’d spend the night walking through a forest and come out the other side, perhaps a bit wore out. But married? This is next level insanity.

  I’m glad I got a punch in. I’m sorry it upset Annalise, but I’ll be damned if I say it didn’t feel good.

  I need to calm down, but all I want to do is rip into something. Walking through the courtyard, my eye catches on the glint of metal and I glance toward it. There’s an archway leading into another outdoor area, and inside I can see various weaponry. Training grounds. Perfect.

  I make my way through the archway and select a massive battle axe. There’s a dummy on the other side of the yard.

  “This is for you, Roan,” I mutter. Without a second thought, I launch the axe at it, hitting the dummy square in the chest with a loud splintering sound. The wooden dummy splits down the middle and falls to the ground. I should probably not do that to Roan.

  Grabbing two smaller battle axes, I walk to the center of the training grounds and begin practicing, the rhythm of my steps and the whistling of the blades through the air calming me far more than any run ever has. Sweat beads on my forehead as I move faster.

  Without warning, my blades are caught and thrown from my hands in mid-air. I drop and roll away, only to find myself face to face with a long pike. Looking up, I see Li.

  Excellent.

  I smile and then grab the pike in one quick motion, but Li is too fast and spins out of my way. I grab again; he sidesteps me.

  This is going to be fun.

  Twenty

  Li

  I don’t think Annalise has any idea what she’s getting herself into, but I have to let her learn for herself. The best I can do is try to be there to catch her if she falls. At least I can try to pacify Ero. I doubt he’ll be on board with the idea, but neither am I.

  Ero and I may just have to try to stay out of the way as much as possible the next few days to avoid causing more permanent damage. I want to be angry. I am angry. Inwardly.

  I wish I were as free to show it as Ero, but I can’t. It’s just the way I was trained. Expressing emotion other than in battle was always discouraged, and I learned quickly to hide my feelings behind an unemotional face. Annalise has managed to break through that wall a few times, but that can’t be helped. And I’m sure she’ll find more ways to get to me.

  I hear a thundering crack of wood and head toward it. It’s Ero. He’s practicing with axes. Not a bad idea. I watch for a while and then decide to join.

  Grabbing a pike from the weaponry rack, I time my move just right. I can tell he still hasn’t noticed me from the way he’s moving, his rage overpowering his other senses, and I move in rhythm with him, catching his blades at just the right moment.

  As soon as Ero and I make eye contact, I know we’re in for a good fight.

  We spend the next hour weaving in and out, dodging, striking, and otherwise attacking each other. We each get a few good hits in, but nothing to seriously injure one another. It’s been a long time since I felt so closely matched in skill, although his techniques are much rougher around the edges.

  “Enough,” Ero finally says and we stop to rest, sweat dripping down o
ur backs and our shirts sticking to us. “Damn, I really needed that.”

  “Same.”

  “Please tell me you understand what’s going on,” Ero says.

  I hesitate for a moment. “I do, but I don’t think it’s a good idea.”

  “That makes two of us.”

  “I hate to say this, but I think we’re going to have to keep to the shadows and watch how this plan goes.”

  Ero looks away, irritated but silent.

  “We’ll be there to keep things from going awry.”

  “Really?” Ero scoffs. “Roan’s playing with fire, and he just makes up some excuse that they were married by Fae? Do you honestly believe that?”

  “I don’t want to, but I trust Annalise. If she thinks this is what she has to do, then we need to there to support her…and possibly rescue her.”

  Ero frowns but nods his head. “There’s no way in hell I’m going to let him off easy after all of this is said and done.”

  “I don’t expect you to...I don’t expect either of us to.”

  Twenty-One

  Annalise

  I’m not sure what I was expecting, but it isn’t this. When Roan and I returned to the castle, we were greeted by several guards.

  “The lady of the house would like to see you, miss,” one of them says. “Please follow me.”

  Roan starts to walk with me, but another of the guards stops him.

  “Not you.”

  I give Roan an apologetic look before continuing on without him. Here goes nothing.

  The guard brings me to a wing of the castle I haven’t visited yet. He stops before a door and gestures toward it.

  “She’s waiting for you inside.”

  I walk up to the door and knock.

  “Come in,” Fiona calls from within.

  I push open the door to reveal a large sitting room, warm and comfortable. Fiona is sitting in a large chair by the fire and she motions for me join her in the chair opposite her.

  “Welcome, Annalise. I hope you’ll excuse the informality, but I thought if we were to get to know each other better, a setting like this would be more appropriate.”

  “Of course.”

  “There are some things we need to discuss. As you’ve probably discovered by now, my brother is heir and laird to Clan Artair. I don’t know where you’re from, but here, this is of great consequence. It’s crucial that he makes the right choices for the survival of the clan, and for his own acceptance as heir and laird.”

  I nod, unsure of where she’s going with this.

  “The people are happy to accept him as laird now, after what he did to help with the harvests, but who knows if that will be the case five years from now,” Fiona says, raising her eyes slowly to look at me. “I am guessing most of these vows he speaks of have to do with you, am I right?”

  “Yes, but—”

  “And if what he says is true, you’re the first woman he’s been human around in a very long time.”

  “I suppose that’s true, but—”

  “Interesting. I would have thought he’d have grown out of his reckless, womanizing ways by now.”

  “He’s not a womanizer,” I say fiercely.

  “You must not know about Isla.”

  “He’s told me.”

  “How could he tell you? He doesn’t even know himself.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “Isla was found to be pregnant not long after Roan ran away. She gave birth nine months later to a little girl.”

  My heart sinks in my chest. He had become a father all those years ago and he didn’t even know.

  “What happened to her?”

  “Isla lives in a cottage not far from here. She was never married thanks to my brother.”

  “And his child?”

  “She works here, in the castle. I couldn’t very well turn out the only child of my brother, but being illegitimate there was not much more I could do.”

  I choke back tears. How is this possible? I thought I’d been prepared to accept anything, but this is much harder to bear than I thought.

  “An Artair laird needs to be with his people. I’m sure you can understand that. And I personally believe he should right his wrongs. Isla may not be the young maiden she once was, but she still lives. Her life has not been an easy one, but he could make her remaining days comfortable.”

  I stare at her for a long moment. “Wouldn’t she be in her fifties by now?”

  “Forties. She was still quite young when they bed each other. She may yet have a few years to bear him a son.”

  My stomach twists at the thought. It’s becoming clear to me that Fiona and Neil had no intention of letting us marry, but they couldn’t very well say so in front of their people.

  “What do you want from me?”

  “I want you to release him from his vows. Let him stay here with his family and his people, where he belongs. Give him the chance to redeem himself in the eyes of God, Isla, and his only child.”

  “How do you even know it’s his child?”

  Fiona doesn’t say anything, but gives me a sad look as though I’m a small child searching for candy where there is none to be had.

  “Do the right thing, lass. Give him up.”

  My heart is in my throat and I can’t help the hot tears rolling down my cheeks.

  “I’m weary. Think on what I’ve said.”

  And with those words she dismisses me.

  I’ve been pacing the floor of my room for well over an hour, trying to process all that I’ve heard when there’s a knock at my door.

  “Yes?”

  “It’s Roan.”

  “Come in.”

  Roan opens the door and enters, carefully shutting it behind him. “What happened?”

  I glare at him as if he should already know.

  “Lass?”

  “How could you not know?”

  “Know what?”

  “Isla bore a child, nine months after your disappearance.”

  “What?” Roan leans heavily against a chair, running a hand through his hair. “Are you sure?”

  “Fiona was quite precise in her wording. Supposedly your child is here, working in the castle.”

  “I’m not sure what to say, lass.”

  “There’s nothing to say. You’ve fathered a child, and the woman who bore her still lives.”

  “What are you implying?”

  “You have a duty to your daughter, to Isla, to this land. How can I ever compete with that?”

  “There’s no competition.”

  I laugh, the sound sharp. “No competition? You’re just going to throw away all of it to go on some insane journey to help a woman you barely know take back her kingdom from a madman?”

  “Yes. If that’s what it takes.”

  I stare hard at Roan, my heart crying out for him while my mind whispers hateful things to me. I bite my tongue to keep the bitter words from rising. I want so badly to hate him in this moment, but I can’t.

  Roan closes the distance between us with just a few strides and takes me in his arms.

  I burst into tears, the warmth and comfort of his arms wrapped around me finally bringing my emotions to a head.

  “Lass,” Roan says. “I made a mistake a long time ago, and I will do my best to right my wrongs, but that doesn’t change anything between us.”

  “But they won’t let us marry, not after this.”

  “We’re already married, lass. No one can change that, not even my sister. We just have to make them accept it.”

  “What about Isla and your daughter?”

  Roan sighs deeply. “I told you it just happened. There were no feelings involved with that. I’m sorry if she had a hard life because of it, and I’ll make sure she is taken care of for the rest of her days, but I won’t be coerced into marrying her.”

  “Wouldn’t you like to visit her first?”

  “Not particularly.”

  I knit my brow. I’m happy he doesn’t seem
to have any feelings left for Isla, but it concerns me how quickly he can dismiss her.

  “Unless you want me to see her?” Roan says, trying to search my face for an inkling of a response.

  “I think you should.”

  “Then we will.” He grabs my hand and turns, steering me out of my room.

  I was glad he didn’t know where she lived. We had to stop and ask directions so many times I was sure we would get lost.

  The small house was tucked away between a small clump of trees on a little hill, candlelight twinkling through the windows.

  “There it is,” Roan says. “Are you sure about this?”

  “Yes,” I say with more confidence than I feel.

  We walk the rest of the way up the small hill in silence, pausing for a moment at the door, and then Roan knocks.

  Nothing happens for a moment, then the door swings in to reveal a woman in her mid to late forties.

  “Roan?”

  “Yes, I apologize for calling at this late hour.”

  “Try forty years late,” Isla says and then laughs. “Come in.”

  Roan ducks through the low doorway and I follow. I half expect Isla to ask me to leave, but she just smiles at me.

  “Who is this?”

  “This is Annalise.”

  “My, you haven’t aged a day, have you?” Isla says studying Roan’s face. “So, what brings you to my door after so many years since the last time I saw you?”

  Roan shifts nervously. “I’ve come to apologize, and meet my daughter.”

  “Your daughter?” Isla asks, frowning. “Why would your daughter be here?”

  “Does she not live with you?”

  “Perhaps the years have aged your brain if not your face,” Isla says. “Why would your daughter be living with me?”

  I watch as the two of them stare at each other in complete and utter confusion before it dawns on me.

  “Roan, I must apologize,” I say. “I forgot there was something important I must do tonight. Would you please escort me back to the castle?”