The Royal Shifters Complete Series Boxed Set

by Alice Wilde

  “Ero,” Li calls, “where are you planning to land us?”

  “I won’t make the same mistake twice,” Ero calls back, “I’ll land us a few days journey from Annalise’s castle.”

  “Are we going to make it back today?” I ask.

  “Yes, I don’t see why not. We’re certainly moving fast enough.”

  I had hoped we might have to take a few days to travel back, and I can’t help feeling slightly disappointed by the news. A thought suddenly hits me.

  “Wait, why don’t we land near a city first?”

  “Why?”

  “If we do so now, while we’re still far enough away from Damien, we won’t have to worry about finding supplies…or new clothing when we arrive.”

  “That’s a good idea,” Li says thoughtfully. “It would greatly reduce our risk of being found out and seen, or news of us getting to Damien.”

  A warm feeling of delight bubbles up inside me as they all agree to the change in plan, and we begin keep an eye out for a promising looking city to visit. I know I should be thrilled to finally return home, but part of me is having a hard time letting go of adventure…and I have to admit, it’ll be far more satisfying to return fully-clothed than dirty and wearing a man’s shirt. Perhaps we’ll even have the chance to get a good meal and a decent bath.

  I quell this last thought. No, I doubt we’ll have time for more than the basics, and we’re lucky enough Avalon’s agreed to that, as eager as he is to get his part in this adventure over and done with. It’s better if I don’t get my hopes up, but I still make a mental note to take a bath the first chance I get.

  “How about over there?” Ero asks, leaning far enough over the side of the dragon to make my stomach twist…or the baby kick, I’m not entirely sure which one. “Avalon can land behind those dunes and wait for us there. It looks pretty warm down there as well.”

  “Let’s check it out,” Li says, and the dragon dips in the sky, spiraling downward to land behind the dunes Ero mentioned.

  “You were right about it being warm,” Roan says, jumping off Avalon’s back into the sand, “it’s sweltering here.”

  Li slides off, landing next to him and then turning to catch me as I jump off as well. I yelp in pain as soon as my feet touch the sand and Li immediately scoops me up into his arms. Roan wipes sweat from his forehead, the men’s bodies already glistening in the sun, and I can feel the tickle of droplets as they drip down my back.

  “We need to hurry if we’re going to—”

  The ground begins to shake beneath our feet, the tremors ripple through Li’s body and into my own. Avalon spins around, stomping his feet in a panic as we all try to find the source of the commotion.

  “What is that?” Roan asks, shading his eyes and pointing. We all turn to look, squinting in the bright sun as it reflects off of the dunes.

  A trail of sand is spewing up into the air and heading straight for us, the only problem is…whatever it is that’s filling the air with dust is tunneling below the surface.

  “I don’t know,” Li says, stepping backwards, “but I don’t want to stick around to find out. Get back on the dragon, now!”

  Still holding me in his arms, Li turns with Roan and Ero back toward Avalon only for us to find him gone.

  “What the hell,” Roan shouts, “where did he go?”

  “Avalon?” Li shouts, but to no avail.

  “Bastard,” Ero spits, spinning back to face the oncoming danger.

  “Li,” Roan growls, “take Annalise, and run!”

  Li needs no more encouragement and he darts away in the opposite direction and scrambles up a nearby dune.

  “Li, wait, perhaps I can help,” I say, peering back over his shoulder at Roan and Ero as they prepare to take on whatever creature is burrowing toward them.

  “How?”

  “I can shift!”

  “And then what, Little Bird?” Li asks as gently as possible.

  “What’s the point of having a dragon if it turns tail and runs the moment we’re in any real trouble,” I mumble under my breath, having no real answer to give him. In all honesty, I don’t know how I’d be able to help, even as a phoenix. Shifting is still so new to me, and, while thrilling, the time I’ve spent as my spirit animal has barely afforded me time to fly let alone learn to fight.

  “I suppose it’s easiest to know someone’s true colors in the face of true danger.”

  “At least let us see what happens,” I say, searching Li’s face with pleading eyes.

  He sighs and I can tell he wants to say no, but he doesn’t. Instead, he turns back as soon as we reach the top of the sandbank to watch. The sun beats down on us, the ridge of sand hurtling toward them is growing larger and larger by the second.

  “Shit!”

  “Li?”

  “That isn’t a creature…it’s a sandstorm!”

  “We have to do something!” I cry, watching in panic as the mound of sand is quickly becoming a screaming wall rising up to meet the sky.

  “Roan. Ero,” Li barks suddenly, his voice in my mind. “It’s a sandstorm. Run!”

  Roan and Ero have already whirled around to try to escape the deadly storm, but their expressions of terror quickly change to ones of outrage as they realize we’re still so close.

  “What are you doing?” Ero shouts, his voice barely managing to rise above the whistling of the wind. “Move!”

  They clamber to the top of the dune to meet us, but even I know we won’t be able to run away.

  We’re about to be buried alive.

  “Why are you still here?” Roan asks, his voice full of anguish. “You should have run. You should have saved her, Li!”

  “Please, don’t start fighting,” I say, “we can at least try to find cover on the far side of the dune.”

  Roan’s jaw tightens but he nods in agreement and we turn to run, but we barely make it halfway down the dune when the storm hits. A powerful gust of wind knocks us off our feet and we tumble to the bottom of the sandbank.

  “Cover her!” Li commands, throwing himself over my body just as Ero and Roan leap to do the same…

  The next second, the sandstorm screams as it whips over us and extinguishes every last remnant of light…

  Twenty

  Roan

  I grit my teeth together to keep myself from cry out in agony, the coarse sand tearing into my flesh as the storm blows over us. Annalise lets out an involuntary whimper, and I don’t know how we’re going to survive this. Gritty sand finds its way into every exposed orifice, the metallic taste of blood growing stronger with every passing second. We’re slowly suffocating, and the storm only seems to be intensifying.

  A deep growl rumbles through my chest.

  This is not how things are going to end. Something boils up inside me, a tremor rolling through me like molten lava and I can’t stop my body from violently quaking. I’m forced up on me knees and throw my arms out to either side of me, a thundering roar escaping my lips.

  The sandstorm breaks around me and then…bursts away from us in every direction until the air is once again clear.

  I gasp, collapsing forward onto the ground in utter exhaustion.

  “Roan!” Annalise screams, scrambling over to me. She moves to throw her arms around me but stops. “You’re covered in lacerations!”

  “I think we all are, lass.”

  “We need to clean out these wounds,” Li says, eyeing my back and then looking over Ero and Annalise as well. “Do you think you have enough energy to make it to the city we saw?”

  “I can try,” I reply, struggling to push myself up but finding I can barely lift my body a few inches from the sand.

  “Ero,” Li orders, “take Annalise, I’ll grab Roan.”

  Ero doesn’t say a word, but lifts Annalise up in his arms as Li helps me to my feet and then crouches to pull me over his shoulders. He inhales sharply as he lifts me off the ground, my body pressing into the gritty wounds on his own back, but he only clenches his
jaw tighter and moves forward with me. Avalon is still nowhere to be seen by the time we make it to the high city walls of the desert city.

  “Halt! Who goes there?” someone calls from the ramparts.

  “We need help,” Li calls back, “we were caught in the desert storm and my friend here was badly injured. We all were.”

  “How many are you?”

  “Four!”

  There’s a long moment of silence and then the massive doors are opened up to let us in. I’m only half aware of everything that’s going on, but even I feel a sense of astonishment as we enter the city to find a wide, bustling street lined with merchants hawking their wares. Everyone and everything is decorated in vibrant colors and large pieces of fabric have been hung between the buildings to cover the people as they go about their daily activities outdoors. The sandstorm doesn’t appear to have affected them at all.

  “This way,” a tall, gruff man orders as soon as the gates are closed behind us. He has striking grey eyes that stand out against his dark skin and thick, curly beard, and he’s adorned in gleaming armor, a sword and dagger sheathed at his side.

  He leads us down along a side street, away from the crowds and we soon realize there are only guards roaming this part of the city. We finally reach a set of thick, iron wrought gates and are ushered quickly inside a lush, oasis. Where the desert had lacked in vegetation, this garden certainly does not. Birds sing and flit from tree to tree as we’re led further inside. Tall trees block out a majority of the harsh sun, a welcome relief although it’s still too hot to keep the sweat from beading, stinging as it trickles into my open wounds.

  “Where are you taking us?” Li finally asks, something I hadn’t even thought to ask until now.

  “Soon,” is all the man says in response.

  A few minutes later, the path widens and we step out into a well-lit, open area of the garden oasis. The landscape is well tended and several long, narrow pools of water line a main path leading up to a pale, smooth building. Several steps lead up to the main doors which have been left open, where long pieces of gauzy fabric have been hung and rustles gently in a soft breeze. The man leads us up the steps and pulls aside the cloth, motioning us inside. When we enter, we’re greeted by a decently-sized hall with marbled flooring and high ceilings. Large windows covered in the same light fabric allow cool breezes to circulate through the room. At the very back of the room is a large white and gold throne, and seated upon it is one of the most stunning women I’ve ever seen.

  Several well-built men stand on either side of her, working large palm fans to send gusts of air over her as another woman points to a scroll and speaks softly with her. She glances up at us as we approach but signals for us to wait as she finishes reading the scroll.

  “Akachi, who have you brought into our home?”

  “Travelers, Saniya. They approached our gates just after the desert storm vanished, and appear to be wounded.”

  Saniya’s eyes flicker from him to us, her face suddenly full of concern. “And you thought to bring them here first instead of tending to their wounds?”

  She clicks her tongue in disapproval. Saniya rises from her throne and the men standing on either side of her step closer, one offering his hand to help her down a set of small stairs to stand in front of us. She’s nearly as dark as Akachi, but her skin shimmers differently in the light, her high cheekbones and large, golden eyes perfectly balanced by a thick set of eyebrows and full lips.

  For a moment I wonder if I’m even awake as my eyes unintentionally drift lower. She’s exceptionally tall and wearing a soft, pale gold dress that hangs low from her shoulders and just barely drags against the floor… but, just like the fabric hanging throughout the room, the dress is not opaque. Her rich, dark skin peeking through it, the dress caressing and clinging to every one of her curves.

  I suddenly realize that what I’m looking at are her nipples, dark and unmistakable through the sheer material, and I avert my eyes as quickly as possible. I hadn’t meant to stare, and I feel guilty for looking at another woman’s body, even unintentionally. I secretly hope Li and Ero are as equally as me guilty for looking.

  The woman motions and two of the men step forward. “Bring them to one of the spare chambers, I want them fed and tended to immediately. Does anyone know if Maarika is here?”

  “Yes, she arrived back yesterday.”

  “Good, then send for her as well.”

  “Should one of us stay with them?” one of her men asks.

  “No, Akachi will go with you and remain with them until I’m finished here. Won’t you?” Saniya asks, her eyes glittering as she turns to look at the man who lead us here, as if challenging him to deny her.

  “If my queen commands,” he says through tight lips.

  “I do. Now, go.”

  Akachi and the two men lead us off to one side of the room through another open doorway and down a winding hall. Turning off from the main corridor we ascend two flights of stairs and are guided along an open-air passage. One of the men opens a door for us and we step into a huge bedroom. There are walls on three sides of the room, but the wall opposite the door consists solely of several marble columns and a series of wooden panels that have been pulled aside to allow complete access to the terrace beyond. The soft, transparent material has once again been draped across the length of the open wall, giving us a surreal view of the gardens below.

  A large bed is built into the ground off to one corner of the room, while a bath is built into the floor on the other side of the room, and I can already imagine the thoughts going through Annalise’s head at the sight of it.

  Li carefully rolls me off his shoulders, lying me across a long chair on my stomach. “Rest. We’ll deal with your wounds as quickly as possible, but whatever happened back in the desert drained too much of your life-force. You need to sleep, slow down your body to give us more time to heal.”

  “But—”

  “Please, Roan,” Annalise says softly, “just listen to Li, we’ll wake you if need be.”

  It’s all the encouragement I need, and no sooner do I close my eyes than the bright, white world around me fades to black.

  Twenty-one

  Annalise

  “Is he going to be okay?” I ask as soon as Roan falls asleep.

  “He’s been through worse.” But even Li doesn’t look entirely convinced by his own response. He’s started cleaning Roan’s wounds with a bit of clean cloth and a bowl of the steaming water he’s drawn from the tub.

  “Well, it looks like we’re going to be here longer than we expected,” Ero says. “We might as well make the most of it.”

  “Agreed,” Li says. “Annalise, why don’t you bathe first?”

  I can’t deny that taking a bath is one of the first things that crossed my mind the moment we entered the room, but I can’t bring myself to bathe with another strange man standing in the room with us.

  “Perhaps later,” I say, my eyes darting toward Akachi who is standing beside the doorway and hasn’t spoken since we spoke with Saniya.

  “Suit yourself,” Ero says, shaking his head and pulling off his own clothes. He tosses them onto the floor and walks naked across the room, grimacing as he steps down into the steaming tub of water. He sinks down into the tub, letting out a groan as the water reaches his chest. It’s so tempting, I make my way across the room and sit down, my back to the doorway, easing my legs into the hot water. Even as hot as the day is, the relief is instant as the water laps at my dry, dirty skin and I close my eyes as I relish the sensation.

  No sooner than I’ve done so, hands grab me around my waist and pull me down into the bath, clothes and all.

  “Ero!” I shriek as soon as I resurface, he’s grinning at me.

  “See, now you can bathe.”

  I turn my nose up in mock distain, but I’m secretly pleased. He’s right, now that I’m in the bath, there’s nothing much to worry about in terms of being seen by Akachi…especially since I’m still clothed.
Ero’s hands slid up my thighs and he grabs both of my butt cheeks to pull me on top of him.

  “Ero,” I hiss, realizing what he’s trying to do, “we’re not alone.”

  “So? It’s not like he’s going to know…unless you let him,” Ero says coolly, sliding himself into me before I have a chance to counter. I bite my lip, trying to keep my face from betraying us as he slowly pushes me down until I can feel his entire length inside of me.

  “I’ve done what I can,” Li says, lowering himself into the bath with us. “He should be fine until we can get some food and perhaps some salves.”

  Ero rocks his hips ever so slightly, his face mischievous as he watches me try not to react, but I can feel my face reddening.

  “Why can’t you heal him directly?” I ask, attempting to maintain a level of composure.

  “I will,” Li says cupping water in his hands and running it over his body, gently rubbing at the sand in his own lesions, “but I need energy to do so…and to deal with some of these wounds first. Why are you still wearing that old shirt?”

  “I—”

  Before I can finish Li’s moved closer and pulled my shirt up over my head, tossing it on the floor outside the tub. I blush fiercely, and I notice Akachi’s eyes flicker toward us briefly before he presses his lips together and forces himself to stare ahead. Ero follows my gaze and his own grin deepens mischievously, and he begins moving inside me as much as he can without making it obvious…at least until one of his hands slips between my legs and begins stimulating me simultaneously.

  “What are you two doing?” Li asks, suddenly noticing how quiet we’re being.

  “Fucking,” Ero says so quietly I can barely hear him.

  “Really?” Li asks, his eyes lighting up as he moves next to us. “You should have said something.”

  “I don’t think she wants anyone to know,” Ero says, still watching my face as he tries to get me to break my composure…which he’s almost managed.