Taken By Werewolves (Lost Princess 0f Howling Sky Book 1)

by Kamryn Hart

  “Damn it,” Caspian muttered. “Whatever. Don’t hurt her, Rodrick.”

  Gasps all around.

  Aerre smacked his forehead with the heel of his hand.

  “Call the match, Aerre,” I said.

  “Fuck you very much.”

  “I’ll call it,” Caspian stated. “And stop it if it’s too much. Seriously, Rodrick. Don’t take things too far.”

  “Yeah, yeah.” Hell, what did they take me for? I wasn’t going to damage the precious princess. I was going to pin her down and make her submit. A wicked thrill buzzed in my veins at the thought.

  Sorissa growled. “I can take care of myself.”

  “And that’s why we had to break into Paws Peak and rescue you,” I goaded. “Damsel in distress, more like.”

  There was fire in her eyes. Her lips were pressed into a firm line. I hit a sore spot, and I didn’t feel bad about it. That was how the game worked.

  “All the way around the square once. Then the fight begins,” I said.

  “Circle around,” Caspian said reluctantly, starting the match.

  Sorissa followed me step by step as we backed away to make our mirrored circle. It was strange how in sync she was with my movements. Yes, every match started with this same thing, but no one ever matched me step for step. My foot hit the ground when hers did and my other raised at the same time. Maybe I had underestimated her. She wasn’t going to use moonlight, but that gleam in her eyes was akin to a predator. Werea or not, she was still a werewolf.

  “Start.”

  Sorissa was fast. Her knees bent, and she sprung forward before I had the chance. She was flying through the air and I was slow, grounded, tracking her with my eyes alone. I had never seen anything like it. I wasn’t prepared for her legs coming at my neck. She was trying to bring me down with one move, in a delicate twist and curve of her body. She would have if I hadn’t ducked in time. She went sailing over my head and landed gracefully behind me. I barely turned around before she was running at me again.

  She had spirit, but I had more experience. And I was stronger—discounting moonlight. I was sure of that. So I used it.

  Sorissa was forgetting that. She was running at me now, prepared to bulldoze me over with brute force alone, something that apparently worked for her when she was using moonlight. I knocked her hands away and sidestepped, wrapping her up in my arms from behind and pressing her into my bare chest. She didn’t give up there. She wiggled and tried to step on my feet, but I stepped back. She almost succeeded in giving me a bloody lip when she jumped up and jerked her head back, dark curls flying, but I was prepared this time. There was no more room for underestimating. I took her down.

  I swept her feet out from under her before her skull could crash into my mouth. I didn’t intend to be so rough, but she hadn’t left me much of a choice. My survival instincts kicked in, that snap-decision clarity. I gripped the back of her head with my hand and forced her face down into the dirt as I sat on top of the back of her luscious thighs. Keeping her pinned was harder than I thought it would be. I had to let go of her head and gather her arms to yank them back and literally hogtie her.

  “Gods!” Caspian exclaimed. “I’m calling it. You’re done.”

  I let Sorissa go and stepped off, but she wasn’t done. She rolled onto her back and tripped me. I barely caught myself, with my hands to either side of her shoulders and my knees spread to either side of her thighs, rather than crush her.

  “Shit,” I hissed.

  She grinned up at me with dirt on her face. “I’d say never turn your back on an opponent, but I cheated.”

  “Damn right you did. And you almost crushed yourself in the process.”

  Then her hands were in my hair, gripping the back of my head and loosening my ponytail. I shuddered. It was an all-encompassing shudder that started from my head and reached all the way down to my toes. She was so close, so warm. If I lowered myself a little more, I would have felt her flush against me. I had to bite back a groan and ignore my throbbing dick. But Sorissa shifted underneath me, hips raised high enough that she hit me just right.

  “By the strength of Cor,” I gasped. “Enough is enough, little fighter. We’re done. I’m going to let you go, and you’re not going to attack me again.”

  “Promise,” she said with a smug upturn of her lips.

  “Rodrick,” Aerre growled from behind me. Next thing I knew, his hands were on my shoulders, yanking me back up to my feet.

  “Not my fault,” I said quickly. My insides were twisted. I almost felt like I’d be sick. I had betrayed Sorissa and here I was, practically begging to feel her. I had to make things right. I wouldn’t give her to the rebels. Not tonight. Not as a prisoner.

  I didn’t even care that Aerre’s hands were still on me, gripping tightly. Caspian was helping Sorissa off the ground. He brushed his thumb against her lips, wiping away a bit of blood. I must have split her lip. It didn’t look fat or anything, so it wasn’t bad, and it looked like it was already done bleeding.

  “I’m fine, Caspian,” she said, removing his hand. “You’re amazing, Rodrick. You should teach me how to fight like you so I never have to be the damsel in distress again.”

  The way she looked at me pierced my heart like an arrow. I wanted her to touch me again. And fuck if I didn’t need a cold shower right then.

  “Well, well, well, if it isn’t Phantom Fangs. What the fuck are you guys doing to the princess? Father wouldn’t be too happy if he knew.”

  It was one surprise after another. I held back a growl as I caught sight of two of the king’s sons waltzing toward us. The growing crowd parted for them, giving them more than enough room; they all bowed down until they were folded in half. It was basically unheard of to see Caspian’s brothers in the Tech Off Zone. I didn’t know the princes individually, aside from Caspian, because they all blended together. It was like five different versions of the same stuck-up, spoiled-ass prince.

  “How about we show you what a real werewolf can do, Princess?” one of the brothers said all confident like. Cocky bastard.

  His lips curved up, baring white teeth. Then blue flared around him. So much blue. Apparently, he didn’t figure wasting moonlight like this was an issue since the full moon was tonight.

  Caspian shrunk. He froze at Sorissa’s side, speechless.

  The prince who spoke looked through the crowd of people and grabbed a big man. He was handling him like he had no weight to him, like he was made of paper. “How about you? Want to go a round?” The man’s face paled because he couldn’t say no to a prince’s request.

  “Moonlight isn’t allowed,” I growled. “It gives you an unfair advantage. Where’s your honor, Prince of Wolf Bridge?”

  This was bad. My hackles were raised. I spoke out when I shouldn’t have. This was why I didn’t work well as a spy. If I saw something wrong, I stopped it. Luckily for me, up to this point, things like this didn’t typically happen in Wolf Bridge. They were “shields” after all. A rebel spy would know that the root of the problem had to be put first, but I was a lowly mercenary and my judgment had been put into question more than once recently.

  “Caspian, are you going to let your bitch talk to me like that?” The prince’s hold on the man tightened to the point it hurt. He was drawing blood with newly extended claws. Fangs were peeking out from his lips, too. The other prince with him chuckled at his side, content to stay on the sidelines and squawk like a bird.

  “So this is how you act when your father isn’t around to mind you?” Sorissa interjected. She moved toward the prince and his victim. Each step she took was powerful. I swore I could feel vibrations in the ground each time her boots firmly touched the surface. If she had been using moonlight, it might have made sense, but she wasn’t.

  “Let him go,” she ordered.

  The prince scoffed and shoved the man to the ground. He shoved him so hard and with the added strength of moonlight that I heard something crack. The man cried out and gripped his arm. �
��I don’t need your help,” he gritted out. He was glaring daggers at the princess. That set her back. The heaviness in the air and the vibrations in the ground disappeared at the same time.

  “You see, Princess? No problem here,” the prince said nonchalantly. But I saw the rage in his eyes. Sorissa pissed him off. He would hurt her without his daddy here to tell him no.

  “I’ll take you on,” I spoke up. “Moonlight and all. I won the last round with the princess. Came out on top.” I smirked.

  That got me the prince’s full attention, both of them actually.

  “Rodrick,” Caspian murmured.

  “I won’t even use moonlight. But you can use it all you want. I’ll take you down without it,” I taunted.

  That did it. The prince snapped. The blue flames fanned out around him and exploded in a burst of light. He crushed the orange-red rocks beneath him when he dug in his heels and leaped forward. There was no way I could dodge this.

  I got the air knocked out of me when he hit me. The impact cracked a couple of my ribs. I bit back the pain and covered my head with my arms and hands curled into fists. He pinned me, and his fists rained down like a hail storm. The blue flames lighting everything around him weren’t hot like real flames, but I could feel the energy crackling from them like pinpricks on my skin. He was pummeling me. Each hit left immediate bruises and welts, but his swings were wild and uncalculated because he had given in to rage. That was how I would win. A clear head would always triumph even with a vast difference in strength.

  Everything was a blur. My arms ached, and I knew my bones would give if I couldn’t act within a few seconds. The prince’s fangs extended. He bit my arm. If he had been thinking clearly, he could have just knocked my arms out of the way and bashed my brains in. But this bite was the opportunity I needed, so I wasn’t complaining. I moved as quickly as I could, breaking my free arm out of my shield to jab a pressure point in his neck. That made him stop, left him gasping for an instant, which was long enough for me to knee him in the goods. I flung him off of me and rolled onto my feet.

  My arms were throbbing. They were black and blue, but aside from my ribs, nothing was broken. I’d live. Maybe. The prince was back on his feet, coming for me again. Another blur of blue streaked in my peripheral. Caspian was in front of me. He caught his brother and threw him down into the dirt. The impact left a perfect impression of his brother’s body. He was buried a foot deep.

  “Enough,” Caspian commanded. His calm voice chilled me to the bone. It wasn’t often the Phantom Prince used his power, but when he did, he was a force to be reckoned with.

  “Shit,” the prince who was standing on the sidelines muttered as he helped his brother in the ground who wasn’t glowing blue anymore. It was like the moonlight got knocked out of him.

  “What the fuck, Caspian?” the brother he just beat the shit out of spat blood onto the dirt when his brother hauled him to his feet. He was shaking and couldn’t stand on his own.

  “You took things too far, Alexander. We’re done. Henry, take him back to the castle.”

  “You sure you want me to do that, Caspian?” Henry replied. “What if I tell Dad about how your bitch doesn’t fucking know his place? He’ll kill him this time like he should have killed him before. But no. You wanted him on your squad.”

  “This isn’t about Rodrick, and you know it.”

  “I expect a punishment, Caspian,” Alexander growled, “or Henry and I break him for good. Also, we’ll be taking the princess back to the castle with us.”

  Sorissa opened her mouth to say something, but Caspian cut her off. “The king gave me and my team orders to take Sorissa back to the castle in time to prepare for the Full Moon Banquet. She is under our care, and he hasn’t called to say any differently. Wouldn’t he be interested to know about the wound you inflicted on a human who did absolutely nothing to you.”

  The man with a broken arm trembled in fear alongside a woman placing his arm in a sling. The guards watched everything passively, eyes flickering this way and that. I couldn’t tell what the stupid bastards were thinking. Who would they back up?

  “We’ll get you back for this, shithead,” Alexander announced.

  Aerre was standing silently behind me. He was wearing the same unreadable expression as the guards, and that pissed me off.

  Finally, the bozo princes turned to leave. Everyone stayed frozen in silence until they were well out of sight. Sorissa moved first. She went to the man with a broken arm.

  “Are you all right?” she asked, reaching out her hand.

  He recoiled. “You’ve done enough. Please. Gods, forgive me, Princess.” He started groveling.

  “I-I’m sorry,” Sorissa said. Her lips were quivering as she took a step back.

  I came up behind her and she turned. She moved forward until she was close enough for her eyelashes to tickle my chest. I thought she’d cry, but she didn’t. She just shook.

  “I’m sorry, Rodrick,” she said, wrapping her arms carefully around my waist.

  I didn’t know what she had to be sorry for. So I wrapped my arms loosely around her in return. I had to keep it light even though I wanted to squeeze her tightly. Lightly touching her already aggravated those broken ribs, bruises, and welts. Gods, but being close to her felt good. Her skin on mine especially felt good.

  The portacomm clasped to Caspian’s belt let out an annoying beep. He answered it without saying a word. He only listened. I doubted Alexander and Henry had gotten to the castle already, but they probably had called and cried to their daddy by now. I was certain Caspian was getting an earful from the king, but I was too worn out to use what I had left of my nearly empty moonlight reserves to listen in. It was too bad I didn’t have enough to heal my wounds.

  After a few minutes, Caspian clipped the portacomm back onto his belt and announced, “We’re taking Sorissa back to the castle. Well, Rodrick, you’re taking her back. You’ll escort her all the way to her room. Aerre and I will be going to the throne room to speak to the king.”

  Nobody spoke. Sorissa pulled away from me. Where I thought I’d see tears, there was fire. I wondered what she was thinking as she lined up behind Caspian, ready for him to start leading the way. Aerre moved next. Then I followed, after pulling on my shirt and boots. We were on our way to the castle. I should have been worried, but I wasn’t. I was confident this whole thing would blow over. And I was eager for tonight.

  I wouldn’t give Sorissa up, but I would meet Jobe as planned. Sorissa stuck her neck out for a human. She wanted to help a human. I would explain how she was different from anyone else. If the rebels agreed to treat her right, and I’d make sure they kept that agreement, I’d tell her the truth. Maybe she’d choose to join them. Maybe she’d be the key to fixing everything. They would have to see what I saw even though she was a werea. Even though she was, by blood, one of the monsters…

  I realized it was wishful thinking. The rebels would never accept her. But she was different. She brought out a side of Caspian I had never seen. He outright went against his brothers. He never did that. He bowed his head and always took their shit. In the past, Caspian chose black. He was too worried to cause conflict to ever choose white, but this time he did.

  My time as a spy was over. My time as a rebel might have been over too, but I was okay with that. I knew I was where I was supposed to be. Sorissa opened my eyes. It seemed the legend of the Lost Princess of Howling Sky wasn’t just a legend after all. She was much more.

  CHAPTER 23

  SORISSA

  I DIDN’T LIKE THIS. I didn’t like that we were coming up to the castle and that each of us was quiet in our solemnness. I didn’t want to cause any more trouble for Phantom Fangs than I already had. Rodrick’s wounds looked terrible. He didn’t say a thing about them. He didn’t act like they hurt, but I knew they must have. I was optimistic he’d be able to heal himself after the full moon tonight at least. And I was relieved Caspian stepped in to save the day because I had been useless. I h
ad never felt as inadequate as I did right this moment. I didn’t know how to properly thank the “Phantom Prince,” so I caught his hand in mine and squeezed.

  “Thank you,” I said.

  He squeezed back. He looked haggard like he had the weight of the world on his shoulders. I realized maybe he did.

  “You were amazing back there,” I continued. Then I looked back at Rodrick and did my best to grin. “You too. I don’t know how you managed to fend off moonlight without using moonlight or magic to do it. I’ve never seen anything like it.”

  Rodrick smirked his reply.

  “I like that about you, Sorissa,” Caspian said as he squeezed my hand a little tighter. “You do what your heart tells you to do in the moment. Rodrick’s like that, too. That’s probably why you both get along so well.” He let my hand go.

  “I feel like I get along with all of you,” I said.

  Caspian’s lips tugged up at the corners. He walked up to a door that led into the castle. Then we were inside of familiar tan walls. The dark-blue carpet muffled the sound of our footfalls, and we passed by guards without a word. I glimpsed the Heart, an area I still hadn’t properly seen yet. I hoped to glimpse Todd, so I could talk to him, so he would know. So he could stand by his team. But he was nowhere to be seen. I hated the distance he seemed to put between himself and the rest of Phantom Fangs. And me. I hadn’t seen him at all since Phantom Fangs brought me to Wolf Bridge yesterday. I wanted him here.

  We had to pass the throne room before we could get to my designated room inside of the castle. I was secretly hoping Caspian wouldn’t split us up like he said he would. I didn’t know if I should push if he decided to go through with it, though. As we moved, I stared at my boots. I wondered if what happened was my fault, but I also knew I would have done it again if the situation were to repeat. That human did nothing wrong. Those princes wanted to hand out needless suffering to flaunt their power. The thought made my stomach twist and boil.

  I lifted my head when I knew we were getting close. I expected the double doors barring the throne room from the rest of the castle to be closed, but they were opened wide, beckoning us inside. I took a step forward, but Aerre stopped me. He looked at me with lake-blue eyes and shook his head.