Hunted Princess: A Paranormal Dark Romance (Feline Royals Book 3)

by Alexa B. James

  Mom was instantly at my side, laying a hand on my arm. “I don’t know if Itzel is ready to look that closely at her death yet, Prince Kwame.”

  “Of course,” he said. “I’m sorry I mentioned it. I simply didn’t want you to place your hopes in that.”

  My eyes narrowed as I looked at him. “You’re a bridge between worlds. You came to the human world and brought me here, and that allowed me to choose someone to bring back. Could you bring a living person here to get me out?”

  “If only it were that simple,” he said. “But alas, I was allowed that privilege only one time. Since lion shifters are the ghosts of our people’s royalty, our amulet has a power that revolves around the spirits of our dead. It allows its user to bring a True Mate to their world for one day only. Most use it to say goodbye and reassure their mate that they are safe here.”

  “But we didn’t say goodbye,” I said. “I brought you back to life.”

  “It was your magic that allowed that to happen,” Mom said quietly. “I told you when you visited that only someone strong enough can bring a soul back to life. You’re stronger than you know, Itzel. That’s why it was so dangerous for you to come here while still living. You have the magic of life running through your veins.”

  Her life, I thought. If it weren’t for her magic, she’d still be alive.

  “I could bring Lord Balam here,” I said. “He’s strong. He could take me back.”

  “It is not about physical strength,” Tsewang said. “It is about the strength of your magic.”

  “Otherwise, there would be countless ghost people walking in your world,” Mom said.

  My eyes widened as I stared at her. “Could I use it to bring myself back?”

  “Perhaps your power and Kwame’s together,” she said. “Although… Your magic may have returned to the human world when you passed into this one. It would be helpful if one of your other mates is undead as well. With the strength of two shifters moving back into the human world, it might be possible to blast through the veil between worlds.”

  “That’s very dangerous,” Tsewang said, laying a hand on my mother’s waist. “Are you sure we should try this?”

  “What choice do we have?” she said. “Itzel has been here too long already.”

  “Why’s it dangerous?” I asked.

  “If you fail, you could be lost in the veil,” Mom admitted, her voice soft. “It’s a place between this world and that.”

  “Limbo,” I said.

  “Yes, like that,” Mom said. “Do you know anyone else who might travel between worlds, someone whose magic you can feed off for the transition?”

  “No,” I said desperately. I could feel it somehow, some undefinable current of energy draining from me. Was that my magic?

  Mom took my hand and squeezed. “If you can bear to relive your last moments, you might be able to go back with the tiger shifter.”

  My body quailed at the thought of facing my killer so soon. “I don’t know if I’m ready,” I said with a weak laugh. I took a breath to steady myself. “But I need to get back, and if my death has answers, I’m going to have to face it now. There’s no time to get ready.”

  “When you look at something so intense, it puts you back in that moment,” Tsewang said. “You’ll need to latch onto that tiger when he goes back to the human world. Kwame will hold onto you as well, helping propel you through. You must focus all your power, and don’t let go.”

  “I will return and bring you the Lion Amulet,” Kwame said. “You aren’t bringing a mate here, but it has strong magic associated with traversing the veil.”

  “It may not work,” Mom warned gently. “Magic doesn’t follow us here for long. It drains away, back through the veil to the human world.”

  “If there’s a chance it can help me find a way back, I’ll take it,” I said.

  “Then do it now, while you still have magic left.”

  “Seeing won’t help you,” Kwame said. “Maybe it is better if you don’t look. It can be upsetting to know who wishes you dead. And I don’t think that person will help you go back.”

  It struck me then that Kwame really was dead. He had come back, but he was a ghost. He had died, and I didn’t yet know how, but he did. He had seen his own death, and judging from his words, his own killer. Now I had to find the strength to do the same.

  “I have to try,” I said.

  “When you get back, you must find my son, Gao Jetsun,” Tsewang said. “It’s of utmost importance.”

  “Will he know who has the snow leopard amulet?”

  “He has it,” Tsewang said. “Find him.”

  I nodded, knowing there was more that I should know, but also knowing the time for questions and answers was over.

  “I will be with you,” Kwame said, stepping behind me and wrapping his arms around me, holding on as if I might evaporate into thin air.

  “Close your eyes,” Mom said. “Meditate on that time, and you will be there again.”

  My knees were trembling, but my determination was unwavering. I had to do this. I had to get back to our world, to rid it of my father. I didn’t know where Camila fit into all this, how she would react to finding out what our father had done, but I couldn’t dwell on that now. I didn’t want to think about the prophecy that said I would be queen because that meant she’d been right all along. I was the one who would take her throne just as she’d feared. My sister may not have been strong, but she was smart. She’d known the truth about me before even I did. I was a usurper.

  “Focus on your last moments,” Mom murmured, rousing me from my crushing guilt and pulling me into the present. “Go back to that moment fully.”

  I let my mind circle back to the helicopter. The trees and grass and dirt blowing as it descended to the ground. The green of the jungle so lush it almost hurt my eyes to look at it. A giant tiger leaping at me. My lovers trying to block its way but failing. It had attacked me. Not us. Me.

  “It was… Intentional,” I whispered.

  “Who would send a tiger after you?” Mom asked, her voice slight even as she took my hand in her firm grip.

  “A tiger shifter,” Kwame murmured. “It must be someone from the Tiger Nation.”

  “No.” My eyes opened, and I stared ahead, unfocused. I could still feel the complete and utter shock, the sense of betrayal that had stunned me as my consciousness blinked out. As I’d tumbled into this world, into the blackness, the veil that had swallowed me between worlds.

  I knew who it was.

  A man who had been killed by a tiger, therefore turned into a tiger.

  I knew only one man who had been killed by a tiger, a man whose eyes had burned hatred at me in the last moment of his life. A man who had refused to see me the last time I was here. The man I’d never forgotten, who I never would forget. He had promised to make a life with me, to give me the life I wanted. Instead, he’d given me death.

  Six

  Sir Kenosi

  Entrepreneur, Cheetah Nation

  The other two men stared at me. I waited for them to tell me I was a sick fuck, and that they’d rip my dick off if I put it near our mate now. But no one said a word. I’d never used the amulet before, since it only worked for True Mates, and I’d never imagined that I’d be lucky enough to have one. I certainly hadn’t imagined putting my cheetah inside her when she was already gone, trying to bring her back to life.

  “You know it might be too late,” Lord Balam said, eyeing me and then Itzel.

  “I know.”

  Shadow shielded his eyes and peered up at me. “You’re going to do it?”

  “It might not work,” Lord Balam warned.

  “But it might,” I said. “My cheetah is strong. He might heal her.”

  “He might,” Shadow said slowly. “But according to the curse, if the heir opens the amulet before the tour is complete, she can never mate until they’ve passed into the spirit world.”

  “She’s already there,” I said. “The only question
is, what happens to me?”

  Shadow’s young face was somber. “If you do it, you may or may not save her. Either way, you’ll die.”

  We stood surrounding her, watching her body for a moment. There was none of the fire and spark in her anymore. It wasn’t Itzel. But if it could be… If there was even a chance, I had to do it, and I had to do it now. Each moment that her body lay dead, that her organs were deprived of oxygen, made it less likely that I could heal her.

  I retrieved the Cheetah Amulet, then paused with it cradled between my hands. “Are we really doing this?”

  Shadow gave the slightest nod. Neither man pointed out that they weren’t doing anything except observing. I was the one doing it. It was my amulet. I was the one trading my life for hers.

  I recognized the cruel irony. If I brought her back to this world, we’d trade places, and I still wouldn’t get to be with my mate. If I didn’t? Well, I’d fucked just about every kind of woman in the world, but I’d never fucked a dead one.

  If my cheetah was strong enough to bring her back, to heal her body from death, that would be the last time I fucked her. I wouldn’t get to fuck her as a True Mate, now that we’d been bonded. I’d never get to taste that dripping, delicious cunt again. I was bringing her back for the others, but for myself? I would not only live a life without my mate, but I wouldn’t live life at all. I was giving up everything. My empire, my fame, my businesses. My life.

  The others could have used it for the same purpose. But neither of them was volunteering to die for the princess. Maybe it was my penance for what I’d done. I’d never even started to make it up to her for what I’d put her through. I kept telling myself she’d liked it. At least part of her had liked being at my mercy, completely under my control. I couldn’t deny the feeling of power had been addictive, too. To make a princess beg for my cum inside her, to hear her screaming my name with helpless abandon.

  Yeah, I’d liked it.

  And maybe that was why I was the one who had to die to bring her back. Because I had liked bringing her to her knees, breaking her will. Because I had relished her helpless whimpers without revering her for the goddess she was. I had scorned her even after the panther amulet had revealed the truth. When I found out, I hadn’t groveled and begged her forgiveness. I had pretended it wasn’t true. My mate could not be the woman I’d bent over a table and held her face in filth while I stuffed her tight cunt with my cock. My mate couldn’t be the woman I’d degraded and shamed.

  And yet, she was.

  I wasn’t a man who would say the words a woman wanted to hear, the words a True Mate deserved. I probably couldn’t even say I was sorry. But I could do this. And maybe, even if she never saw me again, she’d forgive me. Maybe this would be enough. She would see what she meant to be, even if I could never say it.

  Taking a deep breath, I knelt beside the dead princess. If I didn’t look at her face, at her torn throat, at the blood, it would be okay. I’d fucked her before. Steadying myself, I took hold of the hem of her shirt and pulled it up, revealing her glorious breasts. They jiggled slightly as they were freed from the fabric and exposed to the afternoon sun. Her dark nipples stood out against her tan skin, and I swallowed at the sight of them poking up at me, begging me to stroke them with my tongue.

  Shadow let out a low growl, his eyes fixed on her body as I crouched over her and gripped the waistband of her pants. With a trembling breath, I drew them down over her hips, baring her luscious mound. My mouth watered at the sight of her naked body, at the scent of her sex.

  I glanced up at the others, expecting them to curse me and shame me, but they were staring transfixed at the buffet of naked glory in front of us. I held up the amulet, turning the delicate gold filament holding the oversized ruby. It gave easily, and I lowered my head and inhaled deeply. A rich, sweet scent invaded my nostrils and filled my sinuses. I fell back, gasping to draw a breath of the dense jungle air into my lungs. When I did, I felt the vapors fill and expand my lungs, and I was instantly lightheaded. A strange feeling of detachment settled over me, and I capped the amulet and slid it into my pocket.

  “What happens now?” Shadow asked.

  “Now I fuck the dead princess,” I said.

  I slipped out of my clothes, dropping them to the ground beside me. My body shone in the warm rays of evening sun, dark beside the princess’s golden tan. I’d fucked dozens, maybe hundreds of women with an audience, but this time, unease flickered inside me. I would die whether or not Itzel lived. Was it really worth taking the chance?

  One look at the princess gave me an answer. It was worth any risk.

  I bent over her, seeing my body as if from above as I leaned down and pressed my mouth to her smooth mound. Shadow drew a sharp breath, but I didn’t look up. The scent of the princess’s addictive cunt invaded my nostrils as effectively as the potion, and I was gripped with a blinding urge to drink from her juices, to lap up every drop of her sweet nectar. I moaned and opened my mouth, sliding my long cheetah tongue through her lips from her clit to her ass.

  She still tasted like our princess, the sweetest nectar that made every thought disappear from my mind except the incessant drive for more, more, more.

  I parted her legs, buried my face between them, and lapped at her tender flesh, sucking her clit between my lips. I sucked harder, expecting her to yelp in pain until I remembered that she couldn’t. I drove my tongue into her opening, wetting her folds until they were as slick as if her own juices ran through her crevice and dripped over her ass, wetting the dry ground beneath her.

  My tongue stretched further, becoming rougher and longer as I let my cheetah surface. I tasted her, tunneling into her, then withdrew. Cradling her big round ass in my palms, I stretched her pussy lips wide with my thumbs and began to fuck her with my tongue. It thrust into her until she was warm and wet as a living body. My cock throbbed with each pass of my long, cat tongue into her depths.

  “Give her your cheetah,” Lord Balam commanded, his voice cutting through my hypnosis.

  I dropped back from her, breathing hard and wiping my mouth with the back of my hand.

  “Fuck her,” Shadow rasped, his eyes burning with pure, raw lust. “Or I will.”

  As if I expected her to wake up, I lowered myself over her carefully. Reaching down, I gripped my cock and slicked it through her wet folds. Pressing the head to her opening, I sucked in a breath. Her pussy was cold against my fevered skin.

  “Fuck her,” Shadow rasped again, his breath coming short as he knelt beside us, watching my cock strain against her tight opening.

  With a groan, I shoved forward, burying my cock inside her. I shuddered with horror at the cold clench of her walls around me, but also at the knowledge that it still felt good. God, it felt good. Her pussy was slick and tight, straining around my thick cock. I thrust into her again, helpless to keep the pleasure from rippling through my body. I didn’t want it to feel good, but it did. Oh, fuck, I was sick, but her cold pussy felt so horrifically taboo that it made my cock swell even harder as I drove into her, unable to help myself.

  That had been it all along. I wanted her to feel as helpless as I felt in her presence. One taste of her honeyed cunt, and I’d lost my mind, lost all control. I’d wanted to make her feel just as powerless. Now I had the power.

  “Harder,” Lord Balam rumbled, his breath hot against my ear as he leaned in, watching my cock driving to the hilt inside her. I thrust harder, pounding into her with a wet, slick sound. He drew her knee wider, giving me easier access. I could feel my cheetah straining inside me, ferocious and maddened with a desire to claim our mate. I gripped her hip and slammed into her motionless body harder and harder, pleasure driving me like a cruel master.

  “Give her your cheetah,” Shadow growled.

  I pushed my cheetah to leave me, but he only urged me to fuck our mate more viciously. I dug my hands into the dirt, ramming into her with such force that she scooted across the ground with each savage thrust. I had all the power no
w. The power to put more than my cock into her. To put my cheetah into her, to take over her entire body with mine, to own her to the furthest stretch of every hair on her head. She was mine. Ours. We possessed her.

  My balls filled, ready to spill our seed into her. I heard a rumbling and looked up to see the tiger staring at us, a low growl building in his throat. Shame shot through me like a geyser. This was a ritual meant to be witnessed only by Itzel’s mates, not her murderer and enemy. Instead of making me slink away in humiliation, the knowledge that someone else was witnessing this violation squeezed a shot of cum from my cock. I let out a giant roar and pumped into the dead princess, grinding her ass into the dirt as spurts of hot cum flooded from my turgid cock into her limp, cold cunt.

  I felt a strange separating sensation as my cheetah raced into her with the tide of my seed. It wasn’t just as if I were looking down on myself from outside my body. It was as if half the life had been snatched from my body. Maybe it had. For one moment, my mind grew as sharp and clear as a diamond. I saw everything. My life had been empty, and now it was over. There was no redeeming myself, no second chance to live better. I had given her my cheetah, and she had no cat to give back. My body felt small and vulnerable, as if it could be overpowered at any moment by anyone.

  I heard a rasping voice speak, coming from beside me but simultaneously as meaningless as a sneeze on the other side of the world. “The tiger’s gone.”

  I lifted my head and blinked, uncomprehending, at the pile of vines where the tiger had been. Lord Balam gave a bark of rage and shot to his feet.

  I rose from the princess and knelt on the ground beside her. I wondered if my cheetah would come back to me when she’d healed, if I’d get to have him in the spirit world at all. As I knelt there, I knew I wouldn’t get answers here. If my cheetah could heal her, it would take time, and I didn’t have time. I wouldn’t get to see Itzel come back. I’d have no last moment with her to tell her it was worth it, to ask her forgiveness. My life had been big, glorious, glamorous. My death was quiet and unremarkable.