Wolf Princess Sold to the Dragon King

There were bad ways to wake up. Then there were catastrophic ways to wake up. Then there was waking up straddling a stabbed dragon with your dress bunched up around your waist, your undergarments missing, and a purr vibrating through your entire skeleton.

Memory came back in fragments.

Did they—?

Holy shit.

She shoved off him. Immediately, he made a low sound of protest and the purring stopped. His arms raised trying to grab something but closed around air.

This man was STABBED. How the fuck had she ended up on top of a stabbed man?

Then she noticed his briefs were down and he was very hard. She froze, eyes widening. Her mouth parted. No words came out.

How in the hell did that fit inside of her?

That was not a question she was prepared to process standing up. Or sitting down. Or in any position. Especially the position she’d apparently been in.

Oh gods.

She scrambled for the bathing chamber closing the door behind her. The light coming through the window was mid-morning. Noted, either she passed out for a few hours or it’d been a full day.

There was a bruise on her neck. The same one as before, but it was purple and looked new again.

When she peeled her dress off, she saw blood running down her legs.

She gasped. There was so much of it.

Was she a virgin after all?

Well, either way, not anymore.

VIRGINITY: Bye-bye.

She had either lost it to a comatose dragon and couldn’t remember it. Or she had lost it before and couldn’t remember that either.

After she cleaned herself off, she returned to Kael like a woman ready to bury a body.

There was evidence everywhere. On her. On him. On the sheets. This room was a crime scene and she was the only conscious suspect.

Him in her bed was already going to raise every eyebrow in the Keep. Evidence of a full mating would raise the dead. Unless they were married. In which case, perfect timing.

RIPPED UNDERGARMENTS: Hidden under a floorboard. Nobody was finding those. Not the healer. Not the guards. Not the gods themselves.

CUM: Cleaned.

DICK: Briefs restored. Unconscious Kael tried to pull her down on top of him three times in this process.

MARK: Camouflaged into his other bruises. They had that in common.

She pulled the blanket over him. Tucked it around his shoulders and body tightly.

”Don’t go anywhere,” she told him. ”I’ll be back.”

”Tell Tyler... latrine station... fifty yards... minimum,” he said softly.

His eyes were still shut.

”No jumping,” he added. ”This is my blanket.”

She closed the door behind her with the quiet care of a woman leaving a crime scene she’d cleaned and a dragon she’d accidentally mated.

Four steps down the stairwell and she already wanted to go back. Pathetic. But also she hoped they were married, because then this level of attachment would be cute instead of a red flag.

She kept walking and ran into the healer halfway down.

”Perfect timing,” he said. ”I am going to check on the dragon. How is he doing?”

Her stomach dropped.

”Good. He’s been asleep,” she replied, voice calm.

If that healer had arrived any earlier, he would have walked into a SCENE. The margin between ’princess tending to wounded hero’ and ’princess riding an unconscious dragon’ was narrow.

The healer nodded and moved past her.

”Keep six guards on this door,” Guinevere said to one of the six still stationed on the stairs. ”The man in that room saved this entire Keep. You guard him with your life. That is an order.”

”Yes, Luna.”

”Princess is fine. Maria is our Luna.”

✦✦✦

LUNARIS - INFIRMARY

Tyler Draven was conscious. Propped up on a cot with bandages around his chest and the complexion of a man who had donated a significant amount of blood to the floor of a rampart.

”The continental summit today at Greyhall Crossing. It’s half a day’s journey. Cassian and I were supposed to represent our fathers. I can’t shift.” He paused, with a pained expression on his face. ”If Kael is open to it, we could let Cassian go for our pack. But the topic is Dark Fae invasions. He wouldn’t be much help and would probably try to pull something knowing him.”

Cassian at a diplomatic summit was like handing a lit match to a man standing in a hay barn and asking him to be careful. The answer was no. The answer was always goddamn no.

Absolutely not. Over her dead body.

”No. I’ll go.”

”To get there in time, you’ll have to run in wolf form,” Tyler said. ”Gavyn Holt knows the route. I can send you with the men Cassian and I were planning on bringing.”

Her mouth opened. She had shifted before she ended up in the river, but none of her pack had been there.

”Tyler, I don’t have a w—”

She stopped. The sentence died mid-word because Tyler was giving her a look that said he had heard this particular line before and found the bullshit endearing.

”Gwen.”

”What.”

”We’ve all seen your white wolf. The day you escaped Stonehowl, remember?”

Her brain stalled, then tripped over itself and face-planted. 404 Error. Page not found.

”Oh. Right. Yes. Ha.” She cleared her throat. ”You caught me.”

Five goddamn years of hiding her wolf. She was going to unpack the emotional complexity of her lifelong secret being public knowledge at a later date.

Today’s schedule was full.

The emotional breakdown would have to take a number.

It was currently behind ’attend continental summit,’ ’don’t die,’ and ’figure out why she fucked a comatose dragon.’ The queue was long and the therapist didn’t exist yet.

Tyler winced, talking was a luxury his ribs were choosing to tax. ”Cassian has the entry token. In his chambers, most likely. Lunaris seal.”

”I’ll find it.”

✦✦✦

ONE HOUR LATER - EASTERN GATE

She’d gone from ’obey me’ in the great hall to ’yes sir’ in under fifteen hours. The leadership spectrum was wide and she was ping-ponging across it like a woman who had no idea where she belonged on the chain of command because she’d technically been every rank tonight from prisoner to commander to demon jockey.

Kael was passed out. Even if she woke him, he wasn’t fit to travel. She didn’t want him worrying. She’d be back before dawn. Decision made.

Six fists met six chests in perfect salute. Six warriors stood in formation at the gate, Gavyn Holt one of them.

That salute had happened twice now today. It shocked her both times.

Her gut said honesty was the right choice here.

”Gavyn, you know the way. I’ve never run with a pack before and I don’t know what this is supposed to look like. So I’m going to ask you to lead this, and treat me like a soldier so I can learn.”

It was vulnerable. It was slightly embarrassing. But it was the truth. That was that.

Instead of annoyance or judgment, every wolf in the group stood taller. Obliterating an army before breakfast probably helped that, but regardless, she was still grateful they were kind.

”Yes, Luna. It will be my honor,” Gavyn replied. ”We will keep you safe.”

The Luna redirects were not sticking. New approach.

”Call me Guinevere.”

”Yes, Princess.”

Good enough.

”We run in wolf form,” Gavyn began. ”We travel fast, we travel quiet, and we protect the Lun— Princess at all costs. Any questions?”

Zero questions.

He turned to Guinevere. ”You stay directly behind me. Everyone else will rotate.”

”Yes, Sir. I can do that,” she replied.

Was sir too much? She was trying to be treated like a soldier. His expression confirmed it was a swing-and-miss. Noted. She’d dial it down.

Six wolves shifted in unison. All turned to look at her, waiting.