RAYA BANKS
“No! Wait!” I gasped, feeling my hands shoot out to reach for the man a split second before the iron clasp of his royal guards jerked me back, the metal pound of iron clashing on my head and sending me into the darkness at breakneck speed.
The sound of voices drifting from the spaces in the wood door when I came to was almost deafening.
Where was I? I cracked an eye open, fighting the darkness that was pressing down heavily on my eyelids when I caught the tall shadow of a man standing over me, the wolf of his scent so overpowering it couldn’t have been anything but royal blood.
“Y-your majesty,” I rasped, struggling to my knees and managing to look up at the man, the glint of his claws half-hidden in his tunic cuff catching my eye and I gulped reflexively.
“You disappoint me, Banks, I could have taken you as mistress you know? Put you on your good little throne beside mine in the throne room dias. This futile struggling, it is...appalling.” He hissed and I gritted my teeth, a spark of indignance taking root in my spine.
I didn't ask to be his mate! I didn't even want to be here in the first place!
I was content with our little shack by the street end! Until my father betrayed me and sold me off to the man.
And the courtesans I had seen on the dias? Something told me they would be even less welcoming than the wicked Prince.
What to do? What to do?
I inched back until the line of my back slapped against the cool wall as the man stalked forward, the whites of his eyes shining oddly as I felt his gaze take over me, only pausing to look over his shoulder when a loud shout came from the stairs.
“Your Majesty! The King has arrived from the out-city sojourn! Requesting your presence immediately!” A stately-looking court attendant boomed and I watched the line of the man’s jaw tighten.
I let my shoulders fall as he stormed away, only tensing again when he paused at the mouth of the staircase, his eyes seeming to state directly at me even in the darkness.
“Look around Raya Banks, feel at home. Some of the maidens before you died here, the rot of their disobedience etched into the very floor you kneel on. It would not be wise of you to resist me.” Alpha Toph gritted through clenched teeth, and a sliver of fear snapped my spine straight when I thought I saw the curved white canines of his fangs glimmering in the dark before he skulked away.
“Ugh,” I groaned, catching my head in my hand to keep it from falling as hot liquid ricocheted between my ears.
The Prince must have had his guards drag me here.
The smell of moss and stale air clogged my nostrils until I was dragging ragged breaths through my lips.
I gagged, feeling the rustic tang of blood in my mouth as I struggled to my feet, glancing about the dimly lit chamber.
“Saints,” I swore loudly, after squinting and yanking on the white thread that seemed to dangle from the ceiling so that the lights came on and the chains scattered across the room rushed into my vision, I swallowed a frightened yelp, darting up the stone slabs toward the door where the Alpha had passed only to find it locked.
“Of course, it was, Raya you dumb bitch! Just as stupid as your mother!” My father’s cackle in my head made the fork of despair press harder on my lungs as I let out a frustrated cry.
White hot pain seared the back of my head when I pressed my ears to the wooden door, the whoosh of air as I settled lightly on my tiptoes only interested by the voices I could hear. I ran my fingers through my hair lightly, feeling the telltale hump of a bruise already formed there, like the one that was stinging my face from the Alpha Toph’s blow.
“I do not need my brother’s training Father, I’m quite okay with what I can do.” A familiar voice grated and I felt my eyes pop in my head when I realized the sassy drawl belonged to Alpha Toph.
What was he still doing here? How could I escape if the monster kept hanging around?
I raised my hand to bang on the wood before thinking better of it.
I’d heard stories about the King’s kindness, the sharp cut of his stormy eyes, and his fierce swordsmanship in battles that made his enemies quake in their boots.
He had maidens swooning for him at every corner, but I wondered if deep inside, behind the high brick walls of the palace, he was just like Alpha Toph.
“Shit,” I cursed under my breath, turning my back against the wood and squeezing my eyes tight to collect myself.
My heart thudded loud enough in my chest that I feared the duo conversing just outside the doors could hear it.
I needed to leave, to find a way out before the striking Prince with gray eyes found his way back here, and I turned out like the maidens who died here.
The thought put the fear of god in me as I staggered away from the door, glancing wildly at the rows of barrels filled with gunpowder, the dust of it gathering on their rims.
“A vent?” I whispered, my breath catching as my eyes fastened on the latticed grate of the overhead shaft that was way out of my reach.
I eyed the barrels under it, groaning and heaving as tested it before making my way to the great and shimmying it open.
“Lady of grackles,” I prayed, dragging myself on my hands and knees and trying not to imagine the walls closing in around me until I kicked out the rear end, into what looked to be the side of the castle exterior.
“Beg your pardon,” I wheezed hoarsely at the dirty looks I got from the groundskeepers and the maidservants loitering about as I tumbled out and straightened to my feet, before whipping my head around, the fist of panic lodged tightly in my throat.
I dashed across the foyer without thinking, gritting my teeth and straining my legs to pound against the stone entryway as I hurried to cross the iron lattice of the gate before it slammed shut, cutting my dreams of escape with a finality that sucked the hope from me.
“No, it can't be,” I whispered, tears gathering in my eyes before I noticed the beady eyes of the guards stationed at the Keep’s towers had turned to stare curiously at me, suspicion etched in their narrowed brows.
I stumbled back, whirling on the balls of my feet and slamming, chest first, into a tree.
A man tree. I idled a moment when the man did not immediately push me away, realizing from his scent that he was royal blood.
My heart thudded again in my chest, slowly now, as the world ebbed around me.
I let my gaze trail over the diamond-encrusted plate of the man’s armor that poked my nipples to attention, the broad hanger of his shoulders, the downturned pink of his full lips, and the intense look in his almond-shaped eyes.
I was cuddling a man! In broad view of the entire palace!
“Oh that your father could see you now Raya,” I thought to myself with a weak chuckle, before I reached up to run my hands over the quiet man’s smooth face, unable to stop myself.
“Help, help me,” I breathed weakly, sagging against the man’s arms and tilting my head to stare up at the icy blue of his eyes, a sliver of familiarity tingling in my mind before it went blank and the darkness rushed in.
NIKOLAII had a half-dead woman in my arms and an itch in the back of my throat.“Who is she?” Igor asked with an air of mischief I was accustomed to, and I turned to glare at the roguish-looking man with a smirk playing on his purple lips.“I haven't the faintest idea Igor, prepare the horses, we’re going back to my Stone city castle.” I breathed over my shoulder at my best man, letting my eyes roam over the woman’s bare neck, the thin gold chain of a necklace caught my eye.It was the same kind I had stretched in a tight ring around my neck. The kind the moon goddess had given me the night of my first wolfing.My breath caught in my throat when I realized what it meant. “Are you certain Nikolai? Your father would be quite upset,” Igor tempered with a hint of warning in his throaty voice that sent shivers down my spine.Upset would have been putting it lightly for the King. My father would be livid, I could almost imagine him blowing a vein in his forehead when the concierge gave hi
RAYAIt had always been the same, my nightmares of the woman in the red hood with claws for hands and her bloodied fangs extended dangerously from her twig-thin lips.My mother had never said anything to me when she chased me through the fog, the crimson of her cape bleeding in and out of view until my breathing seized in my throat and I snapped awake.Again and Again, night after night up until today, when I felt the thud of my heart pounding into the soft cushion of a comforter I felt under my back as her words rang in my mind’s ear.“Run,” The woman had whispered when she’d suddenly burst through the fog to grip me with burning hands, her hot breath scalding my face.My mouth fell open as I peered into the empty sockets where her eyes should have been, before I felt the weight of my body shoot up, gasping and twisting awake as a chill clawed at the seat of my spine.“Are you alright miss?” A disembodied voice boomed so close to my ear that I let out a banshee scream, throwing my ha
ALPHA NIKOLAI“Fucking hell,” I cursed under my breath as I shut the door behind me, catching my bottom lip between my teeth as the ringing in my ears faded and I spread out the wrinkled paper between my fingers.Rays Banks, the daughter of a merchant tailor from the main city was wanted for absconding from the royal palace.I balled the paper in my hand, gritting my teeth as the implications ran through my mind.My brother was as merciless as he was ugly, but you would never tell from his dastardly good looks, the straight line of his spine, and the lopsided smirk that seemed to be permanently etched on the line of his bow-shaped lips.I knew how the village maidens daydreamed of him in the fields and farms, wishing for a dark prince that would whisk them from their sad little lives, up until he pressed the pointy tip of his sword at their throats.He would not give up easily, not without a fight. It didn't help in the least bit that I was spoiling for one.I cast my thoughts back to
RAYA BANKSI shifted my weight on the soft comforter of the bed uneasily. The longer the maid girl stood at the threshold of the silver-lined room, the more I struggled to clamp down on the urge to bite into my finger beds, the stretch of silence hanging like a maiden’s tits in the space between us.”Judith was it?” I croaked, managing to clear out the rubbish at the last syllable and affecting a measly charge of authority in the time it took the girl to look up and nod dutifully, staring at me through the heavily-lashed rims of her soulful eyes.I shifted again, glancing around the richly-dressed space and feeling like a brown-nosed donkey in a wedding dress as the unease settled like lead in my belly.“I’ll draw you a bath Miss, it’s almost time for dinner,” Judith voiced suddenly, startling me into what felt like a disembodied nod, grateful when she disappeared into the washroom and left me alone with my thoughts.Had Nikolai filed that under her list of duties as well? The though
RAYA“What the hell is that?” I coaxed, hardly trusting myself to breathe as I exchanged wide-eyed looks with the slack-jawed handmaiden.It had stopped almost as soon as it started, the shrill noise of a woman’s scream that felt like it was coming from outside our doors. My hands shook as they shot out to grip the cowl of the girl’s maiden smock, forcing her back into a squat as she rose to go.“No! Judith, it might be dangerous! We don't know what’s out there!” I whispered harshly, searching the twin black pools of her eyes that seemed to lack emotion. I would have thought the lady quite strange, if I hadn't heard the rapid thudding of her heart under my iron grasp.”I’m sure it’s not a big deal miss, these things happen sometimes around these here parts,” She started, and I blanched instantly, snatching my hands away from her bodice as she had just told me she liked her coffee cold and stumbling back into the tub, feeling the soap suds of the water flop and slosh about me.Not a b
NIKOLAIMy feet hit the ground almost noiselessly as I bounded toward the gates, feeling the dense calcium of my bones snap and twist as I shifted into my wolf mid-air, leaping up to the fire-lit cubicle of the Keep’s guard stations.“Y-Your Highness-” One of the hollow-cheeked keep guards exclaimed, lowering the spear gun he had spun to face me and adjusting the oversized helmet on his bald head with brown-rimmed claws.“Status report Baldy,” I growled, feeling the pool of drool gather on the sides of my law as I peered down the steep wall to see the large beige-furred wolf that was writhing and groaning outside the castle gates.I felt my brows furrow with concern as the guard launched a long spiel about how the soldiers had to trap the wolf in silver-wrought chains to keep it from biting off any more of the guards heads.I could tell it was agitated, throwing the triangle of it's head this way and that with deep, sorrowful groans as the silver bit into it's fur, leaving angry red w
ALPHA TOPHThe balls of my eyes shifted in my head restlessly as I watched the thin flaps of my father’s lips open and close with something akin to irritation.“You have to learn to get along with your brother Tophas, it's never been heard before in our history that the pack brothers are sworn enemies! This rubbish you have with your brother simply must stop!” He roared in his alpha voice, the red-rimmed balls of his eyes sending a shiver through my spine before I looked away.I hated that he called me Tophas, why the fuck couldn't he just call me Toph like everyone else?It was shorter even, easier on the tongue. A part of me knew already that it was to spite me, to show that he still possessed some sort of twisted dominance over me.“Do you understand me? There are issues we must attend to as a pack! Our legacy is on the verge of -” He started again and I felt something in me snap as I jumped to my feet.“Enough father!” I deadpanned, the clenched bell of my wrists shaking slightly
RAYA BANKSI gulped reflexively, taking a step back as the dark-haired man stalked towards me and the tower of the castle loomed behind us.”What are you talking about?” Prince Nikolai rasped, quirking one dark brow at me as he folded the thick mass of his arms over the toned abs of his chest.My eyes rested on the stretch of his muscles that stretched fairly against the skin under his rolled-up shirt sleeves before I swallowed, snapping my eyes away and feeling the beat of a blush creep up my cheeks.What was it I had been saying again? Lady Artemis! Why was it so hard to think when the man was around me? I could almost feel the pull of his wolf simmering beneath the surface, the dark power lurking in his restive gray eyes as the heat of his gaze raked over me.“I, I don't want to be any more of a burden than I already am, Your Highness, I'll take my leave, if it so pleases you,” I whispered, wringing my hands furtively as an odd look passed over the man’s face, and he inhaled a lon