Wolf Princess Sold to the Dragon King

Twenty minutes from now, Kael Ashenvale would find himself on all fours, being rebirthed against his will, fresh off losing a game of horny hide and seek, while his brother threw a king-sized tantrum.

But that was future Kael’s problem. Fuck that guy.

Present-day Kael had just entered the restricted section of the library with Jaxon and Lux behind him and saw Sterling trying to get a lantern’s attention.

The lantern was too busy reading a scroll, pretending Sterling didn’t exist, and it was the funniest thing Kael had seen all week.

He grinned. Been there. Done that. Followed possessed wolf girl through a goddamn mystery portal once.

Jaxon shoved past Kael like he was a curtain, cutting straight towards her.

”Is she speaking Archaic Draken-Vorah?”

A chorus of furious ”SHHHH!” hit them from all sides. The librarians attacked in unison like a cardigan-wearing hive mind that hadn’t gotten laid since the last century.

”Yes,” Sterling answered in a low voice, jaw tight.

Kael blinked. Every time he turned around, she was picking up a new trick. At this point, he was just trying to keep up.

”And how long has she been like this?” Jaxon whispered.

”Ninety-five seconds,” Sterling replied, not looking away from her. ”I’ve mindlinked Aldric. She can’t hear me.”

”Have you tried being more interesting?” Kael asked.

Sterling didn’t dignify that with a response.

”Wolf girl.” Kael clapped his hands and whistled like he would to get a puppy’s attention.

Nothing.

He dropped his voice into the Draconic register. ”Stop reading.”

She stopped mid-word.

”SHHHH!” The hive mind struck again: angrier, louder, and still tragically unfucked.

Kael didn’t even turn around. ”If any of you shush me again, I’m gonna start dog-earing pages and licking my fingers while I do it.”

The shushing stopped.

Jaxon gently pulled the scroll from her hands, placing it on the table. ”Let’s not have a flame bearer of three weeks accidentally set the oldest scroll in this library on fire.”

He switched to Archaic Draken-Vorah. ”Is something calling for you?”

Her possessed head turned to him, and she nodded once.

”Go to it. I will follow,” he replied.

She turned and made her way through the restricted section. Sterling was already tailing her. Jaxon exchanged a quick, knowing look with Lux as if this were a normal thing and followed behind.

Guinevere stopped abruptly. Then her head turned towards the far wall where a dragon statue was carved into its center, at least ten feet tall. Every person in the library had walked past it a thousand times.

The dragon statue moved. Sterling’s hand went to his blade. Jaxon’s hand went to Sterling’s arm.

Stone groaned. The dragon corkscrewed into the floor, grinding stone against stone, leaving obsidian steps in its wake.

”Did you hear that, Sterling?” she said in Archaic Draken-Vorah.

”Hear what, Gwen?” Sterling asked, also in Archaic Draken-Vorah, now getting the memo.

Her possessed head turned to him. ”Those whispers.”

”What are they saying?” he asked.

”They want me to follow them,” she replied, already moving for the stairs.

Kael blocked her path. ”Nope. Hard pass on that today.”

She pushed past him with the same energy Kael would use when blowing off Ryker or any self-important fuckwit dumb enough to stand in his way.

Kael blinked. Damn. Unexpected. Kind of attractive. He planted himself in front of her again. ”I said no. Bad wolf girl. No mysterious staircases today.”

She stopped.

”Good girl,” Kael said. ”Now stay.”

She swiped right. One handed. Zero effort. Kael was airborne, launching sideways out of her way. All laws of physics were defied.

He hit the ground on his back and kept sliding across the granite, arms out like he was surrendering to the gods, staring at the ceiling as shelf after shelf blurred past overhead.

When he finally stopped, he lay there for a second.

”That,” he panted, ”was the hottest thing that’s ever happened to me.”

Guinevere was already moving down the staircase without looking back.

”Jaxon. Check for dark magic at the bottom,” Sterling ordered over his shoulder as he zoomed after her.

Sterling: Commander, there is something off with your wife. Aldric is notified.

Maddox: WHAT DO YOU MEAN OFF? I’m on my way. Nobody touches her.

Jaxon: She’s not the one you should worry about, Your Majesty. Your brother was just ragdolled across the library floor.

Kael was already dashing down the stairs, following Lux and Jaxon.

Kael: Ragdolled my left nut. She caught me off guard. I lost my footing for an inch.

One librarian watched them disappear. He walked to the table, rolled up the scroll Guinevere had been translating, and tucked it beneath his robes. No one saw him.

The staircase went deep enough to make Kael’s ears pop.

By the time Kael arrived at the bottom, Sterling had already grabbed a torch from the iron bracket and ignited it with his flame.

Sterling stepped in front of Guinevere, angling the torch forward, and switched to Archaic Draken-Vorah.

”Let us make sure this is safe before you go further.”

She stopped for him.

Jaxon ran his palms along the walls, blue light pulsing from his fingertips in slow, diagnostic waves. The magic moved through the stone like sonar, scanning.

”Clean. No dark magic,” the mage confirmed. ”Also, this tunnel predates the Keep’s foundation. You can tell by the type of obsidian. It’s volcanic, not forged.”

Guinevere raised one hand. Every torch on both walls ignited simultaneously.

Sterling looked down at his torch. Then back at the hallway she’d just set ablaze.

Kael clapped him on the shoulder. ”It’s beautiful.”

Sterling shrugged him off, placed the torch back, and stared straight ahead like a man deleting a memory in real time.

”Stay here,” Guinevere said calmly, not looking at anyone when she said it.

Then she bolted.

Sterling had seen her move quickly before. This was different. He ran after her at full dragon speed, Kael half a stride behind.

Neither could catch her.

The tunnel forked. She went left. They went left. She was already thirty feet ahead, white hair whipping around the next corner by the time their boots hit the same stone hers had just left.

”I will not lose her,” Sterling said under his breath. ”Not on my watch. Not again.”

Right turn. She vanished around it. They rounded it two seconds later. She was already gone, banking through another fork like she’d been born in this labyrinth and they were the tourists.

”What the actual fuck, Gwen,” Kael panted, rounding a third consecutive left turn that deposited them in a corridor identical to the last three. ”This is some next-level horny hide and seek.”

They caught a glimpse of her, sixty feet ahead, golden glow reflecting off the wet stone walls. By the time their legs closed half the distance, she’d already turned another corner that shouldn’t have existed.

Maddox: Guinevere. Answer me, damn it!

Jaxon: Both Kael and Sterling are right behind her, Your Majesty.

They were not right behind her. Two full-grown dragons. Peak combat conditioning. Running at full speed. Sixty feet behind her and losing ground. Embarrassing for both of them. Neither corrected it.

Kael: Relax, Maddox. We are handling it.

Maddox: If one hair on her head is harmed, I will burn the entire library wing with everyone still inside it.

Kael: Like I said, Sterling is 100% handling it. All him.

Another fork. Another turn. Kael’s internal compass, the one that had navigated a collapsing Keep and a dark fae ravine without breaking a sweat, threw its hands up and quit. They were running in directions that shouldn’t exist beneath a structure he knew inside and out.

Above them, somewhere in the library, Maddox used the Draconic register. ”GUINEVERE!”

”And there he is,” Kael breathed, still mid-sprint.

Then they rounded one final corner and nearly collided with her.

Guinevere stood perfectly still, head tilted, staring at a wall.

The wall stared back.

The stone rearranged itself into a narrow tunnel. Small enough that she would have to crawl.

”Guinevere, wait,” Sterling called in Archaic Draken-Vorah as he closed the distance. ”Let me clear—”

She was already through.

Sterling didn’t slow, already making peace with the fact that a decorated military officer was about to crawl through a doggy door.

He’d squeezed through worse. Actually, no. He hadn’t. This was the worst.

He crawled at dragon speed, the narrow passage shredding his zip suit and tearing at his shoulders. ”Gwen, please. Just wait. Let me protect you like I swore I would.”

His words echoed back mockingly.

Kael’s voice immediately crashed over the echo from behind him.

”This is what birth feels like. I’m being rebirthed in hell’s asshole,” he groaned. ”If I die down here tell Maddox I went out like a legend—getting absolutely owned by his wife. He’ll hate that.”

Ten full minutes of dragon-speed crawling. Endless twists. Constant forks. Pitch dark. Her scent the only compass.

Without warning, the pitch black tunnel deposited Sterling into a ten-foot drop.

He landed on his stomach in a pile of coins. Or at least that’s what he assumed they were. It was pitch black in the room.

”Guinevere?” he called, pushing himself to stand.

He heard cursing above him and moved.

Kael tumbled out of the same hole a second later, falling onto the floor. Coins went everywhere.

”Gee. Thanks for the warning.” He scrambled to his feet, then froze. ”What the fuck are these things?”

Sterling didn’t answer. But he was wondering the same thing.

Just like the tunnel, it was pitch dark. Neither of them could see even with dragon vision.

”Oi, glowstick!” Kael called. ”Keep the lights on.”

Silence.

”Don’t use your flame,” Sterling said. ”I think she turned her gold off for a reason. Natural gas would be my guess.”

He sniffed. Found her scent. Moved. Coins scattered under every step, rolling and clinking in the dark. His boot hit water. At least he hoped it was water.

CLICK.

Sterling’s blood ran cold. He knew that sound. Every soldier did.

”Nobody move,” he ordered into the dark. ”Gwen, that’s a pressure plate. The floor is wired.”

CLICK.

”Gwen. Stop. Don’t take another step,” Kael repeated in the Draconic register, all the amusement gone.

CLICK. CLICK. CLICK.

”Don’t move. Oh for fuck’s sake,” Kael snapped. ”Is it Ignore Men Day? Quit tap dancing.”

CLICK.

WHOOSH.