Wolf Princess Sold to the Dragon King

No timeline. No ’where are you going, were you trying to hide it from me,and why do you look so good.’ That would be psychotic. Stage-five clinger. This was just two mature adults respecting each other.

She had been gone for forty-five minutes and Maddox was fine with it. Completely fine. Great, even. He was in a meeting with the elders and one hundred percent focused.

Sterling was with her. She said she could use his help. Not Maddox’s. That was fine too. Maddox would find out what it was and do it better. Problem solved.

Sterling also reported to him and could mindlink.

FIRST DRAFT:

Where is Guinevere? Too direct.

SECOND DRAFT:

Is everything alright? Too anxious.

FINAL DRAFT:

Maddox: Did Guinevere find Blair?

Sister-adjacent. No big deal. Because it wasn’t.

Sterling: No, Commander.

The most unhelpful response possible. His dragon rumbled in irritation.

Maddox: Where is she?

Sterling: The library.

Maddox exhaled, a rare softness breaking through. His little reader sneaking off to the library like it was the most rebellious thing in the world. Fuck, that was adorable. She was full of cute little surprises like that.

As soon as this meeting finished, he’d swing by. Casually. On his way to the war council.

Just to make sure Sterling wasn’t torturing her with anything that might ruin her perfect little smile. Knowing him, he’d probably saddled her with some dusty historical scroll.

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

Maddox shot out of his chair so fast it slammed into the wall behind him. The goblet in his hand shattered. Water and glass went everywhere. Three Elders flinched. Elder Drystan stopped talking, which under any other circumstance would have been a gift.

Varro opened his mouth. Maddox was already gone. The door was still swinging when the Elders looked at each other.

✦✦✦

Maddox: Gwen, talk to me. Are you alright?

Five seconds of silence.

Maddox: Baby? Answer me.

Nothing. He was flat-out running now.

Maddox: Guinevere. Answer me right fucking now.

They were married. She would’ve taken the oath. The mindlink should work. Unless the Mirrorlock was interfering. That had to be it. He switched off private mode and included the others.

By the time he reached the restricted section, he had already mindlinked her several more times.

”GUINEVERE!”

Maddox’s roar shook the shelves. His eyes were blazing molten gold, his dragon clawing to the surface.

”Where the hell is my wife?”

Every librarian in the room froze mid-task. Books were dropped.

”Your wife, Your Majesty?” one asked, genuinely confused.

Maddox pinched the bridge of his nose. Right. Old Maddox hadn’t announced it yet. Secret marriage. That was over. Right fucking now.

”Yes. My wife.”

”If you’re referring to the woman accompanying the High Marshal, they went that way, Your Majesty,” another librarian whispered, pointing to the far end.

✦✦✦

WHOOSH.

Every torch in the room blazed to life simultaneously.

Gold. Coins. Crowns. Weapons. Relics. Treasure everywhere. A room larger than their throne room.

CLICK. CLICK.

Kael and Sterling’s heads snapped towards the sound.

Wolf girl was standing in front of a full-sized portrait of herself.

Kael opened his mouth. Closed it. That was definitely her.

CLICK.

It swung open.

Jaxon stood on the other side in the exact place Guinevere told them to ’Stay here.’

A full-sized goddamn entrance. Called a door in some cultures.

Jaxon walked through it, and clapped his hands, the sound bouncing off the gold. ”Oh, how exciting.”

Lux entered behind him, her usual ice-queen composure was gone, replaced by starstruck wonder. ”Dragons are fascinating.”

Kael looked down at himself. Covered in coins. Scraped raw. Knees bruised. Dignity still in the doggy door.

”You were fucking with us,” he said flatly to Guinevere. ”The clicking. Not using your gold. Admit it.”

She didn’t acknowledge him. Her golden glow conveniently flared back to life at that moment.

”Convenient, ” Kael deadpanned. ”I am beginning to think Sour-Puss-High-Marshal was onto something when he said you could control it.”

Sterling shook his head once, coming to his senses.

”Gwen, don’t touch anything yet,” he called in Archaic Draken-Vorah. ”Let Jaxon check for dark magic.”

She ignored him, already moving towards the back of the room.

”Yeah, no.” Kael closed the distance in three strides and hooked his arm around Guinevere’s waist, yanking her back like a man who’d spent the last few weeks becoming a professional Guinevere-wrangler.

”Big trouble. Bad wolf girl.”

The gold behind her eyes flared brighter, her expression pure murder.

”There’s a lot of dark magic,” Lux called, her hands already glowing as she and Jaxon moved through the room, pulling dark threads from the artifacts.

”A lot by Lux’s standards means don’t let her touch anything,” Jaxon added.

It was at that exact moment that Guinevere twisted free of Kael’s grip and flung him. There is no other way to describe it.

Kael landed spread-eagle in a pile of coins as gold rained down like the most expensive, least erotic shower of his life. She was already gone.

Sterling was ready for her this time.

He caught her around the waist, already bracing for impact, fully prepared to be burned alive. Her head turned to him. Their eyes met.

”She would never burn you,” she said in Archaic Draken-Vorah. ”Let go.”

Sterling’s face went blank.

He let go of her.

Kael sat up in the pile of gold, spitting out a coin with a look of pure betrayal on his face.

”Are you kidding me? What kind of favoritism is this bullshit?”

✦✦✦

Maddox Drakencrest stormed into a treasure room that was, apparently, under his library, like a man ready for war.

He found absolute clownery instead.

Kael looked like he was rolling around in coins like an idiot. Jaxon and Lux were trying to strangle smoke. Sterling was doing absolutely nothing.

Maddox charged. ”Gwen!”

His voice was no longer just his own, his dragon speaking with him. The kind of sound that made walls vibrate and soldiers kneel.

She didn’t look at him, continuing on her merry way through the room. His dragon had never been ignored before. It was going to need a moment.

”STOP,” he commanded in the Draconic register.

She didn’t break stride. The word bounced off of her like she had better things to do.

Kael pushed himself to his feet. ”My turn again, I guess.”

Round two. He sprinted after her, coins flying, and grabbed her around the waist. Lifted her clean off the ground this time.

Maddox’s dragon looked at Kael the way a predator looks at something it hasn’t decided to eat yet.

”Whoa, easy there, big guy,” Kael managed, adjusting his grip on a thrashing Guinevere. ”I’ll bring her back when I’m done being a hero. You’re welcome.”

”I will kill you,” Maddox growled.

Kael rolled his eyes. ”Master Mage. Work faster.”

”Working on it,” Jaxon called, a bead of sweat rolling down his temple.

Lux’s face was also tense, jaw tight. ”There’s dark magic down here that I’ve never encountered. The room has its own wards.”

Guinevere stared at Kael’s arms with mild annoyance before she twisted free with insulting ease. Kael immediately lunged for her again like a man who refused to learn.

One swipe. Right hand. Zero effort.

Kael sailed beautifully across the treasure room and crashed into a pile of coins. Same position. Same ceiling. Different pile.

”That one was harder,” he noted from the floor.

Maddox moved fast. He threw Guinevere over his shoulder like a caveman king and headed for the door with all the swagger of a man who thought this would work.

He made it three steps before she planted both hands on his shoulder, twisted gracefully, and flipped herself off him. Maddox spun around, arms still raised in the classic girl-over-shoulder grip, now holding nothing.

”What the hell...”

”Welcome to the club.” Kael slow-clapped from the coin pile on the floor. ”Try again. By all means, little brother.”

”She’s just confused,” Maddox snapped.

He charged. Faster this time. Lower stance. Maximum effort. He grabbed her from behind and wrapped her in the most determined bear hug of his life.

”Baby, hold still.”

She did not hold still.

She continued her brisk pace with him still attached, dragging the Dragon King across the floor while his heels dug hard into the coins, creating twin rooster tails of gold that exploded behind him in a glittering mess.

”STOP,” Maddox commanded while holding on. Full Draconic register.

She did not stop.

The Dragon King was being walked. Kael wished he had a portrait artist on standby.

”That’s new,” Jaxon commented as he worked. ”Is that her usual strength?”

”No,” Kael replied, still half-buried in coins. ”Probably no. I’m getting the distinct impression she’s been sandbagging this entire time.”

Heels gouging trenches through the coins, Maddox braced hard, tightened his grip, and yanked upward with everything he had.

She came up like a feather, not matching the force she’d been pulling him with. The overcorrection sent him stumbling back, almost falling onto his royal ass.

He recovered, arms locked, and took one step.

Guinevere arched against him, grinding her hips back.

The intimate press of her body made the already sexually deprived Dragon King lose focus completely.

He stopped dead.

One hip roll. That’s what it took. One. His brain left the building. Every thought that wasn’t her body against his evaporated. Wars. Councils. The fact that four people were watching. Gone. All of it.

Blood thrummed in his ears. He looked down at her, chest heaving.