The Last Princess (2 page)

"Do you know the statistics on motorcycle
fatalities?" 

She exhaled her irritation. "We had a deal.  Now save the
lecture and get on."  Delia glanced over her shoulder.  "Or do you
want to rot out here by yourself?"  Caleb's eyes glowed even greener in
the shroud of darkness. He wasn't like any fox she knew of.  They were usually
lanky, creepy little guys.  Caleb could easily pass for a young panther shifter
with his hard body, and unique sex appeal.

He lifted one of his long legs over the bike behind her and
lowered into place.  His body pressed tight behind her was a new sensation. 
She'd always driven alone. Delia cranked the engine a little longer than
necessary, held on, and hit the gas.  Caleb yelped and wrapped his arms around
her as they accelerated. "Holy shit!" 

She laughed out loud, feeling quite calm around the fox
shifter. He put her at ease and made her smile. Normally she'd never trust
someone at her back, but Caleb didn't feel threatening.  Almost…comforting. 
She reasoned it was because he was her key into the palace. Besides her
sisters, she never warmed up to anyone, especially men.

They made it to the highway after a bumpy ride through the
rough path in the forest.  Underbrush had whipped by, roots and stones testing
her bike's suspension. Caleb's strong arms held her tight, nearly cutting off
her air supply.

"Shouldn't we have helmets," he yelled against the
strength of the wind.

"Don't be a pussy."  She revved the engine and
brought the bike to new speeds.  The wind, the velocity, the untamed abandon—it
was all a rush. It only she could drive an endless highway, never needing to
stop, never needing to think.  This was the only time she could forget the
world and just live in the perfect moment.  Once she set two feet back on the
city streets it would be the same battles.  She'd have to fight off suitors who
only saw her as an object to claim, a prize to gloat over. Her inner demons
would assault her—loneliness, worry for her sisters, fear of the future, and
the wicked urges that besieged her every full moon.

After hours on the road, the distant lights of the city
sparkled like a million tiny stars fallen from the night sky. Her peace would
soon come to an end, and a great journey would start.  She knew her plans were
weak and poorly thought out, but she was the last princess—what did she have to
lose?  Delia wanted to make a final statement.  Show her mother physical pain
by destroying the things she cherished.  It would help make up for the internal
pain Delia had suffered.  When she was younger she'd look at happily mated
couples with envy, knowing that would never be her.  Rather, she'd be forced
into a contracted mating with males she didn't know nor choose on her own. 
Now, she'd grown closed and bitter, and those same happy couples made her feel
nothing at all.  Love was not in the cards for her. 

She slowed to a stop along the sidewalk on the outskirts of
the city. After setting her foot down, she nudged her passenger. "We're
here.  Where to next?"

"Yonge and Maple."  Caleb didn't sound too good, but
at least he wasn't nagging.

It would be morning soon, so Club Frenzy would be deserted.
She just wanted to get close to the area so she could take off on her own for
an hour or so, then she'd deal with getting the fox to help her. Once she
returned to the palace, she may never leave.  With the trouble she planned to
stir up, she wouldn't be surprised if it was her last hoorah. Knowing this, she
wanted to see Carna and Freya one last time, to see them happy with her own
eyes. That was the only peace she needed at this point.

She pulled up into the parking lot of a cheap motel she'd
stayed at on a few occasions.  Cash, no questions asked—it was the only type of
place she dared to stay at with her mother's henchmen always on the lookout for
her. She'd been close by when Freya and Carna had been captured, but before she
could step in, a bunch of alpha shifters moved into action. That's when she'd
found out about Carna's mating.  It was tough to acknowledge her sister had
given up the fight.  At least she'd ended up with males of her choosing which
would have certainly pissed off the queen.

"What's this place?  Club Frenzy is another five minutes
south."

She slipped off the bike, bent over, and shook out her hair. 
Delia would need some sleep before they left.  She'd need all the energy she
could muster for the fight she planned.  Her memories of the royal palace
included fortified walls, moats, and some of the most bad-ass shifters on guard
duty—the Royal Elite.

"We're going to stop here and rest for awhile."  She
pointed to the sky, now shifting from navy to pale blue as dawn approached.
"Nobody will be at the club yet."

Caleb followed her to the registration desk, and then to the
room on the second level.  She never stayed on the first floor, too risky.
"This is nice," he said, his voice dripping of sarcasm.

"I'd say it's an improvement over a shack in the woods
with no running water."  She unzipped her leather jacket and tossed it on
the end of the bed.  She ignored the stained sink and let the water in the
small bathroom run, splashing her face from the long ride. Delia looked up into
the mirror.  She looked tired, defeated. 
"What have you done,
Delia?"
she whispered to her reflection.  When she'd escaped the
palace with her two younger sisters, she thought they craved freedom as much as
she did.  But the fact she didn't care if she ever mated wasn't shared.  She
should have seen it coming.  All sentient beings whether human or shifter felt
the pull to bond with a mate, to love and be loved.  She knew the lure because
every full moon her body battled with her mind. It wanted to give up, fuck the
first male in her path, and never look back.  But each month was a victory
because her maidenhead was still intact.

She'd die a virgin and a martyr.

Chapter
Two

Caleb looked around the room.  There were two single beds,
retro carpeting, and stained, peeling wallpaper.  He was surprised a dive like
this was allowed to operate in such a thriving city.  Immediately, he sought
out a place to set up his laptop.  He had to be connected.  His livelihood was
online.  When his old friends asked him to help them locate one of the lost
princesses, he was up for the challenge.  He wasn't surprised when they took
their prize and deserted him at the cabin.  Nobody ever took Caleb seriously,
especially women.  He supposed it's what he got for putting no effort into
finding a mate of his own. 

He had a list of jobs he was already contracted for.  Caleb
was known for his unsurpassed skills on a computer.  He'd done more hacking in
the past few years, but it was the only way he knew how to earn a dollar.

"I can look up their addresses.  Then we can visit them
now instead of waiting for the club to open."  He was anxious to get out
of this shithole.  Now that he was free of the distant cottage, he could travel
by transit and get his life back in order.

She shouted from the bathroom, the running water muffling her
voice. "No!  I need rest."

When she finally joined him in the main room he had to do a
double take.  She only wore a thin black tank top under her leather jacket,
complete with spaghetti straps and no bra.  He didn't need the pull of her
royal blood to know he was attracted to her.  But Caleb and a gorgeous wolf
shifting princess? 
Yeah, never gonna happen.
He was the guy women
talked to about the "real" men they wanted to date—the alphas, the
dominant breeds. It was the role he'd grown accustomed to.  If a woman actually
hit on him he may just drop dead from shock.

"How much rest do you need, princess?  This ain't exactly
the Hilton."

She tugged off her leather pants in the middle of the room,
not paying him any mind.  Women even changed in front of him now, not even
seeing his as a fucking male. "Get used to it, fox. This is as good as it
gets."  She tossed her leathers on the back of the chair across from his
and climbed on the bed.  Her body was lithe, softly curved, and wonderful to
look at.  Within seconds she was under the covers and appeared to be asleep. 
She even trusted him not to leave or harm her?  Shit, did he have
sucker
written on his forehead? 

He couldn't sleep if he tried, so decided to do a little
research while the princess slept. What was so bad about living at the royal
palace that all three sisters would be on the run for so many years?  They were
royalty, held the position and blood that every shifter could only dream of. 

Finding general information was easy.  He'd done it before
when looking for the sisters for Blue and the guys. This one was the eldest,
Delia.  There weren’t any recent pictures of her online.  She was the most
elusive, the one nobody could keep tabs on.  The only reason he'd seen her now
was because she'd found him.

There were a ton of websites, blogs, and tweets from male
shifters everywhere who were looking for the last princess. In fact, one of his
emails was from a potential client wanting him to find Delia, and supposedly cost
wasn't an issue. Good thing for the sleeping beauty that he still had some
morals.  He wouldn’t sell out.  He'd regretted helping his friends find Carna
soon after they'd brought her to the remote cabin.

Delia was still royalty, and he'd always been taught to have
respect for the queen and her role in society.  Without royal blood all races
of shifters would eventually die out. 

He must have fallen asleep at the table—not an uncommon thing
for him to do.  When he woke up, his arm numb from the weight of his head, it
took him a while to figure out where he was.  Sunlight peeked in from the crack
in the heavy curtains. Daylight.  When he stood and stretched out his back and
legs, he didn't notice Delia asleep on the bed. The bathroom was empty.  Had
she gone to Club Frenzy alone? What time was it? She shouldn't be mingling in a
crowd of drunken men, not with blood as intoxicating as hers.

****

She sat on the roof of the neighboring condo.  From her
vantage point she could see in the windows of Freya's living room. Carna was
there, as well as several half-dressed male shifters.  She hadn't kept track of
who was mated to whom, but it didn’t matter.  Her focus was on the two
beautiful girls, now women.  Freya's blonde hair was easy to spot at the
distance, as were the whites of her teeth as she smiled.  They were happy, had
moved on without her.  She couldn’t ask for much more.  Delia just needed
visual confirmation that her sisters were indeed content, settled, and
safe—they were. 

Birds chattered in the distance, car engines droned, and the
sky was coming to life over the already bustling city.  She'd have to return to
the hotel soon, before the fox woke up. Just thinking of his face, so boyish
and innocent as he slept, helped settle the pain in her heart. The mix of
regret, guilt, and mourning soured her stomach. The gods knew she planned to
come back for her sisters after they fled the palace.  She told them to hide,
not let any of the desperate, filthy males find them.  Delia was single-handedly
going to make things right, to tear down the royal palace, its rules, and
outdated ways.  Then she'd come for them.  They'd be able to walk free, safe,
and have free will. They could fall in love like other women, choose their own
mates, and live in peace.  But she'd taken too long.  Her sisters had found
their own place and happiness without her.  She had failed.

There was no more need for Delia.  All that was left was to
keep her promise to make change happen.  Maybe she'd be able to make a difference
for her future nieces so they wouldn't be subjected to the same forced matings
and unbearably rigid rules.

She slipped back into the hotel room.  It was quiet, but the
fox wasn't slumped over the small table where she'd left him.  Had he run away? 
How would she get into the castle without him?

"Where've you been, princess?"

Delia whirled around.  He'd been to the right of the door, and
looked very much awake. Her mind was so adrift she hadn't even sensed him
behind her. "I just needed some fresh air."

"For two hours?"

"Don't question me, fox."

"You know, I have a name.  It's Caleb."  He stepped
forward, an aggressive move considering she was a more powerful shifter.
"I've been thinking.  You don't need me to find your sisters at all, do
you?  What's your game, princess?"

"I don't know what you're talking about," she said
dismissively.

"Who'd willingly leave the palace?  Were you cast out?
You must have done something really heinous." 

Delia was fuming inside.  How dare he question her.  She'd never
have left the security of a home and family if things had been peaches and
cream. Everything she did was out of necessity, not some juvenile game.

After coming back from saying a silent good-bye to her
sisters, her emotions were on her sleeve.  She couldn’t deal with Caleb and his
plethora of questions and accusations now. If he knew the truth he'd have kept
his mouth shut.

"The palace isn't everything it appears to be."  She
sat on the edge of the unmade bed and twirled her hair to the side.  It would
have been better if he'd still been asleep.  She needed time to come to grips
with her reality, to think.  She stared at the stains on the carpet, not
focusing, but half in a trance. Her sisters had been so beautiful, so grown up.
She wanted to reach, touch them, close that bridge of space dividing them from
each other.  But she only returned here, not revealing herself or getting the
connection she so desperately craved. It would only hurt more when she had to
say good-bye.

"Tell me about it."  He actually sat beside her, his
tone layered with compassion.  Why?  He didn't know her.  It made no sense that
he'd want to know anything about her history.