I Will Save You, My Princess

Eyes of Gold

Rhiannon

My mate looked at me, unflinchingly, showing no signs of recognition that we were mated. I opened my mouth to call out to him, but he cut me off.

"Alpha Bane wants to see her now," he told the man still holding my chain.

The man grinned at me, imparting upon me the sense that whoever Alpha Bane was and whatever he wanted with me was not something I was going to like very much.

"Who's the girl?" My mate asked sharply.

"Don't you recognize her royal highness when she's in chains? Hell, I wanted to leave her naked, but Charles insisted on covering her up. She's got a nice ass, this one," the man yanked my chain again and I hissed.

It might have been my imagination but it looked like my mate winced and swallowed.

Of course. Through the mate bond, he'd be feeling some of my pain. What I wanted to know was why wasn't he doing something about it?

"I'll take that," my mate snatched the chain from my rat captor. My mate made a show of rattling the chains, but he didn't actually pull them.

Probably just trying to save himself the pain. He clearly had no thoughts towards me.

He led me out of the room, which was apparently in a basement. He grabbed hold of my arm and pulled me along, but at least he wasn't using the chain.

He held on to me through the rough sleeves of my shift, clearly not wanting to touch my skin, but his pinky did brush against me briefly and I felt a shock like static electricity.

The mate bond shock. He had to have felt it too, but he gave no indication.

The rat man was gone, so I turned to my mate, "What are you doing with me?" I whispered.

"I'm taking you to my father, Alpha Bane," he said loudly, like it was for someone else's effect. He made a show of pulling me off my feet slightly and bent down to help right me. When he was next to me, he whispered, "I'll save you, my princess." He straightened. "But not yet," he added, so softly that I wasn't sure I even heard him.

'Not yet'????

What the hell did that mean??

~o0o~

Luca

What the hell was I thinking?

I wasn't planning to save her, at least not until I took over from my father, which was months, maybe years, away.

You need to save her, Alaric insisted. And soon. She's our mate.

No, I rebuffed, She's a liability.

I can't afford to care for someone right now, though admittedly being close to her was making my body react and the idea of what my father would do to her was making me sick.

I will save her, I promised Alaric. I just need time.

The walk to my father's office was much too short. Our mate bond must be strong, because I could sense her anger and indignation even though we hadn't marked each other yet.

I guess those were pretty valid feelings for her to have. Still, I hoped she wouldn't have an outburst in front of my father. That would not end well.

I knocked twice on the office door.

"Get in here!" I heard my father snap. Before I hadn't been too worried about going slowly and annoying my father but now that it could be taken out on my princess . . .

I had to get myself together. I couldn't let her cloud my judgement or interfere with my plan. And what was with this "my princess" s**t? It sounded completely corny but I couldn't stop saying it. I blamed Alaric.

She is a princess, Alaric confirmed his involvement in that endearment, And she is ours.

I went in the door first, hoping that I could take the brunt of my dad's wrath if I was the first one he saw. I led her in behind me by the chain and closed the door after her.

I could sense her fear, but I deliberately didn't look at her, knowing my face might give something away to my father. He's too damn perceptive. I'd spent my whole life learning to hide my true feelings from him.

I looked at my father instead. He was devouring her with his stupid black eyes. My upper lip started to curl into a snarl but I bowed my head to hide it, hoping he would only see submission. Goddess, I hated that man.

His attention was completely on her, though. Her thin little dress was paltry armor against his lecherous gaze.

I couldn't help but glance at her, only to find she was glancing at me.

~o0o~

Rhiannon

I don't know why I looked at my mate. Probably because he was the closest thing to an ally that I had in this place. I met his golden gaze and somehow found the strength to level my eyes at Alpha Bane.

"Welcome to the Bloodwater Pack," Alpha Bane said, his voice an oil slick that slipped across my skin, and I tamped down the urge to shudder. I would not let this s**t pile of a man see any weakness in me.

I snorted disrespectfully, making his eyes narrow in anger. "Gotta say, this is probably the worst welcome I've received, Alpha," I said his title as a sneer. "Not a very good way to impress the royal family."

Alpha Bane's black eyes darkened further, but he kept a smug formality about him, which did send a sliver of fear down me. "Who says I need to impress anyone, girl?"

This was a very delicate game we were playing, one where I'm at a distinct disadvantage since I'm chained in silver and barely clothed. Still, my mom's etiquette lessons weren't for nothing. There's plenty of ways to say "f**k you" with a pleasant smile on your face.

He was demeaning me by calling me girl and not my title, but he was being overt about it, like a bully. He seemed like a brute force kind of man, which was physically intimidating, so I had to hold my own in conversation to at least give him pause.

A respite was all I could hope for at this point. I still couldn't feel Keia very well other than a dull ache to get closer to our mate, who so far, had been as helpful as a brick.

"Oh," I raised my eyebrows primly, "I'm sorry, we must not have been introduced. I'm Princess Rhiannon Marie Siobhan LeFleur." I barely inclined my head. The subtext of my words was that he should refer to me by my title, but I was asserting it in a way that didn't give in to any emotions, which is what he had clearly wanted.

"I'm glad you're here, Rhiannon," Bane's eyes glittered, again ignoring my title. At this point, the disrespect for my rank would be enough to have him whipped if we were in different circumstances.

"And you must be wondering why I've opened my house to you," Bane continued.

I snorted again, and this time, it did get a rise out of him. He snarled.

"I don't think you understand your situation, princess," he bit out.

Finally using my title, huh?

"You are here," he stood up to his full height, his fingertips resting on the top of his desk, "to be my personal broodmare slut. I will mate and mark you, and you will have my pups and keep your mouth shut and your legs open if you want to survive."

Shit. I glanced at my mate again, the i***t statue in the corner of the room. His beautiful golden eyes just stared at his father, impassive.

Great. A f****d-up captor and a useless mate. I felt something akin to terror squeezing at my chest. This was very very bad.