Plan
1021 Words
Blake POV
The corridor outside the throne room shook with the force of my steps. I didn’t try to soften them. Let the guards hear. Let the walls tremble. Let the castle understand the storm simmering beneath my skin.
Kaelis. My father. The court.
They wanted her.
My wolf.
My mate.
My doll, in title only.
My curse snarled inside me, heat rising like molten iron. Blaze bellowed in my mind, barely contained.
We take her. NOW. We fly. We hide her.
“I know,” I hissed under my breath. “But if we flee openly, they’ll hunt us both.”
They already intend to claim her.
That was the problem.
They weren’t going to let this go. My father’s tone had been final. Kaelis’ eyes—calculating. They saw Elle as an object to inspect. A commodity. A weakness.
My weakness.
And to dragons…
a prince’s weakness was blood in the water.
I reached my quarters, magic recognizing my aura and unlocking the door before my hand even touched it.
She was curled on the bed, still blind, hands bound loosely in front as I’d left them. Her breathing had calmed into soft, uneven patterns. A small, broken sound left her throat as she stirred.
I froze.
Not the curse.
Not the heat.
Something else anchored me.
Her.
She wasn’t safe here. Not for another hour. Not for a single breath.
Blaze rumbled.
We must move her.
“Yes,” I agreed softly, stepping closer. “But not like a stolen treasure. Not like a runaway mate.”
No one could discover what she truly was.
If the kingdom learned their cursed prince had a mate—a wolf mate—they would destroy her instantly. She wouldn’t be viewed as a blessing.
She would be a liability. A threat. A pressure point to break me.
And Kaelis…
Kaelis would view her as competition.
The king would view her as a chain wrapped around my throat.
She shifted at the sound of my boots. “Bl—Prince?” she whispered, voice small, uncertain.
I swallowed the impulse to brush her cheek.
“You’re awake,” I said quietly, keeping the monster hidden beneath my voice.
Her head tilted slightly. “Are you… angry still?”
“No,” I breathed. “Not with you.”
Blaze hissed.
Tell her. She is ours.
“I can’t,” I muttered internally. “Not now. Not ever, if I want her alive.”
I sat at the edge of the bed, fingers curling tightly. “Little wolf,” I said aloud, careful, composed, “we leave tonight.”
She stiffened. “Leave… where?”
“A place safer than here.” I forced my tone into detachment, like this was nothing more than a logistical decision—not a desperate attempt to protect the only being I cared for. “A fortress far from the palace. Only a few dragons know of it.”
Her blind eyes blinked slowly, confusion clouding her expression.
“Why?” she whispered. “Did I do something wrong?”
“No,” I said sharply.
Too sharp.
She flinched.
Guilt tore at me, but I forced myself to remain cold. Emotion would give me away. Emotion would kill her.
“You are a doll,” I said, pacing the words like a blade against my spine. “I must move you for… political reasons.”
The lie tasted bitter.
But she nodded, because she believed what they had told her to believe.
My jaw clenched.
Blaze snarled in agony.
She thinks she is only that? A doll? A thing?
“We will protect her,” I whispered inwardly. “No matter the cost.”
Blaze seethed, but he did not argue.
---
I called for Jason, my most loyal guard.
He arrived within minutes, armor half-buckled, sword in hand.
“My prince,” he said, bowing.
“Close the door,” I ordered.
He obeyed.
Jason’s gaze flicked toward the bed—toward Elle’s small form, curled and blind, unaware of the danger coiling around us.
I stepped forward, my aura flaring.
“You will not look at her.”
Jason lowered his eyes instantly. “As you wish.”
Good.
I trusted him—but trusting anyone with her was dangerous.
Still, if there was one dragon who’d die before revealing her existence, it was Jason.
“We leave tonight,” I told him. “To the outer fortress in the Red Range.”
He stiffened. “That place is abandoned.”
“I know.”
“And forbidden.”
“I know,” I repeated.
Jason hesitated. “Then this is… serious.”
“It is life or death,” I said coldly. “For her.”
He didn’t ask why.
That was why I trusted him.
“What do you need me to prepare?” he asked.
“A stealth escort. Silent. Minimal. No court eyes.”
Jason nodded.
“And Jason?”
“Yes, my prince?”
“If anyone—anyone—attempts to follow us…”
I let my curse rise in my voice.
“…burn them.”
He bowed deeply. “Understood.”
As he left, Blaze murmured darkly:
This is not enough. They will still search for her.
“I know,” I breathed. “But they cannot search for what they cannot find.”
We would fly under cloud cover. We would travel without torches. We would leave no scent trail.
And Elle—the little wolf blind and fragile in my bed—would stay alive.
Even if she hated me for it.
Even if she thought she was nothing but a doll.
Even if the entire kingdom came for her.
I turned back toward her.
She had shifted closer to where I’d been sitting, as if reaching for the warmth I left behind.
Something inside me broke.
Not the curse.
Me.
We take her tonight, Blaze whispered.
“Yes,” I answered.
And if the kingdom tries to take her back…
I bared my teeth.
“We will raze it to the ground.”
- Writer
