Total pages in book: 29
Estimated words: 27521 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 138(@200wpm)___ 110(@250wpm)___ 92(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 27521 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 138(@200wpm)___ 110(@250wpm)___ 92(@300wpm)
Try telling that to the ruthless, barbarous Wolf Kings on the other side of the border.
My kingdom’s ancient wall is crumbling, and the monstrous Hollowborn beyond it are growing bolder.
Only the Blood Alphas are strong enough to protect us.
Their price is royal blood.
My royal blood.
King Tovik is a ruthless warrior who commands armies with a single look.
King Cassius is a silver-tongued strategist who can make me blush with a single word.
They share a throne, a kingdom, and absolute power.
Now they intend to share me.
I should fear the enormous wolves who watch me like starving predators.
Instead, every possessive touch leaves me aching for more.
Tovik wants me trembling beneath him.
Cassius wants me begging in his ear.
And neither king intends to let me return home.
I came to their kingdom as a hostage.
But the Blood Alphas say I’m their fated mate, their only queen, and theirs to worship for the rest of my life.
Glamour. Intrigue. Desire hot enough to burn down a palace.
These possessive princes and kings won’t settle for just any woman. They want their queen. The one true love who can bring these powerful royals to their knees.
New standalone stories by your favorite best-selling steamy romance authors, Hope Ford, Olivia T. Turner, and Michele Mills.
A crown has never been so sinful
*************FULL BOOK START HERE*************
Chapter One
Vaela
“Vaela!” Garrick shouts from across the valley.
I grin when I turn and see him atop his massive black stallion with three of the royal guards beside him.
“Princess!” he hollers over the sound of all of those big, powerful hooves thundering while they close the distance between us. “It’s time to return to the castle grounds. This area is not safe.”
Not safe. Please. If it were up to Garrick, my sworn personal protector, I would be locked in the royal tower until the day I became queen. And that would not suit me at all.
“What do you think, Lark?” I whisper to my horse. “In the mood to show off a little?”
He knickers and does his happy little dance, bouncing on his hooves. This horse was born to run. He’s the fastest horse in the kingdom, by far. Perhaps in all nine kingdoms. Silver with brown spots, a golden mane, and the sweetest disposition of any animal I’ve ever met, he may not be the largest or strongest, but this horse can run like the wind in a summer storm. My parents gave him to me on my fifteenth birthday and he’s been my best friend ever since.
I glance over my shoulder at Garrick’s stern face as he approaches with the royal guard. My heart starts thumping as I turn back, a grin on my lips, and see all of that open valley in front of me with the bees peacefully roaming amongst the colorful summer flowers in full bloom with no idea what’s about to hit them. Time to raise a little hell.
“Go,” I shout as I squeeze Lark with my thighs. “Run like the wind.”
I grip the reins and an excited thrill surges through me as he takes off, sprinting across the peaceful valley. The breeze, which was barely noticeable a few seconds ago, takes my hair for a ride and cools off my hot skin.
I look back and laugh when I see the distance separating me from the royal guard. Garrick is shaking his head and cursing under his breath as he forces his horse forward. There’s no way he’ll catch up to me. Not with Lark leading the way.
Lark makes quick work of the valley, and since he’s just getting started and I don’t have the heart to stop him now, I let him continue through the sparse forest and then onto the rolling hills. We fly up one hill and then down another, sprinting across them as I throw my head back and laugh.
The great Wilderwall comes into view in the distance—thick, solid, and as high as ten of the tallest spryce trees stacked on top of each other. The Wilderwall has protected Aurevale for thousands of years.
It’s the only thing protecting the civilized world from the Hollowborn.
Papa says our ancestors would have been turned into soil generations ago without the Wilderwall here to protect us. I’ve never been too sure about that. The guards in our small kingdom are mighty fierce, but even Garrick lowers his voice to a whisper the few times he speaks of the Hollowborn, and he’s not afraid of anything, so maybe Papa is right.
Lark leaps over a digging Nibblemole and we keep going, running parallel to the ancient wall as Garrick and his guards fall further and further behind.
“You’re going to have to move faster than that to ca—”
A deafening BOOM fills the valley like a sudden burst of thunder, nearly stopping my heart. Lark skids to a stop, nearly throwing me completely as he jerks his head from side to side in panic. I squeeze my thighs and cling to the reins, barely holding on as the deafening sound rumbles through me.
“What was that?” I whisper, my eyes darting to the wall. A massive cloud of smoke is rising into the air on the other side of the old impenetrable wall.
A rock the size of a horse carriage wobbles on the very top. I stare at it in shock, awe, and disbelief as it slowly moves and then suddenly disappears completely, falling onto the other side. The wall looks like a row of teeth with one tooth missing. I stare at the hole with my stomach sinking.
The Wilderwall is supposed to be impenetrable. It’s protected by our ancestors’ unbreakable magic. It has never failed to keep us safe.
“Princess,” Garrick shouts, racing up to me. I’m still staring up at the hole—in disbelief at what I’m seeing—as the rest of the guardsmen finally catch up.
Garrick grabs Lark’s reins in an iron grip. His giant black stallion and the horses of his men are shiny and slick with sweat. Meanwhile, Lark is as dry as a quilt in front of a fireplace on a cold winter day.
“I told you not to come this far,” Garrick snaps, his face tight and full of unease. I’ve never seen him like this before. He’s usually playful and fun, teasing me like a protective older brother would. He’s been guarding me for ten years and is the closest thing to a sibling I’ve ever had.