#13 The Dragon King and his Werewolf Princess

I maneuvered my way through the castle corridors until I was standing in front of her bedroom door. I knocked once and then slowly opened the door. River was pacing back and forth in the room, a path already worn in the carpet telling me that she’d been doing it since she left my office. She stopped and glared at me when she heard my approach.

“Come to chastise me some more, King Calix?” She spat at me.

Of course, I deserved it. I sighed and stuffed my hands inside my pockets, leaning against the now closed bedroom door to study her carefully.

“I’m sorry, River.” I replied softly.

Her eyes pinched together at my words and her face seemed to soften, if only slightly.

“Sorry for what, exactly?” She asked, crossing her arms over her chest

“I’m sorry for yelling, for not recognizing how brave you were, for scolding you for doing something that was so selfless. I’m sorry for expecting you to do something that I would never do myself. I’m sorry for getting angry and jumping to conclusions before speaking with you.” I rambled on.

“Oh.” She mumbled, her posture relaxing and her eyes wide in surprise.

“River, I’m terrified of losing you. The moment I realized you were my mate, my priorities changed, my biggest fears in life became focused around you; losing you, harm coming to you, not being able to protect you. I might not be able to show it very well, but you are the most important thing in the world to me, now. Your world and mine,

“When the guards mentally linked me that the Ferals had broken through the borders, my first thought was getting you to safety. When we chased the Feral dragons to the castle, I was horrified that they were so close to you. When that dragon attacked your window, I nearly plowed through the castle myself to check on your wellbeing. Grier’s assurances were the only thing that kept me at bay. When I saw you, Lavender, run out the front door of the castle, I felt a fear that I’ve never known deep inside my soul,

“I can’t rationalize it. I can’t make sense of it. I can’t explain. You have consumed me, my heart, my soul, my very being, River Storm, and I have no hope of surviving without you.”

I poured my heart out to the werewolf princess from a realm that mindswell be a million miles away, a woman who wanted to run away from me the first chance that she got, a wolf who wanted to throw herself into harm’s way. Maybe it was futile, maybe it was a mistake, but it was the truth and that’s all I had.

River’s cheeks were flushed a deep, rosey pink and her lips were slightly parted. Her deep blue eyes were wide in shock, her dark eyelashes beating down over them powerfully as she blinked wordlessly at me. Her hands were visibly shaking at her side.

“How can you feel all of that?” She whispered.

“I don’t know. I feel like I’m going to explode sometimes from all the emotions raging inside of me. My dragon feels things even more passionately. The matebond is a fierce thing.” I chuckled deep inside my chest.

“I don’t…..I can’t…..I don’t feel all of those things, Calix.” She confessed in a small voice, her eyes almost looking sad or maybe even guilty.

“You don’t need to, not yet. Your senses are still so new. I have confidence that you will in time.” I smiled.

River continued to stare at me with her doe eyes for a long time, unable to speak. I decided to save her from forming a response by circling the topic back around to the present issue.

“I am proud of you, River. You shifted for the first time to protect a bunch of strangers, to protect my people. You saw a need and you helped.” I said,

“I’ll always help and I won’t hide, I can’t. When people are in need, when they are in danger, I’ll do everything that I can to help. I’ve gone through this before, Calix, in my own realm, and I won’t have this fight now.” She replied stubbornly, her gaze hardening again.

“I don’t want to fight, I want to understand.” I said,

River took a deep breath and then sat on the edge of the bed. I took that as my que to settle in as well, so I walked across the room and sat down in one of the chairs, turning to face her.

“I’ve been ditching my guards basically since I learned how to walk, always running away and hiding from them. I hated every one of my guards and they hated me, or at least they hated the job of guarding me. None of them lasted very long. None until I was 15, that is,

“My grandpa, King Caspian, had a sister, her name was Alice; my Dad, Alexander, is named for her. I’m told I’m just like her, that she was also losing her guards, too. Her favorite guard was named Lucas, he was a young guard, just in his early twenties, and proud of his job. He ran after her without a complaint, always keeping up with her adventures, and never afraid to talk back to her,

“When she was 16, rogues invaded the castle and kidnapped my grandmother, Queen Junie. Alice, she didn’t even have a wolf yet, but she stood bravely between the rogues and her Queen, and Lucas stood guard in front of her. They were both killed that night.”

River took a shaky breath and released it, fiddling with her hands in her lap as she gathered herself.

“I’m sorry about your aunt, River, that’s terrible.” I frowned, my heart aching for her pain.

She glanced up at me and nodded before continuing with her tale,

“Lucas’ mate eventually found a second chance mate and when she fell pregnant with a son they both agreed on his name: Lucas Jr., LJ. LJ grew up to be a guard himself, one of the very best, and when he was in his early forties, he got stuck with a princess of his own to guard. I was 15 when LJ was assigned to me and had already ran off more than two dozen guards and I was prepared to run him off, too,

“But, when I ran, he kept up, when I fought, he fought back, and when I got into trouble, he taught me how to get myself out of it. When I fell, he helped me learn how to get back up. LJ taught me how to fight, how to defend and protect myself. My parents taught me how to be a Storm and a Queen, but LJ taught me how to be a warrior,

“When I was 16, I refused to go to the safehouse during a small scermage with rogues just outside the castle’s borders. Instead, I ran head first into the battle. LJ followed me and stood guard. He taught my two best friends, Beau and Kennedy, how to fight and defend their Queen. I named them as my future Beta and Gamma,

“By the time I was 17, the four of us were going to settle minor disputes among royal pack members, Redemption pack members, and some of the smaller packs just outside the realm’s portals. My parents knew I was going to try and go regardless, so they figured it was safer to give me specific targets that they could control. I figured it was good enough for the time being,

“About nine months ago, we were responding to a complaint at the Redemption pack, which is where newcomers to the realm are placed during a probationary period. It’s a pack for rogues and packless to find a second chance. An influx of wolves had just joined the pack and there were some growing pains, which was usual. But, when we got there, we realized that it was more than that. Some of the newcomers had defected and returned to their rogue status, they were terrorizing the pack,

“We called for backup, but we couldn’t wait. There were five rogues tearing their way through the pack of innocent people. LJ shifted while Beau, Kennedy, and I fought like he had taught us. We handled ourselves well and kept the rogues at bay until backup arrived. It wasn’t until the whole mess had been cleaned up that I realized what had happened. LJ was killed.”

She gulped, tucking her hair behind her ears with her trembling hands. I watched her carefully, trying to decide if it was time for me to reply or not. I chose to stay quiet until she was ready to continue.

“LJ was killed protecting me. He taught me how to take care of not only myself, but everyone who isn’t able to protect themselves. It’s my duty, just as it was LJ’s, to defend those who are defenseless. I won’t, I can’t defile his memory by running and hiding.” Her voice turned hard again and her gaze locked with mine.

“I can’t imagine what suffering that loss must’ve felt for you, River, and I’m so sorry you had to go through that. I’m grateful to that man for teaching you to protect yourself. I’m grateful that you’re able to protect yourself, I just wish that you never have to.” I sighed heavily.

“You’ll have to tell Grier to lock me up if you want to keep me from fighting.” She remained on the defensive.

“I would never do that, River, not ever again,” I assured her, “And I won’t ask you to hide.”

“Really?” She arched her eyebrow like she didn’t believe me.

“Grier can stay at your side and have your back as is his job, and you can protect and guide those who need it to safety. But, I’d like to ask that you don’t go running head first into battle. You can help get our people to the safehouse, guard and protect the safehouse, but please, keep your distance from the main fighting.” I wasn’t accustomed to making compromises, but, here I was, begging for the werewolf princess to agree to this one.

“Defense, not offense.” She said,

“If that’s not asking too much of you, mon p’tit bout.” I smiled crookedly.

“I think I can live with that.” She nodded, a tiny smile tickling her lips.

“I’d be quite grateful for it.” I said,

“And I’m grateful that you listened and agreed to compromise.” She finally smiled at me.

“I told you, River, you are my life now, I’ll do whatever you need.” I leaned forward on the chair, desperate to be closer to her.

“This is a whole lot, Calix.” She sighed.

“I know it is, for me, too. One day at a time.” I stood from the chair and moved to sit on the opposite edge of the bed.

She eyed me carefully before nodding,

“One day at a time.” She agreed.

“I want you to know that I’m not keeping you here, p’tit bout. If we learn how to get you home, you’ll be the first to know. I won’t hide that information from you, I won’t keep you prisoner here. I want you to stay because it’s what you want, too.” I needed her to know that and believe it.

River looked at me for a long time before reaching her hand across the bed and letting it rest between us, palm up. I took that as an invitation and hurried to snatch up her hand in mine, squeezing it tightly.

“I believe you.” She said,

“I’m glad,” I smiled widely, “So glad.”

“Can I ask you something?” She asked and I nodded,

“Anything, my dear.” I said and her eyes widened a bit at the new term of endearment.

“Lavender recognized your dragon as her mate immediately. I know you can’t talk with him, but I was wondering what that was like for you?” She asked.

“When I’m in my dragon form, I’m still there, just in the background. I saw everything that was happening, I felt everything my dragon felt, I just can’t communicate with him or you. Even the mental link doesn’t work in dragon form, only the Trainers can communicate with them. That being said, we both knew that the little red wolf running out of the castle was our mate and my dragon felt the same fear and rage that I did at her being out there. But,”

I held up my hand before she started to argue,

“We were also stunned at her beauty and speechless at her bravery. My beast wanted to wrap himself around her in protection and keep the other dragons from seeing her while also wanting to bite her head off for not being in the safehouse. It was a confusing mixture of emotions.” I chuckled.

“Not like literally biting her head off though, right?” River asked, laughing hesitantly.

I threw my head back and let out a hearty laugh.

“No, my dear, not literally. He would never hurt Lavender or you. By the way, Lavender is just as beautiful as you are.” I added, lowering my voice.

River blushed furiously, tucking her dark rred hair behind her ears again shyly. I reached across the bed to tuck the rest of her hair behind her other ear, my fingertips grazing along her cheek. She flinched slightly at my touch, but didn’t retreat, her blue eyes gazing deeply at me.

“She’s not that little.” She mumbled.

“No, she’s not. I was surprised, truth be told, by her size.”

“It’s the royal bloodline.” She shrugged.

“The one you were born into and the one you were fated for.” I said, knowing that I was pushing my luck.

She sighed heavily at me, but said nothing. That’s when I remembered her wounds. She had gotten dressed since coming back to the room, wearing a loose fitting cotton shirt and shorts that cleverly covered up her burns. Still, peeking out from the shoulder of her shirt was the bright red evidence of her linger burn, telling me that Lavender hadn’t healed her yet.

“I have another condition of our compromise.” I said, earning her attention.