The Last Princess

Evernight
Publishing

www.evernightpublishing.com

Copyright©
2011 Stacey Espino

 ISBN:
978-1-926950-86-0

Cover Artist: LF Designs

Editor: Marie Buttineau

ALL
RIGHTS RESERVED

WARNING: The unauthorized reproduction or distribution of this
copyrighted work is illegal.  No part of this book may be used or reproduced
electronically or in print without written permission, except in the case of
brief quotations embodied in reviews.

This is a work of fiction. All names, characters, and places
are fictitious. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, organizations, or
persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

DEDICATION

To the wonderful group of
menage authors who blog with me on
When One Is Not Enough.

http://www.menageromance.blogspot.com

THE LAST PRINCESS

Pack Seduction, 3

Stacey
Espino

Copyright
© 2011

Chapter
One

"Give up the address, geek boy!" 

Delia held the blade to the base of his skull.  She had the
young fox pinned to the desk, bent over at the waist.  He hadn't heard her
coming, nobody ever did. 

"I've already told you.  They're all in the city, but I
don't have an address.  It's not like they've kept in contact with me.  As soon
as they left to find Carna, they took the SUV and deserted me here."

She dropped the knife on the desk beside his head with a clang
of metal and stood up straight. He wasn't a threat, and if he became one, she
didn't need a weapon to defend herself. There was no use trying to force the
information from him.  She had become excellent at deciphering if a person was
lying to her—the fox was being honest.

He slowly twisted around to face her, sitting on the edge of
the desk, eying the knife at his side. "You can try," she taunted.

"You already know I'm not a threat to you."  Then he
looked at her, really looked at her, his eyes narrowed.  "Wait a minute. 
You're the last princess, aren't you?"

"Shouldn't you be smarter for a computer nerd?"  She
walked around the small cabin, lit only by the flames dancing in the fireplace.
Carna had been here, she could sense it.  She'd kept tabs on both her sisters
over the years, and she knew the bitter-sweet truth that they'd both given up
the fight and mated. That would never be her.

"Hey, I can only do so much way out here.  The 3G
signal's shitty as hell, and I haven't exactly been raring to find another
royal sister.  Thanks to the first one, I was stranded out here in the middle
of nowhere."

She scoffed, "That's what you get for kidnapping a princess." 
Delia sorted through the books and papers on a wooden shelf, and dug through
bins of loose clothing in hopes of finding a clue.  Nothing.  She'd heard
through the grapevine about Carna's mating, and Freya's soon after.  They were supposedly
together in the city which brought her a measure of relief.  At least they had
each other, not destined to walk the earth alone like her.

"I hope you're gonna clean that up," he said,
looking at the mess of papers that had fallen to the ground. She ignored him
and paced the room, the wooden floor boards groaning in the same spots.

Her original goal when escaping the royal palace, so many
years ago, was to gain the freedom of choice.  Being born a princess meant
Delia and her sisters would have males chosen for them, ones who'd be the best
match for creating future generations. There was no choice. Love wasn't even an
afterthought.  She wanted so much more for her sisters.  It would be a cold day
in hell when she sat back and watched her mother force three males onto one of
her younger siblings. 

Now she felt lost.  Her sisters had chosen from their own free
will—mated for love.  Where did that leave her?  As they kept in hiding,
attempting not to be found and returned to the palace, Delia became used to the
idea of running. It became a part of who she was. Mating no longer entered her
mind.  The longer she lived on her own, the more she plotted ways to overthrow
the royal family—her family.  What good would her sacrifices do if the
subsequent generations had to live through the same nightmare?  Would her
mother seek out Carna and Freya's future children and subject them to her rule?

It had to end, and she was the only one for the job.

The fox inched closer, drawing up her hackles.  "You have
beautiful eyes."  Delia glared at him.  He was tall and lean muscled, a
boy next door charm about him.  But he was a fox, the lowest on the totem pole
for shifter races. 

She growled and stomped away, looking for something to eat. 
She'd driven the highway half the night to get to the remote cottage. 

"I didn't mean that," he said.  "No--I mean,
your eyes are beautiful, but it wasn't me who said it.  It was me, but—"

"Don't worry about it.  It's my blood.  You can't help
yourself."  She squatted down to look through a box of canned goods near
the fireplace. Male advances had become as common as the breeze tickling her
skin when she was outdoors.  She barely noticed any more.  Only males who
forced themselves on her got hurt.  Men like the fox shifter couldn’t control
their base desires, and she didn't fault him for it.  He could hardly be
blamed.  All royal females had unique blood—it could change a human to a
shifter and had rare healing qualities. More annoyingly, it attracted unmated
shifters like moths to a flame. For her it was a curse.  She just wanted to be
left alone, to be normal.

"It's true then.  Wow.  I thought the stories were more
hype than anything."  He kept a safe distance from her, watching what she
was doing from behind his computer screen. "I've studied you, you know? 
You, your sisters—the whole history of royal blood."

She whirled around, her hunger no longer of importance. 
"Do you know about the palace?"

"Are you kidding?  I have the specs on my laptop.  It has
higher security than Fort Knox."

Maybe the little fox would be more use to her than she
imagined.  If he could get her into the palace, she could leave a fiery streak
of destruction in her wake. It would look good on her mother for what she'd put
her through.

Delia adjusted her leather jacket over her matching black
leather pants before sitting on the edge of the desk.  "What's your name,
fox?"

He rolled his eyes. "Caleb.  You know, just because I'm a
fox doesn't make me less of a man."  She gave him the once over.  He was
no alpha, but she'd had enough drama from alphas to last her five lifetimes. 
This man was safe.  His green eyes did give her a little thrill, but she blew
off any attraction.  Caleb was good for one thing only—getting her into the
royal palace.

"My wolf could eat you for breakfast."

"And my fox could outrun you." He winked. "But
I'm not too worried.  You're tiny in your human skin.  If I wanted to I could
overpower you right here, right now."

"I'd love to see you try," she dared.  Hadn't he
already learned his lesson when he was at her mercy not twenty minutes ago?

He shrugged.  "Nah."

"Caleb, I have a proposition for you. I'm a princess, so
it would be dutiful of you."

"I'm listening."

She had to handle this diplomatically. The average shifter
wouldn't challenge the queen, especially not a good boy like Caleb. Delia would
have to tell a few white lies to get what she wanted. It would beat having to
force him to help her, constantly watching her back, and prodding him to
comply. "You have to help me find my sisters.  I haven't spoken with them
in years."

"What's the proposition?"

"If you help me find what I want, I'll let you have
whatever you want."  She unzipped her jacket an inch to give the clueless
shifter the idea.

He began typing away at his keyboard with both hands. 
"Don't try and sell your body to me, princess. I'm not interested.  If
you'd just have asked me, I would have agreed to help you." 

She zipped her coat back up.  Delia had no intention of
hopping into bed with anyone, but a little cleavage often went a long way
according to Carna. "Even better."

"What's that supposed to mean?"  He looked up from
his screen with a scowl. "Never mind."  Caleb swung the monitor
around for her to look at.

"What is it?"

"Club Frenzy.  One of Freya's mates owns it, so I expect
you can find your sisters from there."

"
We."
  She needed Caleb to get her into the
palace, not just to the city.  She'd been to Club Frenzy before and didn't need
to be told how to find her sisters if she really needed to.  When she was
ready, she could track them down through one of her connections. Delia came to
the little cabin hoping to find Carna, but it appeared she lived in the city,
along with Freya.

"I could use a ride into the city.  I wouldn't even
attempt to navigate the forest on my own.  Too many wolves out there." 

"Nice friends you have, deserting you out here with no
way to get home."

He closed his laptop and slipped it into a leather satchel.
"It was the mating call.  Who am I to argue?"  Caleb stood at
attention as if waiting on her.  "Aren't we leaving?"

That was easy.  He sure seemed eager to get back to
civilization. "Sure.  We can go now."  She'd love to stop and rest,
get a bite to eat, but the mission always had to be the number one priority.

The sun was over an hour from rising, the moon still
dominating the night sky. There was a sharp chill in the air, but she was
dressed appropriately enough. The leaf litter crunched beneath her feet as she
walked away from the cabin.  It was eerily quiet, only starlight providing
illumination. Delia had nothing to fear.  She owned the night.  In the blink of
an eye she could shift into a lethal wolf.  There were few predators out there
worse than her.

"Where's the car?"  Caleb shifted his computer bag
higher on his shoulder and scanned the lot around the cabin.

"Over here."  She moved to the shadowed overhang
where she'd hid her motorcycle.  After clearing away some of the debris she
used for camouflage, she walked it into the clearing.  

"A bike?  Are you kidding me?  I'm not riding on that
death trap."

"Get on, geek boy.  I don't have time for this." 
She straddled her bike, feeling at home on the familiar seat.  It was home when
she didn't have any roots.