The Big, Bad Wolves [Mischievous Fairy Tales 2] (Siren Publishing Menage Amour) Read online

  She hadn’t, of course, but the intent had been there in her eyes until defeat and uncertainty had swept in. She’d raged in private for a time, even torn the pendant from her neck and thrown it out her window. Then, mere minutes after her impetuous explosion, she’d run from her room down to the gardens with several guards hot on her heels.

  She’d hunted for hours, weeping nearly constantly until she’d found it. The chain had needed replacing, but she’d swiftly gotten that taken care of and since then, it hadn’t once come from around her neck. Shaking his head and the memories loose, he looked to Raphael. “This is going to be a long ride.”

  “That it will be.” The other man nodded before shifting in his saddle to look back. “Unfortunately we need to ensure the rest of these new men know our ways. They are clumped much too close to the carriage.”

  “I’ll get them spread out and take a spot at the rear. We can switch after stopping for a break for the noon meal,” Gabriel said, reining in. Turning his destrier around, he moved through the column of men, waving them out further. Shaking his head, he settled into a spot at the very rear.

  * * * *

  The convoy of riders and the carriage moved at a slow and careful pace through the forest. Only two of the guards were truly focused on watching the trees and brush around them. The others seemed bored as they talked to alleviate that boredom. They were making too much noise, and he wasn’t the only one to notice them.

  Spotting the brigands moving with at least some stealth through the forest, he huffed out a breath. Not even the guard up front, watchful and ready for action, had spotted them. “Fools,” he muttered quietly.

  He had two choices. Stop the brigands before they reached the party or warn the party on the road below and let whatever might come, come. Choices like that were never easy. But it was made all the harder when he spotted just who it was riding in the carriage. “Rissa.” He whispered her name with pure reverence as he caught a glimpse of the porcelain-perfect complexion.

  He couldn’t let the men intent on ill will attack the convoy or she could be hurt. Decision made, he pulled up the hood on his leather coat to hide his face from potential identification and moved with stealth from his position. Using the innate speed of his heritage, he raced through the brush on light feet, leapt over the road well out of sight from the convoy, and zeroed in on the brigands.

  Utilizing all the skills he’d been both born with and learned from his overlord, Michael put down the first man with a solid right to his jaw. The man would live, lucky for him, but he would feel that punch for a long, long time. Turning his head, his eyes lit upon the next man who had to be stopped. Much like the first, he was put down silently and still breathing.

  The third man, though, was not where he’d thought him to be. No, he was much closer to the convoy than he should have been. Growling out a soft warning he knew two of the convoy would hear and recognize, Michael did the only thing he could. He drew a blade and launched himself after the other man.

  Hitting him dead center in the back, they rolled past several horses, narrowly missed by the hooves of the startled and highly strung beasts, coming to a halt in the road. Up onto his feet, Michael ensured the hood was low enough to keep him from being seen clearly and went to work disarming the brigand. But this was not a man about to give up, which meant he knew who was within the carriage that bore no markings, the guards dressed in nothing but unending black.

  This man had been fed information, which meant Michael had to keep him alive. Someone wanted Rissa dead, someone that would die by his hand and his hand alone. It was furious fight, blade to blade, fist to face, but soon enough Michael had him down. Glancing up, he sighed when he saw himself being watched. Fuck.

  “So you do still walk among the living,” Raphael commented, leaning his arms to his saddle pommel. “’Tis but a miracle, I am most sure.”

  “Nay, hardly that,” he rumbled in a voice too long unused in pleasant company. “The Devil had no use for one such as me and has found a more effective eternal punishment right here.”

  “You should not joke of such things,” Raphael said, sliding off his destrier. Holding the reins loosely, he stepped forward. “Especially among those most grateful to see you, both in your timing and because you’ve been greatly missed.”

  “Would have been better had you not seen me, Raphael,” he said. “And you shan’t again,” he told him, turning and heading back for the shadows of the forest.

  Chapter Three

  She had known that there was something happening. When she watched Raphael detach from the others, she lifted the curtain slightly to peer into the unending forest. That was when she saw it. Saw him. She couldn’t tell what it was that had caught her eye, but she had known in that flurry of shadows just who it was. “Stop!” she called out, and before the carriage rolled to a stop, she was jumping from the door, skirts in hand and running. “Michael.” She gasped his name and then turned around and round in a circle. She looked up to Raphael and demanded, “Where?”

  “Princess,” he said, but stopped when she stared at him. “Through there, m’lady.” He pointed to a faint path. “But he is already long gone, m’lady. He will have quickly left the area,” he said softly to her. “I know you wish to see him, but…” Raphael shook his head.

  “He wouldn’t let me be hurt,” Rissa said softly. “Just as you would never let me be hurt,” she whispered. “I must see him. He’s been hiding from me for too long, and now I want an explanation,” she said and began to race down the faint trail, following it as she had been taught as a child.

  Michael was being followed. He could feel it in the vibrations in the air around him. Hell, he could practically taste the determination of the one after him. Cursing when he realized who it was, he slid behind a tree to wait. As she came abreast, he slipped out onto the trail and grabbed her up around the waist, dragging her sharply to his chest, her back to him. “You shouldn’t be here.” He growled low.

  “And you shouldn’t be hiding from me,” Rissa shot back at him. She struggled to turn, but when he wouldn’t let her, she let out a sigh. “Why?” she whispered in defeat. “Why did you leave me?” She lay her hands on his and held him to her as close as she could get him. “If you had only asked for my hand, if you had only gone to Father he would have let us marry. He respected you, thought of you as a friend and knew that you would do whatever was necessary to make me happy, so why, Michael?”

  Sighing, he shook his head, his scruff catching at her hair. “He had bigger plans for you, Princess,” he said softly. “He had so much more planned for you than marrying a common soldier. He may have respected me, but circumstances were against us all,” he murmured quietly. “And I left because there wasn’t a place for me there any longer.”

  “Your place should have always been with me,” she whispered in defeat. “It’s pointless now. He never pushed anyone upon me, Michael, no matter what you might think. He knew that I wouldn’t accept another. You, you are the one that I’ve wanted and needed as mine for my entire existence.”

  “I couldn’t stay, Princess,” he murmured, brushing his lips to her ear. “It wasn’t my place to be there any longer. I truly wish it had been otherwise, little one, but fate dealt us a bad hand. We can’t go back, and you need to be elsewhere, I’m guessing from that convoy.”

  “My parents are gone.” She shivered when his mouth brushed her skin. “I’m being sent to my grandmother’s home in the forest. For my protection and all that.” She leaned her head to the side and begged, “Please don’t leave me again.” It was a breathy sound, but the desire and the plea were there all the same. She needed him in her life. Needed him, the man, not the soldier.

  “Princess,” he murmured, sliding his lips down her throat. Nuzzling at the gentle curve, he growled deep in his chest. “I don’t have a place in your world anymore, Rissa. I don’t think it’s a good idea for you to be out here, let alone near me,” he said, loosening his hold slightly. “You need
to get back to the guards before Gabriel and Raphael come looking for you.”

  “Let them come looking for me.” Leaning back heavily against him, she shivered. “And you do have a place in my world, you just have to accept it and take it.” She had been born for him, the fool man just had to open his eyes and realize it.

  “Princess,” he muttered again. Turning her in his arms, he pushed the hood back to bare his face and the scars he’d gained from saving her life, some of them anyway. “You do not need me in your world, not like this, not anymore.”

  Reaching up, Rissa cupped his cheek in her hand and shook her head. “You are still you, Michael, still the man that I love. It’s not your looks that I fell in love with so long ago. It was you. The man that you are, the amazing warrior, the kind and gentle friend, the man that’s stood beside me no matter what. You are who I need in my life.”

  Staring into her eyes, he sighed. “Rissa.” He shook his head. Wrapping his arms around her, he hugged her to him tightly. Resting his chin on her hair, he let out another heavy sigh. Rubbing his hand up and down her back for a moment, he pulled back. “This is a terrible idea and your grandmother is not going to approve in the least. You do know that, right?”

  “Grandmother has never approved of anything that anyone has done except for herself. She doesn’t matter. I’m of legal age to make my own choices, and I choose you.” Her arms were wrapped around him and she soaked up the heat of his body against hers happily. “As long as you are certain that you want me, that is.” Cupping her face, he stared down into her big eyes. “I’ve known who you were to me since your twelfth summer, Rissa. I never acted on it because you needed time to grow and to become who you were meant to be. This”—he dropped a hand to lift the pendant—“this was so much more than just a gift for you, Princess. It was a promise, one I failed at, but if you truly are willing to give me a second chance, I won’t fail again.”

  “Make the promise aloud and we will start our second chance,” Rissa whispered and let her hand move to surround his neck, pulling him closer. “Tell me what I am to you, Michael. Show me that I belong.” With him, as a part of him.

  Licking his lips, he went to his knee before her and stared up at her. “I pledge my arm and life to you always, Princess,” he said softly. “I pledge to you also my heart if you will take it. It is broken and bloody and may never again be fully whole, but it is yours should you wish it, Princess.”

  Rissa nodded and leaned in close to him. “I accept all that you have to offer,” she murmured softly. “I offer you my heart, my soul. I hope to keep you for all time and pray that one day your heart will be healed because of my love.”

  Getting to his feet, he leaned in and brushed a kiss to her lips. “I accept,” he murmured quietly against her soft skin. Letting out a breath, he stroked his fingers lightly to her skin. “We shouldn’t stay out here, Rissa, where there are three brigands, there are sure to be more. Plus”—he reached back and pulled his hood into place—“by now Raphael may very well think I’ve kidnapped you and taken you to my lair.”

  Rissa smiled and shook her head. “He would only track us down.” She pulled back from him slightly. “I will follow you because I’m completely lost.” Sadly, she was horribly lost anytime that they were in a forest. She saw trees, and immediately it was like her brain shut down on how to find her way back from point B to point A.

  “You can track anyone through any terrain, but you stop and seem to lose all knowledge.” He shook his head. “I have no idea how you manage that, Princess. It should be impossible.” Giving her his arm, he began to walk when she wrapped her hand around it.

  “I don’t get it either, but there it is. I simply start out with a purpose, but then it is lost faster than I can take a breath. It’s utterly maddening that I am unable to find my way in a forest, yet in any other place I’m able to track with the best of them.”

  “You were doing well until I stopped you,” he commented with a sigh. Stopping just as the convoy came into view, he looked down at her. “Are you sure this is the path you wish to travel, Princess?” he asked softly. “This shan’t be easy, and it will be fraught with troubles.”

  “Will you stand at my side for the rest of time?” Rissa shot back at him. “Because if you are willing to be mine, to share me as I know the need is inside of you, and help me learn, then there is no place that I want to be other than walking at your side. You have been mine from the first moment I drew breath. I simply had to find you again so that you could realize it as well.”

  Lifting his hand, he touched her cheek gently. “As long as you are there, I think I may just manage to make it through this. I can’t promise it will be easy, Princess, but I will try. Just remember that we all have bad days,” he murmured, leaning in to kiss her forehead. “Me more than most, now.”

  “As long as you understand that I’m not the same sweet-natured child you once knew.” She was mostly the same person, but she had her moments. “Now, let’s get back before they begin to worry that I have harmed you in some way,” she teased.

  “I seriously doubt that they are worried about that,” he said quietly. Taking a breath, Michael adjusted the hood once more and took her hand. “All right, let’s go,” he muttered quietly. Stepping forward, he let her slip in front of him and walk toward the group.

  Rissa looked to the men. “Michael is coming with us.” Just the fact that she used his Christian name instead of any type of title bespoke of the feeling the lady had for the man. When the door was opened for her, she stepped up with Michael’s help and scooted over so that his much larger frame could step in with her. When they were both settled, she nodded and closed the curtains to allow them some privacy and leaned back with a smile on her face. He was back in her life. Finally, there was something that was positive about this day.

  Shifting uncomfortably, he let out a breath and leaned his head back. “I truly despise carriages,” he murmured to her quietly. “They are much too confining and feel overly much like a cage.” Slouching slightly in the seat, he looked toward her. “You appear mighty pleased with yourself, Princess.”

  “With the loss of my parents, I haven’t had a reason to smile in far too long. I do now. I am happy, Michael, because you are taking me back into your life. You are going to give us a chance at the happiness that should have been ours from the start.”

  Reaching out, he took her hand gently in his. “I heard of their deaths. I am so sorry, Rissa. No one should lose their only family in such a way.” Rubbing his thumb over her knuckles, he lifted her hand to press a kiss to her fingers.

  “That is the only reason that I am on my way to my grandmother’s,” she told him and shifted slightly so that she could hold his hands in hers. Taking in a deep breath, she smiled. “Will the others be okay with you coming home?”

  “What others, Rissa?” he asked quietly, his eyes locked on hers but showing nothing. “Raphael and Gabriel have been trying to get me to return for months. As for the recruits, I know not of them and likely they know nothing of me.”

  “Yes, them. Weren’t you the leader of the pride, or something like that?” She didn’t understand exactly who or what he was, but she knew that he was seriously something big, with the recruits and his men.

  Narrowing his eyes, Michael lifted a dark brow. “And what do you know of such things, Princess? Where did you hear these terms?” Wrong though they were. Shifting in, he leaned over her as she leaned back. “Tell me, Rissa,” he said in a low rumble.

  “I might have snuck out from time to time before you left and listened to you and your men. I don’t recall exactly what they said or how they said it, but yeah.” She shrugged as she spoke. “I adored you. I wanted to know more about you as well.”

  Growling quietly, he put a hand to her cheek and, with a thumb under her chin, lifted her gaze to meet his. He stared into her eyes for a long time before he let out a breath. “It’s called a pack, and only some of the Royal Guards are part of it. The term is Al
pha, the pack leader, or in this case, the first in line as Alpha. The pack structure is different than that of wolves where only one Alpha can exist. In ours there are actually three, one in Prime and two in Secondary position.”

  She frowned and asked, “I don’t understand. Wolves?” He wasn’t a wolf, he was human. “You are human, Michael, and if you are Prime, who are the Secondary, and what do you mean, wolves?” Repetition seemed to be her game at the moment.

  “I am human, but I am also”—he sighed—“I’m also other. Half man and half beast,” he told her quietly, honestly. “Many claim we are Werewolf, but in reality that’s not entirely the truth. While our other form vaguely resembles a wolf, and our pack structure is a lot the same, we’re also very different. Raphael and Gabriel are Seconds,” he admitted, his gaze not moving from hers.

  Rissa licked her lips. “And the connection I feel to the three of you?” She had always thought that there was something wrong with her for feeling such a strong connection to three men at once, but something about him made her think that perhaps it was okay. “And why have I never seen the half-beast, half-man side of you?”

  “You almost did,” he said quietly. “That day in the forest, when you were nearly harmed, that was me in the mists. I was nearly in full rage when I figured out what they had planned for you, and I stopped them.” Sitting back, he ran his fingers through his thick and too-long hair. “You’re feeling the pull of the Alpha that is in all three of us.”

  “Do all women feel this pull?” she asked quietly, watching his every move and feeling something off. “You had kept me safe that day. I had wanted to find you but never was able to. I never knew that it was you.”

  “Some, others are just drawn to the animal inside, the air of danger and the natural urge to soothe the beast. But it is a rare woman who can actually meet the Alpha’s natural dominance without flinching. You, I believe, are one of those women,” he admitted softly.