Royally Elected Read online

  A dragon roared above me. I jerked my gaze up, then quickly leapt to the side to avoid her claws. The female dragon was a light pink color with red tipped claws and spikes. I had never met her before.

  She spun towards me and inhaled.

  Shit, she was going to try to burn me.

  I leapt over the edge of the balcony and shifted into my dragon warrior form, which gave me a scaled body and wings. She growled at me and I roared back at her. My new appearance made her hesitate a moment, but then she spewed fire at me.

  Jumping up as high as I could, I avoided the fire and saw Rhys being held back by his mother and Mawrth.

  Why?

  I landed on the female dragon’s back and flapped my arms and flared my wings to keep my balance. She turned her head and I used my wings to propel me forward and punched her in the eye.

  She bellowed in pain and swiped with her front claws blindly.

  I landed and immediately jumped up and punched the tip of her snout. Rhys told me it was super sensitive. Judging by her howling, he hadn’t been lying.

  Shifting into my full dragon form, I bit into the back of her neck, like Emrys had shown me. She stilled and dropped to her stomach, submitting.

  I huffed out a breath and looked back at the balcony and the room. Rhys stood just in front of me on the balcony in his warrior’s form, his gorgeous wings flared behind him and murder in his eyes.

  Mawrth lay unconscious with his arm bent at an awkward angle. Their mother sat beside him, her eyes wide and unfocused.

  “Jolie,” Rhys said.

  I released the other dragon and reverted back to my human form. My body felt heavy from using so much magic. I jumped down onto the balcony and Rhys wrapped his arms around me and rested his forehead against mine.

  “You did well,” he whispered.

  “Thanks,” I said.

  The dragon turned into a beautiful woman in her early thirties with wavy pink hair. She bellowed and reached for me. Before she could touch me, Rhys stepped between us and roared. His roar shook the ground beneath my feet and the glass in the doors and windows rattled. I could sense his challenge, but since he directed it at my attacker, it didn’t affect me.

  She fell to the ground, whimpering and crying.

  Andras slipped an arm beneath my legs and lifted me. “Come, Sister,” he whispered.

  Rhys knelt before the woman and whatever he said to her, she nodded vigorously in return.

  “Where are you taking me?” I asked.

  “To get some clothes,” he whispered, then chuckled.

  I glanced down and gulped. I hadn’t realized I was naked. Usually, my powers gave me clothes.

  “You’re drained, so you couldn’t make clothes,” he explained.

  “Rhys—”

  “He’s fine.”

  “He hurt Mawrth,” I said, glancing at their brother’s body as we walked out of the room. The older dragons wore mixed expressions of shock and fear.

  “They waited until Father and I were gone from the room. Had I been there, this wouldn’t have happened,” Andras said, his grip on me tightening.

  “What was this?” I asked.

  “A test,” he said. “Mother wanted to test you.”

  “She looked upset,” I commented. Shocked and disbelief were the emotions I really associated with her expression.

  He nodded. “Rhys yelled at her and shoved her away. And, she didn’t know you could shift so well.”

  “So, she’s going to hate me even more?” I guessed, hiding my face from the people we past in the hallway.

  Andras climbed the stairs and stopped in front of Rhys’s bedroom. “I don’t know what goes on in her mind.” He set me down, checked the room, then held the door for me. “I’ll wait here,” he promised.

  I quickly changed into a spare pair of Rhys’s exercise clothes that were kept in the drawer. I had to tie the shirt because it was too big and rolled up the sweats, but they would do.

  I inhaled Rhys’s scent, which somehow still permeated the room despite him not using it. This was where he’d grown up.

  His walls were bare and only two figurines sat on his dresser. One was a dragon and fairy playing. The other was a unicorn. Why did he have these? Had someone given them to him?

  Rhys roared, and the house shook. I ran out of the room and Andras stayed by my side as we ran back to the room where we had left Rhys.

  Emrys stood over Rhys who was slowly getting to his hands and knees. I started to go to him, but Andras stopped me with a hand on my shoulder.

  “I will not apologize,” Rhys snarled and stood, facing his father with dragon’s eyes.

  Emrys growled and shifted into warrior form. He punched Rhys hard enough to make him stumble back a step. Rhys straightened and met Emrys’s glare again.

  “Apologize!” Emrys roared. I cringed back and Andras hugged me, shielding me slightly with his body.

  Their mother stood a few feet away from Rhys and Emrys. Her eyes locked with mine and she bellowed, “You!”

  She started to move towards me, but Andras stepped in her path. “You’ve done enough today,” Andras growled at her.

  She snarled and slapped him. “I am your mother! Your queen!”

  I stepped around Andras and stood toe-to-toe with her. “What kind of mother hires someone to attack their son’s queen?”

  “You’re no queen!” she snapped.

  “What are you talking about?” Emrys asked me.

  “Nothing,” she growled and glared at me. “She’s delusional.”

  “When you and Andras left, a female dragon attacked me. She and Mawrth held Rhys back while I protected myself.”

  “You’re a—” she started.

  “I saw it,” Andras said. “I came in when Rhys knocked out Mawrth. Mother tried to order him to stay. Her order rebounded, and he shoved her to the side to get to his queen.”

  “She must prove her worth,” she said and sneered.

  Emrys dropped his hand from Rhys’s neck and marched towards us. I had never seen him so mad. It made me nervous and want to hide behind Andras.

  He stopped and spun his mate to face him. “She is our princess. She is your son’s queen. She is his mate.”

  She tried to interrupt, but he didn’t let her.

  “She doesn’t have to prove anything to you. I train her. I keep an eye on her. You have no need to do anything. Rhys may be your favorite, but that doesn’t give you the right to treat her so poorly.”

  “She—”

  “Has had to deal with enough shit. I understand that you are threatened by her. I understand that you don’t like the pull she has on you. She draws us all. Get over it, or you may lose your son. He will not choose you over her,” Emrys growled.

  “Jolie,” Rhys called.

  I walked to him and gingerly touched the red welt on his cheek. “Rhys.”

  He linked our hands and faced his mother who still looked pissed. She hadn’t been cowed at all. “She passed your test. Next time, I will kill whoever comes after her.”

  Her eyes narrowed to slits. “You wouldn’t.”

  “Anyone who wishes harm upon my queen is my enemy. You should remember that, Mother,” Rhys growled.

  Wings popped up behind him, and he picked me up before taking to the sky.

  We flew in tense silence, then landed in front of our apartment building. The media rushed us, clogging the entrance to the building.

  “Princess Jolie, what’s it like having four princes as mates?”

  “Will you be having children soon?”

  “Who hurt Prince Rhys? Was it you?”

  Rhys growled, and the media members backed off, but didn’t stop their barrage of questions.

  I walked into the building and took the elevator to my apartment. Rhys locked my door behind us and stomped to the fridge.

  Nico and Fox paused their game to look at us.

  “What happened?” Fox asked.

  “Mother paid Matilda to attack Jolie,�
�� Rhys grumbled while looking in the freezer.

  Fox rushed to me, lifted my arms and shirt. “Where are you hurt?”

  “I’m not,” I snapped.

  Rhys popped two frozen pizzas in the oven, then leaned back against the kitchen counter to face us. “She easily defeated Matilda.”

  “What?” Nico and Fox asked in unison.

  I rolled my eyes and sat on the couch opposite them. “I’ve been getting lessons from Emrys, remember?”

  “What else happened?” Fox asked Rhys. “You’re way too mad for that to be it.”

  “Mawrth and Mother tried to hold me back, so I couldn’t help Jolie,” he explained.

  “Is Mawrth alive?” Fox asked softly.

  “I broke his arm and a few ribs,” Rhys said, his eyes shifting for a moment.

  Nico ran a hand through his hair. “Your mom is so crazy.”

  “Who hit you?” Fox asked Rhys.

  “Dad. He thought I had disobeyed Mother and shoved her just because I didn’t like her saying negative things about Jolie.”

  “She said bad things?” I asked, not surprised.

  “Andras set him straight, thankfully,” Rhys said and sighed. “I was too upset to explain it.”

  “What happened once he got the full story?” Nico asked.

  “Emrys yelled at his mate,” I answered. “Then Rhys told her he would kill whoever came after me again and they would be his enemy. Add her to my enemy list.”

  “I had to make sure they understood,” Rhys said nonchalantly.

  “Can I get a minute alone?” I asked Nico and Fox.

  They kissed me on the cheek before leaving the apartment and I locked the door before walking to Rhys. I grabbed his hand and led him to my bedroom, then turned and said, “I know this isn’t romantic, but we don’t really have time for that.”

  I pulled his shirt off and slid my hands up his bare chest. Of my four guards, he had the nicest chest.

  “You don’t have to do this right now,” he whispered and rubbed his hands up and down my arms.

  “We need to complete our mating bond. We are only partially mated and it’s driving you guys crazy,” I said. “You are my mate, Rhys. No matter how stubborn and frustrating you can be, I will always love you.”

  He pressed his forehead to mine and whispered, “I will always love you, too.”

  I kissed his lips and slid my hands from his chest to the back of his neck, pulling myself closer to him. He broke our kiss, yanked my shirt off and my pants, and carried me to the bed. He jerked the sweats off and leaned over me.

  “I’m going to mark you,” he whispered and kissed my neck, scraping his teeth gently and making me gasp. “The mark will go around the dragon mark on your shoulder.”

  He bit my shoulder and magic shocked me through his teeth. I gasped in pain and had to force myself not to pull away. Rhys reached down and rubbed my clit while the magic worked. Distracted, the pain lessened. It had been a week at least since we had sex and I ground against his hand and moaned. He released my shoulder, then kissed me deeply, claiming my mouth with his. He thrust into me and I moaned into his mouth. The connection built as the pressure in my lower body did. He and I orgasmed as the connection snapped into place, making us both cry out.

  We collapsed onto the bed together and he pulled me into his arms.

  “Finally,” he whispered. “You’re all mine.”

  “Well, a quarter yours,” I reminded him.

  He chuckled. “True.”

  “Rhys?”

  “Hm?” he asked, stroking his fingers up and down my arm.

  “Are you really okay with not having kids?” I asked softly.

  He rolled onto his side and loomed over me, so he could look into my eyes. “I would love to have a child with you, yes. I would love to see what the two of us created. But, I am also fine not having kids. I understand your worry about not having kids for each of us. Life isn’t fair and we would never expect you to carry a child for each of us if you didn’t want to. Labor isn’t pleasant, and we don’t want you to be in pain, even if it would mean bearing children for us. If you bore children for the others, I would love those children like they were my own because they came from you. The choice is completely up to you. I will be fine with whatever decision you make.”

  I nodded and snuggled into him. “Okay.”

  Chapter 3

  Millions of stars shone above me as I slammed to the ground on my back. Air whooshed from my lungs, and I gasped for breath.

  “Too slow,” Tawny taunted me, her golden hair glowed like fire around her. She always looked ethereal, but when we fought, the elf woman looked even more like a goddess.

  “Cheater,” I panted and groaned as I rolled onto my hands and knees. “You used magic.”

  “You have magic too. Use it,” she ordered me.

  “You alright?” Fox called from the swinging tire he sat on in one of the nearby trees.

  “Peachy,” I growled and stood. My hair blew forward into my face, and I debated cutting it.

  “Hold on,” Fox ordered me. He leapt off the tire swing and hurried over. With expert and nimble fingers, he French braided my hair, then used a piece of a plant’s vine to secure it. He beamed. “There, now it won’t get in your face.”

  I brushed my lips across his, then faced Tawny again. “Ready.”

  She snickered, and amusement lit her lavender eyes. “No, you’re not.”

  Tapping into my connection with Fox, I channeled his elven powers. The forest came into focus, much sharper than before, and Tawny moved at a slower pace.

  I smiled and met her halfway, dodging her punch, and leapt up over her leg sweep.

  “Yes!” she shouted and threw a barrage of punches at me. Her smile was radiant and my lips curled to match hers.

  She laughed joyously as we fought. Sweat slid down my spine and dampened my hair at the base of my head.

  Time disappeared, and I worried I wouldn’t be able to keep up, but soon, she raised her hand and stepped back.

  “I give,” she said. “That was amazing.”

  I released the powers and fell to my back on the cool grass, staring up at the cloudless night sky. “I’m spent.”

  Fox lay beside me and unbraided my hair. “That was a huge improvement.”

  “Finally figured out how to tap into our connection,” I admitted.

  He nodded. “I felt it.”

  “I need a shower,” I groaned.

  “No time,” he gasped as he looked at the time on his phone. “Rhys is supposed to be here in two minutes.”

  Rhys was never late.

  “Need an outfit?” Tawny asked.

  I nodded. “My body smells, too.”

  She pulled me up and waved glowing hands at me. The sweat disappeared, my body odor vaporized, and my leggings and tank top were replaced by a flowing elven gown of blue gossamer. The front of the dress was shorter than the back, which gave me freedom of movement and yet still looked gorgeous.

  I threw my arms around her and squeezed. “You’re amazing!”

  “I could have done that,” Fox pouted.

  Tawny hugged me back, then wiggled her fingers at my face, adding a silver pair of earrings that matched my necklace.

  Rhys roared, announcing his approach and landed thirty yards away in his dragon form, but quickly shifted.

  Tawny tensed beside me, her mouth a thin line. “I’ll see you next week,” she whispered and then ran off into the forest.

  Her behavior was understandable since she had been attacked by a dragon as a child and still didn’t trust them. I wished I could show her their soft side.

  Rhys and Fox bumped fists with smiles on their faces. It always warmed my heart to see the friends interact.

  Rhys tapped our mating bond to get my attention.

  I met his eyes and smiled. Now that we were fully mated, he had calmed down a lot. It was a great relief.

  Walking with a bit more sway to my hips than normal, I watched
Rhys’s eyes shift to his dragon’s eyes. I kissed Fox and hugged him. “See you tonight?” I asked.

  He nodded. “I’m headed home now.”

  “Love you,” I called as I threw my arms around Rhys’s neck.

  Rhys picked me up, released wings from his back, and leapt up into the sky. Rhys nuzzled my cheek and said, “I missed you today.”

  I kissed his cheek and tightened my hold on him. “I missed you too. Guess what?”

  “Chicken butt!” he yelled.

  I giggled.

  He and Fox had spent a lot of time together lately and it had made Rhys more childlike.

  “No,” I said. “I was able to use elf powers, and Tawny didn’t end up tossing me on my back.”

  “Nice!” he said.

  I looked at the approaching dragon’s den, and my heart sank. “Do you think she will ever like me? I thought she had grown to like me, at Christmas, but now we’re back to square one.” There was no need to specify who I meant.

  “Yes,” he said. “She just needs a couple months.”

  I didn’t believe him, but I stayed silent.

  Andras in dragon form suddenly flew down to us, making me shriek.

  “Andras!” I snapped and took a stuttering breath. “You startled me.”

  “You think I would let some random dragon drop down next to us?” Rhys asked with a half-laugh.

  He had let Matilda fight me.

  His eyebrows furrowed, and fury zoomed down our connection.

  Andras chuckled, a wheezing dragon laugh, then made a purring sound at me.

  “Thank you,” I said, assuming he was complimenting my dress. “An elf woman made it for me.”

  “How do you always know what we’re saying?” Rhys asked.

  I shrugged. “Same way I can tell you apart when only dragons should be able to.” I wiggled my fingers at him and in an eerie voice said, “Magic!”

  He rolled his eyes, and Andras roared with laughter.

  We flew over the house where Emrys stood on the porch. He raised his hand, then shifted, and flew after us.

  Rhys landed in a grassy area near the town with Emrys and Andras on either side of us. The town was quiet and there were no lights on. What had happened to the decorations? The lanterns? All of the things I had seen just a few nights ago?