Princess claimed, p.1
Princess Claimed, page 1
part #3.10 of Ruthless Warlords Series
PRINCESS CLAIMED
A DARK FATED-MATES ROMANCE
ALISON AIMES
CONTENTS
Princess Claimed Blurb
The Alphaverse
1. Ari
2. Pavel
3. Pavel
4. Ari
5. Pavel
6. Ari
7. Ari
8. Ari
9. Ari
10. Ari
11. Pavel
12. Ari
13. Ari
14. Pavel
15. Ari
16. Pavel
17. Ari
18. Pavel
Bonus Epilogue
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Acknowledgments
About Alison Aimes
Books By Alison Aimes
Thank you
PRINCESS CLAIMED BLURB
She’s on the run. No memory of her name or identity. In need of help.
He’s an exiled beast who learned long ago that it was safer to help only himself.
Until she falls to his arms—literally. His fated mate.
Now, he’ll do anything to possess and protect her. And claim her for his own.
Except those after her have other plans…
but they never counted on him.
Princess Claimed: A Dark Fated-Mates Romance is a scorching novella in the Ruthless Warlords series. It contains star-crossed fated mates, forced proximity, blindfolds, a down-on-her-luck heroine, and a hero who will do anything for the female who turns his world right-side up. Their story takes place in the same universe as the rest of the series but can be read as a stand-alone. This story was initially published in the Claimed Among the Stars Anthology, but has been expanded and includes a BONUS epilogue.
THE ALPHAVERSE
This story takes place in Anarcheim, a parallel Alphaverse galaxy in a dark future seeded with varied forms of alien life. There are, however, two immutable constants. The first is that all inhabitants are Alpha, beta, or omega. Alphas lead, betas serve, and omegas submit. The second is that violence is a way of life, power is essential to survival, and crime is king.
1
ARI
“Stay away!” Ari skittered down the hallway, her legs tangling in the heavy brocade of her royal amethyst gown and cape, the vibration of the shuttle engine beneath her slippered feet not nearly as comforting as it had been moments ago. “Back off, or you’ll be sorry.”
“I don’t think so, Princess.” The hulking male sneered the title, his bulk brushing both sides of the elegant corridor. Golden light from the ceiling crystals highlighted the laser gripped in his hands—and pointed straight at her. “You’re the one about to be very, very sorry.”
His equally giant brother followed close behind, his weapon raised as well. “You shouldn’t have messed with us.”
The promise of revenge glittered in their hard, gray eyes. Sethex and Relex.
Two princes. Twins. Total Alphaholes.
Their fancy clothes were adorned with inner-planetary jewels while entitlement oozed from their pores. But neither male was quite as pretty as he’d once been, their faces scraped and cut from when they’d tangled with her.
Sethex also had a nasty stab wound on his shoulder. Relex, a gash at his thigh.
This time, however, they hadn’t come alone.
Behind them, stuffed into the corridor, was a whole contingent of their royal guards, ready and willing to do their dirty work—and, coming from the other direction, more minions.
Soon, there’d be no way out.
She sucked down a calming breath, scanning for exits and calculating options. It wasn’t the first time she’d been under siege. A female of her status and position was always at risk from greedy, entitled bastards like these two.
Goddess, she was tired of running. Of never feeling safe.
“How did you find me?” She’d been so sure she’d gotten away. So sure they’d never track her from the ball.
She took another small step backward, trying to appear as if she wasn’t moving at all.
A guest room door slid open to her right. A curious, green-skinned face peered out and gasped. The door slid shut with a resounding smack.
No help there.
Not surprising.
The Destiny was a luxury cruise liner, the hefty price tag of its staterooms ensuring it was available to only the wealthiest clientele in the galaxy: the kind of patrons who valued their money and their lives and little else.
“You’re trapped, bitch.” Sethex stomped forward. “You’re trouble. Always have been. Always will be. Now, you’re going to pay.” His meaty hand thrust forward. “Give us the Prinzessin jewel.”
“Give it now,” barked Relex, “and perhaps we’ll show some mercy.”
They never would.
“I don’t have it,” she lied. She needed that jewel. It was crucial to saving those she loved. She’d risked everything to get it, and she wasn’t giving it up now.
“We would have taken you as a mate.” Prince Sethex smirked, his gaze raking her from head to toe. “Not anymore, princess pretender.”
“Now,” Relex offered a matching lascivious grin, “you’ll spend your rotations as our whore.”
“Carted between the dungeons and our bed.”
“Chained to both.”
Her heart slammed against her ribs. Behind her, she could sense the guards closing in as well.
She kept creeping backward anyway.
“No one will ever know what happened to you,” taunted Relex.
“Now, give us that jewel. Then, get on your fucking knees,” roared Sethex. “It’s time to wipe that haughty look off your face once and for all.”
“You won’t look so proud with our cocks shoved down your throat.” Relex rubbed a hand over his growing erection.
They stalked closer.
She backpedaled faster.
“I’m almost glad she’s not handing over the jewel so easily,” Sethex told his brother. “I’m going to enjoy ripping those fancy robes from her body and finding the gem ourselves—and then treating her exactly like the slut she really is. She’ll bow before us soon enough.”
Relex was not to be outdone. “I’m going to bend her over and fuck her ass in this hallway. Show everyone in this shuttle exactly what she’s useful for and how she’ll be expected to serve.”
“Such charm. Such grace.” Bravado was all she had left. “More proof that royal blood has no impact on royal bearing. You two are as low and vile as an Alpha can get.”
Relex snarled and rushed toward her, bumping into his brother, who stumbled in turn. The weapon he’d trained on her knocked slightly off course as he lost his balance.
It was the opening she’d been waiting for.
She spun and flicked the main light switch: her target all along.
Instant darkness. The crystal in the ceiling shut off at once, shrouding the entire area in inky, blissful, impenetrable black. Even Alphas, with their keen eyesight, would be momentarily blind.
But not her. Thanks to her gift.
“What the fuck?” Selex’s roar was easily identifiable. “Not again!”
“Someone turn the lights back on!” screamed Relex.
She didn’t wait around for them to gain their bearings.
She took off running—straight for the emergency exit a few steps away.
“Where the fuck is she?”
“Don’t let her escape.”
There was scuffling behind her.
She shoved open the heavy door and raced into the equally dark service corridor, the uncarpeted floors making her frantic footfalls echo down the hall.
“I heard a door opening,” shouted Selex. “She left the main corridor. After her.”
A faint hum. A flash of green light in the darkness. “There she is!”
A searing heat brushed past her shoulder.
Ignoring the sting, she darted around the corner, easily dodging a set of low-hanging pipes.
The two princes weren’t so lucky. A crash sounded behind her. That was the problem with using a laser as a light as well as a weapon. When the flash ended, the darkness was even more impenetrable than before.
Just the way she liked it.
Lifting the edge of her gown, she sprinted faster, darting around a cleaning machine the staff had parked in the hall.
She had to make it to an emergency evacuation pod.
It was her only chance.
All too soon, however, the stomp of heavy boots echoed behind. The lights overhead flashed on as one. Someone had found the main switch.
“There she is.”
“You won’t escape us, bitch! Not again.”
She chanced a glance over her shoulder. She’d managed to put some distance between her and the princes, but their enraged faces were near enough to see every bit of the promised cruelty they intended to inflict on her—if they caught her.
She ran harder, a smile she couldn’t stop spreading across her face. She was going to make it. Everything was going to be fine.
Her adrenaline surged, that familiar excitement spreading through her veins. She’d tried to stifle that part of her, to behave as expected, but the wildness inside her would not be subdued.
She’d been told her whole life she was trouble.
She liked to think it was the good kind.
But those who’d raised her weren’t so sure. She hoped returning with the Prinzessin jewel would sway them to her way of thinking once and for all.
Another st
“You idiot!” The first prince roared again, only this time he wasn’t shouting at her but at his brother. “Stop shooting, Relex. This section of the ship is different. If you penetrate the outer shell, the ship will split apart.”
“Don’t tell me what to do.”
Two quick pulses of green careened over her shoulder and slammed into the wall.
A loud rumble.
A blinding light.
And then…nothing.
2
PAVEL
“No.” Pavel slammed his locker closed.
The new guy stiffened, his cocky grin freezing in place. “I, ah, haven’t said anything yet.”
“Exactly.” Pavel gripped his crumpled, dirty bag tighter. “Keep it that way.”
Ever since his boss and all-around bad-ass, exiled King Magnus Avitus, had secured a tenuous truce with his spoiled brother, overly-cheerful fucks looking to make it rich kept popping up in the Forbidden Sector. As if the exiled zone was some kind of gentrifying neighborhood rather than a dumping ground for the planet’s unwanted, a bleak wasteland of crumbling buildings, isolated swamps, deadly predators, and even deadlier outlaws.
Worse, Magnus kept hiring them.
He insisted their growing shipping business needed more skilled pilots, and maybe he was right. Demand for reliable contraband transport was booming, turning Pavel from a grumpy, anti-social outlaw into a wealthy, grumpy, anti-social outlaw—and a busy one at that.
Still, even if his boss was right, Pavel didn’t have to like it. Or smile about it. He hated change. And smiling.
He just wanted to do his job and be left in peace.
He checked his wrist comms. No new messages from the boss. Perfect.
“What you got there?” The determined newbie popped up at his side. “Skimming a little for yourself? Hoping the guy in charge doesn’t find out?”
Hilarious. Pavel was the one in charge, and everyone knew it. “None of your business.” He tucked the bag beneath his arm and kept moving.
“Ah, right.” Smile fraying, the newbie increased his pace, trying hard not to stare at the jagged stub of Pavel’s left horn, the metal in his lip, or the blood-red, ritualistic symbols on his cheeks and hands made all the more obvious against the golden black glitter of his skin.
The kid failed, of course. All newbies did.
But Pavel had long ago come to terms with the battle wounds that marked him as an East Ender, a killer, and one nasty-looking bruiser. His scars on the inside were a hell of a lot uglier.
“Mind if I walk with you?” Newbie was persistent.
“Yes.”
Silence. But not for long enough.
“Right. I get it.” A hint of uncertainty poked through Newbie’s bravado. “To each his own, right? I’m down with that. I haven’t taken the hits you have, but I will, and I’ll figure out what it takes to get ahead. You can count on that.”
Hells. Pavel remembered when he’d first been exiled to the Forbidden Sector. Cocky. Stupid. Clueless. Scared—and pretending hard not to show it.
Ancient f-ing history, but still . . .
“Look, kid, you don’t have to prove anything to anyone but yourself.” Voice rusty from disuse—he’d been solo flying for several rotations—Pavel forced the words out anyway. “Stick to the routine, don’t look in the bag, don’t steal shit, don’t get fancy, don’t stray into Federation territory, and don’t overreach. Stick to those simple rules, and you’ll move up.”
Maybe the newbie would even survive long enough to enjoy the money he’d make.
But that remained to be seen—and Pavel didn’t allow himself to care one way or another.
His rotations of sticking his neck out for others were long over.
“Got it. I—” Newbie was still talking as Pavel turned away.
He headed to the shuttle loading dock and his ride—or ‘wreck waiting to happen’ as his partner Axel called it.
Unfortunately, the funny male himself was looming by the driver’s door as the last of the boxes were loaded into the cargo hold.
“You’re in my way.” Pavel gestured for Axel to step aside.
The other male didn’t say a word. He rarely did, but Pavel understood him loud and clear. As partners running the illegal shipping business, they’d had a lot of time to perfect their communication techniques.
He stared back. He didn’t bother getting angry—or ruffled. He never did. He’d long ago stopped giving enough of a shit to let anything rile him.
Which is why Axel broke first, grumbling to himself as he stepped aside.
Pavel nodded in satisfaction and wrenched open his door, the three piercings in his lower lip stretching as he offered up a facsimile of a smile. “Yes, Mom. I know how to babysit a bunch of cargo. I’ll be fine. The shipment will be fine. I’ll get it where it needs to be on the expected rotation.”
His partner grunted in return.
They’d been enemies once, part of feuding rival gangs. Now, they tolerated each other as colleagues. It was equally contentious, only slightly less bloody, and, yes, on rare occasions, more than tolerable. Not that he’d admit that to the guy.
“It’s the Skolovs’ cargo.” Axel ground out at last.
“Which is exactly why I’m taking it and not turfing the babysitting job to some overeager underling.” Pissing off the Skolov family by losing their lucrative shipment was the last thing Pavel wanted to do. Mostly because he liked breathing.
He clambered into the cockpit, squeezing his hulking body into the small, single-sized seat.
Axel braced his hand against the door before Pavel could slam it shut. “We can’t afford for anything to go wrong.”
That was more words than Axel had bothered to string together in a long time. Proof his partner was twitchy about the job.
Understandable, since they’d recently had problems with thieves swooping in and raiding their cargo.
It was a new complication on top of the old one. As if they didn’t have enough to worry about with sanctimonious Federation security trying to muscle in and seize their illegal contraband.
But there was a reason their transpo service was recognized as the most reliable distributor of contraband in the galaxy, and Pavel intended to ensure that reputation remained. Without it, there’d be no money coming in and no chance of maintaining his peace and quiet—and he’d already paid for that privilege in blood, sweat, and heartache. He wasn’t giving it up now. Not for anything.
“Don’t worry, chatterbox,” he assured his partner. “You’ve been to my place. You know there’s no space more secure—or uneventful.”
An actual smile threatened to spread across Axel’s face. “It is freakishly quiet. Still, I enjoyed my last several visits. You going to invite me out there again soon?”
“No.” He hadn’t invited the guy in the first place. Axel had just followed in his usual stealthy, silent way, and Pavel had made the grudging decision each time to allow his nosy partner to land without shooting him out of the sky.
But Pavel wasn’t promising to make the same choice in the future.
He preferred to be alone.
Starting now.
He knocked his pretty-boy partner’s hand away. “Thanks for the heart-to-heart. I’m going to sleep for a few rotations, enjoy the pleasure of not seeing your face, and then, when it’s time, deliver the cargo and make our clients happy. Easy as can be. Don’t worry over nothing.” He tapped his wrist comms. “And don’t reach out unless the sky is falling.”
A final grunt from Axel.
Pavel took it as a warm goodbye.
He slammed the cockpit door shut, slapped the dashboard to get the engine lights to flicker on, and cruised away, leaving a noxious cloud of dust behind for Axel to inhale. Without a backward glance, he circled past his king’s crumbling, black castle and the crowded shacks that surrounded it, torches flaring as the suns set.
