Crown and Shackles: The Princes Mate (Story Updated)

Blood in the Forest

When he reached for my hand, instinct took over. I jerked back like he'd tried to burn me. His expression faltered..confusion, then realization. I saw it hit him like a slap. His eyes softened, but it didn't matter.

He took a hesitant step forward.

"Oh, honey... it had to be done," Logan murmured, voice low. "He hurt you-hurt others. He wouldn't surrender. I had no choice."

But those words were a distant whisper against the roar of panic in my chest. My feet kept moving back, retreating like prey. My shoulder slammed into the wall-cold, unforgiving. I was trapped. Trapped again. Like always.

He killed Nathan. Just like that. What would he do to me, if I said the wrong thing? Did the wrong thing? Was Logan ...worse?

"I would never hurt you," he said gently. Too gently.

I didn't believe him.

Behind him, I caught sight of the others-those entitled, perfect little aristocrats servants. One of them covered a laugh behind her hand. All pretending not to be talking qbout me. Olive offered me a weak smile, a failed reassurance. But my body shook violently, and I couldn't stop it.

He killed him...

My legs moved on instinct the second I saw an opening. I ran-dress bunched in my fists, bare feet echoing down the white-and-gold hallway. A prisoner trying to escape a palace prison.

As I passed an open door, I saw them-slaves. Just like me. Scrubbing at red-stained tiles with haunted eyes. Blood. Fresh. I choked on a scream and turned the other way, running harder. Ignoring voices shouting behind me, I burst through the slave's passage and into the woods.

There, in the cold silence of the trees, my knees gave out. I dropped to the forest floor and sobbed, my chest heaving with the kind of grief that suffocates. Not just for Nathan. For myself. For what I had become. For what they had made me.

But the forest wasn't still anymore.

Branches cracked. Leaves whispered.

I turned, expecting Logan.

But it wasn't Logan.

Red eyes blinked from the shadows. Then another. And another. Rogues. Massive, feral wolves with blood in their gaze and hunger on their breath. My wolf howled inside, begging me to shift, but I was frozen-paralyzed by old fear, by slave fear. My body remembered the beatings, the cages, the orders. I couldn't move.

The lead rogue lunged.

I screamed, hitting the ground. Fangs tore into my leg. Pain exploded through me. Still, I couldn't shift. I couldn't protect myself. They were dragging me now, closer to the others. I kicked and screamed, but they didn't stop.

"Help!" I cried, voice raw, broken. "Please-someone!"

Then came a howl. Deep. Terrifying. Familiar.

It cracked through the chaos like thunder.

My wolf surged forward, breaking past my fear. I shifted in a blur of pain and fur, managing to scramble upright. For a heartbeat, they hesitated. It was all I needed.

I ran.

But they were faster.

They hit me like a wall, slamming me back down. Teeth tore through my shoulder, claws raked across my side. I couldn't breathe. I couldn't move. The forest blurred. I braced for the end-

'ALLY!'

A voice rang in my head.

'Logan?'

'No-it's Henry! Hold on! We're coming!'

More voices followed. Troy. Sam. Chaos. Rage.

Then came the wolves.

Troy's muddy brown, Sam's patched white and brown, Henry's storm-gray. They barreled into the rogues with fury. I tried to get up, but my leg gave out beneath me. I collapsed.

Where was Logan?

That's when you know who arrived.

His black wolf emerged from the shadows like a nightmare. But also knight in shinny armor. The other semi hidden rogues fell back. His growl vibrated the ground beneath me. Then he attacked, tearing through the rogues as if they were nothing. When someone tried to help, he growled them off. This was personal.

Sam broke away and came to me, shifting back to human form.

"Ally, shift back! Now!"

I did. And the pain swallowed me whole. I screamed as he reached for my leg.

"You're hurting her!" both Logan and Troy snarled in unison.

The rogues were dead. Silence hung heavy in the air-except for me, sobbing in agony, broken on the forest floor.

Logan reached me first. He scooped me up with a snarl-whether at himself or at them, I didn't know. My body screamed as he moved me.

"You bastard, you're hurting her!" Troy shouted.

"I would never hurt my mate!" Logan roared, his voice cracking with rage. "Don't ever say that again!"

"Guys, stop!" Henry yelled. "This isn't the time!"

Logan didn't respond. He just ran.

---

**The next day**

I woke in a sterile, cold room. Blue and white. Beeping machines. Bandages. Pain. I wasn't dead. But I felt like I should be. Forced back to ward by friends. Forced to rest to recover. I didn't open my eyes however. To chicken to face the hand I felt.

The hand gripped mine-too tight.

Logan.

My heart twisted. Not in affection. In confusion. In fear. The lines between protector and captor were blurring, and I didn't know who I could trust anymore.

I tried to pull away. I couldn't. My body was too weak. My heart too tired.

The door opened. A doctor walked in, clipboard in hand. His smile was kind. I met his eyes, silently begging him to *help*. He nodded, understanding. I let my eyelids fall closed again. I couldn't face Logan. Not yet. Maybe not ever.

"Doctor," Logan whispered.

"Ah, your highness. Did you sleep?"

"No," he said. "How could I sleep, knowing she might never wake up?"

My chest tightened. His voice sounded raw. Honest.

"She'll awaken," the doctor said lightly.

I felt him squeeze my hand again. Guilt cut into me like a blade. But it was tangled with fear, with doubt. He had to kill Nathan... didn't he?

Still, I couldn't face him. I didn't have the strength to sort out what was fear, what was trauma, and what-if anything-was love.

"Go clean up," the doctor advised. "She might wake soon. You don't want her to see you like this."

"I'm not leaving her."

"She'll be safe. I promise to notify you the second she wakes."

Silence.

Then, finally, he let go.

I wanted to call him back. I wanted him to stay. I wanted to run from him all at once.

But I did nothing.

"Don't let anyone else in," Logan growled to someone outside the door. "And keep an eye on Ally."

The door shut.

And I was alone. But not at peace.

Because the real war-the one inside me-was just beginning.