Their Hidden Princess Chapter 99

Surprisingly, as the wolves were the size of two of the vampires, Gareth attacked first. He seemed to fly off the floor of the forest and directly towards Kairos. He wrapped the wolf in a bear hug and tackled him into the nearby brush.

The other man seemed less offensive. He held his hands out as Valentin’s ash brown wolf chomped at his feet. His teeth were bared, saliva dripping off them. The other vampire seemed to be saying something under his breath. He stopped as Valentin launched off of his haunches and tried to clamp his mouth around the man’s neck.

The other vampire barely made it out and yelped as he did so. He, too, launched into the air as if he had wings. He jumped over Valentin and scrambled towards the exit of the clearing. He got about two feet into it when Gareth was launched into him by Kairos. The two vampires landed in a cluster in the forest.

As they did, they tipped over my bucket of blood, sending it sloshing out onto the floor. “No!” the other vampire screeched, reaching for it. Gareth yanked him to his feet, away from my blood.

“Leave it!” he snapped. “You saw what happened to Wesley. Your life is worth more than her poison!”

Valentin seemed to be processing their words. His deep gold eyes darted back and forth between the vampires and my blood bucket. He tipped his snout up to me and his eyes blew wide then jerked back to Gareth. He dipped his head low, lips snarling up in a vicious curl.

“How dare you hurt my mate!” he threw down the line.

His mate, I thought, drearily.

You’re dangling from chains hung in a tree and you think that is the most important thing? Mona scoffed. Gods, help us.

It was Gareth’s turn to be shocked. He’d clearly never heard a wolf speak before. As he was trying to get his bearings, he tumbled backwards over the other vampire and landed on his ass. He scrambled to get up but it was too late. Kairos was right behind him.

His mouth came down at lightning speed and wrapped around Gareth’s head. I tried to close my eyes so I didn’t have to watch it, but the sound was enough. There was a sickening CRACK that echoed through the trees. I slowly peeled my eyes open and watched as Kairos spit Gareth’s head out. It thudded across the forest floor and landed at Valentin’s feet.

The rest of his body stayed vertical for a beat before it, too, fell to the floor. It landed directly in front of the other vampire, who had begun shaking violently. Kairos and Valentin made eye contact before they both dropped their heads low again. They circled around the other man as he shivered.

“Please,” he begged with his hands up. “Don’t kill me. I’ll tell you anything. Anything! Just don’t kill me.”

“Pathetic!” Kairos snapped as his jaw bit into the air. The vampire flinched and skirted away from him. He unfortunately ran into Valentin, who treated him with equal malice.

“Moonraiser, watch him,” Valentin ordered. “He could have valuable information about who did this. I’ll get Zora down.”

Kairos growled at the vampire, seemingly unhappy with how the tasks had been divvied up. Valentin, however, walked over to the lever that was keeping me suspended in air. He shifted effortlessly back into his human form. He was wearing a plain long-sleeve shirt and trousers, seemingly off the clock as headmaster.

He pulled the lever gently and I winced as my skin pressed into the silver as gravity took me down. I slowly fell from above the scene and landed on the forest floor with my arms still bound behind me.

Valentin instantly ran over and cupped my face in his palms. “Oh, love,” he said softly. “I’m so sorry.”

His wrist collided with one of the chains and he hissed as he jerked away from me. Then he looked back at me and his eyes grew wide. I gave him the best smile I could muster.

“Wolfsbane,” I grunted. Then, I snorted. “Bane of my existence.”

“Gods, almighty,” Kairos hissed over Valentin’s shoulder.

Valentin said nothing in return. He pressed his hands into one of the chains and tried to peel them apart. He dented one but wound up with burns deep in his palms. He ran his fingers through his hair in frustration then grunted as it ghosted over his burns.

“Move,” Kairos barked.

I watched his wolf walk over from behind Valentin. He, too, shifted effortlessly. His eyes were pinned on mine for a second before he reached down and grasped the chain. He pulled once and it snapped down the middle. His palms also had burns, but I could tell they were worse from how the blood was pooling in his hands.

The two men gingerly unraveled me from the chains. I fell onto the floor as I became undone, my body aching and screaming in all the ways it’d been tormented. I was only there for a second as strong arms pulled me up.

My head his Kairos’s forearm as he rest me across his lap. Valentin sat across from me, lifting my arms and checking the blisters, etched into my skin. Then his hands went to my neck. He moved my blood-dried hair off my shoulder and immediately winced.

Kairos tipped his head down to look as well then went pale as a ghost. “Is that normally how they do that?” he grit out.

“No,” Valentin shook his head, and I felt his fingers press gently over my wound. “They used special knives. Ones forged in wolfsbane. They’re designed to bleed wolves. That’s why they’re still open wounds and why her body hasn’t healed them yet.”

Valentin looked up at Kairos. He frowned. “Where’s the Princess?”

“Dunno,” Kairos grunted. He gestured to me with his chin. “Got more important things here.”

Valentin nodded as if he understood. His hands were still checking my body. He looked back up at Kairos.

“Find the princess. We need to know her involvement,” he tipped his head back down and put his hands under my neck and thighs. “Plus, our prisoner has run off.”

“Fuck,” Kairos swore as he transferred me to Valentin. He pressed one hand on my thigh. A warmth spread over my body that disappeared as soon as his hand left. I almost cried out at the lack of touch but I bit my lip to stifle it. Kairos gave me another look, his dark gold eyes blown so wide they were nearly black.

He gave Valentin a curt nod before he shifted and darted into the brush. Then, it was just the two of us.

Valentin was still working on my body, turning each limb in his hand to assess the damage. I slowly brought my hand up. It was blistered all off my wrist but I still couldn’t believe Valentin was there. I needed to touch him to be sure. My fingers grazed his cheek.

“I—”

“Save your energy, love,” he said, softly. He gently pulled my hand back down and tucked it over my ribcage. “You need it to heal those wounds.”

Then he stopped shortly. He ran a hand over the part of my thigh that had been bleeding. “You’ve healed,” he stated, shocked.

“What?” I mumbled. I looked down, expecting to find a gash where the vampires had sliced me open. Instead, all I saw was dried blood. Then, I remembered the warmth there. I dropped my head back to rest on Valentin’s arm.

“Kairos,” I said softly.

“What?” Valentin gasped. “He healed you?”

I could only hum, eyes slipping closed and breaths becoming deep.

“He can’t have,” Valentin whispered to himself. “These wounds can only be healed by—”

I didn’t get the end of his sentence. It slowly faded to a ringing. Then, everything around us swirled into a deep, dark blackness. The pain was lifted as I passed out.