The Wolf Princess

Horror growing, she stared at her sire. “But—”

Expression regal, he held up his hand to stave off her interruption. “I haven’t finished. This is an honor, both to our country and to our family name. If by studying you, he can determine how you do what you do, your name will go down in history.”

“Studying me?” she asked faintly.

“Yes. Dr. Streib has requested permission to do some tests, none of which, he’s assured me, are harmful to you in the slightest.”

“Tests?” Appalled and ashamed, she jumped to her feet. “I don’t believe this. Why would you even consider such a thing?”

“Because without tests, he can’t determine if his theory is correct.”

“These are non-invasive tests,” Dr. Streib hastened to reassure her, his voice still rolling over her like whiskey and honey. “I will not be cutting into you.”

“I should hope not.” Both furious and hurt, she shook her head at him before turning to glare at her parents. “Am I hearing this right? You want me to be this man’s guinea pig?”

“I wouldn’t put it quite like that,” Queen Ionna began.

“No? How would you put it, then? This is unbelievable. What’s next? Are we filming a reality show about life with the royals?” Snatching up her glass of wine, she took a long, deep drink.

“Now, Alisa. There’s no need to be ridiculous.”

Alisa nearly choked on her wine. “You find me ridiculous? Me? That’s rich. I refuse to let this man experiment on me. I want you to tell him to leave.”

Before either of her parents could speak, Dr. Streib pushed back his chair and stood, facing her. He was a very tall man, lean and lanky, wearing his rumpled clothing as though at home in his own body.

“Princess Alisa, I think you should reconsider. You could help lots of other shifters—hundreds of thousands of them, if not more—if you help us to find the secret to what you do.”

“Has it ever occurred to you that such a thing cannot be replicated?” she said. “You’re a doctor. More than a doctor. A neurosurgeon. Surely in your years of practice, you’ve come across things that cannot be explained. I believe my ability is like that. It just is. No amount of testing or studying is going to change that.”

“Stop being so selfish,” he said, his sensual mouth curling. He delivered this in such a smooth, even tone that it took her a second to realize she’d been insulted.

Then, while she was still gaping at his most recent rudeness, her father stood also, his expression thunderous.

“Enough. Alisa, you will be helping Dr. Streib.” King Leo sounded cool, since he knew full well if he ordered her to do something, it would be so.

“And, once he has formed a conclusion,” her father continued, “if he is able to make some sort of drug to enable others to do what you do so effortlessly, Dr. Streib has generously agreed to allow the manufacturing plant to be based in Teslinko.”

His stern gaze pinned her. “I know I don’t need to tell you what a boon this will be for both our economy and our people.”

And there he had her. If she refused—which, as the youngest female child and the second most spoiled after her younger brother Ruben, she still could, even though it’d mean a lengthy fight—she’d come out the bad guy.

And even then, there was a definite chance she’d probably still lose, as strange as they were acting. It didn’t help that her parents knew she was just as passionate about their people and their country as they were.

Defeated, she swallowed, forcing herself to think rationally. An opportunity such as this was too good to pass up, no matter the personal cost.

Besides, running a few tests shouldn’t take too awfully long. Dr. Streib would be merely a momentary annoyance, that’s all. But still …

“Let me see if I have this right,” she said slowly, eyeing her father. “You want me to be this man’s experimental lab rat in exchange for a possible promised factory? Even though there’s a distinct possibility that he may never find the secret and even be able to make the medicine he’s aiming for?”

Both King Leo and Queen Ionna looked at the doctor.

Instead of responding, Dr. Streib continued to watch her, the blasted dark glasses still hiding his eyes.

“Fine.” Alisa exhaled when it seemed no one else would comment. “How long is this going to take?”

“Not forever,” her father hastened to reassure her. “I’ve put a time limitation on this.”

“How long?”

“He has one month, no more. If after two fortnights he doesn’t have his answer, he will have to go back to the United States empty-handed.”

Now would have been the time to chime in, but still Dr. Streib remained silent, his sunglasses hiding his eyes. Her resentment toward those soulless dark glasses of his increased by the minute.

“If he fails and, as I’ve said all along, discovers that I am perfectly normal in every way, what then?” she asked. “How will we be compensated for my time?”

Now Dr. Streib chose to interject. Now, when she’d been talking to her parents rather than him. “What will you get out of it? You’ll have been given a chance to help your people. You’ll know you gave it your best shot.”

Again, one corner of his well-shaped mouth twisted in what could have been either the beginnings of a smile or of a sneer. “What more can a royal princess ask for?”

Biting back her immediate surge of anger at his sarcasm, she made her tone icy. “Actually, I wasn’t asking you. I was speaking to my father.”

If she’d expected him to feel intimidated, she was wrong. Instead, he tilted his head and eyed her the way he might have studied a small, poisonous insect before crushing it under the heel of his boot.

“Are you really going to continue these objections?” he asked. “While you are a princess, you aren’t even the next in line for the throne. Your time isn’t all that valuable.”

Stifling a gasp, she eyed her mother and father, noted that they were watching with amusement plain on their aristocratic faces, and felt a flush of shame.

Shame? Really? Swallowing, she lifted her chin. She, who prided herself on her sharp intellect and emotionless demeanor, would not lose her cool. She hadn’t since she’d been thirteen. Now twenty-four, she took a sort of grim pleasure in her reputation as the princess who got the brains rather than the beauty.

“For the last time, this is a private matter between my family and me,” she said evenly. “Please, stay out of it. And,” she added for good measure, “why don’t you take those sunglasses off? There’s no need to wear them inside the palace. The light is not even all that bright, especially in this room.”

Staring hard at him, daring him, she ignored her mother’s wordless sound of dismay and her father’s muffled protest. Instead, she continued to watch the doctor, curious as to how he would react.

“Take the sunglasses off,” she repeated, waiting, watching as his hand came up and he slowly, finally removed the dark glasses.

The instant he did, her world shifted on its axis as she realized she’d been more than insensitive.

First, the sunglasses weren’t a fashion statement or an attempt to be cool or rude or any of the things she’d initially suspected.

Dr. Streib was blind. He’d been covering up his beautiful, sightless eyes.

Yet he was Pack. She could see his aura. How could he be blind? This wouldn’t be possible if he was a full-blooded shifter. Full shifters healed rapidly from any injury except fire and iron.

Which meant he had to be Halfling, part human. They did not always heal from their injuries so easily.

Still, with all his resources, why hadn’t he sought the help of a healer? She’d heard one existed in the United States, living in Texas. The woman, Samantha something-or-other, had been hailed as a miracle when her remarkable abilities to heal Halflings had been discovered.

But his blindness and his Halfling status weren’t the only things she recognized now that she could get a good look at his face. Oh, no. The man standing before her with barely curbed impatience twisting the corner of his sensual mouth was someone she’d been waiting to meet most of her life.