Page 11 of Blue Blood Wolf (Big Wolf on Campus #6)

EPILOGUE: STACIA

F uture Princess of Bashkiria. I still couldn’t believe it. That so wasn’t me. I wasn’t sure I even could be.

Sure, every little girl hopes to meet Prince Charming and have him whisk her off to the big, beautiful castle, but that’s not real. There are rules that govern who royals can and cannot marry. I should know, I’d studied them. Being pre-law had to come in handy sometime.

While I was ready to go to Yale Law on a full-ride scholarship in the fall, what I apparently wasn’t good at was investigations. I couldn’t believe I hadn’t recognized Bash as Ruslan Bashkir. But now I totally understood how Clark Kent had fooled Lois Lane. Those glasses, man.

I practically vibrated through the rest of the impromptu press conference and then Bash’s speech about how our generation needed to get involved in global political reform. That wasn’t what he’d been scheduled to talk about and god, I found his smarts super sexy. Why didn’t he let people see this side of him more often instead of the bachelor playboy from Bashkortostan? Though I understood why he kept the whole werewolf thing out of the tabloids.

Charlize and Hunter sat me down after the whole library showdown and had given me a talk that they called ‘Werewolf Mates 101’, and I owed them big time for that. It was nice to know I wasn’t going crazy, or that if I was, at least I was in good company.

After the show, the royal guards rushed us into a limo. I was seeing spots from all the flashes shoved in our faces on the sprint to the car. “I have definitely never had my picture taken that many times. I’m not looking forward to the horrific tabloid photos I know are coming.”

They were so going to focus on my chubby bum. Ack.

Bash took my hand and kissed it. “I would protect you from all of it if I could.”

The vulnerability he didn’t let the cameras see was back in his face now. “Love, I know I thrust you into the spotlight, and after I kept who I was a secret from you. Regardless, I want you to know I meant everything I said, everything we did. I am in love with you, but I will understand if this is all too much.”

“You think I’m going to back out now? Because of some bad pictures? No way, Ruslan. You’re stuck with me.” I couldn’t hold back my smile. My face and heart wouldn’t allow it.

“Say that again.” His voice was husky and sent shivers all the way down to my girly bit and right back up to my heart.

“What? That you’re stuck with me? You are.” I knew he wanted to talk about hiding his identity from me and all. I wasn’t going to hold that against him. I was mad for about a hot second. Mostly because I didn’t know if I was going to get to see him again. I got why he pretended to be a student. Duh. Our race to the car with all the cameras was proof of that. Royals had been hiding out as peasants for all time. There were whole books about it and everything.

His eyes went all dark, and he leaned in. “No. My name. Say it.”

Oh.

So hot.

“Make me, Prince Charming. You want to hear my name on your lips, make me say it.” I waggled my eyebrows at him.

Bash pushed the intercom to the driver. “Take us around the block a few times, Marcus.”

In no time at all, he had me half naked with his hand between my legs and my nipples begging to be sucked. “Holy cow, do that thing with your fingers again.”

He chuckled and lifted his head. “I told you I wanted to taste every bit of you. We were in a hurry the other night, but I intend on taking my time with you now.”

“Do you think we’ll ever make it to a bed?” I kind of hoped not. I loved how we were so hot and bothered for each other that we couldn’t even wait.

“Doubtful. It was hard enough to keep my hands off you when we were in front of the cameras.” He nibbled his way across my cleavage.

“That’s a great idea.” A plan to get the press on our side began forming in my head.

“I quite agree.” He licked my nipple in sync with the strokes of his thumb over my clit.

I completely lost my train of thought, the moment his face dipped between my thighs. I was selling all my stock in sex toys. Who needed them when they had a wolf shifter with a tongue that had all th right movees? It only took three trips around the block and his head between my legs before Bash got what he wanted. “Oh god, Ruslan, yes.”

When I was done coming on his tongue and crying out his name, I only wanted more. I pushed Bash onto the other seat and crawled onto his lap, straddling him. “More, Bash, I want all of you. I want the wolf, my prince.”

That gold flashed in his eyes again and he cupped my cheeks in his hands. “All of me, for all of you, sweet princess.”

Bash slid his hands down, down to my hips and guided me until his cock teased at my entrance. “You are mine, princess. Mine.”

Then he buried his face into the crook of my neck, and at the same time thrust up into me, filling me, so deliciously.

“And you’re mine. Now prove it.”

Bash knew exactly what I wanted. He thrust into me again and again, and at the same time sunk his fangs into the mark on my collarbone. I don’t know if I had a whole bunch of orgasms, or if it was one very, very long one.

Either way, it was perfect. I loved how every time made me feel claimed in all the best ways.

Bash came inside of me as the car stopped, but he held me tight, neither of us ready to move. “Where in the world did you learn to do that with your hips, love?”

“Porn.”

His mouth dropped open. “Umm. You weren’t a virgin our first time together?”

I giggled and rolled my eyes at him. “I’m not a porn star, your dorkness. I was kidding. But I read a lot of romance novels.”

He laughed, relieved. “I think you should lend me some of those books.”

I made a mental list in my head of the naughtiest ones starring princes to lend him. I swallowed hard and brought up the subject we’d so artfully avoided. “So what happens now? It’s not like we can just go get married. You’ve got rules you have to follow.”

“I do. I’ve already broken several. You have no idea.” He put his head back on the seat and sighed.

“I do have an idea.” In fact, I bet I knew as much about royal protocol as he did. “I’d planned on studying international law next year, and I’ve been following the royals for years. I know what we’re up against.”

Unless there were some special werewolf laws. But even those could be learned.

“I swear I’ll understand if you decide you don’t want to fight this battle with me. It’s not going to be easy, and you didn’t know what you were signing up for when we made love. The rules need to change if my country…and my people, both wolf and human have a future.” The same passion he had when he’d given his speech shined in his eyes.

That passion was a big part of what I loved about him, but not everything. Bash had given something to me that he didn’t share with anyone else. I didn’t mean his virginity either. He’d shared his real self with me. Even when he thought he was disguised, when I didn’t know who he really was, he was still real in his feelings and emotions. That meant more than anything else.

I squeezed his hand and gave him a soft kiss to his cheek. “Stop trying to give me an out, Ruslan Bashkir. You’ll make me worried that you don’t want us to happen.”

“No. Never.” He kissed me hard, showing me how he felt. The mark on my shoulder throbbed in time with my heart. When he broke the kiss, we were both back to breathing hard. He looked deep into my eyes. “I never believed in love at first sight. I thought it was fairy tale silliness. Except now I know that it isn’t. I am irrevocably besotted with you, Anastasia of Bay State University. Even if you don’t marry me, I have to make my country and my government move toward the future so as not to hold onto the worst parts of our past. I want to do that with you by my side. I’m all in, if you’ll have me.”

I climbed onto his lap, straddling his thighs. “I’m going to have you for a long time, and I would very much like you to be all in. I do believe in fairy tales and I love you.”

Bash pushed the button for the intercom. “Around the block a few more times please, Marcus. My future princess and I have some... fairy tale stories to tell each other.”

Volkov Abbey, Bashkiria

Christmas Day, three years later

“Princess Anastasia, over here, smile!”

Stacia’s face broke into a huge grin. She did what she called her patented princess wave to the waiting crowds and paparazzi. Elbow, elbow, wrist, wrist, wrist. She winked at the closest of the press. “Oh goodness. I’ll never get used to hearing that. I’ve only been Her Royal Highness Princess Anastasia Bashkir for, let’s see, nine minutes, and forty-seven seconds.”

The crowd nearest laughed. She had every single one of them charmed. Since the day I asked her to marry me in front of half her university, she’d insisted on making friends with the press and letting them see almost every bit of our romance. All but the naughtiest bits.

At first the paparazzi had a field day following us around, but when she made it clear she was hiding nothing from them and they had all access, most had given up the chase. Every once in a while, one or two would pop up, especially on my trips to Yale to visit her. They got bored fast when we spent our time talking about economic reforms and Bashkirian inheritance law.

We needed every minute of her years in law school to get enough of the country on our side to have the legislature amend the Royal Marriages Act and the Act of Settlement to allow us to even get permission to marry. It helped immensely to have my mother campaign on my side.

I could hardly believe we were finally wed. I also couldn’t believe that, with all the rules we’d broken, the one she’d wanted to adhere to was that we couldn’t see each other on the night before our wedding. A formal dinner yesterday with the king and queen and Stacia’s father was the last I’d gotten to see of her until today when she’d walked down the aisle.

I’d never admit how hard my cock had gone under my dress uniform when I first saw her in that gown. Thank god for heavy zippers.

“Princess.” Another reporter, who called out her moniker with derision, held a microphone toward her face. We’d won over most of the world, but there were still holdouts who didn’t like our future-forward stance on the way we intended to rule the country. This wanker was at the top of the list when it came to our opponents. I was sure he wasn’t invited to be a part of the press corps covering our wedding. Mostly because I’d like to punch him in the face.“Don’t you think getting your law degree is now wasted time since you’ll be nothing more than Prince Ruslan’s wife after today?” He thought he was setting my Anastasia up for a fall.

She paused and put on her press smile. He was in for it now. I stood back to enjoy the show. “Only if you also think my time spent advocating for literacy, the pro bono work I do for the Bashkortostan orphanages, the economic proposal we just had passed in the legislature, and the way I talked your mom into putting nothing more than coal in your stocking today is a waste of my time.”

Ha-ha. Burn, as Stacia liked to say. The crowd around the wanker chuckled and he slunk away. I’m sure we’d be hearing that sound bite on the news for weeks. Totally worth it.

We’d each arrived at the abbey in open carriages even though it was snowing, so all the adoring fans and onlookers could see their fill of us. But I’d insisted on a limo with darkly tinted windows for the ride to the wedding breakfast. I knew full-well that one kiss wouldn’t be enough today.

We finally made it into the waiting car, although it took a full three minutes to get her gown’s train and veil inside with us.

I huffed at the material and the way she was sat on the opposite side of the car from me because of all the material. “Love, I had every intention of making you come at least twice on the way to the wedding breakfast, but I don’t think I can even find you under all this marshmallow fluff.”

“I know, right? I do love a man in uniform, but I can’t wait to get you out of it. Although I might make you put your fancy cap back on when we’re in the bedroom. Rawr.”

Christ. Now that we were married, her belly would be round with my child in no time. But it wasn’t going to happen in the next fifteen minutes. There was no way into her panties. I simply couldn’t get there from here. “Can’t we skip the brunch and go straight to the honeymoon?”

“No. We promised your mother we would do this by the book.”

Damn. We had promised. I was already pushing it with this limo ride.

“But that doesn’t mean I don’t have some good old-fashioned American ingenuity up my sleeve.” The sound of material ripping filled the car and Stacia crawled out of the giant skirt and across the seat to me in only her bodice top and a very sexy pair of white lace panties to match.

“Holy fuck, did you just rip your dress to get with me?” Not that I minded, but as brash of an American as she was, she couldn’t walk into our reception without her skirt.

“It’s Velcro. Easy in, easy out.” She tapped her head and winked. “And these are crotchless panties.”

Dear fates above, I loved this girl. My princess, the queen of my heart. I tapped the button for the intercom. “Marcus, take us around the block a few times.”

We didn’t arrive at the wedding breakfast for seventeen turns around the block.

Thank you for reading Blue Blood Wolf !

For more wolf shifters, start the Alpha Wolves Want Curves series with book one, Dirty Wolf !