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Chapter one

I t looks like I have died. My flat is cold, dark and gloomy. Everything is covered in dust sheets or packed away. It is no longer a home, it is merely a space.

Not that it ever really was my home. It was Cooper Evan’s. A persona I was playing. Nerdy coder geek. Working unobtrusively at the British headquarters of a huge Chinese tech firm.

Now he has abruptly decided to retire to Australia having fully embraced the FIRE way of life. Spending nothing, investing nearly all your income, all in order to be able to retire in your thirties.

I can’t imagine what Cooper Evan’s would do in retirement. Stay at home playing computer games, is all I can think of.

My heavy sigh echoes around the lifeless room. What Cooper would or would not do, is no longer a problem. He no longer exists. Today I start a new mission and a new persona.

I remember when that used to excite me. I’d be thrumming. Buzzing with the possibilities, the adventure. Now, I just feel tired. Maybe it is time to retire for real.

After this mission, perhaps. Infiltrating our fey invaders is important work, and I am honoured to be chosen.

With one last glance around, I turn off the light and shut the door on my old life. Time to start anew.

Less than an hour later, I’m strolling down a leafy avenue on my way to a coffee shop and a date. I am no longer a tech nerd, I am a Namaste dude. Complete with a man bun and yoga pants. A confident smile and no glasses. Thank fuck. It feels so freeing to not have anything on my face. Ironic, because in an hour, if everything goes to plan, I’m going to be enslaved.

I smile and make eye contact with a woman passing me on the pavement. She smiles back warmly and for a moment, it is startling. Nobody ever smiled at Cooper. Not that he looked at people much. He slouched and kept his head down.

It is still a fascinating display of human behaviour. I have the same face, the same body. All I’ve done is change my clothes and my attitude, and voila! I’m being treated completely differently.

As if to prove my point, as soon as I go to cross the road, a red car stops and waves me across. I hold my hand up in thanks and jog over. Cooper would have been stuck there for ages. Damn, I hadn’t realised just how much I had missed pretty privilege. I’m going to enjoy being liked. Being noticed.

I reach the coffee shop and find the female agent sitting outside with a K9, a very adorable German Shepard. I hurry up to them, fuss over the dog, kiss the woman on the cheek, and take my seat. The sun is shining and it is a lovely spring day in the heart of London.

My date smiles at me, and I see genuine attraction in her blue eyes. It is a little startling. Am I really good-looking enough to distract a professional? Maybe it is the yoga pants. They probably don’t leave much to the imagination. Otherwise, I guess I do hit a fair few of the conventional standards. Tall, with an athletic build. And since my father was Jamaican, I definitely tick the dark-haired, dark-eyed box that appeals to a lot of people. Add in the Nordic features that I inherited from my white mother, and it appears to be a combination that appeals to most people.

It seems not even highly trained agents are immune to it. But Sophie, as she is currently called, doesn’t let it distract her for long. We both seamlessly fall into our roles. Two moderately successful thirty-something year-old Londoners on a first date after meeting on Hinge .

The bustle of an inner city buzzes around us. People going about their days. It has been over a year since the fey conquered us and I’m still surprised how quickly everything returned to relative normality. Looking at the scene around me, it is impossible to tell that anything has changed.

I’m not going to let it fool me. This benevolent overlords act isn’t going to last forever, and even if it does, I still don’t want my people to be ruled by an alien race. No matter how nice they are.

“Shall we go for a walk in Hyde Park?” says Sophie.

Her words make me jolt. I was expecting them, it is part of the script we were given. But for some reason, it has fired off an uncharacteristic bout of nerves.

Grinning, I reply, “I’d love that.”

Together we stand, weave our way out of the tables and set off for the park. I can feel myself jittering and I don’t think it is from the coffee. Sophie flashes me a quick, discreet, sympathetic glance. I’m about to be captured by the fey. Claimed as a pet. It is dangerous. It is degrading. It’s daring. She’s letting me know it is totally acceptable to be apprehensive about it. Only a robot wouldn’t be.

I take a deep, calming breath in through my nose and centre myself. A little bit of nerves are only natural, but too many are detrimental. It affects the ability to concentrate, and that’s when mistakes happen. And in this line of work, mistakes are deadly.

As we step into the enormous park, I shiver. Though that could just be the biting wind. Despite the sunshine, it is still early in the year and yoga pants don’t exactly give much protection.

Sophie falls quiet. I think it’s fine. There is nobody close enough to see if we are talking. Besides, walking in silence while a dog bounds ahead sniffing at everything, is normal behaviour.

Slowly, but steadily, we make our way over to the oddly named Rotten Row. A wide sandy path lined by majestic trees. The place where English nobility used to strut about in regency times .

The sound of softly jingling bells makes the hairs on the back of my neck rise. He is here. The fey prince who wants to be king. The one willing to overthrow his brother and give humans far more power in their own affairs. The man who is going to make me a slave.

My body turns towards its fate. As inevitable as the tide. A comet pulled into endless orbit.

At first, all my attention is taken by the horse-like beast. It is as dark as shadows, but with flame red eyes. Impossibly tall. Cloven hooves and wicked sharp horns.

Eventually, my gaze finds its way upwards. To the man riding the nightmare creature.

His golden hair dazzles like the sun. Short and choppy, just long enough to curl around pale pointed ears and the base of proud antlers. His skin is as pale as snow. His features sharp. His clothes are exquisite robes of pure white and captured sunlight. He looks like a sun god.

Dimly, I’m aware of his retinue of guards trailing behind him, but they seem insignificant next to their prince. He has captured all of my attention. I am mesmerised.

Sophie whispers a command to the K9 and the dog streaks away from us. It runs up to the hell beast and barks and nips. That dog is a million times braver than I am.

The demon-horse rears up, sharp hooves pawing at the pale blue sky. The prince keeps his seat with immaculate ease. He runs a gloved hand over the beast’s neck and it returns its hooves to the ground, narrowly missing the dog’s skull.

I run forward, grab a hold of the dog’s harness and pull him away to safety.

“You!” snaps the prince in a voice of ice. “You dare to insult me?”

Sophie is by my side. She places a leash on the K9 and the pair scurry away to safety. Lucky bastards.

I swallow and look up at the fey prince. “I…I didn’t mean to.” It is not hard at all to sound terrified .

Golden cat-slitted eyes narrow. “You attacked me.”

Bloody hell. He is either damn good at acting or he is genuinely pissed off.

“I…um…the dog…” I stammer.

“Was under your control?” Snide condescension drips from the prince’s every word.

My lungs stutter as I try to remember how to breathe. Okay. Remember my role. A brave man protecting a woman by taking the blame.

“Yes,” I say clearly as I lift up my chin. “I’m so sorry. It won’t happen again.”

The prince’s lips narrow into a thin line. “Your animal attacked me. You tried to unseat me. I demand recompense.”

Another deep breath. “It was an accident with no harm done.”

Silently, the prince’s guards urge their mounts forward until I’m circled. Trapped. Surrounded.

“Pledge your firstborn to me and I will forgive you,” says the prince as if he invented haughty.

“Hell no!” my reaction is visceral. As if this isn’t all an act, as if he truly is asking for my future child. The thought of giving a helpless baby to these monsters is abhorrent.

Strange golden eyes flicker. Almost as if he is offended by my horror.

“What is your name?”

My mind balks for a dizzying moment. I have been told I have to give my real name, but it feels so wrong. So strange. It has been a long, long time since I have even thought about the name I was born with.

“Ethan McAllen,” I say and the wobble in my voice is not at all fake.

The prince peers down at me. “Very well, Ethan McAllen, you may pay for your crimes with your body.”

I stare up at him helplessly. My feet feel rooted to the spot. I have a distinct feeling that despite all my combat training, if I wanted to back out right now and leave, I couldn’t. It is making me feel sick. Every mission has a moment of no return. I always notice it, acknowledge it, and then choose to pass it. Missing it completely is disorientating as well as terrifying as hell.

“I, Prince Llywelyn Y Mabinogi, claim Ethan McAllen as my pet.”

The words jolt through me, each one landing like a punch. Oh fuck. There really is no backing out now. I suck in a breath and try to find my calm.

Here goes nothing.