Into The Wild ~ Book 3 ~ The Royal Blood Collection

Protect My Love

A day is all that it takes for Otanawa's world to be turned upside down.

Her uncle sends her to province three with the mission to cross the bridge into the wilderness beyond Rivarno Diablis and make contact with the betas. Knowing the issues that she will face, Alaric sends a guardian to watch over Otanawa and ensure that she is kept safe.

Captain Harper is a soldier that lives his life by the rule book and believes that he's faced with a pampered princess who thinks it's going to be a holiday with her lady in waiting at her beck and call. He's not prepared to put up with it and certainly will not accept anything that would put her life at risk. His requirements and her demands stoke the fire, creating a lot of tension between the two.

Otanawa seeks the answers to the questions about her past and in exposing the truth, she puts herself in danger. Her guardian vowed his life to protect Otanawa and does his duty to the king, keeping her safe. Little does he realize that the real problem has been hiding right in front of them, watching and waiting for the opportune time to strike.

Chapter 1 ~

The sound of a baby's cry woke me, making me jump with fright. At first, I could not recognize where I was. The warm, muted light didn't seem familiar to me.

"My lady, are you alright?"

Frowning, I turned to the sound of her voice.

"Yes, thank you."

Farren gave a smile as she stood from the edge of my coffin. I was not used to this situation, even after a month of being here. Yes, my parents and my entire family were vampires and slept in coffins but I was not a vampire. I was something else.

The only one who could relate to me easily was my aunt Emmeline. She was the same as me. The vampires didn't have a name for us yet, we were a new creature that had surfaced just after the humans ripped a gouge in the land. Their attempt at getting away from the vampires had failed.

That gorge was nothing to the creatures, though I had not done anything more than look at it. There were two types that the vampires had seen, alphas and betas. For a long time, they believed that the alphas were the males as they were large and wiry builds and the betas were females, short but powerful.

It was not the case, now proven that both creatures had males and females. So, that meant that there were two types of unknown creatures. As for the betas, they could jump the gorge. To me, it seemed unrealistic until I saw it. The video was taken at a distance but it was enough to prove that nothing would stop them.

And that's how come there were betas on this side of the gorge. Emmeline was born here, her mother died shortly after her birth and she was put into an orphanage. Little old me, my mother jumped the gorge to escape an alpha. I was bundled to her chest as she risked our lives to get away. When she reached the other side, the man that would become my adoptive father watched as she climbed the brick wall and handed me over to him. She knew that she was dying and in her final moments, she spoke one word to him. Otanawa. It's the name that they gave me but for all they knew, it could mean that I was an annoyance or that it meant keep her safe. No one knew because we did not speak the language.

I called them my parents, they'd taken me in and loved me from the very first moment. As a bonus, it's been a very good life. Aside from their love and constant support, we also happen to be royalty. I had no claim to the throne which was just as well, I didn't want the damned thing. My mother's older brother, a twin no less, happened to be king. He's been in power for a long time now and so far, it's been good.