Once Lost Lords (Royal Scales, Book 1) by Stephan Morse

the bathroom. In passing, I may have suggested she hold
it and turn around. The teen must have realized this was a bad area
and decided to do just that. It helped that I filled a good chunk of
the tiny hallway on my own.
    A set of side alleys later and I was home free. Nothing in sight, no
Daniel, no unwanted followers, only me and the streets. I hefted my
duffle bag and hiked onward, one hand fiddling with the lipstick
tube. Twisted threads of energy connected from here to him. Elven
cords always resembled pureed crayons.
    Mine.
    Darkness claimed the landscape by the time I reached the tree line.
Even after that I kept going. Answers and money pulled me forth.
Hell, only a portion would be fine. Daniel could use it for his
wedding. He probably needed to shell out tons to afford the wedding
this girl deserved. I smiled thinking about it. Crummy had a girl.
How cute.
    Moonlight littered the forest floor. The trees around made a noise
like laughter at my slow speeds. Reaching the clearing from my vision
with the elf had taken hours. I set about bunking down for sleep.
This wouldn't be my first camping trip outdoors and probably wouldn't
be the last. My back propped up against the base of the tree and both
eyes sunk downward. Sleeping away from home was difficult but
possible.
    A few hours would do me, then I could get back to tracking. Morning
would come and I could go from there. One hand scratched an arm
absently as darkness blanketed my thoughts.

Chapter 5 – One of the Perks

    Waking up is never an easy process. Prior examples include banging
doors, general yelling, angry ex-girlfriend, and finally something
new.
    A hand smacked me on the side of the head. I didn’t react well.
Before I was fully aware, my fingers had curled around a solid mass
of muscle. Incoherent snarls came forth matching an echo of noises
behind me.
    Blinking rapidly only gave me a few glimpses of my surroundings.
Trees. People. Fur. Everything was blurry while both eyes kept
crossing. Seconds passed as the situation started to register. In my
grasp was the neck of a male I had never met. Somehow the two of us
were standing up with him pressed against the tree. He was growling.
Veins in his neck were popping as the man tried to force a shift.
    Momentary confusion is too long when dealing with wolves. The other
man flashed his arms quickly. One broke the hold I didn’t even
know I could do. His other arm punching me in the gut with excessive
force.
    Sleep’s fogginess delayed my normal reaction. Instead of
tensing for the punch, I doubled over and stumbled backward, falling.
As soon as I touched the ground a large set of fangs snapped in my
face. Panic flooded me as I moved to defend myself using a method so
amazingly stupid that it worked.
    Both arms latched around the wolf’s neck. My face buried in
muscle and fur. A sharp breath caused my gut to clench in pain, I
used that and tensed inward, knifing my knee into the wolf’s
groin. Then a second swing, and a third before shoving the clawing
wolf off into his pack mates.
    There was enough room to scramble backward and get on both feet. Pain
in my belly and legs made standing tall difficult. I reached a hand
back in search of solid rear cover. Anything to limit the circle
forming around me. My mind needed space to eliminate the flotsam
thoughts and focus on the important things. Such as, what in the hell
was going on?
    To the left, there were at least three other wolves, large angry
creatures that made normal canines look tiny. On my right were
another two. Near them was a naked human digging through a duffle. My
duffle. A snarl flashed across my face, at the circling wolves, at
the man desecrating my belongings.
    Maybe I was delirious. Dreaming. I shook my head trying to jumble
things together. To calm down and make sure this whole situation
wasn’t a fabrication. The hand shuffling around my belongings
wasn’t an illusion. I could feel calloused hands violating each
item. Like those unwelcome