The Crown's Entrapment

As soon as Darius finally slowed down his pace, Xenia felt her breath come back.

She heaved a sigh of relief. She had been unused to the blistering speeds the King had run with, his wolf form being so fast that she had felt dizzy after only a brief sprint.

Still, she could sense that something was wrong with the general area, which was the reason why Darius ran like that in the first place. But as much as she wanted to learn what was amiss, he was in his wolf form.

As such, there was no way that she could communicate with him. Instead, she had no choice but to grab onto his fur for dear life.

The King refused to stop running, though he had considerably slowed down already after the danger had seemingly passed. Even so, Xenia didn't dare interrupt him. After all, him running at high speeds also meant that they could arrive at their destination earlier than scheduled.

Some time had passed, and Xenia no longer knew how long and far they had been traveling. However, she did know that it had been a while, seeing as she already felt so exhausted and hungry.

By the time Darius finally stopped and bent down, the incognito princess let out a sigh of relief. It was the cue for her to step down from the wolf, but Xenia made sure to fix her wig first before doing so.

Even while exhausted and weakened with hunger, she had no plans for her disguise to be blown, especially now that Darius seemed highly suspicious of her already.

'Hah! His wolf could probably smell something on me. But there's no way for him to prove anything unless he strips me. Surely he wouldn't do that, would he?' Xenia apprehensively thought, but she was quickly snapped back to reality upon hearing Darius growl at her.

'Impatient wolf!'

Mentally barking back at the stubborn King, she quickly disembarked from his back. As soon as her feet touched the ground, she immediately filled her lungs with air as she readied herself for the next improbable thing that could happen to her interesting life…

And lo and behold, that thing was the King shifting back into his human form. It was just as embarrassing as last time, but unlike before, she fully faced him this time, her eyes keenly staring at the wolf before him as she readied his clothes.

'Bring it on!'

Psyching herself up, Xenia mentally challenged the coming trial with a sharp gaze aimed towards Darius. So what if she'd get a full view of him shifting back into his human form completely naked?

Maybe as soon as she managed to not even bat an eye, Darius would finally stop being curious about her gender. He was just probably trying to find out more about her because of his wolf's instincts.

Then again, such a hypothesis would have no way of being confirmed other than having her clothes completely stripped off her body!

***

Darius almost found his eyes going back to the ground when his gaze met with Xen's, whose sharp and piercing eyes were peculiarly fixed in his general direction. He gulped as he quietly murmured, "What's with the intense stare?"

Meanwhile, his wolf Zeus was laughing at his misfortune. It seemed amused with how Xen was keenly staring at him like she was about to scale a mountain.

[What are you waiting for, you dumbass?! Can't you see how she's already waiting for you to show her your naked body?] Zeus barked out.

[Why don't you give her the honor of feasting her eyes on your majestic body?! Hurry before she changes her mind and suddenly turns around away from you!] the wolf teased, unable to hide his amusement with the two's constant bickering.

To his own surprise, Darius, for the first time in his life, suddenly felt so conscious about his next move that he took his time in deciding what to do. Seeing the unusual dilemma, Zeus burst out in yet another fit of laughter.

Darius groaned in annoyance as he suddenly shapeshifted into his human form to stop Zeus from talking and teasing him.

***

As the King began his transformation, Xenia bit her inner cheek hard as she braved the front-row view of how Darius changed back into his human form. It was the first time she had an utterly detailed view of it unfolding before her eyes.

In some ways, it was a much closer view than she had anticipated, her lips parting unknowingly while her eyes were fixated on Darius.

It was mesmerizing. The whole process played out in such a way that she could no longer take her eyes off him. Before she even knew what was happening, the King was completely naked before her, her eyes barely managing to blink as soon as she realized what was currently in front of…

'Oh my…'

To his credit, the King undeniably had the most astounding body she had ever seen. She swallowed a bit of her own courage as her inner thoughts slapped her back to reality.

'And since when have you seen a naked man before? This is your first time seeing one in full view, Xenia.'

The princess mentally shook her head. It was true… Maybe there would be other men that could beat Darius's perfectly toned muscles. And as her eyes unconsciously wandered towards the lower part of his body, her eyes widened as a mad blush appeared on her face.

The King held a wide smile on his face as he amusingly prompted, "Are you comparing your size to mine, Xen? I'm sure yours is comparable."

At his insinuation, Xenia snapped herself back to reality as she quickly focused her gaze on his face with an amused facade of a smirk.

Inwardly, she gulped, unable to find the right words to slap away the King's insinuation. She was too flabbergasted at the ridiculousness of the situation before her, not to mention how she was still burning red from embarrassment.

"Cover yourself up already, Your Majesty. It seems inappropriate for that thing of yours to stand at full mast even when there's no woman around. Mine can only do so in the face of a true beauty…" Xenia bravely scoffed.