Jacob (15 page)

Jacob looked up from his seat beside Isabella, his hand stilling midstroke through her hair, the pads of his fingertips nestled in the softer-than-silk strands that so attracted him. He had not moved fast enough, and she had fallen hard. His opposite hand was pressing a cloth to a cut on her forehead, trying to stem the blood that continued to seep from it.

“I know how it is going to affect you,” Noah responded from his position by the window, his gaze trained on the landscape of the ocean just outside. “I know it explains why you haven’t been able to resist her.”

“We could be wrong.” Jacob picked up a thick strand of the sleek sable hair, rubbing it between his fingers. “She is so small and so young. How can she possibly be meant to do what I do?”

“She is not even trained, and yet she tracked Saul. Killed him,” the monarch pointed out.

“More accident than anything,” Jacob retorted.

“Then explain what happened with Elijah.”

Jacob couldn’t, and Noah knew it. Elijah was a centuries-old, seasoned warrior, leader of an army of Demons who dedicated their lives to the art of war and defense. He was powerful, just as prevailing in his elected duties as Jacob was in his. And yet...

“I cannot explain it,” he admitted reluctantly.

“She was protecting you,” Noah pointed out with infuriatingly quiet wisdom and matter-of-fact calm. “Out of instinct. Just like a she-wolf will protect her mate.”

“Noah, she is a
human being
! Everything I have been raised to believe for hundreds of years tells me that I cannot be her mate, and she cannot be mine! I will hurt her! Hell, I already have!” Jacob curled his long fingers into her velvety hair, clenching thick strands between his knuckles in anger. Speaking the understanding aloud shredded at his conscience and heart like hundreds of superfine blades.

“Have you... ?”

“No! Of course not! I already told you, I am terrified I will hurt her. Besides, if things had gone that far, don’t you think Elijah, Legna, or you would have come crashing down on me?”

“No one interrupted your interlude in the vaults yesterday,” Noah pointed out.

Jacob narrowed dangerous eyes on the Demon King.

“You knew.”

It was a statement, not a question. The question was unspoken, and they both knew what it was. “After the fact,” he assured him. “I trust you did the right thing, Jacob. You are Enforcer, after all.”

“I
barely
did the right thing, Noah.” Jacob’s voice was low and his eyes shot daggers of black fire. “I cannot explain to you the intensity... ” Jacob had to clear his throat of a hoarse hitch. “When she is close, if she so much as looks at me from below her lashes, or if she smiles... ” Noah could hear the distinct sound of the Enforcer’s back teeth grinding shortly against each other. “I no longer know myself. I no longer know what is right.”

“Well, it happens that if we are interpreting this prophecy correctly, the right thing would have been to take her.”

“Damn you, how can you be so casual about this!” Jacob roared, lurching to his feet and advancing on the King. “You would so easily use her for an experiment of such magnitude? Use me? Knowing it could very well kill her and damn me for the rest of my life?”

“Better the two of you than our entire race,” Noah countered. Then quickly, before Jacob could speak, “I say that as the ruler of a great many people, Jacob. It is the kind of choice I have been destined to make. The welfare of the many, weighed against the welfare of the one—or in this case, two. And do not glare at me with your condemnation, Enforcer. You make the very same choices every time you punish one of us for straying. You made the same choice when you told Myrrh-Ann you would seek out Saul, knowing full well that no Demon has ever been rescued from a Summoning intact and that you would be forced to kill him.”

Jacob knew Noah spoke the truth, but that didn’t make it sit any better on his conscience. Somehow, Isabella’s well-being was far more personal to him, as well as far more important. She was innocent, in so many ways, and had never asked to become a part of their politics, or their salvation.

“As well as you know our taboos, Jacob, you know our belief in Destiny. If this is hers, there is nothing any of us can do about it,” Noah reminded him, lowering his voice to a soothing level. “You rebel, but I sense that in your heart, in your very soul, you already know that she is your match. She is your mate. She is the only woman of any race to ever inspire such loyalty in the Enforcer before me. She is the only human to ever tempt you, the Hallowed moon be damned. You have lived over half a millennium, Jacob, and now, in this moment, you are drawn for the first time, even to the point of going against everything you have been raised to believe in. She is yours, Jacob,” Noah said vehemently. “It is her destiny, and she is yours.”

“I will not hurt her. I will not force our prophecies on her.” Jacob walked stiffly back to the couch, once more tending her wound and stroking his fingers through her beguiling hair.

“You have no choice. If she were not human, I would accuse you both of being in the first stages of the Imprinting. The telepathic connection, the undeniable temptation to mate—”

“She
is
a human, Noah, and the Imprinting does not apply to her. It barely applies to us! There has not been an Imprinting for over two centuries, and just as long again before that. No matter how much you try to mold her into our ways, no matter how you try to manipulate me into easing my conscience, I will not let you win me over to your thinking and I will not force her!”

“It may seem that you have a choice,” Noah said patiently, “but you know Destiny finds a way. You will not force her, because you will not have to. No one is saying that you do. It will just happen.”

“I should have never brought her to our world.”

“You were meant to bring her.”

“I should have... I could have... ” Jacob choked on the frustration clawing at his throat, turning his head aside so Noah could not see the distress building smartly in his eyes.

“You are half in love with her already, are you not?” Noah quizzed gently, his sharp jade and gray eyes trained firmly on his friend.

“Do not presume to tell me how I feel! It is bad enough some ancient piece of paper attempts to do so,” Jacob barked back.

“Very well, I will let it go. There are other things to focus on, in any event. The introduction of these prophecies and histories into our culture will have powerful ramifications. It will also meet with great resistance. Look how strongly
you
resist, even when you long to find solace in any excuse to be with her. Imagine what fanatic purists like Ruth will do.”

The very idea sent a sensation of dread down Jacob’s spine. He finally turned his eyes onto Noah. “You are telling me that my personal life is nothing compared to how this other business is about to affect me,” he stated gravely.

“You are the Enforcer. There will be much chaos, Jacob. I will make it as easy on you as I can. I will start by telling the scholars, and then, in time, the Council.”

Jacob saw the wisdom in this course and realized very acutely in that moment why Noah was destined to lead them, and the rest of them destined to do service for him. With the scholars to support him, Noah could not be logically refuted, even by the most influential of Elders. With this surety, Noah could call on the warriors and the Enforcer to back him up in the event of dissent. The idea of the potential for civil unrest made Jacob’s stomach churn. He looked down at the pale little pixie next to him. Isabella had fallen from a window and had started a chain of events of impossible magnitude.

“Look at her carefully, old friend. That,” Noah said softly, “may very well be the face that launches a thousand ships.”

She felt gentle fingers slide over her cheek from behind her, a thumb rubbing her ear gently, a soothing voice shushing her.

“Hush. Easy, Bella. You are safe.”

She felt safe. As she woke further, she was aware of being tucked up like a spoon along the length of a comforting body, a heavy leg insinuated between her own from behind, a strong arm pillowing her head. She had never woken up beside a man in all of her life, but this sense of fitting perfectly, of warmth and protection, was always the way she imagined it would feel. They were in bed together, but the realization didn’t distress her. He hadn’t left her alone. He had kept her as close as he could, no doubt watching her every moment until he’d seen her stir.

“Jacob,” she murmured, turning her cheek into his touch, nuzzling affectionately.

“None other,” he assured.

She slid her hand over the sheets until her fingers laced with his. He clasped her readily, squeezing her fingers warmly.

“I am surprised you are not beating the hell out of me,” he observed.

“I’m still waking up. I’ll kick your ass later.”

Jacob buried his face in her hair, smiling. “Thank you for the warning.”

“Actually”—she turned her body until she had scooted around to face him, brown-black eyes to violet—“I think I’ll kick Noah’s ass. That would make me feel better.”

“Please do. It would make me feel better as well.” Jacob’s hand fell to her cheek again, his fingers drifting over the silky soft skin. His thumb reached to stroke her lower lip.

“Can you answer a question?”

“Why do we feel like we have known each other for ages, when in fact it has only been a few days?”

“Cheater,” she accused.

“Sorry. You have too open a mind for me to resist.”

“Is that an apology? It sounds more like a character assassination.”

“Do you want me to answer the question or debate the semantics of who should have asked it?”

“Does the answer have anything to do with prophecies and Destiny? Because if it does, I think I’ll have a very bad headache.”

“Actually,” he said, “I was going to lean toward the old-fashioned theory of chemistry.”

“Oh. Well, that sounds normal. Practically human, in fact.”

“Bite your tongue,” he rejoined, a twinkle of mischief flashing in his eyes.

“You first.”

He pulled his head back, a fudge-colored brow lifting in surprise. “Isabella, are you flirting with me?”

Isabella sighed dramatically. “Not too subtle, huh?”

Jacob laughed, unable to resist pulling her forehead to his lips and kissing her. He tucked her head under his chin and hugged her small body against his.

“I cannot figure you out, Bella. Just when you have every right to vigorously wash your hands of me and all of my kind, you do not. I cannot understand your reasoning, no matter how much I sneak into your mind.”

“Well,” she said thoughtfully, “I think it’s because every time I get upset, my rational mind comes barreling to the forefront, banishing emotion to a back burner. I start to think. I make sense out of your motivations, and I see reason in them. It kinda takes the fight out of a person when you realize you are all just struggling for survival and peace of mind the best way you know how.”

“Bella?”

“Mmm?”

“If you are destined to be for me, I would be the most fortunate creature on this planet.” He paused; something unpleasant was crossing his thoughts. “I do not know if you could say the same.”

Isabella lifted her head, drawing herself up on an elbow so she could look down into his face. She wondered if he realized that whenever she moved her head, his hands automatically followed, finding ways to touch her face and weave into her hair. “Why would you say such a terrible thing?”

An unreadable emotion shimmered across his pupils. She suspected he was filtering his response. She was beginning to realize he always thought very carefully before he spoke.

“I am just used to people feeling negatively toward me. I am considered a necessary evil.”

“Noah doesn’t see you that way at all,” she argued.

He thought about that for a moment and then nodded. “True. But I have never had to enforce Noah or his immediate family. Over the past four hundred years, mostly recent years, there is hardly a family who has not been somehow touched by the actions of the Enforcer. Punishment is a pretty severe business, and it is never forgotten. And do not ask me to go into details about it, because I will not. Suffice it to say it does not stand me in good stead with anyone.”

“And what about you? I mean, will someone punish you because... because of me?” It was clear by the worry in her wide eyes that the thought didn’t sit well at all.

Jacob didn’t answer right away. How could he? This was such new territory to everyone, how could he speak with conviction on anything? The realization disturbed him. He had lived his life with an undoubted clarity of purpose, even if that purpose caused him some discomforts. Now there was just confusion, mystery, and speculation.

“I honestly do not know, Bella,” he said softly, his disturbance at that confession written in his eyes. “And the deeper we go into this entire situation, the more I realize how little I truly know about things I once saw with perfect conviction. It is a hard thing for a man to come to grips with.”

“For a woman too,” she added, reminding him of how much this had turned her life over as well. “One day I am a librarian, the next, I’m a Demon hunter. Go figure.” He smiled when she rolled her eyes comically, but he knew there was a great deal of disturbance behind those flip words. “After hearing how your society looks on you and your position, I’m not sure I want to find out how they will react to a
human
”—she mocked Ruth perfectly on the word—“Enforcer.”

“There will be shock and dissent, I will not lie to you about that, little flower.” He stroked his thumb over her cheek soothingly as he spoke. “Nonetheless, I have faith in my community. We are intelligent, devoted to the idea of fate, and structured soundly on our philosophies and prophecies, however distasteful they can be to us. We will adapt.”

It wasn’t until he said it that he realized he meant it. Felt it. He also realized that he was now talking of the prophecy as a foregone conclusion. It startled him that it felt so much more natural to him to accept it than it had felt to argue it with Noah. The conviction must have come through, because he felt her relax. She unthinkingly rubbed her lips and nose into his palm as her brows drew down in thought. It was one of the things that he enjoyed about her, the way she mulled things over thoroughly and without prejudice. It was what made her so exceptional, and he didn’t need a prophecy to tell him that.

“Why would your people need two Enforcers? From what I gather, you do a fine job all on your own. You don’t need me.”

“That is not entirely true,” he remarked, his voice quiet and compelling. He did need her. He had needed her for a very long time. It was something he was only now beginning to understand. All the same, he couldn’t say the words aloud, couldn’t pressure her with his personal desires. If she chose this path, he didn’t want to be the reason why. At least, not the only reason.

When he didn’t elaborate any further, Isabella decided to let the matter drop for the moment. She didn’t see it the way he did yet, but perhaps in time she would.

“Do you think it’s true? Do you think I’m the one from the prophecy? And if so, can you tell me why you think it?”

“I thought I already did. It caused you to take a header into the floor, as I recall.” His voice was filled with regret over that fact, his fingertip touching the bandage that covered her cut.

Bella lifted her hand to the bandage and felt around. It was a little sore but not as painful as she would have expected. She tugged at the covering, not knowing how badly she had been cut. She pulled it off before Jacob’s protest could stop her.

Instantly, the air around them changed. It started with Jacob going very, very still, tension pulling his previously relaxed body into a hard wall of muscle. His eyes were trained on her face, and he was clearly holding his breath.

“What? Is it bad?” She went to touch, instinctively.

“It was. It was a bad cut, Bella.” He could barely speak. It was as if he could not say it aloud for fear it would make it untrue. “But it has healed. Except for a fresh scar and some bruising, your cut has healed.”

“Really? Jeez, how long was I out for?”

“Only a few hours.”

“Oh.” She drew her bottom lip between her teeth, nibbling it for a long minute as she looked into his darkly unsettled eyes. “This is significant to you, isn’t it?”

“Have you always healed this fast?”

“No, of course not. I heal like an average human being.”

“No longer,” he remarked. “Now you heal like one of us.”

“I do?”

He didn’t say another word. Instead, he reached for the buttons of her blouse, his long, dark fingers manipulating the soft satin with such ease that she was unbuttoned to just below her breasts before she could even blink. Then he reached for her collar, sliding the seams between his fingers as he pushed the material back and exposed the whole of her shoulder.

Jacob’s eyes, so black and so clearly haunted by his feelings, fell to the place where he had so purposefully marked her the day before. His thumb reached to slide over her pale, perfect skin, seeking for even the slightest bruise or ragged irregularity in the place he made his brutish mark upon her body.

“Yes, you do,” he observed at last, letting himself look back up into her expectant eyes.

“Why? How? Are you, like... contagious or something?”

“I do not think so,” Jacob said, a small smile appearing. “We have spent prolonged periods of time around humans for centuries and this has never happened.”

“Well, then maybe I’m not your average human.”

“This much I can vouch for with all certainty,” he said softly, reaching to kiss the newly healed spot on her shoulder.

“Flatterer,” she said, closing her eyes as his lips touched and lingered on her bare skin. She felt the kiss all the way through her body, her skin flaming and her breasts instantly aching at his nearness. “What I mean is,” she managed to say with a low and breathless voice she hardly recognized, “maybe I should do a genealogy chart and see if I have any Druid ancestors.”

“It would not be something you would find advertised, considering that your ancestors were probably hiding from us. This was not one of our more glorious moments in history, to punish and make extinct an entire race.” Jacob sighed, the sound reflecting the depth of his regret.

“Well,
you
didn’t do it, your ancestors did. All you can do is repair the mistake to the best of your ability. If your race is going to overcome the moon madness, you have to find Druids, however watered down they may be by now, and reintroduce them into your lives and culture. At least, that’s how I read it.”

“Noah sees it the same way,” Jacob agreed. “But that will mean bringing humans into our world, because it was apparently the humans they hid behind. That they bred with. If you are any example, I mean. If indeed you are a Druidic descendant.” Jacob closed his eyes then and groaned. He rolled back away from her, lying back on his pillow and reaching to rub the bridge of his nose as if he suddenly had a bad headache.

“What?”

“Bella, when this gets out... if the need for Druids is true and accepted... if humans are where the Druids hid, it is going to be like an open season on your race. Sweet Destiny, I can see it now. ‘But, Jacob, I thought she was a Druid.’ How the hell am I supposed to handle this?”

“Oh dear,” Isabella murmured, catching his drift quite clearly. Her heart ached to see him in distress. She could feel his alarm and concern for the future well-being of her race. “But, Jacob, what if nature has already compensated for that? With me.” Jacob turned his head to look at her, his fathomless eyes training on her with a mixture of slow understanding, as well as hope. “I have”—she cleared her throat of the emotions that she felt in response to those in his eyes—“I’ve come to help you, Jacob.”

Isabella felt within her spirit the powerful reaction he had to her words, to the understanding that such a truth could change him forever. She broke into a part of him she had never fully touched before, feeling the canyon of loneliness that had come with his long life. It stretched behind him, littered with the deaths of friends and family who couldn’t survive the enemies of their world, who had left him alone to the cold acceptance of being a pariah for his people. What was more, he had never fully shared his feelings about the depths of his isolation with anyone.

Isabella realized that no one knew. No one knew how lonely the Enforcer truly was, save herself, and she only because she could touch his mind. And now, as he faced what she was suggesting, he was devastated with fear for her. He did not want her to live the life he lived.

But Bella saw it differently. She felt a rush of delight and smiled at him brightly.