SeducingtheHuntress (9 page)

His jaw clenched. Goddess help him, did he really want to
incite terror into those he hoped to make peace with?

Guess he was willing to do anything to win her back. He’d
known that the moment she’d ridden away from him and taken a piece of his heart
with her.

The soldiers hadn’t asked any questions. No doubt they’d
been aware of his…condition that’d worsened the farther his horse took him.
Every minute that’d ticked by only convinced him more that he couldn’t let her
go. Hell, he hadn’t even made it to the edges of the
Helbelzcha
desert
that was his kingdom before commanding the captain of the guards to go on ahead
without him—with a signed missive he’d return to the palace within a week.

He only hoped it was enough time to prove to Isabella that
they belonged together, wherever that might be.

The music abruptly cut off. His attention—and everyone
else’s—turned to the grizzled man who stood on the back of a box wagon, the
flame of a torch held aloft.

“Excuse my untimely interruption, my friends,” the man said
loudly, before he waved his hand at Isabella. She went to him and he helped her
aboard before continuing, “But you are all aware what a momentous occasion this
is…my daughter home and safe again.”

So that was her father. Reuben’s eyes narrowed. Life hadn’t
been kind to the older man, though he imagined he’d once been a strapping,
good-looking man when he’d been in his prime.

Cheering erupted from the partygoers before Isabella’s
father continued. “Her coming home at last has, however, made me rethink some
things. First and foremost, I’ve come to the realization that my girl is all
grown up now. A woman.”

The crowd stayed silent then, especially the young men,
hanging on to his every word. Meanwhile the tightness in Reuben’s belly grew
more suffocating, his inner beast more insistent.

“And so it’s with no serious thought that I’m relinquishing
hold of my daughter. She is free.”

The flames outlined her profile as she shot him what
appeared to be a hurt and disbelieving look. “Daddy, what exactly are you
saying?”

“Isabella…you need a man…a husband, to look after you.”

Disbelief clogged Isabella’s throat, rendering speech
impossible. Did he think he’d failed her when she’d gone missing, presumed
dead? He couldn’t be further from the truth.

The sudden gasps from her people pulled her attention from
her dad to the man who was pushing through the crowd. Her heart skipped a beat.
Even without the
rakkia
robe that swirled around him and bespoke his
Zaneean
status, he was a man whose very essence reeked of power.

“My thoughts exactly,” Reuben announced, his tone
authoritative and blatantly possessive, his eyes glowing faintly with red.

She pressed a hand to her mouth as one emotion piled on top
of the other. Hope and exhilaration were fleeting, quickly drowned out by dread
and a sense of impending doom. Dear lord, what was he thinking? The
nightmix
dissenters—the whole village—would soon lose their awe of the intimidating
stranger in their midst and instead register the faint red gleam in his eyes.

Her voice cracked, “What are you doing here?”

There was nowhere for him to run with the people who’d
gathered around him. But he didn’t seem concerned. Not a bit. “I had to come
back,” he said simply. “I almost lost you once, I couldn’t a second time.”

Her belly fluttered, right along with her heart. He was
magnificent, mesmerizing. And she loved him so much it almost hurt to breathe.

How was she going to live without him? How could she
possibly send him away? Because no matter how much she wanted him,
nightmix
or
royalty, he wasn’t going to stick around, not permanently. Aside from her
father, everyone she’d ever loved had left her.

It was just her and her dad now.

Yeah, and even he’s trying to get rid of me.

Her father’s hand curled around her forearm, as if in
warning. “Isabella, what is going on? Who is this man?”

She took a deep breath. “This is Reuben. He…he saved my
life.”

“Then I am indebted to him.” Except as Jacob stared at him,
he evidently recognized him as a hardened warrior. “Shame he’s a king’s
soldier, therefore a protector of all shape shifters—including
nightmix
.”
He spat out the last word as if toxin.

Reuben watched her silently, as if willing her to reveal her
innermost thoughts. “Bella, tell your father the truth. He needs to know.”

“I…” She shook her head. “I can’t.”

Whether she revealed he was royalty or not, it wouldn’t
matter. Once they knew Reuben was a
nightmix
he would be slaughtered.
The whole village would attack him and then worry about the repercussions of
their actions later.

“Please,” Reuben said, his attention fixated on her, as if
willing her to tell the truth. “You know it’s all for us or nothing at all.”

He really thinks we have a chance together. A future.

The thought was incredible, enlightening. Freeing. He wanted
to fight for their happiness, was willing to risk everything.

She lifted her chin and pulled free from her father’s clasp.
Her own insecurities had been holding her back all her life. But no more.

“Isabella, what the hell is going on?” Jacob demanded.

In that moment she barely heard her father. His obvious
disdain and undercurrents of panic was background noise to the hope rising
within. All her attention stayed on Reuben. “You really mean that?” she asked
him, scarcely daring to breathe.

He nodded. “With my life.”

His life
was
on the line. She just had to trust that
he knew what he was doing and that good and right would prevail in the end.

She cleared her throat and faced her dad, only the crackling
of the fire and a faraway hoot of an owl puncturing the silence. Her father
wanted to know what was going on. She’d give it to him straight. “Daddy, the
truth is, I think—I know—we’ve all been too quick to blame the evil deeds of
one
nightmix
onto them all.”

A handful of people in the crowd released shocked breaths. A
few others muttered their disbelief.

Reuben’s stare softened, not once wavering from hers. “Don’t
stop now, my Bella.”

She nodded. But it took all her bravado to say out loud,
“Reuben opened my eyes to the truth. Prince Reuben. The son of a
Zaneean
king and queen and therefore a shape shifter…and a
nightmix
.”

Her heartbeat thundered in her ears at the stunned,
horrified silence. She squared her shoulders and added loudly, “He’s also the
most honorable man I’ve ever met. And…I love him.”

Jacob’s outrage and revulsion was palpable when he bellowed,
“Get him!”

The village women shrank back in terror even as six of the
burliest men grabbed Reuben. He seemed immune to their hatred and rough
handling. His eyes shining bright with emotion, he mouthed to her the three
words she’d only just said out loud.

Something in her chest moved, a silly smile pulling at her
lips, despite the dire circumstances.

Then one of the men put him in a chokehold. She pressed a
hand to her mouth as she watched the scuffling break out before Reuben shouted,
“I can prove I’m not like the
nightmix
who killed Bella’s brother. I’m
nothing like him.”

She turned to her father, voice sounding not her own with
the tightness in her throat. “Daddy, I beg of you to give him a chance.”

Jacob’s lip curled, disgust and utter betrayal stamped onto
every harsh line of his face. “How could you defend him?” he snarled instead.

Reuben grunted as a thud sounded, and then another. She
closed her eyes, fighting to stay clear-headed, fighting to think things
through, though the blood pounded in her ears and her fingers twitched with
longing for her bow and arrows. Her lashes flicked open and she looked back at
her father. “If you truly don’t want to lose me—let Reuben become a
nightmix
.
Let him prove he’s got none of the darkness inside.”

Another thud was followed by Reuben’s pained exhalation.

A scream built in her throat. Her friends were hurting the
prince and she wanted to beat at them with her fists and force them away from
him before they injured him beyond endurance—before their violence against him
triggered something dark within him.

Jacob’s already gaunt face pinched with grief. Then rage
took over once again. “A beast just like that one,” he snarled, throwing out
his hand toward Reuben, “killed my son—your brother!”

“And people kill other people too, but it doesn’t mean we’re
all murderers. Please,” she whispered, “trust me on this.”

At her father’s intractable expression, she drew the hem of
her dress up, baring her thigh to reveal neat little stitches. “When I was
thrown from Millie I would have bled to death.” She peered up at him. “But
Reuben saved my life…more than once.”

More scuffling sounded, before one of the men threw a punch
that landed on Reuben’s jaw with a solid crack. He doubled over for a moment
before he managed to turn his head her way, as if in silent entreaty—as if he
shared her concern that he’d not be able to control the inner darkness of his
nightmix
.

She resisted a whimper. The blood streaming from his nose
only emphasized the crimson light in his eyes. The beast coming to life within.
She turned back to her father, willing him to listen. “Reuben fed me, dragged
me in from the cold when I was near frozen to death—”

His pained, ragged voice cut her off. “You laid with him,
didn’t you?”

Her mouth snapped shut, her eyes narrowing with impatience.
“Yes I did.”

Her father inhaled slowly, forcefully. Then he nodded to the
men holding Reuben. One of them threw a final punch before they released him
and moved away, a handful of men then stepping out from the shadows with their
arrows nocked.

Reuben crumpled to the ground, seemingly oblivious to the
latest danger with his shift already upon him. Jacob held his hand up, delaying
the inevitable a moment longer when he asked her, “You’re in love with
that…that devil?” he asked, the cords on his neck standing out. “Look at him!
He’s not us…he’s not human.”

“No, Daddy, you’re wrong,” she said with quiet conviction.
“He’s more human than all of us who’ve done everything in our power to kill
him.”

“He’s corrupted your soul. Turned you against everything
you’ve fought for…everything you’ve ever known.” His eyes bulged. “Traitor!” he
roared.

He signaled to the semicircle of archers. “Finish him off.”

No. You. Don’t!

She leaped from the wagon even before the archers had drawn
the string on their bows. She put herself between the armed men and the huge
black panther, who lay immobile and panting. He snarled, as if furious she’d
put herself in harm’s way, but she wasn’t afraid. His dying on her was a far
more terrifying option than the very remote possibility of her being hurt.

She looked at the archers—all of them close friends. “You
shoot him. You kill me.”

They stared at her, uncertainty etching their faces. Then
one by one they lowered their weapons, unwilling to harm her. She pushed a
trembling hand over her face. Reuben had trusted that her father and her people
wouldn’t harm him if they knew the truth. It was now or never to show them they
had nothing to fear.

She stood tall, hands dropping to her sides. “Promise me you
won’t harm Reuben…won’t harm the
nightmix
.”

One of the men she’d danced with nodded, and then dropped
his bow and arrow to his feet. “I give you my word,” he said, “as long as that
beast doesn’t do you any harm.”

That was good enough for her. “Thank you. And he won’t.”

When the rest of the men followed suit and dropped their
weapons to the ground, she felt almost dizzy with gratitude. She released a
breath and turned to her father. He was stiff and watching her with nothing
short of despair. “Daddy…will you at least give him a chance?”

“One swipe of his claws, that’s all it’d take,” he gritted
out, “for you to fall to the ground dead. You expect me to risk that?”

“Daddy, you’re not going to lose me tonight—or any other
night. Reuben loves me. Please believe me, on both counts.”

She didn’t give him a chance to respond, didn’t give him a
chance to order the men to drag her away. She pivoted, moving to the big cat
and crouching at his side. His eyes gleamed, a feral light, but he didn’t move,
just watched.

“I’m sorry they did this to you,” she murmured. “I’m sorry
you had to go to this extreme just to be accepted.” She slid her hand up and
down the silky softness of his furred back. “But I think I love you all the
more for wanting to put yourself through it so that we can be together.”

A deep, rumbling purr interrupted her, then the beast stood
up, towering over her, and thrust his head into her chest.

She giggled, pushing her hands behind his ears and
scratching him, loving the softness of his fur and the musky cat smell of him.
“You’re as beautiful in this form as your human form,” she cooed, putting her
head on his and reaching up to cuddle him—if only her arms would stretch fully
around his neck.

The villagers stood frozen in utter disbelief before her
father’s strangled voice broke the silence. “It’s not possible…”

Isabella turned to him, her voice catching. “You wanted
proof, Daddy. Here it is.”

Her
nightmix
pushed to his paws to stand beside her,
a united front. And though his eyes remained the crimson of his species, there
was no aggression or murderous gleam in his stare. Only compassionate
understanding.

He growled a little, nudging her with his head as if trying
to tell her something. She saw his tail shorten, indicating he was starting the
shift back into human again. She nodded comprehension before he slunk into the
shadows, taking advantage of privacy this time before going through the
torturous process of shape change all over again.

In the flickering flames of the torches and fire, Isabella
faced her father, her people, and announced, “The prince has demonstrated his
ability to withhold whatever darkness his DNA possesses. Now it’s time you all
demonstrate the desire to overcome your prejudices and intolerances…the same
way I did.”

Silence hung thick in the air. Her people weren’t fully
convinced. She turned to her father. As leader of the
nightmix
dissenters, he was the one she had to win over. “Daddy?”

His shoulders stooped, voice all but breaking with what
seemed to be the weight of the past. “We’ve been plotting revenge for so many
years…”

“Exactly.” She looked around, catching the eyes of her
friends, her neighbors, people she knew and loved. “Isn’t it past time we put
our efforts into nurturing those we love and who are alive rather than fighting
for those we’ve already lost?”

Reuben moved beside her, slipping an arm around her waist
and tucking her close. She looked up at him with a relieved smile, aware his
once-majestic robe wasn’t quite covering him the same way it had before and
somehow loving him all the more for it.

“Bella is wise beyond her years,” Reuben said. His stare was
open with adoration. “Just one of the many reasons I love her so much.”

“And I you,” she whispered.

“Why did you come here? What is it you want?” Jacob managed,
anger throbbing in his tone but his expression conflicted.

Reuben faced him. “I would ask your permission for her hand
in marriage.”

Her eyes closed for a moment as his words sank in. He wanted
her as his wife…his queen. It all seemed so surreal, so wonderful and amazing.

“Isabella, is that really what you want?” her dad asked.
“You’ll not only be married to a
nightmix
, you’ll be married to royalty.
You’ll lose the freedom you value so much.”

Her father looked so deathly tired she wanted only to hug
him. But not yet. Not until he knew exactly how she felt. “It
is
what I
want. More than anything else in the world.” She bit into her bottom lip.
“What’s the good of freedom if I don’t have the man I love to share it with?”