Authors: Karen Whiddon
Maybe there was a good reason why this was so.
“Willow.” He cleared his throat, smiling slightly to lessen the sting. “Are you all right?”
She gave him a quizzical look. “Of course. Are you?”
“You seem different. I’ve got to ask. Are you under some kind of spell?”
“What?” She recoiled, blinking rapidly. “No. A spell? Why would you say such a thing?”
She’d barely finished speaking when the blankness crept back into her expression. He swore he could see it take over her eyes, much like a storm sweeping across a previously cloudless sky.
Curling his hands into fists to keep from touching her, he sighed. “Because you’ve been acting differently, completely unlike the Willow I’d begun to know.”
Her face was expressionless as she replied, “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
Again, the toneless voice. Unable to take anymore, he grabbed her shoulders and pulled her close. Expression unchanged, she allowed this.
“Willow, where are you?” he said, choking as he searched her face. When she didn’t react, he cupped her face with one hand and brushed his lips across her mouth.
Still she didn’t react.
So he deepened the kiss, forcing open her lips with his tongue and kissing her deeply, devouring her sweetness.
Finally, she melted against him, kissing him back, making desire sing in his veins. He felt their souls join—surely she had to feel this, too—and he knew he had his Willow back. He only hoped he could keep her.
Finally, he stepped back, breathing heavily. “Willow?” he asked, praying she wouldn’t disappear inside herself again.
Intense astonishment raced across her face, as she stiffened in shock. “What just happened?” she asked faintly. “Where am I?”
Still holding her as close as he dared, he stroked her hair as he explained. When he finished, her shoulders sagged and she gave a sheepish smile.
“I’ve felt like I’ve been living a dream,” she admitted. “I’m not sure if I should be angry or worried. Who did this to me?”
“Your father?” he guessed. “Probably out of some misguided attempt to keep you here, with him.”
She sighed. “You’re probably right. It’s been hard on him, not being able to contact me. But to do this? That’s wrong on so many levels.”
“I’m not sure it would accomplish anything to speak with him about it.”
“Oh, I don’t know.” She rubbed the back of her neck. “He needs to understand he can’t go around doing things like this.”
“You were acting like a ghost,” he told her, more relieved than he’d care to admit, even to himself.
She buried her face against his throat. He held her, his heart thumping in his chest, so hard it almost hurt. How could he even think of going on without this woman, when she was his best friend?
At the thought, the wolf part of him snarled. More than that, he realized. His heart, his...
mate?
No. He felt like he’d taken a blow in the gut. That wasn’t possible. Straightening, he gently moved her away. Not his mate. He had no right even to think such a thing, no right to claim anyone as his mate. Not until he completed his quest and figured out whether or not he was well along the winding path to insanity. Here, he thought, the magic might be affecting him, much like a drug. Taking off the rough edges and keeping everything on an even keel.
While he liked this, he wasn’t sure what would happen when he returned home. Would he be better or worse?
“Still battling yourself, I see,” she said wryly, her lips curving at the corners, making him want to kiss her again.
“Sorry,” he told her, meaning it. “I’ll eventually figure everything out. But first, I’ve got to find this killer.”
She nodded, her gaze becoming slightly remote, making him worry until she sighed and met his gaze. “I suppose we do have to go back. I’m so different now. I don’t know how I’ll do back home.”
“Different how?”
“I don’t know. It’s all been very, very strange. I can’t believe I have an entire family. Though we were completely unknown to each other, they all seem to care about me very much. And I’ve come to care about them, too.”
Taking a deep breath, he asked the question he knew he had to ask. “Do you want to stay?”
“Here?” She tilted her head, seriously considering the question and looking so beautiful she made his chest ache. “I hadn’t really thought about it.”
“Come on,” he prodded, needing to be certain. “You can’t tell me the idea has never crossed your mind.”
Turning away, she was silent for so long, his soul began to hurt. Even though they’d made no promises to each other, he would feel as if he’d lost his heart if she chose to remain here. More than his best friend. With the possibilities stretching endlessly in front of them, he would lose his future, as well.
For the first time he realized he needed to think about what it would feel like when he finally got back to his home, to Teslinko. Without her. He just couldn’t see that happening.
Pushing the thought away, he forced himself to focus on his task. “I’m going to find the others and see what they want to do. Then I’m going to meet with King Drem.”
“When?”
“Before the end of the day.” He was unable to keep from touching her and took her hand. “Please let me know your decision as soon as you can.”
“My decision?” She frowned. “Surely you don’t really believe I’d stay here with the Shadows. Though they feel like family, this is not my home. Plus...”
“Plus?”
Her entire face turned pink. “There’s you,” she said quietly. “At some point we’ll need to talk about that. But for now, I’m going with you.”
Relieved, he kissed the top of her head. “I’m glad.”
Moving away, she tilted her head, watching him. “You know I plan to help you find whoever murdered your servant. But it’s really like trying to locate a needle in a huge haystack. We don’t even have a single suspect.”
“Actually, I do. I’ve begun to wonder about Chad.”
“Chad?” Considering, she finally nodded, apparently agreeing to exactly what he meant without him having to say the words. “The animals fear him and he has done things that...” She swallowed hard, aware of the war she’d start if she told Ruben all that Chad had done to her. “He gives me a weird feeling, as well.” Understatement of the century.
“The animals?”
She nodded again. “Yes. I suspect he has more issues than he lets on.”
Crossing his arms, he waited for her to continue. When she did not, he prodded gently. “Care to elaborate?”
“The horses do not like him,” she confessed, the worry in her caramel-colored eyes making him want to pull her close and comfort her again. “They believe him to be cruel and violent.”
“Are horses usually a good judge of character?”
She nodded. “All animals are. Ask the wolf inside you. He’ll have insights that may surprise you.”
The wolf inside him. Ruben carefully considered her words. Had he been so involved with making sure his wolf self didn’t take over his life that he’d missed using a valuable part of his intuition? For far too long he’d regarded his beast as the enemy. What would happen if he actually began to consider it his friend?
Shocked, he realized he actually didn’t know. It had been forever since he’d tried.
“You might be right,” he said slowly. “Next time, I’ll test out your theory.”
The brilliance of her smile warmed him all the way to the core. His wolf, sleeping until now, rumbled his approval.
“As a matter of fact,” she mused, “Chad’s the last person I spoke with before this...fugue. Though I can’t imagine why he’d do such a thing, it’s entirely possible he put the spell on me that made me forget.”
With a flash of insight, Ruben understood. If Chad actually was the killer, it would be to his advantage to have Willow want to stay here in NorthWard indefinitely. The longer they remained here, the less likely they were to be successful in the hunt.
He said as much to Willow.
“Do you truly think he’s the one?” she asked.
“It’s entirely possible. That would be one reason why he used this glamour to change his appearance.”
She nodded. “At first I thought he did it to make me like him more. But you’re right. We need to watch him more closely. Especially on the ride back home.”
A feeling of foreboding settled over him. “Maybe we should confront him here.”
Her eyes widened. “Safety in numbers?”
“Something like that.” Jamming his hands into his pockets to keep from touching her, he gazed off into the forest. “Let me come up with a plan. Once I have one, I’ll talk to King Drem.”
She nodded then crossed the space between them. Standing on tiptoe, she kissed him. Her scent, lilac and fresh air, made him shiver with desire.
“Thank you.” Smiling, she stepped away. “And your wolf is saying he needs a run before we leave. Make sure you take care of him, all right?”
Then, leaving him staring at her in astonishment, she walked away.
Chapter 17
T
hat night, as they all gathered in the banquet hall for dinner, Chad sat with his brother on one side and Tatiana on the other, clenching his teeth while suppressing the urge to snarl at his brother’s fiancée to stop her incessant chatter.
“Look,” Eric said, jabbing him in the side. “The human prince and Willow are heading our way.”
One glance showed Chad that the minor spell he’d used on Willow had been broken. How? The only way to break such a spell would be with love’s true kiss.
Shadefire. Chad kept his hands in his lap, fists clenched. The other man had kissed her and worse, Willow believed Ruben to be her one true love. He’d wondered when Ruben would wake up and remember he had a hunt to complete. Apparently he had and had somehow grown wise to the fact that Willow had been ensorcelled to make her forget.
Very shrewd of him. Chad gave Ruben points for that move. The fact that he was too blind to realize the killer had found him was simply icing on the cake.
Sometimes, Chad thought Ruben knew. A couple times he’d caught the other man eying him with barely disguised speculation. He supposed Ruben’s innate sense of fairness was the only thing holding him back from outright accusation.
Perhaps Chad would send a small clue his way, to liven things up. There was nothing he loved more than a game of cat and mouse. Except ending the game, that is.
What fun that would be. A bloody finale. He could hardly wait for the moment when both Ruben and Willow realized Chad was behind it all. Both the murder and the theft of Millicent’s earring, which was a worthless bauble as far as he’d been able to tell. If it had magic behind it, he hadn’t been able to discern the spell.
Patting his pocket to make sure it was still there, he vowed to either unlock its secrets or return it to Queen Millicent, painting Ruben as the villainous thief who’d dared steal from her. A fitting end. He’d be a hero for killing the miscreant human. And, since he felt pretty certain no one in the SouthWard Court cared about Willow, the fact that she’d been killed in the cross fire wouldn’t cause anyone sorrow.
Smiling and nodding as Ruben outlined his plan to ride out in the morning, Chad gripped Eric’s arm to keep him from protesting. His brother liked to play the leader and he couldn’t take a chance that the idiot would try to call the shots and somehow manage to change Ruben’s mind.
Understanding, Eric jerked away but kept his mouth shut. Tatiana, to Chad’s surprise, expressed a desire to get back home to her family. The twit claimed to have had enough adventure.
Chad agreed to meet Ruben and Willow in the courtyard at sunrise, pending of course, the king’s approval, and watched them stroll away.
Something had changed. Considering the human prince carefully, Chad tried to figure out what. He saw how close Willow stayed to the other man, noticed too the many small touches and smiling looks the two shared on their way to seek out King Drem.
They looked like a couple. Like lovers.
Narrowing his eyes, he pushed back the rush of red hot rage. Though he hadn’t made up his mind yet to marry her, he still considered Willow his. His possession, to do with as he pleased. Including kill, of course.
He did not accept the idea of her and Ruben becoming a team. Willow and Ruben had clearly made some sort of emotional connection. That was—he clenched his jaw and tried not to grind his teeth—unacceptable. Completely untenable. Even though she’d already released him from the betrothal, he still considered her his possession.
Until now, he’d simply fantasized about the moment when he’d kill Ruben of Teslinko. Now, he knew with certainty the other man would have to die sooner than he’d originally planned.
And—his heart began to race as savage joy filled him—so would Willow. She deserved a slow, excruciatingly painful death. She’d betrayed him with the foolish human prince.
As he pondered the best way to commence, he gazed at his older brother. Eric truly wasn’t fit to sit upon the EastWard throne. Maybe he’d have to kill Eric and Tatiana, as well. He’d be doing the world a great service.
A massacre, much easier to explain when he was the only witness. He could always say they’d been set upon by a band of renegade Shadows who were deeply unhappy that King Drem had acknowledged Willow as his offspring.
Decision made, Chad began to plot the where and how. This was all part of the fun. So much so, the temptation to drag it out would be great. But this time, he couldn’t afford to wait too long.
He’d do it on the way back to SouthWard. Perils of the journey and all that. The trick would be to keep Eric and Tatiana in the dark.
Rubbing his hands together with glee, he backed out of the banquet hall and returned to his room to plot and plan and pack.
* * *
King Drem listened quietly as Ruben expressed their plans to leave. He turned to Willow and held out his hand.
Taking it, she felt a surge of fondness.
“I promise to visit more often,” she said, smiling even though her eyes filled with tears.
He kissed her forehead lightly and then released her. “I’ll hold you to that promise.”
Chest tight, she nodded. Though she’d only known him a short time, she truly would miss him.
“I would also ask you to consider marriage to one of my people,” he said, surprising her. “We have many fine young men to choose from. Such a marriage would go far in repairing the chasm between our two people.”
Instinctively she glanced at Ruben and caught him glowering at her father. His harsh expression softened as he met her gaze, but he did not protest.
King Drem laughed. “So that’s the way it is. I understand.” Waving away her sputtering attempt to protest, he laughed again. “I’ll have the kitchen prepare some supplies to take with you. Now go and shades speed.”
Face flaming, she ignored Ruben as she turned to go. He caught up to her when they’d exited the room.
“Are you all right?” he asked gently, taking her arm.
She shook her head, going with part of the truth. “I’m going to miss him. It’s difficult to finally locate my other family and have to give them up so soon.”
He kissed her cheek, making her smile reluctantly.
“I still stand with what I said. If you want to stay here longer, I can come back for you after I find the murderer.”
“No.” She’d started shaking her head even before he’d finished speaking. “We’ve already covered all this. I’m not leaving you.”
Pulling her close, he simply held her. She wrapped her arms around him and placed her head on his chest, loving the solid steady sound of his heartbeat.
Just being so close sent desire, slow and sweet, cascading through her veins. Though she knew she could seduce him with a look, she realized they all needed to be rested for the journey ahead.
Pulling away, she feigned a yawn. “I don’t know about you, but I’m turning in early so I can get a good night’s sleep. You really should consider doing the same.”
And she left him, hurrying off before he could see how her entire body quaked.
Only when she’d reached the corridor leading to her room, did she slow down. Fumbling with the handle to her door, she realized her hands were shaking so badly she could barely function.
She wanted him, but more than that...
She loved him.
She loved Ruben. With every fiber of her being, heart and soul and mind. She wanted to spend the rest of her life with him by her side. And she didn’t even know his last name.
Once inside her room, she let herself sink slowly down onto the bed. She didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. How Tatiana would chortle if she knew—which she wouldn’t. No one must ever find out, including Eric and Chad—especially Chad. The man her parents wished her to marry.
Instead, she was in love with a human man who shape-shifted into a wolf. Perfect.
How in the shades had this happened? Head in her hands, she tried not to weep while she attempted to figure out what to do.
* * *
Instead of heading to his room to rest, Ruben went outside, intent on changing and letting his wolf have one last run in the forest.
What Willow had said to him earlier kept replaying inside his mind. For the first time he could remember, he felt a glimmer of hope.
Acceptance? Was that the key? Had he been too busy fighting his inner wolf that he’d never learned to accept it? They were both parts of the whole. He was wolf and wolf was human. One remained subservient to the other, depending on who had control of the body.
He was wolf and...wolf was him.
Stunned, Ruben dropped back onto his haunches, inhaling deeply of the damp forest earth. The wolf, uncharacteristically still, whined. Just once, but the pathos in the sound ripped at his heart. He’d been so busy trying to shut down the wolf that he’d shut that part of himself off completely.
How had he been so blind?
Perhaps, he thought, feeling hope for the first time in far too long, he wasn’t going mad after all. If there was a chance, even the smallest one, of him having a future, he’d grasp it with both hands and never let it go.
He pushed to his feet, a tentative joy blossoming inside him. Hurrying deeper in the forest to let his wolf out, he found himself grinning savagely at nothing in particular. So focused was he on his task, he nearly collided with Chad on the way into the trees.
“Slow down.” Hands on his shoulder, Chad regarded him curiously. “Where are you going in such a hurry?”
Ruben’s wolf lunged at the other man, teeth bared. Containing the beast, Ruben moved away from Chad. He realized the wolf was right. Something about the EastWard man was off, like milk that had curdled from being left too long in the sun.
Again he considered the fact that he might have known the murderer from the very beginning.
Careful to keep his face expressionless, Ruben crossed his arms and studied the Bright man. Had it been him all along—the killer, the one he hunted in an effort to bring him in to stand trial for his crimes?
“Well?” Chad asked again, impatient arrogance coloring his voice. “Are you going to tell me where you’re going or not?”
“Not.” Not caring if he was rude, Ruben began to move away. “I’m not in the mood to talk to you right now. I’ve got—”
“Better things to do?” Chad interrupted snidely. Ruben didn’t see him move, but somehow he did, blocking Ruben’s path into the forest.
Only vampires moved that fast and Ruben knew for sure that Chad was no vampire. Therefore, he must have used magic.
Sensing a threat, Ruben studied the other man, noting that he wore a sheathed knife and a coiled rope on his belt.
“What do you want?” Ruben asked. His wolf snarled, making Ruben twist his mouth in a grimace. Chad’s presence infuriated the beast and Ruben needed a clear head to deal with him.
“Why, I want to help you in your search for the one who killed your servant.” Chad’s smile was a terrible thing.
“I thought that’s what you’ve been doing,” Ruben said.
“Not really.” Still Chad continued to smile, his violet eyes full of frost. “But I’ll make it easy for you. I confess to the crime.”
Stunned, Ruben remained silent.
Chad withdrew a small object from his pocket. “I even have the earring I stole. Worthless piece of junk, as far as I’m concerned.” He tossed the pearl into the bushes.
“You know I’m going to have to bring you in to face trial,” Ruben told him, wishing like hell his weapon had transferred from his world to this with him. He hated being unarmed, especially when he knew the other man had other magical weapons at his disposal.
“I’d like to see you try.” Chad sounded smug. “But first, we have unfinished business, you and I.” He waved his hand and Ruben felt the electricity that always signaled magic.
Intuition told him this wasn’t going to be good.
“What the hell are you doing?” Ruben snarled, abandoning all pretense at civility.
Regarding him with malice shining from his purple eyes, Chad’s smile widened. The terribleness of his expression chilled Ruben all the way into his bones.
“I’m going to do what I should have done a long time ago.” Waving his arms again, Chad began muttering words in some archaic language. “This spell will keep you still while I gut you. But don’t worry,” he said with fierce merriment. “You’ll still feel everything. And then when your body parts are spread all over this clearing, maybe some wild animals will come to feast on you. Because of my spell, you’ll feel that, too.”
Narrowing his eyes, Ruben struggled to free words from his throat. “Why?” he managed.
But instead of answering, Chad grinned at him, the lopsided grin of a madman. “Why not?” he countered. “Don’t try to tell me you haven’t realized I’m the one you’ve been hunting all along.”
Still smiling, he muttered more nonsensical words, brandishing a wicked-looking knife.
Though he knew nothing about magic, Ruben swore he could see the dark tentacles of this spell swirling, wrapping him in ropelike layers.
He couldn’t move—not his feet nor his arms. In fact he could scarcely breathe.
Inside, his panicked wolf snarled, pacing and occasionally launching an all-out attack in an attempt to break free.
The knife flashed in the dim light as Chad raised it.
Suddenly, Ruben knew. Changing into wolf might be the only way to fight this madman. For the first time ever, his wolf might be his only hope.
Releasing his mental hold on his inner beast, Ruben took a deep breath. And then he set his wolf free.
The change ripped through him, breaking the magic’s hold on him and pushing him to his knees. His clothing shredded, his skin bled as the fur took over. He bit his tongue to keep from crying out as his bones changed shape, slamming him from human to wolf in one heartbeat, two, the sheer ferocity of it sharply painful.
Wolf now, his animal self reacted without thought, teeth bared, leaping at the man who still chanted his useless magic.
Chad staggered backward, taken by surprise. Dropping the knife, he went down, arm up in reflex to protect his neck and face. Otherwise, wolf-Ruben would have ripped out his throat without hesitation.
Instead, he tore open Chad’s arm, laying the bone bare. Completely abandoning his attempt at completing the spell, Chad shrieked and tried to crawl away. Enraged, wolf-Ruben held fast, fury driving him to sink his teeth in deeper. The next bite would be at Chad’s throat.