by Lisa Daniels
He opened his eyes and looked at me as he moved toward me, “I only said that to get you to leave me. If it is a choice between saving you and being the reason you die, I will always choose to save you. I was not lying when I told you that I wanted you to be a part of my life, but I could not be the reason that you died, either. I have already lost one woman that way, and I will never let that happen again.”
“But, you… you didn’t answer me. You just lay there listlessly like you didn’t care what happened.”
“Yes, the bastard poisoned the dagger.”
“I know. I was able to reverse it, though.”
He began to shake his head, “You only stopped one of several. It takes a lot to kill a shifter, so they add as many poisons to specialized weapons just to deal with it. Most of the time it doesn’t work, but I gave that cowardly guard the perfect opportunity.”
“You mean it wasn’t Jacob?”
“Gods, no. Jacob would never stab a man, or shifter, in the back. There is no honor in that. It was the other guard, the little twat I should have killed. But that would have led to Jacob attacking me, and I had no desire to harm him. He is one of the best hopes that damn barbaric place has of becoming civilized. But the poison did work on some levels since the dagger pierced my lung. Do you have any idea how difficult it is to talk with only one working lung?” He gave me a look just a few feet from me and folded his arms across his chest. “I thought that you cared and that you would help me to recover. Instead, I wake to find you completely gone. No note. No signs. And you even cleaned the damn place. Just how was I supposed to take that?”
“Well, sorry, but I have premonitions, I don’t read minds. The last time we talked, you told me you would rather die. You talked about some dead mate of yours, then gave me absolutely no indication of what you were thinking or feeling. Over a week of trying to convince you that you had a reason to live, and you seemed to get less and less responsive. Of course, you have just told me why, but how was I supposed to know? The last thing you told me was that you wanted to die!”
“Well, that isn’t what I want.” He began to raise his voice, his brows drawing together. “What I want is to take you home with me. But it doesn’t appear that is what you want.”
“That was why I left.” My voice began to get louder, too.
“Right, you left because you didn’t want to be with me.”
“No, I left because you told me you wanted to be with me, and then you just went and tried to die in front of me.”
“That wasn’t what was happening and you know it.”
“Now I do, but I didn’t know that this morning, did I?”
His voice suddenly became uncertain, “So, you… you weren’t using me to get out of the prison?”
“Until you got the guards to confess, I didn’t know that I was in any danger. Besides, I thought you were just using me to find death.”
He shook his head, “No. Once I started to observe you, I stopped wanting death. I shouldn’t have been there, but… I’ve never been good at following orders.”
“Then, why are we mad at each other?”
“Because you just about got yourself killed! What would have happened if I hadn’t come along when I did?”
“They probably would have killed me.”
“Exactly.” He looked almost terrifying as he looked down at me, the anger etched on his face. “That… I don’t want to lose you.” His expression softened. “I don’t know if I could survive losing you.” He pulled me to him, and this time I didn’t struggle.
Wrapping my arms around him, I fought back tears. “I thought you were dying. That you just wanted to save me so that you could die.” The tears started to flow. “Then you could face the woman you loved, having finally saved someone after failing to save her.”
“You foolish, foolish woman,” he began to stroke my hair, “I saved you hoping that it would help you decide to stay with me.”
“So you wanted me indebted to you?”
“A little. But mostly I wanted you to see that I thought you were worth it. So that you would know that all of what you had endured was not a reflection of your value. To me, you are the most important person in the world. If there were any way I could cheat to help you feel the same way about me, it was a risk worth taking.”
“What do you mean cheat?” I pushed myself against him as he stroked my head. “How could you possibly cheat?”
“Well, I spied on you and figured out what you might like.”
“Are you saying that you have been pretending to be something you aren’t?”
“No, I mean like things that you may like. If you didn’t like me, there would be no point in trying to persuade you. This is why I said it was difficult to explain. But for now, why don’t we go somewhere a little safer? This isn’t exactly the safest place to talk. We are still fugitives, and neither of us blends into the surroundings.” With that, he shifted into his tiger form. For a moment, I stared at him, admiring his muscles and beauty.
“I never thought I would see you again.”
He walked over to me and rubbed his head against my hand. Throwing my arms around his neck, I climbed on his back and he took off.
We didn’t go back to the place where we had stayed. Instead, he headed to the hills, going to the cave he had mentioned before. I whispered near his ear, “Are you sure you don’t want to go somewhere a little more comfortable than a cave?”
There was a rumbling between my legs, and I knew he was laughing at me. “What’s so funny? I just thought the luxury of the other place would be nice to…” Words failed me as we entered the cave. It was a cave, true, but it was not less luxurious. If anything, it was far better. I climbed off of him and looked around, my mouth hanging open.
“At a loss for words. I think I really like this version of you.” Before I could respond, he pulled me to him and began to kiss me. “I can’t believe you actually left me to… what exactly were you going to do?”
“I was going to send word to my parents.”
“What were you going to tell them?”
“The truth.” I looked at him, believing that to be enough, but he shook his head to indicate he needed more information. “That I had fallen in love and run off with the man.”
“Oh, so the truth up to the point where you thought that I was dying.”
“Yeah.”
“And then what?”
“I was going to buy off the farmers so that they wouldn’t be tied to us.”
“What farmers?”
“The family that we encountered on the way here. They had a couple of kids. I couldn’t think of anything closer, so I was going to give them a lot of gold and my letter, then ask that they send it north. If they wanted to stay, I was going to keep walking until I reached an inn or somewhere that might be able to send the letter north.”
He frowned at me, “Then what were you going to do?”
“I was going to try to find a shifter so that they could probably take care of your remains.” I looked away from him. “I couldn’t stand the idea of those creeps getting their hands on your remains. What those men would have done to you, even after death…” I shivered.
He looked at me, “Then what would you do?”
“I… didn’t care. Nothing in my life has ever worked out, so I was beginning to think it didn’t matter anymore. What was the point in making plans or trying to accomplish something when it never works out?”
“You are far too young to believe that. How could you give up so easily?”
“Easily?” I pulled away a little and looked up. “I have been disappointed with my life for more than two decades now. Living through nearly 25 years of trying and being thwarted by the same things over and over, that I perhaps could have dealt with longer. But after meeting you, I began to think that maybe things were starting to go right. Losing you was more than I could take.”
“But you didn’t lose me. You abandoned me.” I was about to protest when he put
a finger over my lips. “I know. You didn’t realize, but all you had to do was wait another day and you could have spared yourself that pain.”
“Yeah, I know that now, but you could have given me some kind of indication that you were convalescing. I mean, not that you knew how I was feeling. Did you?” I looked at him, wondering. I had definitely told him how I was feeling.
“While my body was healing, most of my other senses didn’t work very well. Mending a punctured lung and fighting off poison aren’t exactly easy feats on their own. About the only thing I knew was that you were there with me. Until you weren’t. Then I panicked a bit.”
“I am so sorry, Braxton. I wish that I would have waited just a little longer. You gave me a month, and I barely stayed with you a week.” I held onto him, still trying to let the truth sink in, afraid that doing that would make everything disappear. “Actually, about that, were you the one who brought me food?”
“Yes. That was part of how I cheated. I was taking care of you before you even knew I existed.”
“I don’t consider keeping me alive cheating.”
“Then I worked my way into your premonitions…” His voice faded as he admitted that.
“You what?” I pulled back and stared up at him. “How could you possibly… can you do that?”
He looked at me bashfully, “My first mate also had premonitions. I met her in one of hers when I was young, long before we ever met in person. When I was old enough to take a mate, I already knew who I wanted. She wasn’t like you. Raegan wasn’t beautiful or buxom. She was thin and frail, but I loved her, I had loved her for a long time, and I didn’t care that she required extra care. She wanted to repay me, so she got pregnant.” He shook his head, “I had told her and told her that being mine was enough, but she didn’t think that was enough. I didn’t care if we didn’t have children, but she remembered all the times we had talked about our future, and mine always included children. She and the baby died, and there was nothing I could do. She tried to give me everything, all because I—” I wrapped my arms around him, and Braxton held me. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t be talking about her with you.”
“I’m not complaining. It certainly explains a lot about you, though. You took your time deciding if I was right, and knowing that, I feel… flattered.”
He shook his head, “I think you used the word cursed to describe your situation. Thinking that I am worthy of you proves that to be an accurate word for your predicament.”
I laughed. “If anything, you are the one with terrible luck. One of your mates dies, the next leaves you. You have the worst luck.”
“Tried to leave me. I hope that I persuaded her not to, though.”
I looked up at him, “I don’t think you have to hope. If you aren’t going to just let yourself die, then there is no place I would rather be than wherever you are.”
“You poor woman.”
“You foolish shifter.”
Braxton smiled down at me, his eyes holding my gaze. His lips met mine, and I couldn’t help but close my eyes. Carefully, he picked me up and carried me through the cavern. Gently, he placed me on the bed, his arms just holding him to me, almost as if he were afraid to let go.
When he finally gave me a moment to breathe, I looked up at him. “You know you don’t need to be careful with me.”
“I think that the last couple of encounters proved that you still need a gentle touch.”
“That’s not what I mean. I mean that I can have children, you don’t have to be reserved with me. And I’m not doing it because I feel indebted to you. I don’t believe in keeping score.”
“It’s too early to think about children.”
“I’m just saying that you don’t need to hold back. If I get pregnant, it is fine.”
He looked down at me for a moment before his hands began to explore my body with an eagerness I had not yet experienced. “I would rather not start yet. I want to be able to experience you, to have you to myself for at least a year, maybe three or four before sharing you with anyone else. I may get jealous if you are dividing your attention between me and the child. Or children.” His voice was getting gruffer as he spoke. His hands had already stripped me of most of my clothes.
“So, you aren’t afraid of what will happen if I get pregnant?”
“Not until the baby is here, then I will be very worried about you.”
“I’m not some fragile little woman you need to protect.” I tried to keep focus on my words while he played with my breasts.
“You obviously need protection—it’s pretty much all I’ve done since I first saw you,” his tongue flicked my nipple and my hands pulled on his coat. “But you are about as fragile as a horse.”
“Then don’t feel the need to treat me like I’m fragile now.” For a moment, he stopped and his eyes met mine. A grin spread across his face and suddenly my body began to feel an exciting combination of pleasure and pain that lasted until I finally passed out from exhaustion.
For the first time in my life, my premonition was one that I wanted to stay in. Braxton was standing in a field, waiting for me. I snuck up on him and he took me in the field with flowers around us.
When I woke, my hands were already exploring his body.
“Good morning to you, too,” he gazed at me, his eyes as hungry as they had been in the dream. “Shall we keep going?”
“From which time?”
“What makes you think that they weren’t connected?”
“Is that why I feel so tired?”
He gave me a knowing look, “You are no more tired than I am.” Braxton moved his hips, sliding out of my hand.
I had not even realized that I had done that. Any shame that I might have felt was quickly left behind as he nipped at my neck and ran a hand between my legs. Gently stroking me, he kept me waiting until I finally begged him not to torment me any further. As he pressed into me, I felt him coming at the same time I did. If I had expected that to slow things down, he soon proved that I was very much mistaken.
Panting, I looked up at him. “You don’t have to wait?”
Braxton pulled me up, resting me on his lap as he continued to penetrate, making it difficult to focus on his words. “Does it feel like I need to wait? Remember, I’m not human.”
“Oh gods, then I want to feel that excitement in me more often.”
“Whatever you want, Arabella. I am yours as you are mine.”
The Bear Prisoner
Prisoners of Scythia
Book 3
By: Lisa Daniels
Prologue
A Plan Awry
For the first time in my life, I woke knowing that things were about to get interesting. That today wasn’t going to be anything like the days before.
I had no idea just how far things would go from my expectation.
Moving down the steps, I completely ignored the official trying to get me to listen to whatever inane thing he had planned for the day. His protests were quickly lost as I rapidly descended further down the stone stairs. I could hear his heavy panting as he reached the stairwell in an effort to stop me, but there was no way that man would catch me. He was the seventh steward in the last two years, and he was far less clever than the last two. And he was in terrible shape, almost as if I was being goaded into seeing how far I could push things. It made no difference to me if he didn’t last to the end of the month; I had plans and no one was going to try to force their own agenda on me. His final feeble plea echoed down the cold, winding stairs, reaching my ears just as I stretched out my gloved hand to open the door.
“But princess, what will your father think? Would you break his heart?”
A few years ago, that may have worked to cause me to pause at least. One year ago, I would have laughed so hard that he could have heard me loud and clear as I moved away. As soon as he had promised my hand to the Prince of Evinough, I knew that my father couldn’t care less about me. He knew exactly what the prince was, how much I loathed him, but no
ne of that mattered. However, it was only over the last few months as I shadowed my father that I had come to learn that the way he treated me was nothing personal—literally. The king saw me as nothing more than a piece on the board, no more, no less. That was all anyone ever was to him. He certainly cared what happened to me because what happened to me needed to follow his plan, and that was what had made him pretend he cared. Once I was of no more use, it did not matter to him what happened to me. His eyes were on a different prize, and I was just a stepping stone to achieve it. Cold, calculating, and absolutely heartless—that was my father, the king.
My only response to the steward’s plea was to roll my eyes as I quickly forced the door open and slammed it shut behind me. As much as I hated how loud the doors were in the old palace, I had learned that if they were slammed hard enough, they would require considerable force to open. And I had made sure that this one was going to slam shut. By the time the steward made it through, I would already be so far gone he would have no idea where to find me.
One problem down, I thought as I briskly walked toward the door to the kitchens.
In my excitement, I was less cautious than I should have been. Very nearly walking into the path of the Captain of the Guard, I swiftly pulled myself into a shadow and held my breath. His cold, blue eyes shone almost like a demon’s in the light as he passed by a hallway perpendicular to my own. In his wake was not the guard or guards who usually trailed behind him, but a stunning young woman. For a brief second, I tilted my head, a strange idea going through my mind. I had stuff that needed to be done, but the appearance of the captain with some woman seemed almost too tempting not to pursue. There had been an almost soft look on his face as he passed, a look I had never seen before. It seemed impossible that he would have a soft side, yet there was no doubt that his expression was anything but the stern, cruel look he usually gave me.
Perhaps the rumors about him were wrong. Maybe that woman was his lover, and he was really just that good at hiding the fact that he had a preference. A weakness.
