The Wolf Prince

CHAPTER 17



That 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.

“Stop,” a voice said from behind him, the air of command as clear as a bell.

Willow. Surprised, wolf-Ruben let Chad go.

“Get him off me, get him away from me,” Chad babbled, struggling to staunch the flow as his life’s blood gushed away into the dirt.

Ruben snarled, baring his teeth. He shook the injured man, wanting him dead. The coppery smell of blood further enraged his beast.

“Ruben.” Willow’s hand in his fur. He froze, his human aspect dimly realizing what he’d almost done.

“Leave him alone,” she said sternly. Then, apparently trusting a wild beast to follow her orders, she went to Chad. Dropping to her knees, she used pieces of Ruben’s torn clothing to tie a rudimentary tourniquet.

“We’ll get you some help,” she murmured. “Try to focus. You’re in shock.”

Once she’d secured Chad’s wound, she climbed back to her feet, turning to face wolf-Ruben. After crossing the space between them, she crouched down to put her face at eye level. Ignoring his bloody muzzle, she stroked him. “I need you to change back to man. Can you do that for me?”

Unbelievably, he felt a surge of calm radiating from her touch. Acquiescing, the wolf retreated, permitting Ruben to begin the change.

Though less rapid, the shift back to human felt nearly as painful as it had earlier, most likely due to the intensity of the first change.

Man once again, Ruben turned away from the now-moaning Chad and gathered up his torn trousers in an attempt to hide his nakedness.

“What have you done?” So much sorrow and disappointment rang in Willow’s voice. Directed at him. He felt a twinge of pain before he realized that she didn’t know the truth.

Slowly, Ruben turned. “He’s the one who killed my servant. After he confessed, he was going to try to kill me. He cast some sort of spell that held me immobile.” He pointed toward the knife. “He planned to use that to cut me into pieces.”

To his relief, she nodded, accepting his statement as fact. She turned to eye Chad, who had passed out from the loss of blood.

“Can you heal him?” Ruben asked.

Willow shook her head. “I don’t know. Mostly what I do is soothe troubled animals, calm them. It’s more psychological than physical.”

He held her gaze. “Are you willing to try?”

She looked torn. “But he’s the killer.”

“A killer who needs to be brought to justice. That means he gets a trial. Heal him. Please.”

“For you,” she said softly. “I’ll try. But don’t get your hopes up.”

“I have faith in you.” And he did. He truly believed she could perform miracles, if she had faith in herself.

Without another word, Willow crossed to the other man and laid her hands on him. Ruben turned away, exhaustion swamping him, unable to watch her. At least he now knew the truth. Not only about the killer, but about his war with his dual nature. He’d allowed himself hope, hope that had turned out to be false. He couldn’t coexist with his wolf. The beast had wanted to blindly, savagely kill. His wolf hadn’t cared about justice or trials. How could anything but madness await him now?

He sank to his knees, back still to Willow while she continued to try and heal the man he’d nearly killed. He wanted to weep, but didn’t have the energy to do so. To think he’d actually let himself believe he had everything under control!

His eyes stung and he angrily rubbed them with his fist. He would not reveal—not even to Willow—the depths of his sorrow. Instead, he hung his head, shielding his face from her with her with his hands, trying to imagine what kind of future he had in store now. All he could see was blackness, which he fancied mirrored his soul.

“I did what I could. I think he’s sleeping normally,” she said, weariness making her voice tremble. “Perhaps you’d better secure him somehow so he doesn’t escape.”

Without a word, Ruben got up and used the bloody rope from Chad’s belt, finding the discarded knife and using it to cut off the right length. Once he had Chad trussed up, he removed the sheath and attached it to his own belt, placing the knife safely inside it.

Staring down at the still-unconscious man, he reflected on how closely he’d come to being just like him. A murderer.

Defeated, he turned away, unable to stand looking at the bloody leaves any longer. He saw the earring, shimmering in the dim light. Legs shaky, he retrieved it, carrying it back to her. “Here’s your mother’s earring.”

She accepted it solemnly, placing it in a small pouch she kept tied to her belt. “Thank you.”

“I don’t understand. He killed for that,” Ruben mused.

“No. He killed because he takes pleasure in it.” She sounded certain. “Which is why he was going to kill you.”

Though Chad hadn’t said as much, Ruben knew she was right. Stomach clenching, he turned away. He kept remembering how his wolf had attacked, fighting as if it was a battle for life and death. Hunching his shoulders, he studied the blood-stained leaves and dirt and considered how easily the outcome could have been different.

Maybe the wolf hadn’t been wrong.

“You were fighting to save your life. What you did was self-defense,” Willow said, placing her hand lightly on his shoulder. Once again she’d come up behind him without him noticing, proving his senses also had gone dull. Worthless.

“I was out of control.” Slowly he sank to his knees, wishing he’d let Chad kill him. That would be infinitely better than succumbing to madness.

“You are not mad,” Willow said firmly. “You defended yourself—and us.” Kneeling next to him, she tried to wrap her arms around him, undeterred when he tried to shrug her off.

“Let me help you,” she said softly. “Your psyche is wounded. I believe I can heal you, too.”

“I’m beyond redemption,” he said, bitterness coloring his voice. “Leave me alone.”

“You don’t mean that.”

“Actually, I do.”

To his disbelief, she succeeded in circling her arms around his chest and back, holding on to him tightly. “You did the right thing.”

“How can you say that?” He let his mouth take on an unpleasant twist, fury almost choking him. “If you hadn’t come along, I’d have ripped out his throat.”

“Only to save your life.” Her voice washed over him like a cooling balm. “You did what came naturally, what you had to do to defend yourself. Now do the right thing again and let me help you.”

Glaring at her with burning eyes, he sneered. “Go away.”

“I’m not going anywhere.” Then, stunning him, she kissed him, her mouth soft as she moved her lips over his. “I promise I can help you, just like I helped him.”

Swiveling his head, he eyed Chad, still crumpled in a heap on the forest floor. “You healed him? I thought you could only heal animals.”

She shrugged, still keeping her arms locked around him. “Until now, I’ve never tried to help a person. I wasn’t entirely sure it would work.”

He tried being dispassionate and dragged his hands across his eyes. “What would you have done if it hadn’t?”

“I don’t know.” She kissed him again, a whisper of her lips along the rigid line of his jaw. “I guess I’d have gone for help.”

He shuddered; he couldn’t help it. Though he didn’t really understand how or why, her nearness calmed the storm inside him. His wolf leaned into her, drawing comfort from her presence. His human self...felt more confused than anything else.

“I think you should leave me alone.” Trying for contempt, the most he could manage was a sort of tormented defeat. This too infuriated and enraged him.

“I’ll never leave you,” she promised. “Now let me help you.”

“Do I have a choice?” Forcing himself to relax, which seemed counterproductive, he tried to harden his heart against whatever foolishness she would try to use to convince him he wasn’t—

“Evil? A madman? A killer as bad as him?” She indicated Chad. “You’re not, I promise you.”

Glowering at her, he shook his head. “How did you do that?”

Again she lifted her slender shoulders in a shrug. “I don’t know. I simply hear your thoughts inside my head.”

Like a mate. Gut knotting, he closed his eyes. This couldn’t be happening, couldn’t be real. For all he knew, he was in the throes of a dream and would wake to find his madness had manifested itself once again while he slept.

“Whatever,” she scoffed, softening her words with a quick kiss. “Magic is real, you know. And one thing I have learned is that magic takes individual forms with different Sidhe.”

She caressed him, her touch sure and comforting. Even though he wasn’t sure he wanted comfort, he held still, feeling a bit like she was trying to free him from invisible bonds, like he was a wild animal caught in a trap.

Which, he reflected grimly, he actually sort of was.

“All right,” he finally managed. “Go ahead and try.”