Jacob

by Jacquelyn Frank

  Once the Demon had fallen, the little Enforcer went at him with both barrels. She fought like a wildcat, plotting each strike to its most vulnerable spots with predatory cunning. If anyone had seen her, they might have thought she was toying with the powerful creature, playing with him like a child plays with unpalatable food on its plate. The Demon yowled with hurting and frustration as the soft, pretty toy he’d wanted turned on him with the vengeance of twenty hells.

  Bella muttered a swift plea to Jacob’s Destiny before she launched herself full strength at the Demon, her hand clutching into a fierce fist as she targeted the distorted ribcage that protected its poisonous heart.

  The cry of a wildcat wailed through the night.

  Jacob and Noah tried to rush the necromancer in their insubstantial forms, but he’d thrown up another barrier to keep them at bay. The Enforcer and the King dropped to their feet in full form.

  “How the hell do we get close to him?”

  “The others are out of the structure. We do not need to get close to him any more,” Jacob announced darkly. He threw his arms out wide and literally rocked the world.

  The necromancer was unprepared for the earthquake and his instinctive human reaction of fear as the building started to fall down around him. It broke his concentration, and Noah took advantage of it in a heartbeat. He threw out an enormous ball of heat, causing everything burnable to combust. He only spared the area immediately around Jacob. The room exploded in flame. The necromancer screamed as his ridiculous cloak and all the rest of his clothing turned to instant ash. The scent of burning flesh filled the air.

  And just like that, in an instant of time, the battle was over.

  Jacob and Noah left the inferno. Noah was in no danger, but Jacob could only bear the heat for so long. They appeared on the sidewalk beside the others, dragging the scent of smoke and soot with them.

  “Hmm, cozy campfire, brother dear,” Legna laughed, throwing her arms around him and letting him hug her with the devastating relief in his heart.

  “Are you okay? Tell me you are okay,” he said fiercely, practically squeezing the breath out of her body.

  “I am fine, Noah. Nothing happened to me. Gideon said it was because of Isabella.”

  “Thank Destiny,” he said feverishly. “Thank Destiny for Isabella.”

  “Where is Isabella?”

  Everyone went still and they all turned to face Jacob.

  “Don’t you know?” Elijah asked.

  “No. I cannot…She is not with me…” He cocked his head as if listening for something. “Wait…she is close…and she is upset. Damn it, she is crying.”

  As if it had been choreographed, all but Elijah left the sidewalk, each in their own fashion, hustling after the dust devil that was Jacob.

  Jacob whipped into solid form on the ground of the construction site, turning around sharply to seek out his Bella. Relief washed through him when he saw her sitting on a log several yards away. He ran over to her with the speed of a cheetah, skidding to a halt in the dusty dirt that surrounded her.

  “Bella?”

  She looked up when he spoke, and Jacob couldn’t help the choked gasp that escaped him. The sound was echoed several times as the others caught up to him. Isabella was covered in dirt, soot, and what could only be described as goo. The cleanest place on her was the two rivers of skin on her face that had been washed clean by her tears.

  And then there was her hair. It stuck out in short, crispy spikes, little tendrils of smoke still curling up out of the charred mass.

  Bella burst into fresh tears, sobbing with such wretched misery that Jacob dropped to his knees and gathered her up against himself.

  “Aw, sweetheart, hush. It will be okay,” he soothed, hugging her and comforting her as best he could. “What happened?” She smelled awful, looked awful, but for the most part appeared undamaged, and nothing could have relieved Jacob more. He welcomed the vitality and emotion of her tears. She was crying, embarrassed and mad as hell at herself for some reason he couldn’t fathom in that moment, but she was alive and safe and in his arms where she belonged. Nothing else mattered.

  “I…I forgot…” she hiccupped miserably. “It’s so stupid.” She shuddered with another sob. “I forgot that after you kill the thing it…it bursts into flames! Oh, Jacob…Jacob, I burned all my hair off!” she wailed piteously.

  Jacob turned his face aside, trying for all he was worth to not even think about laughing. If she caught wind of an ounce of humor from him, she would no doubt murder him on the spot. It was difficult, though, because the flood of his relief backed the wash of humor that bubbled up in him.

  Unfortunately, Noah didn’t exercise the same amount of control. He made a muffled sound of poorly repressed laughter, earning himself a backhanded smack in the head from his little sister.

  “Noah! Do not dare!” Legna hissed.

  “I am sorry, Bella,” the King stammered around his escaping laughter, “but I cannot help it!”

  “Fine,” Isabella sniffled indignantly. “You go ahead and laugh. I deserve it.” She turned her eyes up to Noah, the spark of temper in them too quick for Jacob to catch. “After all, I burned you bald, Noah, and I’m sure you looked twice as ridiculous as I do now!”

  “Bella!” Legna gasped incredulously, popping out a laugh as her brother’s humor instantly faded and he flushed red as a rose.

  Then Bella laughed, a short sound that was half giggle and half sob.

  “I suppose I look pretty funny. And I know how hard you’re trying not to laugh, Jacob, so you might as well give up.”

  “No, I will not laugh at you, little flower. I am too relieved to have you back to laugh.”

  Bella swiped at her tears with dirty hands, causing a wild swirling pattern to appear in the dirt on her cheeks. She looked up at him with sheepish eyes.

  “Can we go home? I need a shower.”

  “Of course we can,” he told her, scooping her up against him as he regained his feet. “You had a hard night’s work tonight, my little Enforcer. A shower is the least of what you deserve.”

  “Did you get them all? Oh, of course you did. You’re you.” She sniffed away the last of her tears. “I’m glad. That means”—she was hit with a yawn, finishing her thought around the distortion it caused “—no one can hurt Legna anymore.”

  “We were lucky that they were not very strong overall. I have seen far more powerful necromancers, and they are not so easy to defeat,” Noah said, his tone sounding a little more than grave.

  “Thank you, Isabella.” Legna reached to squeeze the little Enforcer’s dirty hand affectionately. “And do not worry about your hair. Gideon can fix it. Right, Gideon?”

  “If you desire it.”

  Legna paused and looked up into the Demon’s steady silver eyes, wondering why he’d worded his response in such a way. Was it her imagination, or had he directed that to her and not to Bella? However, he seemed just as indifferent as always, and she shrugged it off.

  “And do not forget,” Legna said eagerly to Isabella. “Tonight is still your wedding night!”

  “Provided we finish the ceremony before the moon drops,” Noah remarked.

  “Uh…not to spoil that idea,” Isabella piped up, “but I think I broke a rib or something.”

  “Oh, hell!” Jacob exclaimed, gingerly setting her back on her feet. “Why didn’t you say so? Carrying you like that must hurt!”

  “This is a fact,” Gideon agreed, “considering she has broken three ribs and suffered deep lacerations. Beneath all that charred fabric, she is bleeding quite extensively.”

  “Oh. Well, I guess that’s why it hurts,” Isabella noted with a wry little laugh.

  “You think?” Legna said dryly.

  “I cannot heal you in my astral body. I will await your return to Noah’s home.”

  Gideon winked out in a sparkle of white light.

  “That’s easy for him to say.”

  “Not to worry, Bella,” Legna called as
she backpedaled away from Isabella swiftly. “Legna’s travel agency is at your service.”

  With a soft pop of displaced air, Legna swept the Druid away. The men waited until Legna lifted her head from her concentration.

  “Safe and sound,” she reported. Then, with a grin, she popped herself off.

  Gideon was just getting to his feet when Bella and Legna materialized in Noah’s home a moment later. Though a good deal of work to refurbish the King’s home had already begun to take place, Isabella couldn’t escape the feeling that the still-sooty surroundings matched perfectly how she looked and felt in that moment. She found a stone bench and lowered herself onto it with a sigh as Legna moved quickly to her side. The beauty took up her hand.

  The Ancient medic moved close to the female Enforcer, crouching down before her while he slowly examined her with both his eyes and his senses. The medic’s silver eyes focused on the stain of blood spreading beneath Isabella’s right breast.

  “You are fortunate not to have punctured a lung.” He reached for a seam at the waist of her former bridal dress and gripped it in his free hand. With a swift jerk he tore a large swath away from the seam, exposing her brutal wound. Legna made a soft sound of pained sympathy when she saw the sharp fragment of bone jutting out through Bella’s skin.

  “You bear it well,” Gideon remarked.

  Bella looked at him in surprise.

  “Gideon…did you actually just pay me a compliment?” she asked, making sure her shock was well magnified in her voice. Legna ruined it, though, by laughing in an irrepressible snort out her nose, making Bella first laugh, then gasp in pain.

  “Perhaps now you will have a care respecting an Ancient,” Gideon said with his usual, unshakable superiority.

  Gideon’s eyes slid half closed and his fingers began to slide down the deep neckline of her dress, along the line of her breastbone. Bella jerked harshly and Legna gasped.

  “Can you not stop her pain?”

  “That is what I am doing,” Gideon said, his tone perplexed as he clearly tried to focus further. “You must relax, Bella,” he instructed as he reached for the torn wound, seeking to begin with healing ribs beneath her breast.

  “Wait!”

  Isabella grabbed Gideon’s hand and simultaneously held her other palm to her forehead as if suddenly bludgeoned by a very bad headache.

  “Oh, boy,” Legna said softly, releasing a giggle as she quickly perceived what Gideon couldn’t. “Gideon, I suggest you wait a little while.”

  “Nonsense. The longer we wait, the more taxing it will be for her.”

  “Explain that to her future husband,” Legna said pointedly, reaching out two fingertips to pluck the medic’s wrist away from Bella as if he were going to contaminate her.

  Apparently, in spite of his distance from his mate, Jacob was refusing to tolerate Gideon’s hands on Isabella without being present himself. Gideon sighed but waited until the triad of powerful Demons all coalesced in the Great Hall some time later.

  Jacob swore softly, raking a hand through his hair as he went to stand like a guard at Bella’s side.

  “Never,” he said low on his breath, “let any other man touch you without warning me well in advance first. Better yet, never let any other man touch you.”

  “Jacob, you’re being ridiculous,” she scolded him.

  “Just obey me on this one matter, Bella.”

  She looked like she wanted to argue, but she just wanted to get the healing over with, so she shrugged in half-hearted agreement.

  “My apologies, Gideon,” he said tightly to the medic. “Feel free to continue.”

  Gideon nodded, studying the Enforcer for a long minute before slowly returning his attention to Jacob’s injured mate. He reached for a less overtly sexual place on her body this time, allowing his fingertips to skim over her forehead as he went to touch the charred remains of her formerly lovely hair.

  The growl that erupted out of the Enforcer was so chilling that Gideon actually jerked away from Isabella as if something had just tried to bite off his hand. When his eyes darted to the feral expression in Jacob’s eyes, he was surprised the Enforcer had not done exactly that. After a moment, Jacob seemed to recover himself, realizing with obvious horror that he’d just threatened the oldest of their kind.

  “Ah hell,” Jacob sighed, turning away from his mate and the medic. “I am going to…go somewhere else.”

  Jacob burst into a shower of dust, slipping away on the fastest breeze he could find.

  Perplexed at this complete contradiction, Isabella looked at Gideon.

  “The moon has effects even you cannot quell, Druid,” he explained. “You can keep him from losing control and causing damage with his abilities, but your proximity can only affect the manifestations of his power, not of the beast within him, nor the instincts that come with it. Frankly, I am surprised that I do not find I am deprived of a limb right now.”

  Bella gasped suddenly, her eyes widening enormously.

  “Fear not, Enforcer. I am certain Noah and Legna would have kept me safe.”

  “I don’t care about that,” she exclaimed, missing the mild consternation that flitted through the medic’s silver eyes. “Jacob left!”

  “He realized he could not control himself. It was a wise decision.”

  “I know that,” she barked in more than mild irritation. “And you’re supposed to be an almighty Ancient?” She rolled her eyes. “I mean he left when he was standing right next to me!” She sighed heftily when they continued to look at her for clarification. “Okay…try this. Jacob, here.” She pointed to the sooty floor near her feet, which still held the imprint of his shoes. “Bella, here. Jacob…Bella…Demon…Druid…Power…power dampener!”

  “Hey!” Legna exclaimed as she lit up with understanding. “How did you do that?”

  “I…don’t know?”

  “Well you must have done something,” Noah pointed out.

  “She did,” Gideon stated calmly. “She injured herself.”

  “I did,” Isabella agreed. Then she frowned. “And that means what, exactly?”

  “When pain receptors fire in such magnitude, it disrupts the flow of energy in your body. It is very similar to the way injury and great pain hinder a Demon’s ability to concentrate. For you, however, it is all taking place on a subconscious level.”

  “Oh! I get it!” Isabella smiled triumphantly. “Um, you better heal me while the healing is good. I can hear Jacob grumbling in my head.”

  “I suggest you think of something other than my touch, Druid. I should not like you to inadvertently send him the very images he is attempting to distance himself from.”

  “Hey, Bella,” Legna said with a giggle. “See any pink elephants lately?”

  Isabella found Jacob sitting on the altar, his fist on his raised knee, his chin on his fist as he contemplated the clouds that ghosted over the moon. She bent to kiss his cheek, her newly grown hair coasting silkily over his nose and mouth. He lifted his chin, opening his palm to catch the soft ebony strands.

  “You must be tired,” he said quietly. “I know being healed wears a body out.”

  “So does beating the tar out of no-good necromancers,” she said, her hand pressing against his thigh until he dropped his leg at its insistence. She turned and settled herself in his lap, her arms wrapping warmly around the back of his neck. He wondered if she had any idea how the hold affected him. There was something about holding her in this particular manner that made him feel like the king of her world. He drew her close to his chest, pressing his lips to her forehead.

  “You are the king of my world,” she said in a whisper, returning his kiss with one of her own. “Lucky me to have such a romantic and loving soul for my monarch.”

  “And you are the queen who rules over my heart. Bella,” he said fiercely, “I have never known such acceptance, such love. Sometimes I feel it is a wonder that I do not burst into flame with the intensity of it.”

  “Please, Jacob,�
�� she sighed, “if you love me, you will not use the phrase ‘burst into flames’ ever again.”

  He chuckled at that, kissing her cheek and her neck before tasting her lips gently.

  “The night is over. There will not be time to finish the ceremony,” he said with regret.

  “I would imagine that means you and I have a date, come Beltane.”

  “I am sorry. I wanted this to be a special day for you. I even thought it might be normal…almost human,” he said with regret.

  “Everything that can possibly go wrong, going wrong on a bride’s wedding day is as normal as it gets, Jacob.”

  “Yes, but how many brides get turned into toast after doing battle with a monster?” he asked bitterly.

  “The ones who forget to duck fast enough. Come on Jacob. Don’t do this. If you resent what I’ve become because of you, then you resent who I am…resent me.”

  “Never,” he said fiercely. “I will never resent you.” He was quiet for a long moment. “But I will never be glad to see you march into danger. You have to forgive me this chauvinistic part of my love for you, Bella, but I will never feel completely comfortable watching you risk your life.”

  “And do you think it’s any easier for me, Enforcer? Don’t you know how hard it was for me to leave you behind, leave you to fight with that prejudiced, evil son of a bitch? I know how powerful he was, I could feel it from head to toe.” She rested her forehead in the crook of his neck. “But I’m glad you are who you are, if only because I have someone to turn to and ask…does it ever get easier?”

  “Does what?”

  “Killing, Jacob. I never…never intentionally…Is it always so hard?”

  “Always,” he assured her tightly. “It is the day it is no longer hard to take that you should begin to worry.”

  She nodded mutely as he gathered her even tighter against himself.

  “Do you think, little flower, that there will ever come a day when you regret meeting me?” he asked quietly.