by Cara Wylde
Margaret smiled. “That is something you will have to ask him.”
“Where is he?” To her confusion, Nieve realized she was both eager and afraid to see him. If she wanted to solve the mystery, however, she’d have to gather her courage and confront him. Hopefully, he’d have the decency to be clothed this time.
“He has business to take care of,” Margaret said. “He will be back.”
“When?” Nieve insisted. It was frustrating how the woman could answer her questions without actually giving her any useful information.
“When he is finished,” Margaret said. She stood up and came to take Nieve’s bowl. “You didn’t eat. Didn’t you like it?”
“Thank you, I’m not very hungry,” Nieve said. Even in such a strange, maybe even dangerous situation, she couldn’t help being polite and considerate.
Margaret took her bowl away and went to the sink to start washing everything.
“Do you know who I am?” Nieve was curious about the woman’s behavior towards her. Perhaps she didn’t know she was the Princess.
Margaret sighed. “I know who you are and I don’t care. You have some petty squabble in your comfortable world. I’m a mother to seven boys, their father is dead, and I have taken all kinds of jobs just to keep a roof over our heads. My brother helps out when he can. I really don’t have the time, nor the interest in a princess’s problems. You have no idea how life is in the real world. I told him you’d be trouble, but he didn’t listen.”
Nieve was shocked by the way Margaret talked to her and felt a little aggrieved that she wasn’t more sympathetic to her plight. “But your brother kidnapped me!” It was the first time she was able to raise her voice. It felt good. It felt like she was finally regaining some control over her life.
Margaret snorted. “You were lucky.”
“Lucky?” Confusion and a bit of anger were evident in her voice.
“I’ve said too much,” Margaret said. “You’ll have to wait until Hunter returns.”
“What do you mean?” Nieve demanded. “What’s happening?! Why can’t you just tell me the truth or give me a straight answer? This isn’t fair, okay? You do realize what your brother has done, and what you’re doing now, is wrong, don’t you? And it has nothing to do with the fact that I’m the Princess. No woman should ever be treated like this and then kept in the dark.” She took a deep breath. It was good to get it all out.
All Margaret did was to shrug and repeat: “You’ll have to wait until Hunter returns.”
Nieve tried again, but the woman just sighed in exasperation. This was all too much, and she didn’t have time or the disposition for it. Hunter had made a huge mistake.
“I have to go fetch water from the river,” Margaret said, and left the cottage. She knew the girl wouldn’t dare try to escape with all the bear cubs and children running around the house and garden. They had clear instructions not to let her, and even though they were small, in their bear form, they could easily overpower a human. As she crossed the small courtyard, Margaret smiled to herself. In fact, all they had to do was growl a bit at Nieve, and the Princess wouldn’t try anything.
Nieve sat and thought about what had happened to her, trying to make sense of it. There had to be a reasonable explanation, right? Everything happened for a reason. “Why would he want to hurt me?” She couldn’t see things in a different light no matter how hard she tried. Maybe he kidnapped her in the idea that the King and Queen would pay a handsome ransom to get her back? But that made no sense. If it were the Queen’s decision, then Hunter was probably welcome to do whatever he wanted with her. If it were her father’s decision, Hunter would be dead the second he dared ask for money.
After half an hour of turning the matter on all sides in her head while Margaret’s children made all the noise in the world, Nieve had nothing. She decided it didn’t matter that much, anyway. Not now. All she knew was that she needed to find a way to escape. She wasn’t safe here and needed to find her way back home. Home… where was it? She didn’t know where she was, nevermind what direction the palace was in. She tried to engage the boys’ attention, but they either didn’t understand or didn’t want to help her. She was alone, and that dreadful woman, Margaret, would be back soon. Nieve didn’t want to talk to her again, so she quietly made her way back to the upstairs bedroom. She had to come up with a plan.
***
Hunter came home, excited to see Nieve. He would have come earlier, but he had had to make sure he had done everything right. He couldn’t afford any risks. As he entered his sister’s small cottage and inspected the main room, he saw Nieve was nowhere in sight. Margaret was sitting by the fire, the cubs asleep. She looked up at her brother.
“Where is she?” he asked, his voice booming with impatience.
“Upstairs.”
“Did she come out of her room?”
“She did, but she wouldn’t eat. I guess our food isn’t as palatable as the one at the palace. I don’t know why you just couldn’t finish her off, and now we could have eaten like kings for once.”
As much as she hated it, Margaret depended on Hunter’s kindness. When he was paid, she didn’t have to work and didn’t have to leave her children alone at home. She had nothing personal with Nieve, and she didn’t even envy her for being who she was. The problem was that Hunter was passing on a great opportunity, the biggest payment he would have gotten so far, and Margaret didn’t understand him. He never got emotionally involved in his work, so why now? It just wasn’t his place to question the rights or wrongs; he just got paid to do a job.
“I suppose you’ll just go up to her now. Do you want me to make you some dinner?”
But Hunter was already heading upstairs as she finished her sentence. He wanted to see Nieve. No, it was more than that: he needed to see her. He craved her presence with his entire being. His fingers twitched as he remember how smooth her milky white skin had felt earlier, and his nostrils flared when he reached the landing of the first floor and caught her delicious scent. He knocked gently on the door.
Nieve had spent the day planning ways to escape. The sound startled her, but she did her best to look relaxed. She had expected her capturer to barge in.
“Come in,” she called out, her voice wavering a bit. She cursed herself for being so weak and pathetic. That was why it had always been easy for her stepmother to bully her: because Nieve never had the courage to stand up for herself and speak her mind. She was aware it wasn’t her fault, as that was the way women were educated and taught to behave, but that didn’t mean she didn’t sometimes hate herself for being so helpless and submissive.
“Princess Nieve, my sister said you haven’t eaten.”
Hunter couldn’t help but sniff the air. Her scent was intoxicating, and it made his bear stir and growl inside his chest. He needed to keep the beast under control. He couldn’t frighten her like that. In this situation, the best thing to do would have been to step out of the room before his bear did anything stupid, but he needed to be close to her. He could feel the pressure in his leather pants as his body reacted to her presence. That cute, heart-shaped face, those red lips, her long, raven black hair… Everything was perfect. She was perfect in the tight corset dress which made her curves stand out. Oh, how he wanted to bury his face between her generous breasts and inhale the heavenly perfume that aroused him so much!
“I’m not hungry. Why are you keeping me here? I’m sure my father is looking for me.”
Nieve didn’t want to show any fear, but she wasn’t able to hold back her tears. The second she started speaking, all her resolve went out the window. She had read books about brave princesses who went on adventures and were even stronger and more confident than the men around them, but they were just stories. She would have loved to be like one of those girls. She wasn’t.
Hunter wanted nothing more than to take her into his strong arms and lick each and every tear off her rosy cheeks.
“I’m sorry we scared you. It wasn’t our inte
ntion.”
The softness of his voice and the gentleness of his eyes made Nieve feel at ease for the first time. There was no evil intent there. But then, why had he kidnapped her?
“Margaret can be a little on the tense side. I hope she didn’t cause you any offense. She’s had a hard life, that’s all. Her bark is worse than her bite.”
He watched Nieve’s eyes widen.
“Sorry, Princess, that was bear-shifter humor.” He scratched the back of his head and smiled sheepishly. “Please come down and eat. Margaret can make something more in keeping with what you are used to.”
Hunter took a couple of more steps towards the bed, on the edge of which she was sitting, back straight and muscles tense, and he felt even more aroused by her scent, if that was possible. How was he ever going to keep his bear inside? If only she knew what she was doing to him… If only he could have her now…
It took every ounce of his strength to extend his hand towards her, as a peace offering, and to her own surprise, Nieve placed her hand in his. She could feel the heat and energy from his hand which encompassed her small hand. She could see the intensity of Hunter. It was like nothing she had experienced before. And yet, her fear wasn’t in her body, it was just in her mind. Her body was drawn to Hunter. There was something about him, but she didn’t know what it was. Maybe she was too young, too inexperienced. He was an enigma. He was a man, and not the pretentious type she was used to at the palace. The strength and manliness that oozed from all his pores could almost make her lose her head, and as she followed him downstairs and into the kitchen, Nieve tried to remind herself that Hunter wasn’t just a man. He was a shape-shifter. He was dangerous and unpredictable.
Like a gentleman, Hunter pulled out the chair for Nieve to sit down. He then called Margaret to bring them something to eat. Margaret didn’t want to offend Hunter. He was too good to her for her to act up, and she brought food that she considered the “Princess” would eat. She wasn’t particularly happy, since it was the best she had in her pantry, and she would have preferred to give it to her children.
Nieve’s stomach had been rumbling uncomfortably for a few hours, so she ate what was placed in front of her without complaining. She didn’t notice how Hunter smiled as he watched her.
“Even princesses can eat like wild animals”, he thought to himself as he licked his lips discretely. The image of Nieve wolfing down her dinner made his cock hard. He had to shift in his seat to relieve some of the pressure.
While still chewing, Nieve asked Hunter why he had brought her there. She remembered that bear-shifters were usually hired by witches, and she hadn’t crossed any witches.
“There isn’t much work from witches anymore, so the humans come to us for help,” Hunter said. “We are a private people. We like to keep ourselves to ourselves, but it’s not always possible. Mostly, humans only value us for our power and ferociousness. We take jobs wherever we get them. It’s not something I enjoy doing, but with having to support Margaret and her boys, what can I do?”
Hunter paused as he readied to tell Nieve about his employer. She seemed calmer now that she had eaten. She had even relaxed enough to lean back in her chair and look at him with big, curious eyes. Hunter caught himself imagining her out of that tight corset. He knew her body was magnificent under that complicated, royal dress of hers. He struggled to find his way back to reality.
“Do you really want to know why I’m here?” Hunter asked. “Because once I tell you, I can never untell you, and you will have knowledge that you perhaps don’t want to have.”
His caginess unnerved her. So, it was someone she knew. Someone close to her wanted her gone. Dead. The thought sent shivers up her spine.
“Yes, Hunter, I have a right to know.”
“The Queen hired me to kill you.” Hunter watched as the color washed from Nieve’s face. For a second, he thought she would throw up, and he jumped to his feet and hurried to her side, ready to do everything in his power to make it all better.
Nieve stood up and walked away from the table. She didn’t want him this close to her. Not yet. Not ever. He had been hired to kill her. Maybe he would still do it. She couldn’t know what was going through his twisted mind.
“I can’t believe it! She wouldn’t, she couldn’t! No, my father would never allow that to happen!”
She was becoming hysterical. She knew how much the Queen disliked her, but to want to kill her… that was just unimaginable! Her poor father married to such a woman! No, he could have never made such a bad choice. Hunter was lying to her, right?
“You are wrong, Hunter.” She turned to him and looked straight into his chocolate brown eyes. “While we don’t get along, there’s a very fine line between disliking a person and hiring someone to kill them. It just can’t happen. Not to me. Someone is fooling someone, Hunter. You are being misled, or else you are pretending.” Nieve saw there was not a single trace of deception in his eyes, but she couldn’t allow herself to believe that her stepmother could hate her that much. “You have to let me go, Hunter. I need to go home and sort this out. You are mistaken. I must go to my father, he will know what to do.”
“I’m sorry, Princess, I can’t allow that. I must keep you safe and I can only do that if you are here, under this roof. You have to trust me.” Hunter wanted to sound strong, but not so much that it frightened her. He needed her to understand. Unfortunately, she was becoming hysterical again.
“You must obey me! I am your Princess!” She was pretty sure this act wouldn’t work, but she had to try. She had no other way of fighting this, of fighting him. “You can’t keep me here, locked up. I demand that you let me go home!”
Hunter stood firm.
“No, you are staying here with me. It is the only way to keep you safe.”
He took a step towards her, and his tall frame towered over her, making her feel small and insignificant. When anger didn’t work, Nieve began to cry, hoping her tears would soften his heart and make him relent.
Her tears were too much for him, and before he could stop himself, he reached out to pull her towards him and into his arms. Nieve jumped back, fear sparkling in her teary eyes. That gesture, that small, subtle gesture, made Hunter lose control. He was suddenly annoyed that she saw him as a threat to her safety. When he felt his bear pushing against his skin, demanding to be let out, he stormed out of the cottage. He was afraid of shifting in front of her. He needed to put as much distance as possible between his bear and this beautiful young woman who could drive him insane with lust and anger at the same time. As he shifted, Hunter remembered the smile she had given him when she had first seen him in his bear form, by the river. Would he ever see it again?
CHAPTER THREE
Nieve had tossed and turned all night. It just couldn’t be true. But yet, there was something about Hunter that made her think he wasn’t lying to her. He really believed that the Queen had hired him to kill her. Nothing about this seemed real. Even Hunter, Margaret and the boys didn’t seem real to Nieve. “It’s some kind of nightmare… I’ll wake up soon and I’ll be in my own bed, safe and sound.” That thought finally helped her fall into a deep sleep.
When Nieve woke up, she didn’t find herself back at the palace. Instead, she was in this small, strange little room where she had fallen asleep. This was no dream or nightmare, it was her reality. She had to find a way to get back to the palace, but if Margaret and the cubs were with her, she’d have no chance of escape. Nieve knew better than to just run off. They’d follow her scent and track her down. She didn’t like these thoughts either. After all, Margaret had given her shelter, and if she ran away, she would get her in trouble with her brother.
She could hear Margaret calling the cubs for breakfast. It was pandemonium once again. They were an unruly little lot, but then, with no father who could control them, how else would they be?
“Nieve, are you awake? Boys, wake up the Princess on your way down, I need to talk to her,” Margaret shouted up.
Nieve braced herself as her door was pushed in and six of the cubs barged in and jumped on top of her. Some were in their human form and the rest were bear cubs. They were full of high jinks. Apparently, they liked her scent because they began to cuddle, almost pushing her off the bed. She giggled, not quite sure what to make of them, and patted the cubs on their heads, like they were pups.
“Mother wants to see you, come now,” said one of them.
Two of the cubs pulled the blanket off Nieve, and they danced around her as she got out of bed. She had slept in the same dress she was wearing when Hunter found her by the river. Even though Margaret had left some clean clothes for her on the chair, she had refused to change. She wanted to be ready, just in case an opportunity showed itself. She refused to get too comfortable here, in this cottage.
“You are very popular!” Margaret smiled when she saw the cubs escorting the Princess down the stairs. When she saw she was wearing the same dress, she frowned but didn’t say anything. The girl was strange.
Nieve smiled back. “Is Hunter here?”
“No, and I don’t think he slept here last night either. That’s what I want to talk to you about.”
Margaret eyed up Nieve, who was now sitting at the table. The woman was stressed and worn looking. Nieve could feel the hackles of her neck stand, anticipating Margaret’s question. Did she know that Hunter was supposed to kill her and changed his mind at the last moment? If she knew, then what kind of person was she?
“As he isn’t here, I have to go out to find some work. Could you stay with the cubs and make sure they don’t get up to mischief? I’ve tried asking others to help, but they can’t manage the seven of them together. They do like you…” Margaret hoped the compliment would soften Nieve. As a Princess, Margaret suspected she had never actually worked a day in her life. She never had any need to. As annoying as Margaret found the situation, she needed her help now. After all, the Princess had eaten most of their good food last night, so the least she could do was look after her babies while she was gone.