The Cursed One

by Ronda Thompson

  “We must get moving,” he said. “They’re still behind us. We’re not that far from Wulfglen. They know they must stop us before we reach the estate.”

  She wanted a moment longer in his arms. A moment to simply feel him pressed against her. To know he was alive and there with her. She could face anything as long as he was beside her. Gently he pushed her away.

  “We must go, Amelia,” he repeated. “Now.”

  Her moment of heaven had ended. Hell waited for them and Amelia could face that, as well, as long as she wasn’t alone. He took her hand in his and together they set off toward the east. They moved as quickly as his injury allowed, but he seemed better. Certainly he wasn’t burning up with fever anymore. It must have broken at some point.

  “Did Mora come to you?” Amelia asked. “Did she try to kill you?”

  “Do you know what she is?”

  “Yes,” Amelia answered. “She is one of them. She’s the reason we weren’t attacked sooner than we were. She wanted time with me, to study me. She plans to take my place among society.”

  Gabriel frowned. “Well, she’s not with us now, so they won’t be holding back anymore. If we are confronted with them, I want you to run and not look back.”

  She squeezed his hand. “I know I’m supposed to follow your orders when we are in the woods, but I’m not leaving you again. I shouldn’t have left you last night. I would have died had something happened to you.”

  He stopped, turning to face her. “You would have died had you not done exactly what you did. I know you have courage, Amelia. I also know you are smart. I don’t want you to waste your life on me.”

  What a thing to say to her. Amelia was momentarily stunned. “You would waste yours on me,” she said.

  “My life is already wasted.”

  What was he saying? Did he not have the same dreams and hopes that she had? That they would manage to reach safety and spend the rest of their lives together, wiser than most for all that had happened to them but also stronger? Stronger together.

  “You don’t love me,” she suddenly understood. Just because she loved him didn’t mean he must love her in return. And that perhaps was what her mother had wished to spare her from. The pain that suddenly erupted inside of her heart.

  “Now is not the time,” he clipped, pulling her along behind him.

  Amelia drew up, tugging her hand from his. “When is the time, Gabriel? We don’t even know if we will see tomorrow. When if not now?”

  His gaze softened for a moment. He swallowed. Then he glanced away and set his jaw. “Come on. I’m hoping we can reach Wulfglen before nightfall.”

  Amelia knew it would only prove how silly and spoiled she could still be to argue with him. She followed, not allowing him to hold her hand this time. What if they did manage to reach Wulfglen? Did he expect her to return to London, to society, and pretend they had never made love? They had never shared this adventure together? She couldn’t return to that life. She wanted to stay with him. She wanted to wear men’s trousers and boots and ride horses with him. She wanted to get to know him, and it suddenly struck her that she didn’t know him, not really.

  “Tell me your hopes and dreams,” she said, because if she was going to die, she wanted to die at least knowing that about him.

  He sighed. “Amelia, we can make better time if we don’t use the energy to speak to one another.”

  “I need to know them,” she insisted. “It won’t hurt you to—”

  “I don’t have any,” he interrupted. “Drop the matter, Amelia.”

  She would not drop the matter. “Why don’t you have any hopes or dreams? Everyone does.”

  Gabriel stopped and turned to face her. “I don’t. I don’t because I have never allowed myself to have them. They are a foolish pastime for people who have nothing better to do. For those who cannot accept their lives as they are. For those who cannot accept themselves the way they are.”

  His bleak words stunned her. “By all means be forthright,” she responded in the same dry tone he often used. “It isn’t normal for you to feel this way,” she added. “You do realize that, don’t you?”

  He glanced over his shoulder at her. “There are a good many things about me that aren’t normal. You do realize that, don’t you?”

  Yes, she did. Besides the fact that his family was shunned by society—that he chose to hide himself away at the country estate, which made him different from most men Amelia associated with, he also had strange abilities. She knew at times he could hear things that she could not. See things that she could not. Even smell things that she could not. He had that intoxicating scent about him that drew her … that would draw any woman, she supposed.

  His eyes didn’t always look quite right, especially in the evenings. Amelia didn’t count any of those things a reason not to love him. As a reason for him to set himself apart from the rest of society and give up having hopes and dreams.

  “I told you that I like people who are not like everyone else,” she said. “But everyone should have dreams and hopes to see them through the hard times in their lives.”

  Gabriel looked over his shoulder again and lifted a brow. “Have you had many hard times up until now, Amelia?”

  He was being difficult today. She wondered if his leg was hurting again. They were moving at a brisk pace despite his limping. “Not many,” she admitted.

  “And I suppose you married Robert because he was different.” He made a snorting noise. “He was as straight an arrow as you would ever find.”

  That was true. There hadn’t been anything unique or interesting about Robert. Still, it wasn’t polite to speak ill of the dead, and he had been her husband … for a day. “Vincent killed him,” she said. “The creatures have a physician among them in London. He knew Robert’s heart was weak. They left his body in the fields to go along with a story Mora planned to concoct when she showed up at Wulfglen upset about her missing husband. They have it all planned out, Gabriel.”

  In front of her, he stopped again. He took a moment to run his hands through his hair before turning to face her. “I’m sorry,” he said. “I shouldn’t have said that about him. He was a good man. At least he was once a good friend. I shouldn’t have said what I did about you, either. You have been subjected to more than even most men could endure since your wedding night. You have held up better than most could have, as well. You are truly unique, Amelia, and you shouldn’t be here. You should be in a London drawing room charming all around you, as you charm me.”

  He found her charming? Amelia supposed that was at least something. She would rather he love her, as she loved him. Maybe she had to finally resign herself to the fact that she could not always have exactly what she wanted. She certainly didn’t want her current situation.

  “We should get moving,” Gabriel said. He took her hand again. Amelia allowed the contact, the feel of her smaller hand in his larger, stronger one.

  Perhaps there were things about Gabriel Wulf she should question, and lord knew she had more she wanted to discuss with him. Such as how he could be dying yesterday and walking through the woods with her today? Where had he been last night? Why were his clothes torn? How had he escaped from Mora? They were all questions Amelia would ask him, if they did reach Wulfglen.

  For now, he was right. She barely had the energy to put one foot in front of the other and move as quickly as he pushed her. Trying to pry more information from Gabriel when his mind was set on one thing and one thing only would merely exhaust her further.

  Gabriel knew Amelia had questions. He didn’t have answers. None that he wanted to share with her. All he could concentrate on at the moment was getting her closer to Wulfglen. Getting her to safety. Then he would have to deal with his own problems. The leg was surprisingly better. His fever must have broken at some point, maybe when the change came upon him.

  He’d battled the pain while he followed Amelia through the woods; then things became hazy. He didn’t remember anything else until
he woke this morning, again naked and shivering. He’d backtracked and found his clothing, ripped and luckily not too far off the path he knew Amelia had taken.

  Once he’d dressed and his head began to clear, he realized he could have hurt her. Gabriel feared nothing as much as he had feared what he might have done to Amelia while he was in wolf form. And yet he would hurt her emotionally. He must, for her own good. He had nothing to offer her before the curse had come crashing down upon him. He certainly had nothing now. Searching his heart, he had to admit that what had happened to him embarrassed him more than anything.

  He’d worked hard all of his life to make himself strong. He’d shut off his emotions; he’d kept his distance from society. And still, he was not strong enough to resist love, to fight down the beast inside of him. Both had defeated him. He wasn’t angry at Amelia. She was simply irresistible to him. He was angry at himself.

  And he was bracing himself for their inevitable separation should they reach Wulfglen alive. He didn’t want her to know the truth. She loved him, or so she said. Why she would was beyond his understanding. He was nothing like the dandies who no doubt had chased after her in London. He was nothing like anyone she knew. Except for Mora, and now Amelia despised the girl she had once taken beneath her wing. Just as she would despise Gabriel if she learned the truth about him.

  “Wait.” Amelia suddenly halted.

  “What is it?” he asked her.

  “I thought I saw something from the corner of my eye,” she whispered. “Shadows moving from tree to tree.”

  Gabriel pulled her behind him. He’d been lost in the turmoil of his thoughts and had lowered his guard. Again, not like him. He listened. The forest was quiet. Too quiet. His gaze scanned the surrounding area. Nothing moved, which was strange in itself. He closed his eyes and sniffed the air. At first he smelled nothing unusual; then a scent drifted to him on the slight breeze. Amelia’s perfume.

  Gabriel opened his eyes, turned to Amelia, and said, “Run!”

  He didn’t wait for her to react. Gabriel grabbed her hand and took off, pulling her behind him. She might not have been able to keep up, but although his leg was better, he wasn’t completely healed. They heard the crush of boots behind them now. The shouts of one man to another. For whatever reason, the others did not come after them in the form of wolves but as men. Gabriel wondered if they were controlled by the night, the moon, as he was.

  He didn’t see the trap until it was too late: men in the trees above them. Two large nets dropped from the sky. Gabriel was forced to let go of Amelia’s hand, hoping to keep the net from entangling him, but it was heavy and well-knit. Beside him, Amelia struggled with her own net. Her face was ashen, her eyes large with fear. Damn, he had failed her again. They were captives.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

  The camp they were taken to wasn’t far, which Gabriel was ironically glad of because the nets weighed them down and Amelia had stumbled and nearly fallen more than once. Their feet were free, but the nets drawn tight didn’t allow for them to take anything but small steps. Their captors were not taking chances that Gabriel and Amelia would escape them again. He had a sick feeling in the pit of his stomach. He had vowed to protect Amelia, had thought he had done a good job of that, only to learn that because of Mora they were never being truly hunted … until now.

  Why they didn’t just kill Gabriel and Amelia when they had the chance, he didn’t know. The men who had rounded them up and herded them to the camp had weapons. If Gabriel had been able to move his arms from his sides, he would have wrestled a weapon from at least one man and tried to shoot his and Amelia’s way free.

  A tent had been set up. It was a strange sight against the rugged backdrop of the forest. A few men milled around outside, stopping to stare as they neared. Gabriel studied the faces of the men. They looked like ordinary people. He supposed he would find that odd if he did not look like an ordinary man himself.

  One of the men stepped forward. “They want to talk to him first,” he told the others. “The woman stays outside.”

  Gabriel didn’t like the fact that they were splitting him and Amelia up. He liked the fact less that she would be left on her own with these men, bound by the net around her, unable to defend herself. The thought filled him with rage and he tried to bring his hands up from his sides and free himself from the net. Two men were on him in an instant, holding his arms by his sides.

  “No need to struggle,” a female voice said. “It is pointless.”

  He glanced toward the tent. Mora stood there. She was dressed in what he had to assume was Amelia’s finery, taken once they had fled Collingsworth Manor. Mora looked nothing like a servant. She did look every inch a lady, one who would blend in among the tonish set even if she did not take the form of Amelia Sinclair Collingsworth. Except for her eyes. There was a wildness there she could not disguise.

  “Amelia won’t be harmed,” Mora said. “Not yet, anyway. Come peacefully or that will change.”

  It was worse that he and Amelia had been captured together. Gabriel knew they would use her against him if they wanted something, and they obviously did, or he and Amelia would have been killed upon capture. All he could do at the moment was go inside and see what Mora wanted. He tried to send Amelia a reassuring glance, although he did not feel assured of anything at the moment.

  “Take the net off of her,” he demanded. “She is not an animal.”

  Mora met his gaze, lifting a perfectly arched brow. A slight smile shaped her lips at his insinuation. “Tie her hands,” she instructed the men. “Give her fresh water and find a comfortable spot for her to rest.”

  Although Mora spouted orders like a queen, a few of the men were clearly resentful of her authority and her instructions. There was no argument, however, and Gabriel was shoved forward and herded into the tent. There were cushions on the floor, a small table filled with food and wine. And there was another man inside the tent. He wasn’t a guard, Gabriel quickly surmised. The man was too well dressed.

  “You have led us on quite a chase, Lord Gabriel Wulf,” the man said. He indicated a cushion on the floor. “Please join us.”

  Gabriel didn’t have a choice. One of the guards had come inside with him and shoved him to the ground. “What do you want?” he cut to the point.

  The man lifted a wineglass and took a drink. “I believe my sister has already informed you of our plans,” he answered drily. He shot Mora a reproachful glance. “Mora sometimes takes too much for granted.”

  Gabriel cut his eyes toward Mora, who blushed slightly over the reprimand.

  “And although she has great abilities, Mora isn’t always the best judge of character, either.” The man studied him from across the low table set with food and drink. “She should have known you were one of us. She should have sensed it, but she was too busy studying Lady Collingsworth and her mannerisms, as she was told to do, to question your own odd abilities.”

  “Get to the point, Raef,” Mora interrupted. “I have been scolded enough for my oversight.”

  Raef, supposedly Mora’s brother, looked nothing like her. Where Mora was light haired and fair skinned, her brother’s hair was so black it was nearly blue. His skin was more olive. The only thing they shared was the color of their eyes.

  The man took another drink of wine. “Mora has convinced me that you may be of more use to us alive than dead.”

  “I don’t see how,” Gabriel assured him.

  When Mora’s brother smiled, his teeth flashed white against his swarthy skin. “I think you do.”

  Of course Gabriel did. They wanted to use him, as they wanted to use everyone, to their advantage. “I have no standing among society,” he pointed out. “Surely you are aware of that.”

  “Perhaps not now,” the man agreed. He glanced toward Mora. “But with Lady Collingsworth as your wife, that could change.”

  Gabriel laughed. “Do you think I would marry your sister? Pretending to be Amelia or any other way?” He looked at Mora
and narrowed his eyes. “I’d as soon sleep with a serpent every night. I’d trust the snake more.”

  He expected his insult to anger Mora; instead, she looked oddly hurt by it. What did she expect? He’d cared for her along their journey. He’d protected her, he thought. And truth be told, he was also angry that he hadn’t picked up on her deception. He’d been naturally leery of her in the beginning. He should have paid attention to his first instincts.

  “Mora does what she has been taught to do and what she is told to do,” Raef said, and he no longer looked amused by the whole situation. “You are one of us, whether you wish to admit it or not. Why not join us?”

  “I am not one of you!” Gabriel growled. “I am cursed. I do not embrace what I have become. I am shamed by it.”

  Raef set his wine aside and was in Gabriel’s face so quickly, it took him by surprise. “If you’d been given nothing else in your cursed life but your extraordinary abilities, you would feel differently. If you watched your family starve, your brothers hunted like animals, you would feel differently. Mark my words on that.”

  “What are you going to do to Amelia?” Gabriel demanded.

  The man sighed and reseated himself. “Beautiful Amelia is going to die. I’m sorry, but it must be that way. For the cause.”

  “Just like you murdered her husband for the cause?” Gabriel asked. “Just as you will murder anyone in your way and claim it is for the cause?”

  Raef ran a hand over his rugged features, then stared at Gabriel for a moment, as if contemplating how to respond. Finally, he said, “From what I understand, it has been better for you that the husband was dead. He didn’t love her, you know. He only married her for the large dowry her father had placed upon her. Every servant at Collingsworth Manor knew that. You saw his home. It was falling down around him. He hardly had the money to plant his fields. He was going to have to sell his precious horses if he didn’t find a wealthy wife, and quickly. And he did have a bad heart. We simply sped him along his way.”