Reluctant Prince (7 page)

“Stay away from us, or I’ll scream.”

“Just wait.”

“Is that thing going to come back?” She had to turn around, needed to check behind her, but didn’t dare take her eyes from Jackson.

“Yes.”

Fear gripped her lungs, squeezed. She couldn’t breathe.

“Calm down. Please, listen to me. I don’t think he’ll come back right away. Besides, he’s not really a threat. He’s just angry, probably because he doesn’t understand what’s going on. If he wanted to kill me, believe me, he could have. It’s Daygan we have to worry about. Please, let me get you somewhere safer, and I’ll explain everything. I promise.”

“I’m not going anywhere with you.” She hobbled toward the walkway.

“Wait.”

She looked over her shoulder as he moved toward her. “What?”

“Where are you going?”

“None of your business.”

“You can’t even walk, and Mia is freezing. Please, just wait here and let me pull the car up. I’ll drop you off wherever you want to go.”

Mia stood shivering, arms wrapped around herself for warmth, or comfort. Ryleigh pulled her sister closer, tucking her under her arm.

“Please?” His cocky smile returned, and he turned it on her full force.

Her feet pleaded with her to accept his offer. She scrubbed her free hand over her face, and slivers of pain stabbed her. “Oh, fine. But you’re dropping us off at my car, and then I don’t want to see you again. Are we clear?”

His smile widened. “Be right back.” With that, he took off, jogging down the alley into the darkness.

She must be crazy. How could she even contemplate going with him?

Mia rested her head on Ryleigh’s shoulder. “Thank you, Ryleigh. I didn’t want to walk all that way.”

“Here, honey. Sit down.” She helped Mia to the ground and sat beside her.

Mia curled into a ball and laid her head on Ryleigh’s lap.

“I’m not sure what’s going on here, but we’ll be home soon.” Small bits of sticks and leaves had tangled in Mia’s hair, and Ryleigh tried to work them free.

Mia smiled but didn’t open her eyes. “I’m just exhausted, and I want a shower.”

“Me too.” She gave up and smoothed the mess of knots.

Jackson didn’t make them wait long. He pulled a dark colored car into the alley, hopped out, and jogged to them.

Ryleigh remained sitting. “I guess you’re feeling better?”

He appeared perfectly normal, no lingering effects from the injury he’d suffered.

“I heal fast.”

That cocky grin shot straight to her heart. “No kidding.”

“Come on.” He lifted Mia into his arms. “Grab my arm.”

Ryleigh used his arm to pull herself off the ground. Her feet were on fire. She took a few steps on her own then gave in and leaned on Jackson’s arm until she slid into the passenger seat.

Jackson placed Mia gently on the back seat. Before closing the door, he brushed the wild mass of hair out of her face.

Warmth spread through Ryleigh.

“Where to?” He climbed in beside her, threw the car into reverse, and hit the gas.

“They brought me here in the ambulance and left my car across town.” She started to give him the address, but a memory surfaced. A silhouette moving toward her. “You were there.”

“Yes.”

She waited.

He didn’t elaborate.

She stared out the window and watched the miles pass. Everything looked so ordinary, so normal. People moved on with their lives as if an earthquake hadn’t rocked the city only a few hours earlier. As if a very large, strange man hadn’t tried to kill her. As if he hadn’t shot a fireball from his fingers and disappeared into a world that couldn’t possibly exist.

She studied his profile.

His full mouth had thinned to a firm line, his forehead wrinkled in a frown of concentration.

The urge to reach out and smooth his brow overwhelmed her, and she quickly averted her gaze.

Strong hands gripped the steering wheel, hard. The same hands that had so gently—“Hey.” The ignition sat empty. “Where are the keys?”

His answering grin told her all she needed to know.

“Let us out. Now.”

“We’re almost there. As soon as I drop you off I’ll return the car to the hospital and leave it a few spots away from where I took it.”

She shouldn’t ask, shouldn’t get any more involved with this stranger who appealed to some deep part of her she didn’t understand, elicited feelings that scared her. “Why not leave it where you found it?”

“If the owner already looked for it and couldn’t find it, maybe he’ll think he just forgot where he parked.” He shrugged. “I wouldn’t have taken it if it wasn’t an emergency, but I had to get you and your sister out of there.” He met her stare, held it. “Would you consider following me and letting me take you somewhere safe so we could talk?”

“No.” She held his gaze.

He broke eye contact first, only for a second to glance out the windshield then returned his intense, hypnotic stare to her. “Your life is in danger, Ryleigh. Mia’s life is in danger. Please, you have to trust me.”

Indecision beat at her. She tore her gaze from his to check on Mia. So many things had happened in only one day. How could she possibly decide what to do? Every instinct screamed at her to trust him, and yet…“Are you human?”

She looked back in time to catch the indecision in his eyes before he turned them back to the road.

“How can you ask me to trust you, if you aren’t going to be honest with me?”

“You’re right, and I want to be completely honest with you, but I don’t want you to get scared and run before I’ve had a chance to explain everything.”

Perhaps she should listen to his explanation. If Mia was in danger, she needed to know about it. She could always tell him to get lost afterward. She’d give him one chance. If he answered her honestly, she’d hear him out. If not…

“I asked you a question. Are you human?”

He tugged at the neckline of the
borrowed
scrubs. “Not exactly.”

* * * *

He tried to gauge her reaction each time they passed beneath a streetlight, watching her face light in the glow of the streetlamps then slip back into shadow as they passed back into darkness. Light, dark, light, dark, the hypnotic effect captured him, held him.

“Look out.” She threw her hands up and braced them against the dashboard.

Jackson yanked his gaze from her and found headlights barreling toward him. He overcorrected as he pulled back into his own lane and swerved onto the shoulder, sliding in the sand as he hit the brakes.

When the car finally rocked to a stop, he shoved it into park and scrubbed his hands over his face. “Sorry.”

Mia clutched the door handle in a death grip, a look of terror frozen on her face. “Is it back?”

The tiny whisper knifed through his heart. “No, kiddo, everything’s fine. I just wasn’t paying attention to what I was doing. I’m sorry. Are you all right?”

She nodded and wiped her tears with her sleeve.

“Are you all right?”

Ryleigh finally released her hold on the dashboard to face him.

“Yeah, I’m okay.” Her hand shook as she brushed her hair behind her ear. “Watch where you’re going.”

The reprimand caught him off guard, and laughter escaped before he could suppress it. “Yes, dear.”

Her answering smile clenched his stomach. For a flicker of time he allowed himself the illusion that everything between them could be normal. Reality quickly intruded, though, and he shoved the car into gear and guided it back onto the road.

“So tell me, if you’re not human, what
exactly
are you?”

The sarcastic bite of humor in the question ignited a small flame of hope. How much should he tell her? He didn’t want her to run, but at the same time he couldn’t protect her if she didn’t understand the danger she was in. A quick check in the rearview mirror showed Mia listening intently. Oh well, best to get it all out in the open. At least then they could make some decisions about how to handle the whole bizarre situation.

“My name is Jackson Maynard. I’m from a land called Cymmera.”

“I’ve never heard of that. Where is it?” Mia grabbed the seat backs, slid forward to perch on the edge of her seat, and peeked around to study his face.

A quick check of Ryleigh’s features showed only interest, so he continued. “Cymmera is another realm. My people are able to transfer between our realm and yours.”

“Can humans go to Cymmera?” Ryleigh’s eyes held curiosity but a little fear as well.

“Not if they are alive.” Was that true? He had a sneaking suspicion it might be only partially true. “Actually, I’m not a hundred percent sure about that. Until now, no human has ever passed into Cymmera by choice.”

Shadows and suspicion turned her blue eyes a deep, stormy gray. “What do you mean
by choice
?”

He pulled over in a small parking lot not far from where she’d parked. “Please, Ryleigh. You have to understand and give me a chance to explain before you get upset and run away. Promise?”

Her turbulent eyes held his, and she nodded once.

That would have to be good enough for now. He shifted the car into park. “Give me your keys and wait here. I’ll run and get your car, so you don’t have to answer any questions.” Emergency vehicles littered the lot and the street, lights flashing, even though the sirens no longer blared.

“You can follow me back to the hospital so I can return the car. We’ll clean up and settle Mia then we can sit and talk all night if you want.”

“Fine.”

He got out, went around, opened Ryleigh’s door, and held out a hand.

She handed him the keys, climbed out, and stood staring at the destruction down the street. “Everything looked so normal by the hospital. How could there be so much damage here?” A tremor coursed through her.

He left her leaning against the car surveying the damage and strode toward the lot. He’d never thought of the destruction his people left behind. Sorrow filled him, and he hung his head, ashamed. How could he ever tell her his people had caused this mess? What would she think of a race who held such little value for human life? Maybe he could explain the reason they were so bitter first, and then perhaps she could have some compassion for them. Did they deserve it, though? He stopped and spoke to an investigator, then got permission to take the car. Even without any special powers, he could be quite persuasive over humans.

He returned to Ryleigh, not wanting her alone any longer than necessary. “Come on, let’s get Mia in the car and go somewhere warm.” He helped the girls into Ryleigh’s car. “You’ll follow me?”

“Yes, but I’m not making any promises other than I’ll hear you out.”

“Fair enough.” He closed her door and returned to the stolen car.

He tried to organize his thoughts as he drove. No matter how he phrased it, he couldn’t change the fact that the inhabitants of Cymmera had been enslaving humans for hundreds of years. Would she understand? Forgive him? And what did the future hold? Would he be able to continue on the path the Cymmerans were currently following?

What about Kai,
that bastard
? And Daygan? Had it been his soldier Jackson had disposed of in the parking lot, or one of Kai’s men? He’d have to ask the warrior when he saw him next. He rubbed the back of his head, winced at the pain, and returned his hand to the wheel. Well, maybe
after
he taught the cocky bastard a lesson.

He searched behind him in the rearview mirror. Good, Ryleigh was still back there, and as far as he could tell, no one else followed. When he pulled into the parking lot, he gestured for Ryleigh to wait where she was, then held his breath while he parked the borrowed car and ran back to her. He opened the driver’s door. “Move over, I’ll drive.”

She raised an eyebrow.

“It’ll be fine, I’ll pay attention.”

She glanced around but remained in the driver’s seat.

“Your feet have to be killing you. Just move over. I’ll drive, and you can rest them.”

She finally shrugged and got out and limped around.

He followed and opened the door for her. With one last look over his shoulder, he climbed in and hit the gas.

She laid her head back against the headrest. Strain lined her face, dark circles cradled her eyes, her hair hung limp and tangled. Her eyes drifted closed. Maybe she was offering him a reprieve.

He reached toward her to soothe some of her tension.

“Start talking.”

No such luck. He heaved a deep breath in, and let it out on a
whoosh
. “Cymmera is dying, has been for hundreds of years. Since the death of our Queen.” Jackson thought of his mother, as he often did. He’d only been a small child when she died, and several hundred years had since passed, yet he remembered her vividly, the radiance of her smile, the warmth of her embrace, the flowery scent always surrounding her. He missed her terribly still. Grief filled him, the only emotion Jackson fully understood.

“Daygan’s army attacked the farthest reaches of the Kingdom, a day’s journey at the least. The king had already left to lead his warriors into battle. They’d hoped to defend the outlying areas, head the invaders off and stop them before they reached the city itself. It should have worked, would have, if not for the army of humans.”

“Wait, I though humans couldn’t enter Cymmera?” Her head still rested against the headrest, but now she stared at him. Dirt covered her face, smeared where she’d wiped her tears away.

“They can’t, not voluntarily and not alive in the sense that you understand it. Our enemies are strong. Their leader, Daygan, is an incredibly powerful sorcerer, but he’s filled with evil and consumed by hate. He found a way to collect humans and enslave them. He brought them to Cymmera to attack the city while the Cymmeran soldiers were occupied elsewhere.” Rage threatened to surface, but he inhaled deeply, fought it back.

“The city of Cymmera is more like a very large village surrounded by a huge stone wall. The castle sits upon a hill in the center of the city. With the soldiers gone, mostly women and children remained within the confines of the wall. Some of the older boys, who were not yet warriors, lined the front wall of the city in a valiant effort, but everyone knew they would be no match for the onslaught. So Queen Dara left the safety of the castle.” A difficult enough memory without having to give voice to it. The helplessness the small child had suffered still plagued the man. He’d secreted himself in the highest window of the castle, witnessed his mother’s journey across the lush green field.