Jacob (7 page)

Isabella cried out, a gasp of stuttered shock and carnal awareness. Something in her mind tried telling her she should be afraid, but she wasn’t. Quite the opposite. Her body was eager, damp and welcoming, and becoming more so with every erotic rub of his suggestive burrowing against her. She didn’t know that he could smell that heady increase in her aroused scent and that it was putting her in escalating danger. All she knew was that, for the first time, she wanted to know what it would be like to be taken by a man.

That was when the room exploded.

Isabella was crushed into the floor by the initial force of it. Violent winds suddenly ripped at her body, lifting her and throwing her through the air like a limp doll even as single-minded hands tried to hold on to her, the lingering grip bruising her flesh as she was torn from its hold. Isabella landed with a grunt on soft furniture. She sat up and shook away the whipping tendrils of her hair, the haze of passion, and her disorientation. Her vision cleared in time to see Jacob hurtling across the room, slamming forcefully into a wall, driven into the plaster by hurricane-force winds.

That was when she noticed there was another man in the room.

Perceiving the blond stranger instinctively as a threat and hearing Jacob roar in outrage, Isabella scrambled off the couch and hurled herself at the intruder. Unfortunately, he was built like a brick fort, and she felt rather like a dust mote bouncing ineffectually against him. He turned his head, a lazy, unconcerned movement, and cocked a gold brow at her in surprise and... amusement? He flicked a hand in her direction and once again she was swept into a maelstrom of wind that stole her breath away.

A second later she felt all of her weight suddenly disappear, her body becoming the consistency of dust, causing the confining wind to pass right through her. She watched in awe as debris caught in the slipstream rushed through her as well. She heard the newcomer swear bitingly, and Isabella instinctively knew the golden-haired visitor was going to do something to injure Jacob further as he focused all of his attention on him. She felt a force of power explode out from the giant and could see the eddy of air currents as they hit Jacob like a nuclear blast. About the time the side of the house blew out and sent Jacob flying outside, Isabella became solid again. Her touchdown onto her feet was abrupt and awkward.

By now, she was working purely on instinct. Jacob had saved her life and was in terrible danger, and she had to do something. Before another millisecond could pass, she was once more hurtling through the air. As if Bruce Lee had suddenly invaded her, Isabella found herself nearly kicking the man’s head off his body. She whirled and struck again, his surprised grunt giving her satisfaction as she swung her leg up and around high enough to force her heel into his Romanesque nose.

The intruder flew backward at the impact, landing hard on his back with a stunned cough. Before he had a chance to regroup, she was on him, straddling his massive chest and grabbing up the nearest thing she could find to threaten him with. It happened to be a heavy potted plant, the planter made of some kind of pewter. It wasn’t an iron bar, but she was sure it would hurt. She wielded it over his head with the confidence of that fact radiating out of her every pore.

“No, wait!” He threw up his hands in a protective gesture, and in spite of herself, Isabella hesitated. “I was protecting you!”

“Like hell!” she barked out, aiming the planter with intent.

“I swear! Listen to me, please. He would have hurt you! Don’t you understand that, you foolish woman?”

“Tsk... it’s not wise to insult a ‘foolish woman’ with the upper hand,” she threatened, jiggling the pot in her hands until the leaves of the plant within shook.

“What in hell is going on here?”

Isabella and the stranger looked at each other, both taking a moment to realize that neither of them had spoken, even though that had been the sentence on the tip of each of their tongues. They turned their heads in unison to see yet another stranger, this one with dark reddish black hair and an imperious aura that, in a way, reminded Isabella of Jacob. This new stranger stood reeking of power and authority on the threshold of Jacob’s home.

“Noah!” the one stranger said to the other, a mixture of relief and embarrassment in his voice. “Get this hellion off me.”

“Come one step closer and I’ll bash his tiny brain in,” Isabella warned.

Noah didn’t move, but he didn’t look very concerned either. Instead, he looked as though he were just this side of laughing his head off. Isabella was aware of his eyes traveling leisurely over her, and that was when she realized the torn shirt she wore was gaping wide, exposing a great deal of her breasts.

With a cry, Isabella dropped her burden and grabbed her shirt, clutching the material closed. Unfortunately, she forgot she’d been holding the pot over blondie’s head. With a yelp of shock, he jerked his head aside, avoiding the brunt of the would-be weapon’s strike but getting a face full of planting soil when the pot burst and spilled its guts all over him.

Isabella was aghast as the man spluttered and spat out words that sounded suspiciously like swearing in a foreign language. She scrambled off his chest, not wanting to be within reach when he regained his eyesight. The blond giant sat up and shook off mounds of soil with a couple of jerks of his head. Isabella was backing off from the two strangers, her wary eyes glued to them, her hands still grasping at her shirt.

Noah watched the ebony-haired female take in her surroundings with the sharp eye of a hunter. The King was full of questions, but he didn’t think he was going to get much satisfaction out of her. He turned instead to the other man in the room. “Elijah, would you care to tell me what is going on?”

The huge male surged to his feet, dusting dirt out of his hair with a disgruntled sound as he turned a grim expression to his King. “I was passing by and there was a massive change in the atmosphere. It was so strong it literally jerked me out of the sky. I investigated and it turned out it was a change in gravitational force. A side effect of... well... Jacob was out of control. He was... I found Jacob... um... ” Elijah shifted his weight in discomfort. “He was consorting with this female... or about to. I stopped him just in time.”

“Jacob?” Noah gasped, his shock so resounding that Isabella felt instantly insulted.

“No one asked you to stop him,” she said sharply, her eyes shooting fiery daggers at the one called Elijah. “What the hell business is it of yours if Jacob... uh... consorts with me?”

“That would require a lengthy explanation,” Noah offered in answer.

“I have time,” she shot back.

Noah stepped forward, made eye contact with her, and raised his hand in a graceful sweep of his fingers. “You look tired,” he remarked.

Isabella blinked, was overcome by a wash of exhaustion, and yawned against her will. Her chin lifted stubbornly as she swayed on her feet.

Noah went very still and Elijah’s jaw fell open.

Noah manipulated her personal energy further, literally sucking the strength out of her with such force that Elijah could feel it tingling across his skin. Isabella stepped back hard as if hit physically. Helpless against Noah’s awesome power, she crumpled to the floor, curled up into a fetal position, and promptly fell into an exhausted sleep.

Noah and...

“What in hell are you doing here?” he demanded upon recognizing Elijah, indulging in the knee-jerk reaction of hostility even though he wasn’t at all sure why he wanted to.

“Saving your ass,” Elijah quipped, smiling with a flash of teeth that was a combination of boyishness and outright feral pleasure.

“The hell you are!” Jacob barked, his pride bent at the very idea. He might be in a fog, but he knew he could take care of himself and needed no one to save him from anything.

“I am sorry to say it, my friend, but he is telling the truth.”

Jacob swung his gaze to the Demon King. Noah’s sea green and gray eyes were a serious match to the grim press of his mouth.

“Look, Jacob.” Noah indicated to something lying curled up on the couch next to his hip.

Isabella.

Beautiful Isabella. Curled up like a sweet kitten and breathing so deeply that she made a noise in the back of her throat with every exhale. Sound asleep, looking like an ethereal angel, and...

Bruised.

He stared in horror as he realized those were
his
fingerprints pressed deeply into her neck and throat, as well as the bare curve of her upper thigh. Everything came rushing back to him, the implications hitting him like a gut punch, stealing his breath away as his face burned in appalled shame.

“Oh, no,” he rasped, his dismay and devastation grinding into those two simple words.

“Easy, Jacob,” Noah said quickly. “Elijah arrived in time to keep you from harming her any further.”

Barely, Jacob recalled. He remembered the lust, the craving for Isabella that had so overwhelmed him. He remembered how close he had come to taking her, mating with her, damn the consequences. In fact, the consequences had never once entered his mind. Even now, though he was full of despair over his lack of control, he couldn’t shake the urge he had to get closer to her, to touch her, to drag that delicate body in a crush against him and taste her again. It rode him heavily, rooted in his gut and groin, and he was filled with the dreadful conviction that he would never be able to remove that need from his soul. Ever.

“I never meant to hurt her,” Jacob said quietly. The irony of speaking the exact words Kane had used gutted him with anger—anger at himself and frustrated outrage that those he highly respected had been witness to his humiliation.

“We know that,” Noah said evenly, hoping to be some kind of comfort to him. “What we do not know is how she came to be in your home.” Noah leaned forward. “What in the world would possess you to bring a temptation such as this onto your territory?” the Demon King demanded of his champion. “You are not infallible, Jacob, even if you are the Enforcer. You are Demon. You too can fall to the madness of the Hallowed moon.”

“I know that!”

“Then why,” Elijah asked, “did you bring her to your home?”

“Because she... because I needed to figure something out about her. She is not usual for a human female.”

“You’re telling me,” Elijah said wryly, gingerly touching his bruised nose.

“What made you think she was unusual?” Noah asked.

Jacob took a deep breath before dropping the bomb. “She killed Saul.”

The two Demons across from him sucked in air as if they were suddenly drowning for it. Jacob instinctively got to his feet and sat on the arm of the couch beside Isabella’s head, crossing an arm to the back of the sofa in a clearly protective gesture.

“That is impossible,” Noah said quietly.

“I saw it with my own eyes. Saul had completely Transformed. I miscalculated his power... his strength. It has been too long since I have fought an altered Demon. He severely injured me, but
she
stopped him.”

“This little human creature killed one of us? One of the Transformed?” Elijah snorted in disbelief. “He must have been unconscious. Incapacitated.”

“That same little creature broke your nose not twenty minutes ago, Elijah,” Noah reminded him dryly. “Were you unconscious or incapacitated?” The King was frowning, worry lines etching deeply across his broad forehead. “I have never heard of such a thing,” Noah informed them. “You were right to detain her, but it was wrong of you not to be forthcoming about it sooner. I do not understand why you put both of your lives in danger, Jacob. What would have kept her from possibly killing you? And then the way Elijah found you with her... ”

“I cannot explain it. Any of it. I just... I just knew she was not a danger to me. Even in spite of knowing how she has affected me, I still do not look at her as a threat or at myself as a threat to her. I cannot explain it, Noah. I have been the Enforcer for four hundred years. Never in all that time have I strayed. Never once have I entertained the slightest craving to do so. And yet, with her, there is no conscience in me. No sense of my cultural mores. She... ” Jacob paused to move a wisp of hair off her cheek. “It feels as though there is no wrong in what I did. Everything I have come to believe in my lifetime tells me that it is very wrong, but it does not
feel
like it.”

“That’s the madness talking,” Elijah scoffed with disgust. “You were like an animal when I arrived, Jacob. You would have torn her to pieces.”

“No!” Jacob’s fury was punctuated as he snarled at Elijah. “The urge to mate with her was not entirely that of a beast who would use any female without discrimination. It was different. I... ” He was at a loss, looking away from the stunned expressions of the other two males. “It was primitive, yes, but not just lustful instinct. It was more... deeper... something I could not resist. No, not even I.”

Noah stood up then, suddenly feeling like it would be a good idea not to be sitting so close to this woman who had somehow managed to become the fixation of the unbendable, unshakable Jacob. Jacob’s moral code was what made him the best Enforcer they’d ever had. It was what protected him. If he had succumbed to madness, there had to be something more to it than met the eye.

Who was this woman who could kill a Demon, who had beat down Elijah, the Captain of Noah’s fighting forces? Enchanting Jacob, the implacable Enforcer? And what of the way she had resisted his drain on her energy? Yes, Noah thought heavily, there was definitely more to be discovered here.

He could only hope that it was not the bad tidings he thought it was.