Prince of Bears - Tasha Black Page 0,2
Someone else is after her too. We have to find her, and we have to find her first.
Beyond that, there was only so much time in the hourglass. When the sand ran out, Heath would be sucked back to Faerie, whether he had accomplished his goal or not.
The hillside dropped off quickly and the girl’s scent grew stronger, as did the trail of her pursuer.
Heath thundered down the precipitous slope until the valley began to reveal itself to him.
He paused to survey the scene below.
Artificial lights illuminated the smooth surface of a lot filled with the human vehicles.
Much to his good fortune, he spotted Princess Ashe right away, and his breath caught in his throat. He slipped back into his human form to explore the unexpected surge of feelings.
The princess walked toward a carriage on the edge of the woods, heading away from a brightly-lit restaurant on the other side of the big lot.
For a moment, he could only watch as he forgot everything - his mission, the other hunter, even his own name - all he could think about was the unmatched beauty of the woman below.
His chest ached, but more with sweetness than with pain.
It was strange. Ashe had always been pretty. But she had never had this effect on him. No one had. It was like seeing the sunrise for the first time after a life spent in a dark cave.
She stopped and turned back toward the restaurant, sighing, as if she had forgotten something.
But movement in the underbrush on the edge of the woods caught her attention and she turned back to help a figure that stumbled out of the woods and landed on the hard surface of the lot.
Ice went through Heath’s veins as he thought about the bounty hunter. It was a clever trick to pretend to be in distress in order to catch one’s quarry.
But before he could take any action, he saw it was a woman in a gown.
She whispered something to Ashe and then ran for the building Ashe had just come from, skirts hitched up in her hands. Heath wished he’d stayed in his bear form so he would have been able to make out the exchange.
Ashe stood motionless below, looking up into the woods in his direction. Had she sensed him somehow?
More movement near her told him she hadn’t been looking at him at all. She’d spotted the bounty hunter.
Instinct took over, and he slipped back into his bear form and charged down the hillside, paws gripping roots and vines, anything that could launch him closer to his goal.
The desire to protect the princess was overwhelming, a deep rooted need that reached far beyond the bounds of obligation and into an abyss of something that felt strange to him.
When he reached the bottom of the hill, he spotted the bounty hunter.
He was fae, tall and broad shouldered with leather armor.
And he didn’t see Heath coming until it was too late.
The bear crashed into the big man and sent him sprawling across the paved surface. To his credit, he rolled with the impact, and absorbed most of what could have been a very damaging blow.
The hunter scrambled back to his feet and glared at the huge bear that now stood between him and his quarry. He looked for moment like he was going to challenge Heath for the princess, but then he glanced from the restaurant to Ashe and back again, and apparently thought better of it.
The man let out a quick whistle and bolted back into the woods, followed by a small wolf cub that Heath hadn’t noticed in his haste to protect the princess.
Heath looked back at the woman he’d come to retrieve.
For an instant they gazed at each other, and he had to fight the urge to shift back into the form of a man and sweep her into an embrace.
She did not cower from him, though his bear form was impressive.
Again, he was struck with the maddening feeling that something about her was very different. She was wearing human clothing. Maybe she had been here longer than he suspected.
A commotion from the restaurant drew his attention.
People inside had spotted the bear.
Damn it.
He could not change forms in front of mortal witnesses.
He gazed into the girl’s eyes, willing her to follow him, though he had no reason to believe she would.
When he moved around the corner of the building and into the trees again, he was shocked, and pleased, to hear her small footsteps behind him.
3
Willow
Against every