Hunter (Fairy Tale Bad Boys #1) (4 page)

Jason

“I don’t have time for you.” Were the first words Jason heard the moment Isabel realized who she had bumped into.

“Well, that’s just too bad.” He couldn’t help but poke fun at her. “Because I am in desperate need of your time.”

“Like last night? No, thank you.” She pushed passed him and onto the busy sidewalk. It was barely after nine and while there weren’t as many people as there were on Saturdays, there were still enough to draw interested glances their way.

Jason’s face broke out into a sly grin. “So, you watched it, did you?” He easily trailed after her, nodding his head to the passer buyers on their way to Sunday church service.

“Yes. I mean. No.” She stuttered, her face becoming red at the looks they were getting. “You shouldn’t have sent it to me in the first place.”

He shrugged. “Well if it is any consolation I was drunk off my ass.”

“I figured that out, thank you.”

A uncomfortable silence settled between them as they walked down the sidewalk toward where he figured was the beast’s mansion. He didn’t like the silence. It made him think too much about what his dad said that morning, and he was afraid he was going to blurt it out without any kind of tact. So instead, he did what he did best.

“So tell me, Izzy.” He lowered his head toward hers, his voice barely a whisper. “Did I make you wet?”

Isabel shoved Jason away, a blush flaring across her cheeks. “No, you did not.”

“Really, now?” He chuckled and slid an arm around her shoulders to pull her close, not caring they were being watched. “Because I remember you liking to watch very much. How during a particularly boring day you would beg for me to send you little videos like that.” His mouth was hot against her ear and he whispered into it. “I love seeing your fingers deep inside of you, getting all wet just from watching me rub my cock.”

Jason grunted when her elbow connected with his ribs and he dropped his arm. Rubbing his side, he watched her glare at him, her hands on her hips, poised and ready for a fight.

“That was before. You can’t expect the same reaction out of me now, drunk or not.” Her eyes darted to the crowd they were drawing and she promptly turned on her heel, making her way toward her destination.

Shooting a glower at the nosy people of Rollings, Jason plodded after her. She might pretend like he didn’t affect her, but he knew differently. What he didn’t know was if he even had a chance anymore. Was she so set on Vincent because she was having his child?

“Why are you following me?” She almost screeched at him when she saw him behind her.

“I wasn’t done talking to you.” He spoke in his normal voice now that they were out of the crowded town center and closer to where the mansion sat.

“I think I was the one who was done talking to you.”

Jason couldn’t help but watch the way her bottom wiggled back and forth as she stomped away from him.

Catching up to her, he placed his hand on her shoulder making her stop in her tracks. “Please. No more teasing, I promise. I just need to know.”

“Know what, Jason?” She shrugged his hand off, irritation pinching her face.

“If you’re pregnant.”

Isabel’s mouth dropped open, seemingly dumbfounded by his words. She didn’t answer for a moment, and he almost thought she wouldn’t until he saw a hand swinging toward him. He caught it just before it landed on his face and brought it down between them.

“Let me go,” she snapped, tugging on her hand.

“Not until you answer me.” Jason tightened his grip on her hand, pulling her closer.

“I am not going to dignify that question with a response. You know how I feel about having children. I believe I made myself quite clear before when I said I didn’t want children right now, if ever,” she growled at him. “Why in the world would that change?”

Jason frowned and dropped her hand. “I thought maybe you’d changed your mind.” He tucked his hands in his pockets, his shoulders hunched. “You know, for him.”

“Whatever gave you that idea?”

He had the decency to look ashamed. “Dad said he heard there was a rumor going around about the mutt trying to secure his legacy, and of course everyone thinks that means a kid.”

“So, you thought I would just go and get myself knocked up to keep him in the line of power?” She shook her head at him.

Rubbing the back of his neck, he let out an aggravated sigh. “I don’t know what I was thinking. Just the thought of you and him having a kid when I want so badly for it to be me, I kind of lost my head.”

“I’d say,” she snorted, and then sighed, placing a hand on Jason’s arm. “Hey. If I was pregnant you would know, and not just because of some silly rumor. My sisters would have a whole fucking parade letting the whole country know.”

Jason’s lips quirked up in response. Her sisters were known for being overdramatic. They had caused more than enough friction between the two of them on more than one occasion. He wished he could blame their break up on them, but it was all him and the very thing they were talking about.

“Iz. About that day.” He started but she held her hand up and fumbled in her pocket for her phone.

“Sorry, I have to take this.” She swiped her phone open and pressed it to her ear. “Hey, dad. No, no I can talk.” She glanced up at Jason and mouthed a sorry before dashing away, along with another missed chance at redeeming himself.

Isabel

When Isabel arrived back at the mansion she couldn’t stop thinking about Jason. She was such a coward. The moment she heard him start that conversation again, the one she had been avoiding for almost a year, she panicked. As lame as it was, pretending to get a call from her dad had been her only solution. She had too many problems already on her plate to worry about easing his conscience. The main one was sitting in her office going over the reports she had pieced back together.

“Hey.” She smiled at Vincent when he looked up from the papers in front of him. “Sorry, they are kind of messy. I had to redo them cause of a mouse incident.”

“We should get some traps to be sure it doesn’t happen again.”

“Already did.” Plopping down into the chair opposite of her desk, she watched him. Head bent as he read over the numbers, his hair fell over his face causing a shadow to fall over it. She chewed on her thumb as she thought about what Jason had said.

Did Vincent really want her to have his child? They had talked briefly about her concerns in regards to having children before but nothing serious. If he did need her to get pregnant for him to keep his power in the pack would she even do it?

“You are staring, Belle.” He placed his hands on the desk and locked eyes with her. “What is on your mind?”

“Why does the town think you are trying to get me pregnant?” She blurted out before she could stop herself and winced at her lack of tact.

“What makes them think that?” Vincent cocked his head to the side, looking as confused as she had been when she heard it.

“Something about securing your legacy?” Isabel watched his face to gauge his reaction.

Vincent barked out laughing. A reaction she had not been expecting. Denial. Anger. Even a small part of her thought it might be true. But he shook his head as if he really couldn’t believe what she had just asked him.

“Why is that funny?”  She frowned at him, not understanding how having a child was a funny matter. Did he not want children?

“I’m sorry, my love, but it is funny because to secure my legacy, my first born must be a werewolf and for that to happen, both its parent must be werewolves.” He moved around the table and gathered her hands in his, laying his lips on the tops of them. “You don’t have to worry your little head about being pregnant anytime soon.”

“So you are not trying to secure your legacy?”

“Oh, I am.” He nodded his head, and then his lips curved down in a frown. “And while the thought of my first born not being with the woman I love is distressing, I do know it is for the good of the pack.” Brushing a hand down her hair, in a comforting gesture. “In time you will see that it will be good for us too.”

Her thoughts reeled. His words came out foreign to her, her mind having difficulties wrapping around what he just told her. He was trying to secure his spot, but she didn’t have to be pregnant for it to happen. Why would his first born not be with her? How could his first born not be with her? Unless…

“You are saying you have to have a child with a werewolf?” Her voice was steady even though her insides were shaking.

“Yes,” he said simply, and then continued when it was clear she was waiting for more. “All my family asks is the first born be pure, and then they will leave us alone. I will not have to be dragged into all the politics and other pack nonsense. I can stay here with you.” He smiled down at her as if he hadn’t just dropped a bombshell on her.

Pulling her hands away from him, she stood from her seat and stomped across the room. “So, you are telling me that all this time you have been gone, you’ve been looking for a mother for your child?”

“Not looking. Assigned. My father has already picked a suitable pack mate for me to procreate with. She is a good woman, a good Beta. You would like her.” He followed after her, holding his hand out to her.

Taking a step back from him, she forced herself not to deck him in his smiling face. Her voice was low and steady, though threatening in its tone. “Have you slept with her?”

This time, his smile dropped and his brow furrowed. “Of course, why do you think I cannot be with you yet? We cannot take the chance that I impregnate you first. We will not have long to wait. Lesly is on fertility drugs, and we have high hopes that an heir will be produced before long.”

“Lesly?” She gasped, the room becoming smaller by the moment.

All this time, he had been so distant toward her wasn’t because he was being a gentleman, it was because he wanted to get what constituted as his mistress pregnant first. She wanted to kill him. She wanted to scream.

“How dare you,” she snarled, pointing her finger at his chest. “How dare you think I would be okay with this? That I wouldn’t care that you are having sex with another woman, let alone having a child. In what world do you think we live in where that is all right?”

Vincent’s eyes narrowed and for the first time since she had been with him, he looked angry. His soft blue eyes flickered to a glaring yellow. When the tension in the room increased tenfold, Isabel had a brief sense of fear fill her.

“In a world where supernatural creatures have intermingled with society.” Vincent stalked upon her like the very animal he was. “In one that I had thought would accept our ways without judgment. I thought I had found that in you. Perhaps I was wrong.”

“You were,” she growled, shoving him away from her. “You disgust me.”

Faster than she could comprehend, Vincent was on her, her arm in his tight grip. “I disgust you?” He snarled at her, his teeth elongating before her. “It is I who should be disgusted. My own woman cannot keep her hormones in check, long enough not to go panting after her ex-lover.”

Isabel gasped as he bent her arm at a painful angle. “What are you talking about?”

“You and that Neanderthal.” Grabbing her by her hair, he jerked her toward him. “Did you think I wouldn’t know? That I wouldn’t notice the way your scent changed when he was near you, or hear you at night when you dream about him? Hmm?” He twisted her hair in his hand, causing a sharp pain at her roots and a twinge in her neck.

Guilt rode through her at his words. He had known all this time and said nothing? She thought she had hidden her lingering feelings for Jason so well, but she had been fooling herself, about Jason and about Vincent.

A defiant part of her roared its head at her. So what? Even if he did know it didn’t make up for the fact that he had been cheating on her this entire time. She might have had naughty thoughts about her ex, and been tempted on more than one occasion, but at least she wasn’t going behind his back.

“Whose fault is that?” She spat at him, fighting to get out of his hold even though it hurt her more. “You won’t touch me, you barely kiss me. It’s no wonder I would long for someone else who actually wants me. Unlike you, you spineless, dickless, mutt.”

Crack.

The sound of his fist colliding with her face resounded in her ears. Her eyes watered and pain radiated through the left side, knocking her to the floor. He had hit her. She wouldn’t have ever believed it were possible had it not just happened.

“No more,” his voice was dark as he hissed down at her. “You will not see him, think about him, or even mention him ever again.” His eyes were now full yellow, and the hairs on her arms prickled as he loomed over her. “You are mine and we are going to be happy.”

Happy? From where she sat, her hand cradling her face, the idea of being happy with this monster was far from her mind. The only thing she could think of was getting as far away from him as possible.

Jason

The fact that Isabel wasn’t pregnant floated through his mind all day. He didn’t want to get his hopes up, but he couldn’t help the swell of anticipation building in his chest. If she cared enough not to want to hurt his feelings, that had to mean something, right?

Placing the last of the bug repellant he was stocking on the shelf, he made his way back down the aisle and toward the front of the store. He nodded his head at a few of the town’s older ladies who were loitering around the homemade jam. With the fall festival coming up soon, he wasn’t surprised to see them in his shop.

“It’s a crying shame,” one of the ladies whispered to the other, just as he got close to them.

“Oh, I know!” The other responded, shaking her head. “The poor dear, she really needs some foundation to cover that up, those sunglasses aren’t fooling anyone.”

“She shouldn’t need to be hiding anything in the first place!” The first one whispered back, viciousness in her voice.

“I knew that sup was bad news the moment he moved to town.” The first one’s companion nodded her head, pity on her face. “She should have stayed with our dear Jason and none of this would have happened.”

The sound of his name caused him to stop in his tracks, spinning on his heels, he made his way toward them.

Seeing him approach, they tried to look busy reading the labels of his mother’s jam, but he wouldn’t be fooled. There was one thing Jason had learned in all his years living in Rollings, and that was they didn’t say things like that in hearing distance for no reason.

“Where is she?” He crossed his arms over his chest, letting his size do all the intimidating.

The ladies didn’t shy away and went so far as to smile at him, confirming to him they knew exactly what they were doing.

“Why I do believe I saw her heading toward Caver’s, but I could have been mistaken.” The first lady, whose name he couldn’t care less about, gestured out the window.

“Thanks.” He spun from them, throwing his apron at a surprised Peter and marched out the door without a goodbye.

Stepping out of the store, his eyes immediately landed on a brown head trying to look as inconspicuous as possible as she walked along the sidewalk. She did indeed have a big pair of sunglasses covering her eyes. Though he couldn’t see her eyes, he could tell she was searching around her as if she were afraid something or someone would jump out at her any moment.

She stood outside of Caver’s like she couldn’t make up her mind whether to go in or not, and then with one last look around hurried off the sidewalk and into the bar. Seeing his Izzy with such fear in her heart made his insides boil. A vengeful fury gripped him; before he knew what was happening, he had crossed the street and had entered the bar.

Jason scanned the practically deserted room. His eyes landed on the back booth where a brown head was ducked down.

Making his way toward her, his eyes took in the way she was hunched down in the booth, her eyes locked on the screen of her phone, where she was searching for something he couldn’t tell. She already had a glass of whiskey in front of her, her drink of choice when she was upset. Jason placed his hands in his pockets and rocked on his heels.

“It’s a little early to be drinking, don’t you think?”

“What’s it to you?” She didn’t glance up from her phone, and actually, seemed to sink further into herself. He didn’t like it. He didn’t like it at all. Was his sweet, strong, Izzy reduced to a skittish fowl? He would kill the mutt for putting that look on her face.

“Nothing, I’m just a concerned citizen.” He slid into the booth, not missing the way she inched her hands back toward her and away from him.

Placing his hands on the table, he tried to rein in his rage when he caught a glimpse of the bruising peeking out from behind the edge of her glasses. The ladies had been right, she was wasting her time trying to hide behind them. He tried to figure out how to get her to talk to him without scaring her off.

“Just a citizen, then?” She snorted. “Not a persistent ex?”

“Not unless you want me to be?” He kept his tone light and friendly.

“I have had just about enough of men in my life right now. You can be a duck for all I care.” She downed her drink in one go, letting it slam onto the table in front of them.

His lips quirked up at her choice. A duck it was. “Well then as a concerned feathered friend, do you want to tell me why you are wearing sunglasses inside?”

“I have a headache,” she countered; even behind the glasses he could see her eyes daring him to question her.

“I’d imagine I would too, if I had a shiner like yours.” He gestured to her face, not pretending to not notice it anymore.

Growling, she jerked her glasses off and locked eyes with him. What he saw made his blood simmer. The monster hadn’t just hit her, he had made sure it hurt. The lid around her eye was swollen shut and the blood vessels busted, making the area on and around her eye a vibrant purple. He knew from experience it would take days if not weeks to heal damage like that.

“Where is he?” Jason snarled, his hands gripping the edge of the table. It was taking all that he had not to rip the town apart looking for the spineless mutt who dared lay his hands on his Isabel.

“At home, I would imagine.” She shrugged, a dark look crossing her eyes. The look made his heart clench even more, and he swore from then on he would never let that look cross her face again.

“I’m going to kill him.” Jason stood from the table and made for the door but Isabel grabbed his arm, jerking him back.

“No.” She shook her head. “You’ll just get yourself killed. Besides it’s my problem. Not yours. I’ll deal with it myself.” The stern line of her lips told him she really thought she could, and while he knew she could take care of herself, the thought of her being near that creature was too much for him to handle.

“Like you did before?” His hand reached out and brushed a finger lightly against the bruise on her face. “What is to stop him from hitting you again?”

Pain crossed her face, and he was pleased when she leaned into his touch before pulling back. “Nothing I suppose, but as long as I don’t make him angry, I’m sure I can reason with him.”

“Reason? With a werewolf?” Jason gave a dark laugh. “That’s not going to happen.”

“Well, I can’t go back right now anyhow.” She frowned at him. “Not until I have a plan.”

“Yeah. The plan is you get as far away from the mutt as possible and let me put a bullet in his brain.” Jason kneeled down next to her, cupping her hands in his. “You may not want me anymore but that won’t stop me from keeping you safe. Please, let me do this for you.”

“You’d really shoot him?” She quirked a brow at him.

“In a heartbeat.”

“Fine.” She pulled her hands away and pushed out of the booth, pulling her glasses back on. “But we need a plan. You can’t just go in there guns blazing, besides, I hardly think the Council for Supernatural Complaints would agree that death is a suitable punishment for domestic abuse.”

“I don’t give a fuck what the council would think,” Jason snarled, pulling her to him. “You are worth so much more than that.”

“That’s sweet of you to say.” She gave him a small smile. “But pretty words won’t make that bastard pay.”