She shook her head in frustration, jet-black locks flying around her face. “That’s the worst part,” she said. “I think I believe you.” And then she shifted to panther and disappeared into the trees before Gareth could form another thought.

But as he stared at the emerald glow that shimmered in the mist from her hasty flight, a slow smile spread across his face. Gareth rose and sought the pool not far from the cave. It had never taken him this long to seduce a woman before, and it had frustrated him. And yet today he found himself enjoying the chase.

He realized he liked Millicent. Liked her independence and strength and stubbornness.

Gareth stripped off his hose, braies, and boots when he reached the pool and lowered himself into the water. It took away some of the aches of his bruises, but not the pounding in his loins. He’d never taught a woman to fight before, and it had been a surprisingly arousing experience. Images of her flashed through his mind. The blaze of those golden eyes when she launched an attack at him. The twist of her body while muscles rippled beneath that smooth form.

His desire had already been complete before he’d kissed her. Holding back while she explored his mouth had nearly driven him mad. But the contrast from the warrior-woman he’d fought to the innocent who kissed him so passionately aroused him as no other woman had ever done before.

And the glimpse into her soul she’d allowed him when she’d spoken of her life, engaged his heart like none other.

When he rose out of the water, the fullness of his member didn’t surprise him. But it seemed to shock Millicent as she emerged from the tubular bushes, taking the path back to the cave, a load of netted clawed-creatures slung over her back.

Of course. Despite his insistence that he would provide their dinner, she continued to hunt for her own meals.

Several pools lay hidden within the forest. Gareth could have chosen any one of them. But he’d purposely chosen the one closest to the cave, on the path she would have to take when she returned.

She stopped dead in her tracks and stared her fill of him. He froze likewise, unembarrassed by his nude state. He had no shyness whatsoever when it came to his body. He’d lost that centuries ago.

He felt her eyes like a tangible thing as they swept over his face and chest, as if she left a burning trail on his skin. When her eyes lowered, his member rose even higher, as if it had a mind of its own.

She licked her lips and shivered in the wet heat.

Gareth knew he could’ve taken her right then. She wouldn’t run away this time, for her body wanted him too badly. He’d driven her to this need with his kiss and his words. It would take but little more to push past her final defenses to make her his. And he yearned for her to be the one who would break his curse.

He took one step toward her when a sudden thought occurred to him. What if… what if she wasn’t the one? Then the relic would loosen from her wrist and she’d give it to the duke and he’d never see her again. And he realized he didn’t want that to happen. Not yet. For the first time in his memory, he cared more about a woman than gaining his own freedom. A confusing, frightening realization… but one he wanted to explore further.

So instead of reaching out to her, instead of striding forward and wrapping her in his arms and kissing her senseless, he raised a mocking brow.

Millicent bristled, then shot him a look that should have dropped him dead where he stood. And he let her walk away.

Gareth pulled on braies, hose, and boots, and wondered if he should curse himself for a fool as he strapped on his sword belt. What if she could have broken the enchantment? He was not used to these conflicting emotions. The pattern of his life had been quite simple. He slept until the relic tightened around a woman’s wrist. Then he seduced her. Then he slept again until the relic chose another.

He made no decisions. He followed the pattern Merlin had laid out for him. Why had it not bothered him until now?

When he returned to the cave, the melancholy that often cloaked him became overwhelming and he couldn’t overcome it. Neither could he take his eyes off Millicent. He sat down on one of the low stools next to Nell and watched the girl crack open a shell of boiled food with a rock, then give it to the old woman. His gaze followed her as she replaced the flowers on the table with fresh ones, their glow brightening the gloom of their small cave. Every blink of her lash, each flutter of her hand, now seemed a small torture to him.

He could not control his lust for the shape-shifter. Yet now he hesitated to act on it, for he did not want this time with her to end so quickly. It made his desire multiply tenfold, and he couldn’t help but devour her with his gaze.

And he longed to kiss her again. To see if he had not just imagined the feelings it had evoked in him.

Eventually she turned to him with a glare. “Stop it.”

He shrugged helplessly. She watched the muscles of his bare chest rise and fall, and swallowed.

“I’m going to bathe,” she told Nell over her shoulder, and then shifted to panther and practically flew into the forest.

Nell tsked at him from across the makeshift table. “Crikey, lad, what ’ave ye done to me Millie?”

Gareth dropped his head in his hands. “I did what I always do, my lady. I tried to seduce the relic-holder.”

She snorted. “That bracelet still looks tight to me.”

“It’s complicated,” he mumbled.

“How so?”

Gareth rose and walked to the opening of the cave, his back to the ladybird. He owed such a one an answer, and yet he’d already delved into so many confusing thoughts today that he could not make sense of them. Ah, well. Perhaps it might help if he voiced them aloud while he searched for some truths in those knowing violet eyes.

So he combed his hair back with his fingers, and stared at the glowing forest. “It has occurred to me that I have been dancing to Merlin’s tune for centuries. The relic chooses a woman while I sleep in the stone, I seduce her… and she is never the one to break the spell. I suffer disappointment again and again, and I am tired, my lady. So very tired of it.” His voice now sounded almost as low as the swaying fans above the cavern. “I do not even truly know how the enchantment will be broken. And now there’s Millicent…”

Nell allowed his silence for a time. It seemed to Gareth that the fans overhead swished more quickly than they had but a moment ago. As if they echoed the confusion in his soul. Even the trees swayed their long branches a bit more briskly.

“So,” she finally prompted, “wot’s this about me Millicent?”

He turned, and Nell blanched at whatever look he wore on his face. “Don’t you see? For the first time I am questioning my role. For the first time, I am afraid to take a woman to my bed, for then I may never see her again.” He curled his fingers into fists. “By all that is holy. I think I don’t care whether she can break the curse or not. And what madness is that?”

Nell studied him a long time, those violet eyes intent, as if she tried to see into his very soul. Then she grunted. “Eh, boy. Per’aps it ain’t madness. Per’aps it’s time ye took yer destiny into yer own hands.”

“And how am I supposed to do that?”

“Try following yer own heart fer a change—” Nell’s red eyebrows rose as she glanced behind Gareth.

He spun. Millicent stood in human form just below the cave entrance, her mouth open in shock. Gareth cursed her were-cat nature, which allowed her to move just as stealthily on two feet.

She stared at his face for a timeless moment, as if judging the truth of what she’d just overheard. Then her gaze snapped to Nell. “They’re here,” she blurted.

Gareth looked out upon the forest. The movement of the trees hadn’t been his imagination. Their branches whipped back and forth now. The fanlike growth above waved so violently that it broke apart some of the delicate-looking foliage and tumbled it down to the ground.

“Where?” he demanded.

Millicent pointed in the direction she’d come. “I heard them shouting. And then the forest started to do this”—she waved at the frothing color—“and I couldn’t hear them anymore. But they didn’t sound too far behind me.” She shifted to panther, and Nell did not hesitate to swing onto the beast’s back, clutching black shiny fur in her bony fists.

Gareth tried to follow, but the beast quickly disappeared into the foliage, her pelt blending with the shadows beneath the glowing trees. He should have known she would leave him behind. The only person she cared for was her precious Nell, and without the speed of a shape-shifter, he would only slow them down. He should admire Millicent’s intelligence. He would stay behind and engage her enemies, thereby giving the women more time to escape, and perhaps—

The burgundy leaves in front of him rustled, and a set of amber eyes peered out between them, a black paw reaching out and scratching impatiently at the sand. Nell’s voice crackled from behind the bushes. “Wot the hell are ye waitin’ fer?”

Gareth smiled, and followed the panther and ladybird into the multicolored forest.

Seven

Millicent slowed once again, waiting for the knight to catch up. At least he moved quietly, barely rustling the leaves and vines. Her nostrils flared as she scented the air once again. The duke’s men had found their cave, and had quickly turned tail in pursuit, making enough noise to tell her she would reach the bridge long before they did, even if her nose hadn’t been able to track them by their stench. But her beast scented something else, a familiar smell she couldn’t quite remember…