The Taming

Author's Note: Thanks for the reviews!

Inspiring Songs: The Secret Wedding by James Horner, "Braveheart" Soundtrack and Red Warrior by Audiomachine (Red Warrior is freaking EPIC)

Chapter Ten: Luminescence

I can feel the steed shift beneath me as Jacob slides off of the saddle first. Then he opens his arms to me and I fall into him, letting his strong arms hoist me down. When my feet hit the ground, I brush off my dress and smooth out any wrinkles that his rough hands might have caused.

I lift my head, looking around at my surroundings with interest. Just where, exactly, did he take me?

It's dark in this forest, and the sky is falling darker with each passing moment. He ties his horse's reins to a low tree branch and then steps forward, motioning for me to follow him. This place is utterly secluded in a long forest with numerous trees and plant life. I duck under a leafy branch and use my right hand to push it out of the way of my eyes.

In the distance I can see a little blueish light, but I don't know if I'm just hallucinating because of the darkness. "Where are we?" I ask, breaking the silence. It's getting darker and I almost lose him when he turns a sharp corner.

He grabs my hand and leads me on, closer towards the light. And just as it was far away, it's near. As soon as we break through the clearing, my heart stops beating in my chest. It's the most beautiful thing I've ever seen in my entire life.

There's a lake, a crystal clear freshwater lake illuminated by some sort of glowing blue light. Everything is glowing; everything from the fish that gleam purple and pink and the moss that shines green. I can't speak.

"Welcome to Luminescence," he says. He steps out in front of me and waves his hand out in front of him. "Canavar's best kept secret."

In the middle of the lake there's a little sand island just big enough to fit two people. I look around me, my eyes wide open with trying to absorb everything. "How many people know about this place?" I ask quietly.

"I do. Emiline does, too. I took her here when we were young. And then there's you," he says, turning his head halfway to glance at me through his peripherals. He gives a soft smile.

"Three people?" I whisper.

He nods his head. "It's beautiful, isn't it? My own little haven. I've kept it secret for long because I don't want to share anything like this." He places his hands on his hips and steps back, admiring the view. "I mean, look at it Bella. Would you?"

I shake my head. "Oh, no. Never."

I bend down and touch my fingertips to the water. It's so warm and clear and glowing. I'm enchanted. I pull my finger from the water, watching as it comes back glowing as well. I look up at Jacob, who takes pride in my amusement.

"Magic?" I ask.

He shrugs his massive shoulders. "Could be." Then he bends down next to me and sticks his own hand in the water, watching as the fish near him frantically swim away. "This water's warm year 'round. It looks like a normal old lake during the day but once night hits…everything's different, as you can see. I don't know what makes it so warm, or what makes it glow. It's all a mystery to me, but a beautiful one at that."

I bite my lip and pull my own hand out of the water, sitting back on the bank. When I look to Jacob, I can see that he's not there anymore—only his tunic's left in his wake. A splash to my far left attracts my attention.

A holler and he emerges from the water, shaking his head like a wet dog. And he flashes a pearly white grin my way, dazzling me completely. He dips back under the water and makes his way around the little sand island with grace until he reaches me.

He slowly brings himself up out of the water like a giant, 6'8 beast, his black hair hanging around his eyes. He smirks at me. My eyes widen a little more. A splash knocks me out of my paralyzed, dazzled trance. I frown at him. "What are you doing?" I ask him.

He pushes his sopping wet hair out of his eyes and pushes himself backwards into the water. "What does it look like?" he asks me, laying back in the water into a floating position. "I'm swimming."

I scowl at him and he laughs a little. "Don't be daft," I growl at him. "You know what I meant."

He stands up, the water reaching around his hips. I nearly begin to drool. I've never seen someone with a body as nice as his before. His pecks look like they are made of steel and his torso is so completely shredded with taut muscle that it's hard to count the abs running along the contoured 'V' into his pants.

His bicep muscles alone look like they could crush a skull like one would crush a pea with their fingertips. He's got a beautiful tribal tattoo on his right bicep, and it draws my eyes away from the obvious scars on the backs of his arms and chest.

"Would you care to join me?" he asks seriously.

I look up from where I'm sitting. "What?"

The shocked look on my face makes him frown and he looks down at the water, red in the face. "I wouldn't touch you or anything."

I tip my head back towards the stars and lean back against the bank.

He growls at this. "Isabella, look at me. In the eyes." I obey. "Now I'm a lot of things, which I'm sure you already know. I kill. I fuck. I take what I want. They're not good qualities to have at all, but I'll tell you one thing. I'm a man of my word. And if you can find it in your heart to trust anything that has to do with me, trust that I'll keep my word."

I look away from him, licking my dry lips and furrowing my brows. He sighs and bows his head a little, nodding as if he understands my decision and dives back beneath the water. He's not looking at me. I unlace the back of my dress slowly, my heart pounding in my chest.

Do I want to go through with this?

I slide my dress down my shoulders and over the soft swell of my hips until the only clothes I'm left with are my small clothes; a white cotton long sleeved and flowing cotton pantaloons. I take off my white bandana and undo my braid, letting my soft waves of chestnut hair fall around my shoulders. Slowly, I slink into the water quietly and hide behind the sand island. Jacob comes back up to where I was previously sitting, obviously puzzled.

He sees my dress there and shakes his head, turning around and looking for me in the water. I slink a little further behind the sand island with a devilish grin plastered onto my face. "Isabella," he whispers. And then he turns around towards the forest. "Isabella!"

He looks worried out of his wits. I emerge from behind the sand island and sneak up behind him. All across his massive body are long, deep fleshy scars. I can't help myself as a gasp emits from my throat at the horror I'm witnessing.

He jumps around, the whites of his eyes turning yellow and his pupils taking up the space of his irises. I take a step back in the water, a little frightened. Then he lets out a breathy laugh and breaks into a smile. "You little minx," he says, lunging towards me.

I dive out of the way, sending a wave of crystal clear water right towards him. The water slaps him in the face and brings his hair back down over his eyes. It's so comical that I do the unthinkable; I begin to laugh at him.

His mouth is slightly agape, surprised that I'd had enough guts to do something like that to him. And soon enough, he too, is laughing with me. He pushes his hair out of his eyes with a big grin on his face. "What was that for?" he asks me.

"You promised you wouldn't touch me," I say challengingly, raising an eyebrow.

"And I wasn't going to—"

I send another wave towards him. This one hits him square in the chest. He thinks it's funny. I dive under the water and he follows me. Surprisingly, the lake is pretty long. It's amazing what I can see underneath the waves. Brightly colored fish swim alongside of me and the moss grows bright green against the water.

I turn around, not needing to come up for air just yet. He's sitting at the bottom of the lake, cross legged style and staring straight back at me. Suddenly his eyes widen. Out of the corner of my eye I can catch a glimpse of gold swirling around me. When I turn my head, I realize it's my own hair.

I come up for air, throwing my hair back out of my eyes and tipping my chin towards the sky. He does the same. Breathlessly, I stare at my own hair, seeing if it will glow the same gold color again. But alas, it doesn't. It's still the same muddy brown.

"Is that…normal?" I ask.

He shakes his head in disbelief and lets out a little sigh. "Never seen it happen before," he admits. I dip back under the water again.

My hair gleams golden under the water. I emerge with an amazed look on my face. "I told you it was magic!" I look around the whole glowing little heaven. "This whole place is magic!"

I don't think I've ever been so captivated by one single thing in my entire life. It almost makes me forget my cares, and that I have duties back at the castle. It makes me forget that I should be mad at Prince Jacob and I should hate his guts.

But I don't. I don't despise him, and especially not right now. He ties back his hair with a piece of leather and dips back under the water to pick a small pink flower that grows at the bottom of the beautiful lake.

Then he presents it to me. "They call it the moon flower," he tells me, holding out the beautiful glowing flower. "Its shape resembles a crescent but when revealed to the air for a certain amount of time, it begins to open up a little."

Slowly, the petals of the moon flower begin to open and show its face to the night. "Oh, it's beautiful." I whisper, my fingers covering my mouth as I stare at the most beautiful plant I'd ever seen.

He offers the flower. "May I?" he asks, pointing at my ear. I gulp. It won't do any harm to let him put a flower in my hair. I nod my head at him. He steps forwards until he's only a few inches away from me. I'm face to face with his incredible rows of steel abs as he bends down a little. He cups my chin and gently urges my face up towards his.

I'm staring right up at him as he focuses on securing the moon flower behind my ear. Then he tucks my wet trees back to secure the flower a little. "There we go," he murmurs, stepping back to admire his work.

Suddenly I realize that sexual tension has magically appeared between us and it grows and grows with each passing moment that we stand here before each other. He sees it and I can see it. He's older than I am, about four years. He's seen 20 summers and I've seen only 16. His pupils dilate and he shifts his weight on his feet.

I turn away, uncomfortable with the way I'm feeling. He gives me a reassuring smile and a slight nod. "Want to swim to the sand island?" he asks me. I nod my head.

He dives under the water, his huge body gliding gracefully through the warm water. It only takes him a few strokes to get to the island. I swim after him, my hair glowing brightly in the water. Even the moon flower glows.

He climbs up onto the island and sits down against one of the curved, leafy trees. "Look at you," he laughs.

I look down at myself, puzzled. "What is it?" I ask.

"You look like you are a part of this lake," he says, nodding at my glowing hair. "Like you are made to be here."

"Perhaps I am," I shrug. He offers a hand and I take it. He hoists me up onto the sand island and I sit next to him, my back leaning against the strange tree. It's one of the darkest hours of the night and the stars all gleam brilliantly. And there's the silver moon, riding high as a shimmering sphere in the sky.

He points to the stars. "Look there, Bella," he says, pointing to a particularly bright star. "That's the star Hamal. And those three stars all connect to form the Aries constellation. You know Aries, right? It's the ram."

Then he points to Cepheus the King, and the Queen Cassiopeia, and the Taurus constellation. I look at him in shock. "I didn't know you knew the stars," I whisper to him.

"Sometimes I can't sleep," he murmurs back to me. "So what I'd do when those sleepless nights came round…I'd sit out here and study the sky. Look at everything and analyze like it was some sort of deep secret. I was determined to find out that secret."

I look over at him. "And did you?" I question.

"I don't think I'll ever figure it out fully. But I managed to learn some from the scrolls in the library." Jacob says to me. He turns his head and plants his eyes on me. "You like the stars, Bella?"

I shrug my shoulders and nod. He laughs at my odd gesture and I crinkle my nose at him. "Sure I do," I say. "When I lived back in Bravos, I used to sit at my window every night and stare at the stars. Granted I didn't know as much as you do—like the names of the stars. Homol, right?"

"Hamal," he corrects me with a chuckle.

"Hamal," I repeat. "Anyways, I only knew one star at the time. The North Star. When I was little, I used to think it was my mother up there, staring down at me. I used to sit at my windowsill with my knees on the floor and my hands clasped together and I'd pray and pray to that star."

There's a silence. The sounds of crickets and owls echo in our ears. The lake is still brilliant and beautiful. "Do you still pray to her?" he asks softly.

I shake my head slowly. "Not as much anymore," I admit quietly. "It's been so long ago that I lost her…I barely remember what she looks like nowadays."

He sighs and shifts a little, turning his body towards me and staring me right in the eyes. "You know," he begins gently. "I lost my mother too. When I was young, like you."

"And you miss her?"

"Always," he replies. "Never a day goes by when I don't long for some sort of recollection of her. I was so young when she passed."

I'm beginning to see it—the compassion hidden within the dying embers of the real Jacob that Emiline had spoken so passionately about. She was sure that he was still there and now, it's slowly being proved.

I look back out towards the stars before opting to slide back into the warm, crystal waters. He watches me from the sand island as I float on my back, letting the nature around me envelope me in its beauty. "I don't think I've ever been so content," I admit.

"Have I earned your forgiveness?" I can hear him ask from the island.

I don't answer him right away. I float on my back and let the water lick at the sides of my face, letting my hair gleam gold in the water. Impatient, he slides off of the sand island and swims towards me. His big body in the water causes waves throughout the lake, rocking my body like a boat in a stormy sea. He swims until he's hovering right over me. The starry sky in my view becomes blocked with his inhumanly handsome face.

He studies my stoic features for a few moments, his eyes darting back and forth over my face. Then he gives a sad, pathetic sort of smile and shakes his head. "I suppose it's a no then," he chuckles softly, lacking any trace of humor in his tone. "I do not blame you. Ni bezalako norbait ez du zu bezalako norbait merezi."

I don't know what he's said to me, but it doesn't matter. My hand slithers through the water and catches his wrist before he trudges away through the water. He turns his head back, looking at me with his black eyes. I nod my head once.

He comes back to me with a distressed look on his face. "I am sorry. I should have defended you against Portia. I was awful to you and it was uncalled for." I stand and look at him.

"Friends," I whisper.

"What?" he asks me, not hearing quite right.

"Friends." I repeat it a little louder so that he might hear it clearly this time.

He gives a half smile, one that shows his acceptance. "Friends, of course." He offers his hand out and I stare at it blankly for a moment. "Friends, Bella." He reassures me. My hand twitches in the water. Finally I reach out and grasp his hand, letting him pull me near.

I look up at the night sky. "Jacob, I love it here." I tell him with all honesty. When he'd spoken of this glorious place on the ride here, I'd not believed him to this extent. I had no idea that it would be this beautiful.

He nods his head, giving a quick smile. "I'm glad that you..." he trails off, lifting his head towards the sky. I frown and squeeze his hand once, snapping him out of whatever strange trance he was in. "That...that you..." His head snaps to the side, his pupils dilating to the size of brown irises, the whites of his eyes becoming yellow all over again.

I pull my hand out of his and step back in the water. I'm frightened. "What's going on?" I ask him.

He dives towards the bank of the lake, hoisting himself up and out of the water. "No, no, no," he's mumbling quietly. "Not now. Not here."

I quickly swim after him, eager to get out of the water. "Jacob," I call after him. He paces back and forth, smelling the air and then covering his head with his hands. "Jacob, please answer me."

He lets out a cry of pain and hunches over a little, the bones in his back rippling. I can see all of the scars in the moonlight; it's a horrific sight to see. I back up a little as his body begins to vibrate. "Oh Gods," he groans. I shriek when his huge body begins to shake violently, like a volcano about to erupt. "Bella, I n-need you to s-stay calm. I'm s-shifting."

My heartbeat speeds up as I watch him. Out of the corner of my eye I see something black race through the woods at the speed of lightning. I feel my knees getting weak. I know. I know what this is. "No," I whisper.

An enormous roar echoes through the forest—the alarm, the warning signal. And when I look back at Jacob, I find a massive russet brown wolf standing in his place. He races towards me, lowering himself so that I can mount him. I feel faint. I feel sick.

I slide onto his back and grab fistfuls of the fur on Jacob's neck to steady. The beast below me opens its huge jaw filled with razor sharp dagger teeth and races forth into the dark forest.

I hold on for my life as he races faster than the speed of light between the trees. The black blurs in my peripherals have become even more real now that we're swerving through the trees. He lets out another howl and pushes faster into the forest.

I close my eyes, trying to blot out the faces of the immortals. One comes rushing towards us both, a look of death in its bright red eyes. Pale skin, blood running along the corners of its mouth all the way to its ears, looking like a rabid Chelsea grin.

I scream as the immortal nears Jacob's back leg, reaching its hand out for it and opening its mouth. Suddenly, a huge, massive ball of sandy yellow fur rushes out and snaps the immortal out of the way. I look back when I hear a blood curdling scream as the giant yellow wolf tears the head off of the immortal.

The other black blots become less of a background image and more of a foreground image. They lunge at Jacob, but he only pedals himself faster through the forest. Other giant wolves run past him, the force of their coming blowing gut. There's black and grey and white and reddish ones, all snarling and racing past Jacob.

One by one, they begin to take down the immortals that pursue us.

When we finally break through the forest's edge, the tears of relief begin to stream down my face. I can see the castle, and the lights and the men shuffling out of it with swords in their hands.

Before I know it, we're at the back entrance of the castle. He skids to a stop and allows me to get off of him before he shifts back to his human skin. I look away as soon as I realize that he'd lost his pants in the process.

"Here, here! I have them!" comes a distant voice. One of the men coming out of the castle hands Jacob an extra pair of trousers before issuing to the other line of warriors.

He slips them on, and pulls me into the castle. All of the maids and servants are awake. The royals and nobles are awake. I feel such horrid shame when I look down at my drenched being, clad in only my underclothes and Jacob, shirtless except for a pair of old trousers.

Before the royals and nobles can see us, he pulls me off towards a hidden stairwell. The stairwell comes directly to the hallway that my room is stationed in. He leads me to my room and opens the door for me, shutting it beside me.

My chest is still heaving from the immense fear I'd just felt. I shake my head in disbelief. My lips tremble with each breath I take. "What...what was that?"

He looks me dead in the eyes. "They're back," he says, beginning to pace the length of the room. He puts his hands on his head and tugs at his roots. "I...I don't know how. We ran them off, we killed so many of them, but they're relentless creatures."

I collapse against my bed, clutching my fluttering heart and trying to calm myself down, trying to reassure myself that I'd be okay now that I was back. "Im...Immortals," I whisper.

He nods his head, biting his lip. Shaking his head, he looks away and furrows his eyebrows, frowning down at the ground. "Fuck. I'm a fool for taking you there," he growls at himself. "I'm sorry, Bella."

I shake my head. "No, don't—"

He ignores me as he rushes past me to the windows. In the distance there's a bright light, a fire, and the smell of smoke on the wind. "I was lucky that I smelled the scent when I did. And there was more than one, too. Usually they roam alone. A small clan...I'm lucky I outran a clan of them. Lucky the rest of the pack arrived soon enough."

I sit down on the bed, staring at the scar on my wrist. "I suppose immortals aren't common here," I say.

He shakes his head and sighs. "Once they were common. They were crawling through these forests like spiders. But with more immortals came more shapeshifters, and over the years we were able to ward them off. Killed everyone single one of them, or so we thought."

"What are you going to do?" I ask him.

"The pack's taking care of it all," he whispers to me, turning around slowly, eyeing my drenched form with his deep black eyes. "You shouldn't worry. You're safe now."

I nod my head, looking up at him through my thick black lashes. "Yes. Thanks to you."

If we didn't realize it at first, we realize it now. He's shirtless and has the physique of a god. I'm clad in only my underclothes and I'm soaking wet. The underclothes are white, and he can most likely see every outline of my skin against the pale moonlight filtering through my window. The sexual tension in the room is so thick that not even a sword could cut it.

He smiles weakly, nodding his head at me once. "You most likely don't want to hear this from me, but..." He chuckles at his own comment and runs a hand over the stubble on his chin. "I'd do almost anything for you."

My face turns bright red when those intense brown eyes lay upon me again. I rub my arms, subconsciously covering my overly exposed chest. I bob my head up and down, letting my eyes roam over the muscular planes of his chest.

Outside of my room, I can hear voices shouting from below. He turns his head towards the door and sighs. I clear my throat. "You should go," I tell him. "They need you, most likely."

He hesitates for a moment. "But you...are you all right?"

I go to my wardrobe, rummaging around for a nightdress to replace my soaking wet underclothes. "I am fine now," I tell him. "No worries."

He nods again. "Yes." He goes to the door but stalls his hand on the golden knob. "Sleep well, Isabella."

I smile at him. "I will." Thanks to you.

0o0o0o0o

Basque Dictionary

Ni bezalako norbaitez duzu bezalako norbaitmerezi: Someone like me doesn't deserve someone like you.

Guess who's back...back again! (Slim Shady reference lol) The Immortals are! Bella's nightmarish past has come back to the surface tonight. But before that, there was some great bonding action, I think. You guys got to know a little more of the 'real' Jacob and Bella got to have fun with him. Please review! They mean the world to me; thank you to those who review already :)

Courtney xx