Page 265 of Evil Hearts

I flung myself at him, arms wrapping around his thick neck. My face buried into his fur as I fought back tears of relief andjoy. I was going to leave the cave. I was going to see the sunlight and hunt berries and get to explore the woods that were always forbidden for women to enter. I was going to have a taste of freedom like I’d never experienced before.

“Thank you, thank you.” I muttered into his neck. His large arms wrapped around me and he lifted me off my feet in a large, tight hug. Just as quickly, he set me down and disentangled himself from me.

“Come, let’s go.”

Beast

The girl wasblossoming. Since allowing her access to my woods, she’d become so joyful. And her joy was contagious. I followed behind her as she flit through the woods, marveling at the plants and animals. She would laugh over the small creatures that scampered away at her presence, bathe in the frigid water in the stream.

“This must be what the afterlife is like,” She said one day, laying among a bed of flowers. Her lips were stained red from berries she’d found earlier. “I could spend forever here.”

I watched her, a hunger growing inside of me. She was light and perfection. That human girl called to me in a way nothing else ever had. Every day I expected her to tire of her wild adventure and ask to return to her people. Every day she found something else she loved in my woods. Something new that brought her joy.

For a moment, I allowed myself the fantasy she might stay. That she would spend forever with me and end the loneliness that had clawed at me for centuries. I watched her turn her face to the sky and revel in the sunlight and wished for her.

“Come,” she beckoned. “Lie with me.”

Dark hair streamed over her shoulders, her arm reached out for me. Every part of me wanted to go to her and do just as sheasked. But it was a dangerous want. The hunger inside of me roared to life, imagining her beckoning me for another reason.

I wanted to taste her. To tease her. To bring her joy and pleasure. I wanted to mate her and mark her as mine and mine alone. Dangerous thoughts and dangerous wants for the human girl who wouldn’t possibly understand.

Instead, I did what I’d been doing since the night I’d freed her from her bonds. I ran away.

Mari

Iwatched Beast leaveand my heart sank. He always remained close during my trips outside of the cave. For weeks he’d followed behind me as I explored his woods. He showed me the most beautiful places, the sweetest berry bushes, the safest place to bathe in the stream. He’d shown me so many wonderful things but he always kept himself apart from me.

There was no way to describe the yearning inside of me. I wanted his company, his thoughts, his attention. I reveled in what he gave me but always found myself wanting more. He’d been there looking at me and I had thought maybe he’d wanted the same. But the silent withdrawal told me everything I needed to know.

Beast may have caught my heart, but I was nothing to him.

“What have we here?” A low voice drawled. I sat up, startled by the voice. It had been three moons since I’d left the village and I hadn’t spoken to anyone but Beast in all that time.

There, in the woods, in my woods, stood three hunters from the village. I recognized them instantly. They were the fiercest hunters, and had been a part of the group that had pulled me out of my cottage the night of the sacrifice. They’d taken glee in my fear.

“Mari?” Peeter asked, shock clear in his voice.

“How?” Demanded Aleksi, his voice rough and angry. He strode forward and grabbed my arm, hauling me off of the ground and toward him. “How have you survived?”

“How did you escape?” Levi asked.

“It doesn’t matter how, what matters is we now know what has befallen our village. Her life has cost us many of our people.”

“No!” It couldn’t be. Beast swore to me he hadn’t come in contact with anyone from the village. That no one was harmed as he gathered items for me to survive my life out in the woods. I knew he was stealing the clothing and tools but I’d believed him when he said my people were safe from him.

“Death hangs over the village. People are dying. You’ve angered the beast and the gods. Your life in trade for our village.” Aleksi shoved me back into Peeter and Levi. “Hold her.”

Rough hands grabbed me, shoving me to my knees. I cried out as my arms were wrenched behind my back. Aleksi pulled his knife and raised it.

A roar filled the clearing as a giant black monster launched itself at Aleksi with impossible speed. The man didn’t have a chance to scream before his blood was flowing freely from his neck and chest. Beast turned on us, blood matting his fur.

“You dare touch what’s mine?” The words were a roar and the only warning anyone had. With a flash, Peeter went flying, his back slamming into a tree trunk with a sickening crack.

Levi released me and attempted to run, to escape. There was no escape for any of us. Beast launched himself at the fleeing man, taking him to the flower-filled ground. Blood sprayed, destroying the beautiful white and blue blooms. Covering them in crimson.

I couldn’t move. Couldn’t breathe. Couldn’t think.

This was the beast of the tales, the creature of our nightmares, the monster in the night. This was the horror we were taught to fear.

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