Page 49 of The Beast Between Us
His teeth sink into my father’s neck before the man can even scream. There’s a sickening crunch, then another…and another. The scent of blood fills the air.
I can’t look away.
The wolf doesn’t stop until my father collapses to the forest floor in a broken heap.
And then silence.
He turns.
Blood coats his muzzle, his eyes glowing crimson in the dark. There is no man left in him. Only the Beast. Towering, snarling, wild.
And yet… I feel no fear.
Because I know him.
Even like this… he is mine. My mate.
My Beast.
“Hello, Beast,” I whisper, just as I have so many times before.
My body trembles, screaming that I should run. That I should be terrified. My heart thunders in my chest, adrenaline still coursing through me.
But I don’t move.
Because beneath the blood, beneath the fur and the snarling fangs… I see him.
Thorne.
My mate.
My wolf.
He stands motionless, chest heaving, eyes burning like twin embers locked onto mine. His body is a perfect storm of muscle and magic, wild and unchained. But I feel no fear. Not from him.
He killed his own father,my mind whispers, cold and cruel.
And yet…
It matters not.
Because this wolf would never hurt me. I know it the way I know how to breathe. The same way I knew, from the moment I stepped onto the grounds of the manor, that I was no longer alone.
This Beast belongs to me.
And I, to him.
“Come back to me, Thorne,” I whisper, tears slipping down my cheeks. “I’m safe now. You found me. Come back.”
But nothing happens.
The wolf doesn’t shift. Doesn’t retreat.
He moves closer instead. Each step deliberate, his paws sinking into the soft earth, blood dripping from his muzzle. My father’s blood.
My body jerks, instinct screaming at me to run. But I don’t. I won’t.
“I’m scared, Beast,” I whisper, my voice trembling. Not of him. Never of him. But of what this means. Of what might be lost if Thorne is truly gone. “Please… let Thorne come back. Just as you were before. I fear I might not have the strength to walk back home alone.”
