Page 9 of The Beast Between Us
Not kindness.
Something deeper.
Something even she doesn’t have words for.
“You truly are a Beast,” she says.
Not with malice.
Not with fear.
But… with interest.
“Ella,” her father snaps, yanking her back. He leans down, whispering harshly into her ear…unaware that I can hear every word as clearly as if he’d shouted them.
“If you do anything to mess this up, I’ll come back in the night and slit the Beast’s throat. You wouldn’t want his blood on your hands, would you? It’s already bad enough that your mother’s blood is rotting against your flesh.”
The Beast inside meroars.
My vision sharpens, heat flaring behind my eyes. I step forward, slow but deliberate, each footfall shaking the floor beneath us.
“This will be your only warning,” I growl, voice deeper now…less man, more monster. “Remove your hands from what is no longer yours.”
He stumbles back, startled by the sudden change in the air, by the shadows that stretch just a bit too far.
I take Ella’s hand…as gently as the Beast allows…and pull her behind me.
The rumble in the walls deepens. Thunder rolls above. The temperature drops like a warning.
“I suggest you leave, Mr. Holloway,” I say, no longer bothering to hide the edge in my voice. “Our arrangement is complete. You are to be off my land and out of my house in three days.”
“Three days?” he sputters. “That’s not enough time to find another home!”
“Three days,” I repeat coldly. “Not a moment longer.”
He looks like he wants to argue again, but something in my face…or perhaps in the shifting air…finally silences him.
Oswin appears in the doorway without being called.
“See Mr. Holloway out,” I say.
“Yes, Sire.”
As Oswin leads him away, I feel Ella trembling behind me. Not from fear ofme, I realize.
But from the weight of what he said.
I turn and look down at the frail figure before me.
She barely reaches my chest. Being caught mid-shift has left me broader, taller…my silhouette more monster than man. I tower over her without meaning to.
I know I’m a beast.
But that doesn’t mean I must alwaysactlike one.
Be gentle,I urge the creature within me.Please… just this once, listen.
I brace myself for the daily fight for control as I crouch before Ella…but strangely, the Beast is silent.
