Page 12 of Beast
She nodded once, arms wrapping tight around herself.“I thought I was smart.Staying off the grid, moving around, not trusting anyone.But eventually you run out of places to go.”
She glanced up at him, like she was expecting judgment.Or worse.
But all Beast saw was her.Brave.Terrified.Still standing.
He stepped toward her, slow and deliberate.“You should’ve told me.”
Pixie flinched.“Would you have let me stay?”
Beast didn’t answer right away.Instead, he lifted a hand and touched her face, his rough thumb brushing the line of her jaw, so gentle it made her breath catch.
“You’re under Iron Sentinels’ protection now,” he said, voice like gravel.“No one touches you.Not him.Not anyone.You’re ours to protect.”
Pixie stared at him, eyes wide and shining, lips parted.“Why are you doing this?”
He leaned in closer, gaze burning into hers.“Because I can’t stop thinking about you.Because every time someone so much as looks at you wrong, I want to break something.Because you got under my skin in a way no one has in years, and I don’t know how the hell to stop it.”
She shook her head, overwhelmed.“You don’t even know me,” Pixie said.
“I know enough,” Beast answered.
Beast slid his hand down, cupping the back of her neck.Her skin was warm beneath his calloused palm.She didn’t pull away.Her breath hitched, chest rising against his.Their faces were inches apart now, and the heat between them was a living thing—sparking, crawling, consuming.
“But you don’t have to be scared anymore,” he murmured, his voice rough.“Not while you’re with me.”
Pixie’s lips parted, and her eyes shimmered in the low light of the office.
“I’m not good at trusting people,” she whispered.Her voice was so soft, so uncertain, it barely reached him.“Every time I do, it ends badly.”
Beast’s chest tightened, hearing the pain laced beneath her words.She wasn’t saying it to push him away.She was warning him—like a wounded thing too used to being kicked when it dared to come close.
He could see it in the way her shoulders stiffened, braced for disappointment.Rejection.Betrayal.But Beast wasn’t any of the men who had let her down.
Beast gently brushed his thumb over her cheek, calloused skin skimming over soft flesh.“Then let me be the exception,” he told her.
Pixie looked up at him, wide-eyed, her gaze locked onto his like she was searching for something solid to hold onto.Some reason to believe him.
And he let her look.He didn’t hide the need in his eyes, the simmering heat that had been building since the moment she stepped into his world.
She must’ve seen it—the way his jaw tightened as he looked down at her, the raw emotion clawing up his throat.It wasn’t just desire.It was possession.Like she was something he’d been missing.Like she belonged to him, and he’d tear the world apart to keep her safe.Pixie’s eyes flickered, like maybe that truth didn’t scare her the way it should.Like maybe she wanted to be wanted.
She didn’t look like she wanted to fight it either—and Beast, for once in his life, was glad.He wasn’t a man who let himself want things.Not anymore.But this girl?This slip of a woman with shadows in her eyes and a backbone made of steel was under his skin.She was the fire in his veins.
Still, she hesitated.Her voice was soft, unsure.“What happens if I stay?”
Beast didn’t answer right away.Instead, he stepped in close, crowding her body with his, not to intimidate, but to show her where she stood.In his space.Under his protection.And whether she knew it yet or not—already halfway into his heart.
He leaned down until his lips brushed the delicate edge of her jaw, not quite a kiss, but close enough that she could feel the heat of his breath.Close enough that she trembled against him.
“Then you’re mine,” he said simply.“And no one fucks with what’s mine.”
Her breath stuttered out of her, shaky and real.Beast felt her fingers curl into the front of his cut, clutching the leather like it anchored her.Like he anchored her.
For a second, he thought she might push him away, but she didn’t.
Instead, she stepped forward that last inch and let her body settle against his.Her cheek rested against his chest, right over the steady thump of his heart.And she stayed there, still and quiet.But she didn’t move away.She didn’t run, and that was enough for now.
Beast wrapped his arms around her and held her close, pressing his lips to the top of her head as her scent filled his lungs—sweet, sharp, undeniably hers.
