Page 24 of Cursed Beasts

The clock chimes made her stiffen in my hold.

“This isn’t a game to me,” she said, pulling on her arms, testing my strength. “I don’t know what the fuck is going on, but you will not bully me into whatever you think I need to be doing or not doing. I’m not—”

“Bully?” I laughed. “You think that was bad?”

“Look I don’t know what the fuck I did or—”

“Don’t act like you don’t know what is going on Belladonna.” I grabbed her throat, putting a little pressure but not enough to make her choke.

“My name is Katarina,” she snapped, before she kneed me between my legs. Pain radiated from my groin, making me lose my grip on her.

She pulled away from me, but not before I reached for her leg as she tried to leave. I yanked her down, making her fall as I tried to get over the excruciating pain I was in.

“Fuck you!” she screamed, attempting to get up but I was not letting go until she learned her fucking lesson. It was too close to four am and my wolf was clawing his way out, but it wasn’t aggressive or at least it didn’t feel like it.

I dragged her till she was underneath me as I caged her in with my arms, straddling her hips with my own. Picturing tying her up again and leaving her scared. My wolf pushed his presence forward, making me struggle to keep him at bay. It was already four and I still needed to make my point.

No!

I threw myself back before I shifted, thinking that this was probably it. He was going to kill her.

11

KATARINA

Being caged in by Zev sounded terrible, but all I wanted was my body pressed up against him in the throes of passion. I knew it was a fucking stupid idea but I couldn’t help it. What were these men doing to me?

In a split second, it happened. His eyes glowed vividly as he shook violently. The clock hadn’t chimed, but I knew it was really close to four. Fear made me stay still, afraid that any movement would cause a reaction, I wouldn’t be fast enough to escape.

He pushed himself back, shaking his head like he was fighting the urge to shift. I took that as my cue to get my ass up and book it to my room. The sound of fabric tearing and bones snapping made me glance behind me.

A huge black and brown wolf stood behind me. The sheer size of him made me stumble, almost slamming into the wall. I lunged into my room, slamming the door shut as I heard the clock ringing. My heart was racing as I stared at my door for a second before I tried to move the dresser in front of the door.

The piece of furniture was way too fucking heavy for me to move, no matter how hard I tried to move it. I took one last effort to push it, but it wouldn’t budge. Looking around the room, I decided to see if the bed could be moved.

The sound of a growl had me stiffening as I looked at the door. Another growl sounded a little further away but had me backing towards the bathroom door. There was no way I would survive if the two of them came into my room. I hit the wardrobe, making a loud sound that had me freaking out some more.

When I noticed my window open, I figured that might be better than being stuck in the bathroom. I hopped up on the ledge, looking out, seeing a bit of a ridge that looked like it connected to a balcony.

“That is a far way down, miss.”

I screamed at the voice, almost losing my balance and falling forward.

“What the fuck?” I looked behind me to see a man who looked to be older, but wasn’t corporeal. He looked like a fucking ghost.

“I’m sorry, miss, I was only trying to help. I didn’t mean to scare you,” he said, with his hands held up to show he wasn’t dangerous.

“Who the hell are you?” I asked, turning around, still debating if I should walk that ridge and get out of this damn room.

“My apologies. My name is Wallace Potter.” He bowed to me like I was royalty. “I am the castle’s caretaker.”

I don’t know if it was the adrenaline or the fact that I had just seen shifters who are also witches, but I felt the beginning of a panic attack forming and I didn’t know what to do.

“Ms. Katarina, I didn’t mean to upset you, I just didn’t want you to hurt yourself.” He looked at me, worried.

“It’s been an eventful couple of weeks, and I think I’m just overwhelmed.” I took a gasp for air, trying to calm myself down.

“I noticed you didn’t eat your food earlier. Let me bring you something to eat and tea that might help with your nerves.” He left suddenly, leaving me alone in my panic attack. I knew ghosts existed, but seeing one in person was a whole different story.

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