“Why are you here, then, if not to eat me?” she asked.
“I wanted to see you,” he admitted. “It’s been so long since I’ve had human contact.”
“How long?” she asked, keeping her eyes shut.
“Ten years.” He ran his fingers over her silky hair.
“What happened ten years ago?”
He couldn’t tell her, so he wouldn’t try. “I…changed.”
“Change back,” she whispered.
If only it were so simple.
Perhaps she thought he’d been a nice beast who changed into a mean beast. He laughed, the sound coming out like a howl.
Belle whimpered, and Beast stopped laughing. He touched her cheek gently, running his hand across her smooth face, relishing the feel of her skin. She bit her lip to hold back a gasp.
“I’d like to change,” he said. “Maybe you can help me.”
“How?”
“It’s been a long time since I’ve had a woman for company,” he said. “I want to touch you. Is that all right?”
Belle inhaled sharply, but she nodded.
“Why are you saying yes, if you’re afraid?”
“Because you’re so big,” she whispered, her eyes still shut. “I’m scared you’ll hurt me.”
“I promise I won’t hurt you,” he said. “You have my word. My only desire is to make you feel good right now.”
At that, she relaxed visibly, the crease leaving her forehead. Beast kept one hand against her cheek, and with his other hand, spanned the length of her body and gently touched her foot.
“Your feet are cold,” he said, holding them in one large hand to warm them.
“I am a bit chilled, sir.”
“It’s cold and dark down here in the dungeon,” he admitted. “I think you should have taken me up on my offer to sleep upstairs, in my bed.”
Belle moaned as he moved his hand up her leg to her knee, whether in fear or pleasure, he couldn’t tell. But she wasn’t stopping him.
Her blue dress lifted, leaving her thighs bare. She wore nothing underneath, and he could smell her feminine musk. The scent drove him wild with desire, but he forced himself to go slowly, to not frighten the girl.
Beast rubbed her thighs, warming her flesh. With a sigh, her legs parted ever so slightly, her body melting into the hay.
He reached the junction of her thighs, the one part of her body that threw off heat. His thumb rested on the tender bud he found, more beautiful than any rose in his garden.
“Have you ever been touched here?” he asked quietly, his voice thick.
“No,” she whispered. She was wet for him, slippery beneath his hand.
Beast slid one finger inside her tight channel. “You’re not a virgin, Belle. How is it that no one has touched you here?”
She gasped, tilting her hips up to meet his fingers, still keeping her eyes shut. “But I
am
a virgin, sir. Well—the baker’s apprentice last year…just a little kissing in the barn loft. He didn’t know how to do…what you’re doing.”
“Do you like it?” Beast asked, stilling.
“Please, don’t stop,” she said, her breath catching.
Beast chuckled. “I didn’t ask you if I should stop, Belle. I asked you if you liked it.” He quickened his pace, rubbing tight little circles over her bud.
“Yes,” she gasped. “Yes, Beast.”
With a delicate cry, Belle came, covering his hand in her juices. Since she wasn’t looking, Beast brought his hand to his mouth and licked his fingers clean. It was too bad he’d already promised not to eat her, because she was absolutely delicious.
“Look at me, beauty. Look at my eyes.”
Belle lids fluttered open and she gazed into Beast’s eyes. “I’ve never seen a beast such as you,” she whispered.
“You think I’m a monster.”
“That wasn’t what I was thinking, sir. I was thinking you look quite…majestic. Like a mythical creature.”
The Beast held his smile at bay so as not to frighten her. “Flattery.”
She smiled and turned her head, and his hand fell from her face.
“You don’t want me to touch you when you can see what I look like, is that right?” he asked. “Do I still scare you, after all that?”
“Any man who kept me captive in a dungeon and then approached me late at night would scare me.”
“Well, beauty, that is a good point. But I am not any man.” This time he couldn’t keep from grinning, all of his fangs bared at her. “I am the
Beast
.”
Belle cried out in horror and lashed out at him, cutting deep across his chest with something painfully sharp.
He howled in pain and anger.
What happened?
The girl had gone from post-orgasmic to homicidal in short order.
She jumped up, still holding her weapon, hurtling herself past him.
“I’m sorry, Beast,” she called as she flew up the stairs out of dungeon.
Beast held his hand over the bleeding wound on his chest. Where had she gotten a weapon? And worse, why had she left him, right when things were starting to get interesting?
He was torn between rushing after her, or letting her go. Perhaps keeping her prisoner was a bad idea.
But it had been a decade since he’d become the Beast, and this was his first—possibly last—opportunity to get to know a woman without having her run screaming.
Which, of course, is exactly what Belle had just done.
The moon shone brightly through the cell window. Nighttime. The wolves would be out.
While he was safe from wolves, little Belle would be in danger. He had to go find her, and worry about whether he’d keep her or not until after she was safe from harm.
She still had her weapon with her…a saw of some sort. When he rescued her, she might cut his head off with the damn thing.
The idea didn’t bother him as much as he thought it would. If he couldn’t have her, he might as well give up hope of ever changing, and die a Beast.
***
Belle ran through the cavernous front hall. “Open the door,” she cried to the fairies. “Please, open the door!”
The door flew open and Belle tumbled out into the dark night. She ran blindly, her only goal to get as far away from the castle as possible.
“Fairies, I need a horse,” she said.
Nothing happened. The fairies were fickle, it seemed. So she ran on.
She’d cut the Beast badly. Was he okay? Her conscience tugged at her, but she tamped it down. She’d had a chance to escape, with him so close and her hand gripping the handle of the saw—so she’d taken it. When he bared his fangs at her, she knew he’d eat her alive, no matter what protestations he made on the matter. Even if he’d done incredible things to her body with those big hands of his.
Cutting him and fleeing was the right thing to do. The
only
thing to do.
Hideous howling and growling surrounded her in the dark forest. She gasped, freezing on the spot, afraid to move lest she betray her location to the Beast.
The growling came closer. Not the Beast—no—wolves!
Belle screamed and swung her saw around her in a circle, trying to make herself as big and threatening as she could. But the wolves knew they outnumbered her. Her frantic posturing did nothing to keep them at bay.
ROARRRRR
Belle turned to the sound behind her. The Beast!
“Get behind me,” he roared. “Now.”
She scrambled to obey, fearing for her life.
One wolf jumped at the Beast, and he gnashed his teeth, sending it tumbling to the ground. The Beast bared his bloody fangs to the pack, his own growls overtaking those of the wolves.
Finally (
thank the Lord!
) the wolves scampered off into the woods.
Belle gripped the saw in her hands. The Beast swiveled and knocked it from her grasp to the forest floor. She cried out in surprise.
He picked her up, throwing her over his broad shoulder. She screamed again, frightened to be so high up off the ground, and he was moving so fast, sprinting back to the castle.
“Beast, I’m sorry I hurt you,” she wailed, certain he was carrying her to her death. But he said nothing in reply.
When they got back to the castle, the Beast set her down in front of him on the stone.
“Are you all right?” Beast asked, his expression filled with concern.
Not what she’d been expecting. “Um…I’m quite all right I think, thank you. I mean…thank you, for saving me.”
He grunted.
“I’m…I’m sorry I cut you,” she added weakly. “Please don’t eat me.”
“For the last time, Belle, I will not eat you!”
Belle trembled. “Thank you.”
“You deserve to be spanked for pulling a stunt like that,” he growled.
She hadn’t received a threat like that since she was a child.
“It’s not my fault,” she said. “You confused me. First you made me feel so…amazing—that thing you did to me—but then you scared me half to death and I —I just want to go home. I can’t stay your prisoner forever. I’d rather die.”
She looked up, expecting to see anger, but instead, he looked sad.
“You’d rather die than live with me?” he asked softly.
Was this a test? If she answered yes, would he eat her?
“I can’t stand the thought of being here forever, and never seeing my Papa again. That’s all,” she whispered.
“I’m sorry, Belle,” he said. “I know what it’s like to be imprisoned, to want to be set free.”
“Someone…someone imprisoned you?”
“Yes.” He paused, as if surprised by his own words. “That’s why I need you to stay. Why I can’t let you go.”
“Please, sir,” she said. “I’ll do anything if you’ll give me my freedom.”
The Beast bared his fangs and she cried out.
“I apologize,” he said. “That’s just…that’s what I look like when I smile. No need to fear.”
“That’s your smile?” she gasped. “I thought you were going to eat me.”
Beast shook his head, his mane flowing down his muscular back. “If you say that one more time I will eat you just to shut you up.”
When he bared his teeth again, Belle held her ground. “You’re smiling again, aren’t you?”
“I am.”
“Well. So glad my terror amuses you.” She crossed her arms and stared at him defiantly.
“I won’t eat you,” Beast repeated emphatically. “But you wounded me and you broke your word, you ran away. You could have been killed by those wolves.”
“I’m sorry,” she whispered, gazing at the bloody laceration across his muscular chest. “Does it hurt?”
“Yes,” he said, his voice gruff. “Come here.”
Belle stood frozen, afraid to go to him. What would happen?
“Bend over the table,” he ordered, pointing to the marble table holding a vase of roses in the middle of the foyer. The cut roses hadn’t been there yesterday.
She eyed him warily. “Why?”
“Why do you think, Belle?” He raised his heavy brow, and once again she was shocked to discover how…
human
his beautiful, intense eyes were.
“You’re going to spank me,” she said softly. “I suppose I deserve it. I thought you were going to kill me for wounding you and running away when you brought me back here. I’d much prefer a spanking if it will put us on friendlier terms.”
“Enough talk. You’re stalling.”
Belle hadn’t been spanked in years, and never by a creature who was twice her height and probably four times her weight. Never by a creature, period. His huge hands looked strong and hard.
“Please Beast, don’t hurt me,” she whispered, leaning over the marble table to brace herself. “I’m sorry I cut you with the saw.”
“I fully intend to hurt you, Belle,” the Beast said. “But I would never
harm
you. Unlike when you tried to kill me with your saw, I am merely punishing you with a little spanking.”
Belle shut her eyes, knowing he was smiling, baring his fangs. She could hear it in his voice. It was almost as if he relished the chance to spank her. His large, warm hands lifted her dress, draping it over her back.
She’d never felt so vulnerable, with her naked bottom bared to the empty room. Not even when he’d played with her most intimate areas had she felt this vulnerable. That at least had been pleasurable. This…this frightened her.
The Beast caressed her ass, and she gasped at the contact.
“Hold still, beauty,” he said.
With a hard swat, he spanked her, his hand spanning both cheeks at once.
Belle cried out, more in surprise than pain. Not just pain—humiliation. How dare this Beast treat her like a child?
He spanked her again, harder this time. Heat radiated off her flesh and she knew her skin reddened under his touch.
“Don’t run away again,” Beast growled, spanking her bare ass faster, building a rhythm that left her breathless, gasping, whimpering.
“I won’t, Beast, I swear I won’t!” She would swear anything at this point, anything to make him stop. Because now, it hurt.
Hell and damnation
it hurt.