Total pages in book: 28
Estimated words: 25821 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 129(@200wpm)___ 103(@250wpm)___ 86(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 25821 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 129(@200wpm)___ 103(@250wpm)___ 86(@300wpm)
So I stayed right where I was because I really didn’t want to approach the Beast when I was the one who’d just pissed him off.
Chapter
Four
Beast
I didn’t pretend I had not acted irrational at dinner the night before as Belle had laughed at me while I ate.
But for the first time in my life I had felt… humiliation.
As she looked at me with tears of amusement streaming down her cheeks, her perfect, small pink mouth split into a smile, I had realized how ghastly she probably thought I was.
I had looked down at my platter, food scattered all over the table, down my shirt, and covering my face. It had been so long since I had company, since I had eaten with anyone, that it had not even occurred to me that I had zero etiquette.
And Belle had witnessed all of that, probably seeing me as disgusting.
Instead of acting like a grown male, I stormed out of the room, destroyed the hallway wall with my claws, breaking several vases and throwing what Madame liked to call a “temper tantrum” along the way.
For two days, I had stayed away from Belle, shame making me watch her from the shadows and only allowing myself small glimpses of her as we ate dinner, which I forced her to do.
I had felt her watching me while I ate, knowing she was probably waiting for me to act like the primal creature I was. But I had been learning to behave as I stared at her slyly as she ate.
I watched how she dabbed her mouth with a linen napkin between dainty bites. I copied these acts and hoped that she would see I wasn’t as demonic as the villagers saw me… how she probably saw me.
I kept to the back corridors of the castle as I followed her scent. I could pick up the locations of the staff throughout the castle, who every day would leave at suppertime, allowing me alone time with Belle.
Even if we did not speak at dinner and I left as soon as we were finished, I loved just being in her presence. I could look at her and never get tired of the inner peace she brought to me.
That was when I knew she would be all mine, when I saw her for the first time in the village and felt a shifting in me.
Did she know how often I had followed her, learned her likes and dislikes before I had found a way to make her mine?
Did she know there were countless times when I stayed in the shadows and watched her come to and from the village market just as the sun was setting?
I had learned to be good at hiding, good at not being seen by the villagers and hearing them scream as they saw me, or ran in the other direction as they crossed themselves as if their god would save them.
And then I watched her through the window of her small cottage as she made a pot of stew over the fire and ate by herself most nights. That alone was enough for me to want to slaughter her father.
How could anyone leave such a sweet, innocent, and beautiful woman by herself?
I would not have been above kidnapping her and keeping her locked in my tower. But then the opportunity arose to essentially purchase Belle in the form of repaying her father’s debt.
And I had taken it, shamelessly.
I continued to follow the corridor, the walls on either side of me littered with gouge marks from my claws, pieces of broken vases on the floor, and light sconces hanging from their wires.
I had forbid the staff from coming to this part of the castle, deeming this my wing to do with as I pleased.
When I entered my chambers, I headed to the large window that overlooked the gardens. I had heard Madame speaking with Belle just moments before, my ears twitching as the soft melody of my new wife’s voice came up from the lower level.
She had asked for seed to feed the birds, at which point Madame had given her a filled satchel and sent her in the direction of the gardens.
And that was where she was now, standing amongst the roses that were in full bloom, a brisk breeze twisting the mauve cloak around her legs.
My pretty human was thick and round and so curvy that my cock had been hard just from thoughts of her. I pictured myself violently tearing her dress away with my claws, mindful of her perfect vulnerable skin.
I envisioned her standing before me completely nude, the fantasy painting a vivid image in my mind. She had thick thighs, wide hips, a soft, rounded belly, and tits large enough to feel substantial in my paws.
And her nipples—hard and colored a dusky rose—had my mouth watering. I wanted to run my fangs over them and bury my hairy, too-ugly face between them.