AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Are you?”
“Kate,” he says, then slams his mouth shut when I give him a glare that ordinarily would end in someone getting kneecapped. “Grim,” he repeats, still stepping towards me. “I never meant to hurt you.”
“But you did. And that girl you made an orphan? She’s gone now.”
“I understand,” he acknowledges, stopping a few inches from me.
“You don’t understand though,” I reply. “You don’t understand anything.”
“Then explain it to me. What’s going on in your head, Princess?”
I look up at him unable, or perhaps unwilling, to drag my gaze away. I don’t even pull him up for calling me Princess again because, fuck, I’ve missed him so much. I ache to step into his arms. It’s physically painful to keep this distance between us, but I have a reputation to uphold and letting him back in would ruin mine. No one knows for certain that he killed Carter, but speculation has been rife since his body, or what was left of it, was found. The fact Beast disappeared the same night my dad did but has turned up alive and well two years later is a big fucking red flag.
Not to mention that he did actually kill my dad.
It’s just as well I’ve got the police chief in my pocket, otherwise Beast would’ve been pulled in for questioning the second he stepped back in town. He knows that just as much as I do.
“You lost the right to ask those kinds of questions two years ago, Beast.”
“You’re right, I did, and it guts me to know that.” He sighs, tracing my features with his gaze. “There’s so much I need to say to you, but all I can think about right now is taking you in my arms and loving you until you understand thatI’m sorry.”
“Beast,” I warn, but he ignores me and brushes his knuckles against my cheek, and just for a moment I’m caught in his pull, in the chemistry and the attraction we’ve always shared. It’s as strong as it ever was.
It’s intoxicating.
“Fuck, Grim. Fuck,” he murmurs, his thumb brushing over my lips.
“Beast,” I say, trying and failing not to lean into his hold as his palm presses against my cheek and his fingers massage the shaven hair behind my ear. I can feel myself giving in, feel my heart calling out to his whilst my brain screams at me to stop, to think, to step the fuck away from him.
“We belong together, you and me,” he murmurs as I struggle internally, wanting to let him in, knowing that I shouldn’t.
He lowers his head slowly towards mine, and in the short time it takes for him to lean closer, Grim comes back fighting. I shove at his chest, taking a step back and putting space between us.
“I don’t belong to anyone, Beast. I don’t need to be loved by you. I do just fine without that bullshit in my life!” I lie, my chest heaving as we stare at one another.
“We both know that isn’t true, because this thing we have, this connection, it ain’t going away. We’re inevitable, you and me…”
And he’s right. We are.
A part of me, a desperately needy, lonely part that has missed him, has yearned for him, wants him to take charge and pull me into his arms and kiss me stupid. The other part sighs in relief when he backs up.
“But right now we can’t exploreusuntil you know the truth, and I’m here to give it to you.”
“And what truth is that?” I ask, feeling the hair on the back of my neck stand. The look in his eyes is enough to make me withdraw emotionally, locking my feelings down, hardening up. Whatever he’s about to say isn’t going to be good.
“That I killed Carter not because he wanted me dead for loving you, although that’s reason enough in my book, but because he drew up a contract with the King selling you to that arsehole in exchange for paying off his debts.”
Stunned doesn’t even begin to cover what I’m feeling. I’m fucking stupified, a sudden ringing in my ear drowning out every other sound. It takes me a few moments to gather my thoughts and I have to blink back my shock.
“What?” I eventually choke out, the floor tipping beneath my feet as I try to make sense of what he’s just said. “That’s a fucking lie!”
“I wish it was.” Beast blows out a sharp breath, my reaction to the truth hurting him as much as the truth hurts me. “I made a new deal with the King as soon as I found out what your dad had planned. I would kill Carter and the King would back off from you, remaining a silent partner in Tales. I did it so that I could give you time to build an army so that one day, when the time was right, you could take out the motherfucker yourself.”
“He was going to sell me to the King?” I ask, disbelief quickly dissolving into rage that fires my blood and makes me wish Carter was still alive so thatIcould drive the motherfucking knife into his back, just like Beast did that night.
“Yeah, he was,” Beast confirms, giving me a look of such deep sorrow that I almost, almost step into his arms.
Instead, I tip up my chin, straighten my spine and funnel some Grim energy. Maybe my dad had a hand in bringing her to life, but it was always Beast who fuelled her strength.
