Page 20

“What’s wrong?” I whispered, feeling my own anxiousness rise at his response to the situation.

He growled and I looked around, feeling the hairs on the back of my neck stand on end. Something felt off but I couldn’t place it. I didn’t see or hear anything aside from my father slowly making his way toward us, the leaves and twigs cracking under his boots.

But when the Beast started growling louder, I held my breath and braced myself.

“Belle?” my father said, and I was about to get off the saddle when the Beast made a low sound of disapproval and pulled me harder against his chest.

“I didn’t think you would come,” my father said softly, and now that he was close enough I could see him eyeing the Beast warily although I found it strange seeing as he asked for my husband to come with me.

“You find me so heartless as to not help?”

He shook his head. “Of course not. It’s just after everything…” He glanced at the Beast before looking back at me. “Anyway, thank you for helping me.” He addressed my husband, who still sat tense behind me, not responding.

I still felt the tightening on the back of my neck, the hair on my arms standing on end. “Something’s wrong,” I said more to myself but the words came out regardless, echoing all around me.

It was only a heartbeat after I spoke those words that the Beast growled louder, and a second later we were thrown off the stallion.

I braced myself for impact, but the Beast twisted just before we crashed to the forest ground, taking the brunt of the force, my back landing on his chest.

I heard the Beast roar out a second before someone grabbed my hair and I was dragged off suddenly. Whoever held my hair tugged so hard I cried out in pain.

My ears stung as I lifted my hands to grip the fingers that dug into my scalp, hoping to ease some of the pain and pressure.

I was tossed aside, the air leaving me roughly. I pushed myself up quickly, and that was when I saw several men with torches and pitchforks raised in the air, charging after the Beast.

Oh, God. It was an ambush.

My husband stood before them like the very devil himself. He ripped off the cloak, tore at his shirt until it fluttered in tattered pieces to the ground, and then he was tipping his head back and roaring so loud the leaves above shook.

The moonlight highlighted his horns and powerful physique, and if I didn’t know how gentle he could be with me, I’d have screamed in terror and escaped.

“I’m sorry. I’m sorry.”

I could hear my father repeating that apology over and over again and spotted him off to the side standing next to… Gaston,who had an evil gleam in his eyes, a sadistic smirk on his lips, and stared at the Beast as if he wanted so much blood until he was coated in it.

“What have you done?” I whispered but neither man paid attention, the growls and roars of the Beast mixing with the shouts and curses of the villagers who continued to attack him.

“The Beast needs to be taken out. He needs to be eradicated and rid of this world. He’s evil and is nothing but a corruption. He doesn’t deserve the wealth he has. He doesn’t deserve you, Belle. I’m going to fix that, though. I’m the man—” Gaston shouted as he pounded his chest like a barbarian “—who’s going to be the hero of this story.”

The Beast roared out again and I focused on my husband. When one of them charged forward, the Beast flung him away as easily as if he were an annoying fly.

But then another threw a pitchfork, the prongs sticking into his furry body before he gave a rage-filled growl and ripped it out, flinging it back to the man. I heard the human men screaming in pain, pitchforks sticking out of their bodies, the scent of blood coating the air.

Gaston made an angry sound. I heard a revolver being drawn. I looked over my shoulder to see Gaston holding the gleaming metal in his hand. Bodies were littered around, the men who attacked now nothing more than corpses on the forest ground.

The Beast’s chest was rising and falling, his broad, massive shoulders and chest so wide he blocked out anything else behind him. Although it was fairly dark and I couldn’t see much, I could see he had wounds and could smell the coppery tang of blood in the air.

“You,” the Beast snarled and lifted a huge furry arm to point a deadly black claw at my father. I watched in awe as that clawgrew a little longer, became a little sharper. “Leave before I tear out your trachea for putting Belle in danger.”

I felt dizzy as I snapped my focus to my father. He didn’t even look at me as he hightailed it in the other direction. I lifted a hand to my chest, feeling that last shred of familial love fade. He’d left me, didn’t even check to see if I was okay.

I knew this was the last time I’d see him, and strangely enough… it felt like a weight had been lifted off my shoulders.

“And you,” the Beast growled so menacingly at Gaston that I shivered in response, hearing the nocturnal animals scurrying away as fast as their little legs could take them.

“I’m going to make sure your death is slow and painful, satisfying my bloodlust and delivering your heart in my palm to my female.”

The Beast took a step forward, and I swore everything happened in slow motion as Gaston took aim. I didn’t even realize I was moving until I was running toward Gaston.