Page 35 of The Beast Between Us

And still…I say nothing.

Because I can’t trust what I might say next.

My mate lived a short walk away, on the land of my father, being abused for years…and I had no idea.

“So, you see,” she says with a small shrug, “it’s nothing really to fuss over.”

“Stand,” I say, my voice low.

She sighs, but does as I ask.

“Raise your top,” I say.

She blinks. “I’m sorry?”

“I want to see where he kicked you.”

“Oh,” she breathes. “I’m fine. Honest.”

“You onlythinkyou’re fine, Ella,” I growl. “Now… raise your top.”

She hesitates, just for a moment.

Then, slowly, she lifts the fabric.

What I see steals the breath from my lungs.

Bruises…angry and dark…spread across her side and lower back. Some new. Some not.

The beast surges inside me, howling for release.

It takes everything in me,every ounce of control I have, not to let him loose. Not to tear through the night and hunt the man who did this.

Our woman was hurt.

No.Ellawas hurt.

Right.

Just Ella.

And yet…

“Hello, Beast,” Ella says with a soft smile, lowering her top with careful fingers.

The way she says it…calm, almostfond…unsettles something deep inside me.

“I’m grateful for your anger,” she continues. “For what happened. It means… it mattered. ThatImatter. But I truly am alright. Oswin gave me a tea with some herbs to help dull the pain. I feel much better.”

She says it like a truth she’s determined to hold on to.

But I can still see the shadow of pain in her movements. The tension she hides in her shoulders. The quiet in her voice that doesn’t belong.

She’s trying to protectme…still.

Even now.

“Come,” I say, rising to my feet and leaving the study.