Page 15 of The Beast Between Us (Once Upon A Forever #2)

Thorne

I jolt awake, heart slamming against my ribs.

Water sloshes around me as I sit upright in the tub, breath catching in my throat. It’s cold now. How long have I been asleep?

For a moment, everything feels… wrong. Off-kilter. Like the manor itself is holding its breath.

I rise quickly, muscles stiff from the cold. Toweling off with rough efficiency, I tug on a loose shirt and trousers, my hands moving on instinct. The feeling gnaws at me. This isn’t normal. Something’s not right.

I step out into the hallway, bare feet echoing against the stone. My thoughts are cloudy, sluggish.

And then…

“Mate.”

The word crashes through my skull, shattering the fog.

A pulse of urgency follows, not from fear. No, not quite. But something deeper. Protective. Wild.

I break into a run.

The manor groans around me as I thunder up the corridor toward my chambers, the old stones quivering beneath my feet like they share the Beast’s panic.

When I reach the door, I throw it open.

Empty.

The bed, still slightly rumpled, is empty.

I snarl, and the house shudders . Wind hurls itself against the windows. The fire in the hearth leaps tall and furious.

“Sire?”

Oswin’s voice cuts through the storm. He steps into the hallway, sleep-tousled and blinking behind his spectacles.

“What’s happened?” he asks, eyes immediately scanning the hall, sensing the shift in the air.

I bare my teeth.

“She’s gone.”

My Beast howls with rage. I inhale deeply and catch her faint scent. There’s just enough to guide me.

“She’s gone?” Oswin asks, rushing after me.

I push open the manor doors and step outside, following the delicate trail. My mate’s scent leads me toward my mother’s garden. For the first time since the curse took hold, I cross onto the garden grounds without hesitation, praying she’s fast asleep in the bushes.

But she’s not here.

Instead, I catch another scent.

Male. Fear.

My mate was terrified.

“She’s been taken,” I say, my voice no longer entirely my own.

“Sire,” Oswin breathes, the tremor in his voice betraying his fear, “the Beast… It’s gaining strength.”

How long has she been gone?

Too long. Her scent is already thinning. Soon, it will vanish completely.

“Find her.”

My Beast’s voice tears through my mind like thunder.

And suddenly, it’s clear. I might not be able to follow the faint remnants of her trail…

But the beast can.

“Inside, Oswin,” I command. “Lock yourself away.”

“Sire?” he asks, confused.

“When Ella returns, you take her and you leave. As far away as you can.”

“What’s happening?” he asks, but I don’t turn to him yet.

Only when I feel the shift begin…eyes glowing, claws itching beneath my skin…do I look back. My voice drops low, inhuman.

“GO.”

The word snarls out of me, primal and unrecognizable. “Promise me, old friend. Protect her.”

He hesitates, sadness flickering in his eyes. Then, with a sharp nod, he runs inside.

I turn away.

And then I give in, knowing I may never again regain control.

My body tears apart and reforms. Bones snap, muscles stretch, fur erupts from flesh. I fall forward…no longer a man. No longer the Beast.

The wolf rises. Anger surges.

And we run.

“Find her,” I tell him. “Find our mate.”

I harden my heart against the truth I dare not face…

that I may never again touch my mate. Never see her smile.

But the time for mourning is not now. First, the wolf will find her…

and end the man who took her, for I know it was her father.

Only then will I fall into the wolf completely, and pray that he doesn’t destroy the two people I love most in this world.

***Ella***

Father drags me by the arm, his grip like iron. My shoulder aches from how often he’s yanked me forward, and I’ve stumbled more times than I can count. My knees are scraped raw. My palms sting and bleed from catching myself on gravel and thorns. But I don’t stop fighting.

I scream. I twist. I claw at his hand with nails already broken. “Let me go!”

“Shut up,” he growls, yanking harder. “You think you matter now? You think that Beast actually cares? You’re nothing.”

Tears blur my vision, but I don’t stop. I won’t stop.

Another stumble. My foot catches on a root, and I fall hard, knees slamming into the dirt. I cry out and try to scramble away, but he’s already dragging me back up by the arm, muttering curses under his breath.

And then…

A rustle. Sharp. Behind us.

He stills.

Another sound. Closer. Leaves shifting. Breath held.

I feel it before I see it. The weight of something powerful in the air. Something ancient. Angry. Deadly.

And then, like lightning in the dark, a massive shadow explodes from the brush.

A wolf.

He leaps over me in a blur of fur and fury, landing with a growl that shakes the earth. Father releases my wrist and runs. But it’s of no use. The wolf catches him in seconds.

His teeth sink into my father’s neck before the man can even scream. There’s a sickening crunch, then another…and another. The scent of blood fills the air.

I can’t look away.

The wolf doesn’t stop until my father collapses to the forest floor in a broken heap.

And then silence.

He turns.

Blood coats his muzzle, his eyes glowing crimson in the dark. There is no man left in him. Only the Beast. Towering, snarling, wild.

And yet… I feel no fear.

Because I know him.

Even like this… he is mine. My mate.

My Beast.

“Hello, Beast,” I whisper, just as I have so many times before.

My body trembles, screaming that I should run. That I should be terrified. My heart thunders in my chest, adrenaline still coursing through me.

But I don’t move.

Because beneath the blood, beneath the fur and the snarling fangs… I see him.

Thorne.

My mate.

My wolf.

He stands motionless, chest heaving, eyes burning like twin embers locked onto mine. His body is a perfect storm of muscle and magic, wild and unchained. But I feel no fear. Not from him.

He killed his own father, my mind whispers, cold and cruel.

And yet…

It matters not.

Because this wolf would never hurt me. I know it the way I know how to breathe. The same way I knew, from the moment I stepped onto the grounds of the manor, that I was no longer alone.

This Beast belongs to me.

And I, to him.

“Come back to me, Thorne,” I whisper, tears slipping down my cheeks. “I’m safe now. You found me. Come back.”

But nothing happens.

The wolf doesn’t shift. Doesn’t retreat.

He moves closer instead. Each step deliberate, his paws sinking into the soft earth, blood dripping from his muzzle. My father’s blood.

My body jerks, instinct screaming at me to run. But I don’t. I won’t.

“I’m scared, Beast,” I whisper, my voice trembling. Not of him. Never of him. But of what this means. Of what might be lost if Thorne is truly gone. “Please… let Thorne come back. Just as you were before. I fear I might not have the strength to walk back home alone.”

The wolf halts, ears twitching.

Then he sits.

Not in threat. Not in challenge.

He just… sits. Only a foot away from me, his massive form rising to meet my gaze.

Even now, we’re eye level, the wolf and I.

And I swear, deep in those glowing red eyes, there’s sorrow. Confusion. A fight still raging just beneath the surface.

I press a trembling hand to my chest.

“I need you,” I whisper. “Both of you.”

Nothing.

No movement. No shift. Just silence.

Have I lost Thorne forever? Why did he do this? Did he give in to the wolf and let him take full control?

The thought rips through me like a blade. My chest caves with the weight of it, and the tears I’ve held back fall freely. I drop to my bloodied knees and sob. My body shaking, scraped palms pressed into the cold, damp earth.

Now, directly in front of me, the wolf lets out a low, mournful whine.

Without thinking, I reach up and stroke his fur…wet and matted, sticky with blood. My father’s. But it doesn’t repulse me.

Because this is my beast.

My protector.

My mate.

Even if it is only half of him.

“I’m sorry,” I whisper through the sobs. “I don’t mean to hurt your feelings. I truly do want you in my life, Beast. But I need Thorne, too.”

My fingers tremble as I bury them deeper into his fur, clinging to the only thing steady in this storm.

“I need his arms around me when I’m afraid. His growls when I’ve pushed him too far. I need his quiet strength… his gentle hands…claws and all…to carry me to bed and tuck me in.”

I rest my forehead on his. His breath huffs softly against my cheek.

“I can’t only have one of you,” I whisper. “I need both. Please, Beast… let him come back. Let him return, even if only halfway. Just give me Thorne.”

The wolf whines again. Longer this time. Deeper. The sound is mournful… torn.

Then, slowly, he lowers himself to the ground, muscles rippling beneath bloodstained fur.

With another low groan, he curls around me, his massive frame surrounding mine in a protective crescent.

His warmth seeps into my trembling body, and I press against him instinctively, grateful for the barrier between me and the cold.

The blood doesn’t matter.

Not when I’m freezing.

Not when I’m aching.

Not when I know it was spilled for me.

“I know you’re trying,” I whisper, fingers stroking his thick fur. “I know you didn’t want to come back like this.”

He huffs a shaky breath against my shoulder, and I swear I feel the storm of war still raging inside him.

“I’m not afraid of you, Beast. I never was.”

Another whimper. His body presses tighter against mine as if needing the contact just as badly as I do.

“But I can’t lose Thorne. I won’t. I love your teeth and your fur, your strength, and your loyalty. But I need his voice, his arms. I need the way he looks at me when I speak too much. I need his stubbornness, his warmth, his… humanity.”

I draw in a shaky breath, burying my face against his neck.

“You can’t exist without him. Not really. And he can’t exist without you. You’re not enemies. You’re halves of the same whole. I don’t want a broken man or a caged beast. I want all of you.”