Academia of the Beast: A Dark Retelling of Beauty and the Beast (12 page)

When Lennox approached, she wasn’t sure what to expect. She wanted to cower away, as his shadow seemed to swallow her the closer he got.

Instead of yelling at her, Lennox took her hand, ignoring Igor’s presence, and led her away from the crowds.

In tears, she followed behind him. She’d dreamed of a night like this for all of her life. A ball, fairies, a prince. Why did she feel as though her head was going to explode?

She wished she hadn’t drunk whatever Igor gave her.

Where was Conall? Why couldn’t she share this moment with him?

Far from the ball, Lennox led her to a door that led outside. No one was around on the veranda that overlooked a rushing river that glowed like diamonds beneath the moonlight the spilled into the doom through the glass.

Allyn sniffled and wiped her face. She couldn’t look Lennox in the eye as he turned to her. Just a glance revealed how angry he was.

She’d ruined his night to exploit her.

“What?” she asked, turning her back to him. “Go on. Say what’s on your mind.”

When he didn’t reply, she covered her face and sobbed into her hands.

Allyn glanced back to see Lennox sit down on one of the black, wire, and benches.

He let her cry, and she was surprisingly appreciative of that moment to just let it out.

“Come here, Allyn,” he said, his voice firm but not angry.

“Why?”

“Because I told you to.”

She exhaled and turned to him, closing the space between them. She stood right before him, her legs touching his knees, and faced him. “What do you want from me, Lennox?”

“I want you to be by my side. That is all.”

Perplexed, Allyn’s eyes narrowed. What was he trying to prove? Did he need the world to know that he captured the one witch that escaped, and parade her around like a prize?

“Conall gets everything. For once, I want to win.”

“You can’t win me.”

“But, I will,” he said, softly, a half smirk on his lips.

“I can’t do this.”

“Do what? All I asked was for you to join me tonight. I didn’t ask you to strip for my friends or lick liquor off another girl like the other girls I’ve brought out into the public. Not once have I tried to embarrass, humiliate or exploit you.”

Allyn frowned. “You actually made girls do those things.”

He smirked. “I’ve never had to
make
anyone do anything. Girls usually break their necks to get a chance to please me.”

“I see. I’m your first slave then.”

He grimaced, as though genuinely disgusted by what she’d said.

“I wouldn’t call you that
. Seriously
, Allyn. You’re so dramatic.”

“That’s what I am, though.”

He took her by the waist and moved her from before him. He stood, towering over her. “No, Allyn. I hunted you, and I captured you. You aren’t my slave. You are my prey. And if you don’t get in line, you’ll be my dinner. I will eat every last of your bones, and you will be forgotten. Just another witch. Exterminated.”

Those words stung...more than she thought they could. She let herself forget that he could rip her throat out at any moment.

“You better make up your mind, Lennox. Am I your prey? Or are you trying to seduce me? You’d better make a decision.”

He searched her eyes, and she could tell he was holding himself back from saying something.

“No one said anything about wanting to seduce you. You better get in line or you’ll be tossed back into the slums with that boyfriend that sold you to me.”

Mention of Byron sent her over the edge. Her cheeks burned red.

She balled her fists, seething, her eyes narrowed as she watched him walk away.

“Take me to my father,” she said through clenched teeth. “I’m not asking.”

Lennox turned to her. “We leave when I am ready. You’re lucky, Allyn. Don’t push it.”

“No, Lennox. You’re lucky.”

Allyn raised her hands, her fingers outstretched as her power was released. It was euphoric, her body cooling as the red bands encircled her.

Lennox took a step back, his eyes widened. “What are you doing?”

Allyn tilted her chin. “I’ll start another world war if you don’t take me to my father. Right now.”

She hated to make such a threat, but threats were all that Lennox probably understood. He couldn’t be reasoned with.

To her bewilderment, he clenched his jaw and walked right up to her.

“Go on,” he said, his forehead pressed to hers. “
Do it
.”

Allyn’s resolve faltered. She was stuck in his gaze, unable to move or think.

He took her face into his hands and held her.

Allyn’s chest heaved at how close he was to her. She was sure he was going to kiss her and licked her lips.

His thumb stroked her cheek, and she closed her eyes.

Did she
want
Lennox to kiss her? He was nothing like Conall, the man she knew she wanted.

His lips pressed to hers, and an electric shot zapped into her body, jolting her awake.

He snatched his hands away, his eyes wide.

He felt it too.

Lennox backed away, putting his hands in his pockets.

“Come on,” he said, his brows furrowed as he turned around. “We’re going back. Fucking waste of time.”

Allyn stood there for a moment, completely confused by what just happened. She forced her legs forward, ready to get one step closer to finding her father, and as far away from Prince Lennox as she could.

If that shock wasn’t warning enough, she’d be stupid not to listen.

––––––––

I
T WAS DAWN
the next day when Allyn and Prince Lennox returned to Elastira. They hadn’t spoken the entire flight, and Allyn had tried to sleep, but her body was too full of adrenaline to let her.

Once they landed on the tower of Baran Castle, Lennox jumped from the jet before the engine even stopped. He didn’t bother speaking to Allyn and vanished inside the tower’s doors.

Like a child, he refused to speak to her, and treated her as if she didn’t exist. His kiss lingered in her mind and wouldn’t fade. It was all that she could think about.

That, and how she would rescue her father.

Robert Carmody didn’t deserve all of the suffering she’d brought to his life.

Allyn sat in the back of the jet, half-inclined to ask the man driving the plane to take her far away. Once the engine stopped, she had no choice but to leave and step onto the icy rooftop.

She stood there as the jet flew away, her hair flying in the wind. In a ball gown, she considered jumping over the edge of the roof. What was the worst that could happen? Nothing in her life was right.

Would Lennox let her father go if she no longer lived?

O
N THE OPPOSITE
end from Conall’s side of the castle, Lennox’s quarters were completely un-renovated. The raw, gothic style of the original design was what appealed to him. It wasn’t a secret that Conall and Lennox were completely different.

For once, Lennox wished that Conall was there...to help him sort out the strange attraction he felt pulling him to the witch.

It wasn’t supposed to be this way. He’d searched for her for what felt like his entire life.

The one witch that descended from the one that cursed his clan. He thought that he had it all figured out, but everything he touched was always left ruined.

The night he’d sniffed her out of the crowd and chased her down had been an eye-opening experience. Hunting was his skill, and to have her escape enraged him.

Now, he had her.

He’d kissed her
.

Why was she still alive? What game had he found himself playing?

Lennox paused before the large mirror on his wall between his bed and wardrobe, cracks along the glass that distorted his reflection.

“Tell me, Conall. Will you be upset if I sleep with her? Will you be jealous of
me
for once?”

His grin widened as he looked at himself in the broken mirror. Despite his grin, he hated his reflection. He hated who he was.

He put his hands on either side of the mirror and closed his eyes.

“I’ll try not to ruin her for you,” he whispered and turned away to face the mess of his room. He slept on a mattress on the floor beside his broken bed. There were clothes strewn about the floor and glass from the lamps and antiques he’d broken during his latest blowup.

What he really needed was a hunt, but his ultimate prey was already within his grasp.

Perhaps he could approach her a different way, and sate his
other
carnal desires.

Lennox shot a glare toward his doorway.

“Who told you that you could come in?”

Calinda manifested before him, her cloudy white eyes looking deep into his soul.

“The girl,” she said.

Lennox shrugged. “What about her?”

Calinda faded back into the air, her voice surrounding him. “She’s getting away.”

Lennox tensed as he stood there. He balled his fists and looked at the broken mirror once last time.

“Not this time,” he said and stormed to his balcony.

He pulled his sweater over his head, snow falling all around him, but not touching his flesh. A grin came to his lips when he sniffed the air, picking up her scent. She could have run miles in any direction and he would have picked up her scent. Luckily, she was nowhere near miles away. He focused his attention ahead and caught a hint of red in the distance.

There.

He had her.

With a leap over the railing, he shifted into the form he trusted best.

A Wolf.

A
LLYN RAN THROUGH
the woods, her heels slamming into ice-packed dirt and snow. She didn’t care that they hurt her feet, or that the cold tore into her flesh and chilled her bones. She was not going to be anyone’s prisoner.

Spending six years in the convent was enough to make her fight for her freedom. Even though she wasn’t shackled and forced to sleep in the bottom of a dry well, her freedom was something she’d never give away easily.

Not again.

Never again,
she growled through clenched teeth.

Allyn had one goal: find her father, and no one was going to stop her.

The wind was against her, blowing into her face and pushing her back. This day seemed to mark the eve of when she’d gotten away from Lennox the first time. With her power on her side, he couldn’t touch her.

She raced through the trees, lines and rows of birch trees making a path far from the castle. Her only fear was that she had no idea where she was going and that the snow betrayed her path. Her only hope was that she was faster than the Wolf.

A howl resounded through the woods, sending chills up her spine. Her lead was ruined. Lennox was close behind.

Allyn pumped her arms, and quickened her speed, but the sound of Lennox’s feet pounding on the ground frightened her. He was much faster than last time.

His growl seemed to come from right behind her.

This might have been a mistake.

The space between them was too small to use her power. If she risked a split second to face him, she was dead.

She fought to catch her breath as the wind increased ten-fold, pushing her back. She screamed and tried to jump through a tunnel of wind and snow.

Instead of going airborne, her body was pulled back as strong arms wrapped around her from behind and brought her down. Allyn’s scream filled the woods as Lennox slammed her into the ground and pinned her.

She gasped for air as her head and body sunk into the cold snow. Instead of facing the Wolf, Allyn found herself pinned by Prince Lennox’s human form, his naked body on top of hers, warming her and shielding her from the cold.

How it was possible, she had no clue. As the storm raged around them, he protected her, cradling her face in his arms, holding her hands down by lacing his fingers through hers.

“Let me go,” she pleaded, tears streaming from her eyes.

When he looked down at her, Allyn sucked in a breath. Fear filled her eyes and she couldn’t make sense of what she saw.

“Conall?” she whispered, her eyes widening as he looked into her eyes.