Bella's Beast (3 page)

Chapter Four

“You
know better than that,” Richard said to Elijio, quietly, as he walked into his
room.

“I
know that. I don’t need a damn lecture.”

“You
need something,” he valet answered back. Richard had been with him for a very
long time. Or maybe it was better to say that Richard’s family had worked for
him for some time. Before the witch, Richard had told him, based on family
lore, Elijio had been a gentleman of great wealth and position. The Laurel
family had simply stayed by his side after the curse as a matter of family
honor. Elijio assumed that the witch had something to do with that. Each person
in Richard’s family had longer lives than the average human, and tended to be
stronger too. Elijio had no other explanation for them.

“What
do you want, Richard?”

“You
scared that girl half to death after you got her here. You haven’t had a woman
within these walls in a century. Whatever deal you have with her could be
ruined now.”

“She
will stay. Her brother’s life depends on it, and she knows it. She wanted to
seek me out. She knew what was at stake.”

“Does
that mean you get to act the ass then, and make a claim as if you were some
animal?”

“I
am an animal, Richard,” Elijio argued.

“Oh,
come off it. You are not a beast. That woman screwed you because you wouldn’t
give into her demands to marry her and took her anger out on you. You have
chosen to be the monster you think you are. But if you want to lose your chance
at finding love and breaking the—”

“Love?”
Elijio growled.
“You think I need love? I want that woman. I want her so much it’s like a bone
deep ache, and the wolf in me is clamoring to help me take her. But do not
confuse that with a pitiful need to have love in my life. That witch got her
revenge and I’ll be this
thing
for
the rest of my life.”

“If
that’s how you feel, Elijio, then you’re already lost,” Richard replied sadly.

“Isn’t
that obvious?”

“No, because I saw how you lit up just
having her close to you.
That wolf is telling you something, but you’re just
too pigheaded and angry to trust it. Do what you want then.”

“Have
her brought to my room with the proof of the transfer as soon as her brother is
taken home. I want her to get the proof of life she needs.” Richard said
nothing more as he backed out the door.

This
wasn’t about love. It couldn’t be. For the first hundred years of his captivity
he’d searched for that very elusive emotion. Showing
himself
to women who ran screaming from him. Giving
himself
only to be betrayed over and over again. He bore the scares of the attempts:
burnt flesh on his right
arm,
puckered scaring from a
pitchfork stabbing into his gut, scars from blades slicing into flesh, and even
bullet wounds from would-be hunters. That’s was what he got from searching for
love. But, in searching just to exist, he’d found money, notoriety in his own
way, and safety. He was untouchable, this beast in the shadows, and he liked it
that way.
Far safer on his heart.

The
time ticked slowly by as he waited for Bella to be brought to his room and he
kept a careful eye on the clock. At sunrise, every day until sunset, he would
lose what semblance of humanity he had to the beast entirely.
Before that happened he wanted to have Bella’s word that she would
honor the deal, and to receive the first payment.

God,
he had never wanted a woman as much as he wanted her. Even now his cock was
thick and stiff, strangled in his jeans. He wanted to rip his clothes away, and
hers, and sink so deep into her pussy she wouldn’t know what it felt like without
his cock inside of her. He wanted to take in that delicious summer rain scent
again until he couldn’t smell anything else, and taste the honey of her lips
once more. A growl rumbled in his chest as he massaged his cock through his
jeans. He’d taste her, every inch of her. The fear he’d smelled on her early
sickened him, but, in the next few minutes, he’d try his best to make up for
it. Try his best to have her so lost to desire that she wouldn’t say no, and
that she wouldn’t mind having him in her bed.

The
door clicked as Richard opened it, ushering in a droopy eyed Bella. He grimaced
when he saw how red her eyes looked. She’d been crying, and he was the cause.
He stood, slowly, and she flinched, but he didn’t give her a chance to pull
away. He needed his hands on her, and then she would see he wouldn’t hurt her.
Talking to her would do nothing. He advanced on her and pulled her into his
embrace. She struggled, weakly, but he simply lifted her off the floor and
carried her back to his seat. He soothed her back with long, easy strokes of
his palm while Richard, tight-lipped, lay out papers on the small coffee table.

“Look,
Bella,” Elijio crooned.

“I
hate you,” she answered, not looking toward the table.

“I
need you to look at your brother’s freedom.” She shook her head but turned
toward the table where Richard showed her the confirmation of the wire transfer
of twenty million dollars. A burner phone was handed to her and she looked up
at him, quizzically.

“Call
you brother,” Elijio said. Bella dialed quickly and he could hear the phone
ringing with his excellent hearing.

“Who
is this?” a male asked.

“Nate,”
Bella sighed, sagging in his lap. He pulled her tighter to him and kissed her
forehead.
Such a strong woman, and fragile.
Any other
woman would still be fighting or screaming her head off.
But
not Bella.
It made him think that, maybe, she wasn’t as afraid of him as
she even believed.

“Bella.
Thanks for
coming through, sis. Man, I thought I was going to be a goner.”

“Are
you okay?”

“Been
better, but still have all my fingers and toes,” Nate said with a chuckle.

“This
is not a laughing matter, Nate. What the hell were you thinking?”

“Whatever.
I knew you’d come through. You always do. Must have gotten
yourself
a rich boyfriend this time, because they got me out of there pretty quick.
Think he’d let you borrow some more?”

Bella
stiffened in his arms and Elijio realized then that he was snarling, deep in
his chest. He forced himself to calm down. That little fucking shit. Just out
of danger and was already looking for more money. What did Bella see in him?
Family was one thing, but the asshole had a death wish that he’d take her down
on if she kept bailing him out. Eventually neither of them would have a life
raft.

“Don’t
do this anymore. You’re clean right now. No debts, no problems. Just walk away.
I’ll help you. Just leave all this alone.”

“It’s
no big deal, Bella. You got the money and I’m free. The next win, I promise,
I’ll pay you back.”

“You’re
not listening, Nate. You’re not going to win. I won’t have this kind of money
ever again. You don’t know what I had to do for it. Please. Just stop.”

“Your choice, Bella.
We’re family. You’re
supposed to be there for your baby brother. Mom asked you to on her deathbed,
you can’t turn away now. I’m telling you I’m going to pay you back. Give me a
week and you’ll have you money back. I promise.” Bella cried out as the line
disconnected.

“Nate?
Nate!” she yelled into the phone but her brother was gone. She shook, from
anger or crying, Elijio didn’t know. He sat there silently, sad for her, and
what she was going through.

“I
supposed I asked you to do something for nothing,” she said then.

“A
deal is a deal, Bella. Your brother is a compulsive gambler, the longer you
enable him, the longer he’s going to use you.”

“I
can’t just abandon him.”

“Then
you make the choice to go down with him. That is fine with me. The more debt he
gets in, I’ll be happy to clear for him, but you will still owe me.”

“You
can’t be serious,” she cried, trying to struggle out of his arms.

“You
wanted me. I could taste it on your tongue, feel it in your body as you rode my
cock. Was it big enough for you, baby? Did you like the way it made your pussy
feel? Don’t you want to feel it again?” he whispered against her throat. Her
scent was stronger here, drawing him in. Her heart rate skyrocketed even as she
fidgeted against him. He groaned at the pressure on his dick.

“You
fear what I am, that animal, but you want the man, and I can smell it. You can
have me, right now.
All for me.
Give into me. Let go.
Forget what’s wrong and what’s right. The night will hold your secrets, and
tomorrow, tomorrow we can regret.”

He
pulled her chin to force her to look at him. Tears glittered in her eyes, but
her pupils were dilated, her mouth parted on gasping breaths. Desire was a
blush over her skin, making her hot to the touch. She wanted this, wanted
him.

“Tell
me,” he said, wanting to hear her say it.
Wanting there to be
no doubt.

“I
want you,” she gasped, and he took possession of her mouth.

Chapter Five

Before
she had fallen asleep she’d been terrified of this man, lost under a sea of
what was right and what was wrong. But here, under the masterful seduction of
his mouth, she could be honest with herself. What she’d really run from when
she’d seen him shift—the very fact that she didn’t know if she was more afraid
of him and the changes he’d gone through, or the fact that she still wanted
him, despite those changes.

Even
as he’d run her down, her heart pounding and her mind whirling, deep inside, so
deep she didn’t want to acknowledge, she had reveled in his actions, in the
chase, and being captured. That he’d had the care to roll at the end, and take
her fall.
The knowledge that, even as the beast, he hadn’t
wanted to hurt her.
He’d called her mine, so possessive, and so full of
need she’d ached for him.

He
awoke within her the woman she’d been.
The woman who took her
choices with open hands and didn’t let them go.
I want to be her again
, she thought, and sucked his tongue into her
mouth. His hands were everywhere—molding her breasts, gripping her waist, or
caressing her back. He stood up, with her in his arms as if she weighed nothing,
and carried her to his bed. She’d seen the large bed, bigger than what she knew
a king sized one to be, in the back of his room, covered in deep blue covers
and pillows. Now, to feel the silk beneath her was decadent.

He
kiss/sucked his way down the side of her throat, stopping at the pulse of her
neck for a moment to nip there. She arched into his bite. His tongue burned a
hot trail down her clavicle and to the top of her tank top.

“Too
many clothes,” he said against her flesh, his voice husky. He moved his hands
to the top and ran his nails down her body, sitting up so he could reach the
tops of her thighs. Her clothing split like butter. Her pulse stopped and ran
away from her. He didn’t give her a chance to fear him because he was ripping
his own clothes away, and she was in awe. He had complete control in a way
she’d never dealt with before. Hadn’t realized how much a man of such strength
would tantalize and excite her. The animal she’d seen in him was pushing toward
the surface as he stripped them both, but now she could not fear him. Instead
she ached for him.

He
was muscle upon muscle, but his skin was a map of pain and torture. There was a
wide swath of molted skin, like a burn, over his right hip that looked like it
had been painful to endure. Puckered scars over his chest and abdomen. Even
more scars up high on his right arm. He’d seen battle, and had survived. Forged
in the fire, he was tougher than steel. And this man wanted her. Somehow she
knew figured the animal was the reason for the scars and she suddenly felt
ashamed for running away from him. How many others had done the same?

She
sighed, lifting her arms to him. An odd sound, like a whimper, filled the air,
and she felt tears come to her eyes. How many had turned him away? Afraid of
the beast, and yet needing his strength? How close had she come to being one of
those people? His skin slid warmly against her own, the hard pebbles of her
nipples loving the sensation. He groaned, and gripped her shoulders as he
kissed her within an inch of her life.

When
she struggled to catch her breath, he left her mouth and bent down to suck one
of her turgid nipples into his mouth. She gripped his hair, pulling him into
her body, and her back lifted from the bed. He suckled, nipped, and teased her
nipple until her clit throbbed and her pussy was soaked. He left her nipple and
paid equal attention to the other until her head was thrashing back and forth
on the pillow.

“So
beautiful,” he husked, before kissing his way down her stomach. He paused at
her navel to drop in his tongue and swirl around the sensitive flesh. She
moaned, but he moved on, nipping the rounded flesh before her groin. This was
passion, this was need.

She
opened her legs for him as he fit his broad shoulders in between. His scalding breath
danced over her moist folds. Here, he gave her no quarter. He sucked her clit
into his mouth and hummed against her. She nearly flew off the bed. Every lash
of his tongue was pleasure, and every nip of his teeth full-blown ecstasy. He
shifted and slid one thick digit deep inside of her and her sensitive tissue
clamped around him like a vice. He groaned against her flesh, slurping at her
as he pumped his finger in and out. The pleasure whizzed over her body in
waves. It thrummed through her blood. Each lash of his tongue had her back
arching and her toes curling.

“Yes,”
she said, gripping the covers with her fingers. She closed her eyes, unable to
focus on anything as he sucked her flesh into his mouth and flicked his tongue
over her clit She screamed as he shook his head from side to side, never losing
his grip on her distended clit, and then circled his face around, pushing
harder against her body. She rode his face, finally letting the covers go to grip
his head and hold him to her. He pushed in a second finger and twisted his
wrist. The pumping action of his hand matched his sucking motion of his mouth. He
turned his hand one more and as he withdrew his fingers he curled them upwards
to the top of her pussy. With his free hand he pushed down on her groin, just
above his mouth.

“
Elijio
,” she cried as the pressure built. He kept his
fingers there, flicking back and forth as he ate at her pussy. She rocked
against him, fighting the rising tide, even as she grasped for it. The pleasure
spiraled, heating until she could barely breathe. She clamped her legs around
his head and planted her feet on either side of him on the bed. She lifted her
hips off the bed, riding into his pleasure. She gripped at the pillow under
head as he sucked her harder. Then he released her clit.

“Now,”
he said with a growl and then took her clit back in his mouth and bit down,
even as he press/rubbed on that special spot inside of her. The pleasure detonated
and tossed her into the sun.

He
lifted over her, his eyes flickering to gold and his teeth clenched. He gripped
his stiff cock and pumped it with sure strokes. He was long, almost as long as
her forearm, with a bulbous heat nearly purple it was so hard. Pearly pre-cum
dripped from the tip to her groin. She gripped his hand and guided him to the
entrance of her pussy, letting him know that’s just what she wanted. He gripped
her hip and slid inside of her. He took his time, sliding in inch by each
delicious inch, until she was gasping.

“Faster,”
she begged him, her voice breaking.

“Savor
it. Take all of me,” he begged as his hips flexed and he sank in another inch.
She rode the wave with him as he pumped into her, slow and steady, but so deep
she didn’t know where he ended and she began. The pleasure took her away,
washed all the worry and pain out of her until there was nothing else but this
man and her.
Nothing more than a man and a woman coming
together in need.
She could feel him, deep inside of her, sliding
against her moist walls. Such power that he held in check as he moved. He
forehead was on hers, his eyes screwed shut, with such a look of rapture on his
face her heart pounded. She wrapped her arms around his neck and let him take
her away.

A
slow fire built into her groin and she keened, pulling him tighter to her. He
tilted her hips, driving in deeper, and then wrapped his arms around her. His
hips jerked faster, deeper, until he’d set a punishing rhythm and she couldn’t
keep up. She lost her breath between one heartbeat and the next and shattered
into a million pieces. He didn’t stop. For long hours he took her, into the
night, until exhaustion swamped her, and, her ears filled with a hoarse cry as his
body tensed and hot cum shot deep within her. He curled around her, breathing
roughly as he slowly pulled out of her. She flinched slightly, but his hands,
soothing her back, helped take her mind away the small sting. She could not
say, in all honesty, if she was angered, at all, with her deal with
Elijio
Vargas. Even if he hadn’t been giving a million each
time, there was nothing about sleeping with him that was hard.

Hell,
she’d die a happy woman finally having a man please her the way that he had.

Even
now, though her body felt full of concrete and she didn’t think she could move
even if the house was on fire, she couldn’t stop a small smile from playing on
her lips. She couldn’t fight to keep her eyes open, and her breathing was
already slowing, sleep creeping up on her, but she wrapped around
Elijio
. He sighed against her forehead and helped her get
closer, fitting her in the crook of his arm. Comfortable, she let the night’s
events with her brother slip away, and let
Elijio’s
heartbeat rock her to sleep.