Submit to the Beast (10 page)

“
All fairytales come from
somewhere,” the Beast said. “They only become fairytales when the
humans forget the reality of them.”

“
Then this
is
real,” Tobias said.
“I haven’t lost my mind.”

The Beast laughed softly. “You know
you haven’t. This is as real as it gets.”

Tobias flexed his fingers again. They
felt so odd! And yet so right, like the changes to his body when he
had decided to get fit and work off all the extra pounds, with each
passing week he had felt fitter, healthier, more like himself. This
was beginning to feel like a natural extension of that.

“
And this is me now?” he
said. “I can’t change it?”

“
Would you?” the Beast
asked. “If you could?”

For the first time since the turning
Tobias thought about that, thought about it properly. When he had
known that something was happening to him, when the change had
begun all those weeks ago, it had scared him shitless. He didn’t
know what was going to happen, or how it might turn out, but now,
in truth, it was not as terrifying as he had imagined it might be.
But then, the anticipation was often worse than the reality, and
for Tobias that was certainly the case.

“
I don’t know,” he said
honestly. “This is still so strange.”

“
It will take some time to
get used to it,” the Beast said. “I expected that, and Tobias, you
have handled it admirably so far. I am proud of you.”

“
Because
of you,” Tobias said. “You’re here. Without you…”
He shivered. “I don’t know how it would have been.”

“
As I am supposed to be,”
the Beast said. “This is my role as your mate, to guide you, to
help you, to make you comfortable in your new skin.”

Tobias picked up a stone, he didn’t
think it was granite, but he couldn’t be sure. Regardless it
crumbled between his fingers. “This should feel odd,” he said. “But
it doesn’t. It feels right.”

The Beast smiled, the moon illuminated
it, and took his hand, their tawny hair almost exactly the same.
“It was meant to be. And in the morning when the sun comes up,
we’ll return home.”

Home
. Tobias couldn’t help but look behind him to his building.
There it stood, illuminated by the moonlight, the place that he
loved, that he had put so much effort into making his home. But,
for the first time ever, Tobias realized then why that building had
become so important to him. When he had moved in he had still been
lacking in confidence. He was chubby, out of shape, and convinced
that was the reason he had yet to find someone he could love. He
had turned his home into a sanctuary, a way to lock himself away
from the world, and watch his true crime shows, and do whatever he
liked without the judgment of society.

Once he’d gotten fit, and
his shape had changed, Tobias
hadn’t
changed with it, because in
the end, and this was so obvious to him now, the outside was
nothing more than the dressing. It didn’t matter if he was fat, or
it he was lithe and toned, or even if he now wore the skin of the
beast, essentially, newfound confidence and resolve aside, he was
still Tobias. He would still have the same likes and dislikes. The
same desires and needs. And that was never going to
change.

“
I don’t know if I can
imagine living below ground,” Tobias said honestly. “And I don’t
know how much I’ll miss my home here.”

“
It is where we have
always lived,” the Beast said. “The sun doesn’t mean the same to us
as it does to the humans. We live by the cycles of the moon. This
time, when the moon is new, this is the time we spend above ground.
We can’t help it. It calls to us. Can you feel it?” he asked. “The
call?”

Yes
, his mind whispered, but Tobias did not say that, instead he
said, “I’ve always loved the sun.”

The Beast sighed. “You won’t anymore,
Tobias. It will simply be an annoyance.”

“
I don’t know how I feel
about that.”

A squeeze on his hand and then, “For
you this has been rushed. It is not always so. Ideally, you would
have had a lot more time to get used to this, but you are an
outsider. If you had been born below ground you would have had
years to ready yourself for what was to come.”

“
How often do you do
this?”

“
Bring people in from
above ground?”

“
Yes.”

“
Rarely, Tobias. The
trouble is, as I have already said, we have no choice over who our
mate is. When we see them we know, and then what will happen has
already been set in motion. When I first saw you I knew. It was set
from there.”

“
I feel that,” Tobias said
honestly. “I felt it when you claimed me. Not just the last time
but the first. Only, I didn’t realize it then.” He paused. “But
living down there? And what you said earlier about your
people…”

“
You’re worried they won’t
accept you?”

Was he? Tobias didn’t know. But one
thing he was sure of, he didn’t want to be in a situation where he
felt the need to shut himself away again. That was the old Tobias,
not the new. “You said they expected you to take a mate from your
own kind,” he said.

“
Expectations,” the Beast
sighed, “are a tricky thing.”

He squeezed Tobias’ hand again and
silence settled between them, a silence broken only by the sound of
the surf. It was so clear to Tobias, so familiar…and yet…the feel
of the cliff below him, the call of the warmth of below ground…once
again it was warring desires and Tobias wasn’t sure how they would
resolve themselves this time…and then the Beast spoke.

“
Tobias,” he said, “do you
want to know what I realized earlier, as I was deep inside of
you?”

“
What?” Tobias
asked.

“
That I love
you.”

The words made Tobias
freeze. A heartbeat later and a riot of feelings shivered through
him. He sucked in a shocked breath and turned his head so that he
could lock eyes with the Beast, his
mate
, could that even be denied
anymore? “I…”

“
Deeply,” the Beast added.
“The exact way that I should.”

“
I don’t know what to
say,” Tobias whispered, because he didn’t. He knew that he felt
something intense for the Beast, something more than he had ever
felt for anyone, and yet it was so wrapped up in everything else
that was happening, so wrapped up in so many changes that it felt
like he couldn’t pause for long enough to work it out.

“
You need not say anything
yet,” the Beast said. “Just know that my feelings for you are as
real as your yellow eyes. I love you, Tobias, and I always will,
and because of that I am willing to compromise in a way that I
should not.”

“
What do you
mean?”

“
If you need more time,”
the Beast said. “If you need to experience time above ground, then
I will not stop you. I can learn from the mistakes we made with
Layla. So long as you find your way back below. So long as you come
back to me.”

It was more than Tobias had expected.
He had thought the choice was clear. The Beast and life below
ground, life with these yellow eyes, or nothing. Except there
wasn’t a choice at all really, because it was already done, and so
this was not something the Beast needed to offer, Tobias knew that,
and yet he had to ask, “Do you do that for all
outsiders?”

“
No,” the Beast whispered.
“Just for you. But then you are special.”

“
I’m just me.”

The Beast tucked a finger under his
chin and pulled his head forward. Their lips, differently shaped
now, met a moment later and desire stirred inside of Tobias. And it
was a desire unfettered by any kind of confusion. The way he wanted
the Beast had never been in question, only everything
else.

“
You’re the Alpha’s mate,”
the Beast said as they pulled apart. “That makes you
special.”

“
But it will hardly endear
me to your people,” Tobias said.

“
Let me worry about
that.”

“
The way I feel for you…”
Tobias began. “The way you make me feel…I don’t know what to call
it, I don’t know how to describe it, but if this is what love feels
like, then that is what it is.”

The Beast laughed softly. “Ah, Tobias,
I shall take that as a declaration.”

“
It might be,” Tobias
said. “If not for the newness of everything...”

Another kiss and then, “Soon it will
be everyday life, Tobias. And I want you to be with me. Just give
me a chance.”

A
chance
…Tobias opened his mouth to speak,
but closed it a moment later, because in the end, confusion or not,
he had no idea what to say. For the first time since the turning he
searched his soul for the answers to the myriad of questions
rolling through him. In the end, after several minutes, the sound
of the waves approaching closer and closer, and the Beast waiting
patiently beside him, Tobias knew only one thing for sure. The
Beast loved him, and Tobias was almost sure he felt the same
way.

So, he was going to take a chance,
because in reality, there was nothing else he could do.

Chapter Thirteen

The Beast was a combination of both
nerves and happiness as he tugged his mate with him through one of
the tunnels that led below ground. It was almost morning now, the
sun making its way back into the sky, the moon
disappearing.

Both the Beast and Tobias had started
to revert to their human forms, their limbs shortening, their tawny
hair and claws receding. It was the same for all his people, and
the Beast knew that many of them would already be back below ground
now. They were used to the phases of the moon and some did not
always venture out. The call of the outside was strong only during
the full moon, but for some it could be ignored, if they had other
plans, if they simply wanted to curl up with their mate. Of course,
it wouldn’t be that way for Tobias. The Beast knew that his mate
would want to spend every full moon above ground simply because the
turning was so new to him. He would want to run, to swim, to feel
the ground beneath him, and the Beast was happy to allow that.
Whatever it took to make Tobias happy. Perhaps then…

His smile, the one he had
worn for hours as they ran through the surrounding forests and swam
in the sea, dimmed slightly at that thought, because if
Tobias
did
want
to live above ground all of the time he saw no way not to let him.
Despite being Alpha, despite being in the position where he should
enforce the will of his pack, it was different with Tobias. The
Beast wanted him to be happy. The instinct to please his mate was
strong and jostled with that of his duties as Alpha. He was not
sure how he was going to reconcile the two, or what his people
would think when he did, especially considering the fact that they
were already confused by Tobias being an outsider. As Gregovitch
had suggested it might take a lot for his people to accept his
mate, and though the Beast knew that they would at some point, he
didn’t want their attitude to affect Tobias. For him to feel like
the outsider he had once been. It would only strengthen his desire
to remain above ground instead of integrating directly with the
pack.

He tugged Tobias along, his heart
thumping in his chest, confusion from those thoughts intruding on
the happiness that being with Tobias gave him. A moment later and
he turned the corner of the tunnel they were in and entered one of
the lengthy ones that led directly into the main cavern. It was
maybe a mile long, sculpted out of granite, and was bare of any
sort of adornment. Tobias walked alongside him, and the Beast
couldn’t help but reach out at various times to stroke his mate, to
pet him, to drop a kiss on his head. Tobias responded with smiles,
with small moans, and sometimes even by stroking back.

“
Almost there,” the Beast
said.

“
And what will we do once
we’re there?” Tobias asked.

“
We will rest up for a
while,” the Beast replied. “Give you a chance to get used to these
changes, and then?” He shot Tobias a smile. “We’ll do whatever
makes you happy.”

Tobias nodded slowly but did not say
anything. He looked more thoughtful than the Beast had ever seen
him.

They were coming to the end of the
tunnel now. This was obvious due to the fact that the sconces were
more closely spaced and the original granite flooring gave way to
flagstones. As they approached the mouth of the tunnel the Beast
became aware of an odd, rhythmic noise. He frowned, cocked his ear,
and slowed his steps.

“
What is it?” Tobias
asked, also coming to a halt.

“
I’m not sure,” the Beast
said. “Something…”

“
Are we okay?” Tobias
asked.

“
You
will always be okay,” the Beast said. “I rule here, Tobias.
That means you will always be safe.”

“
But your people,” Tobias
said. “They—”

“
Will accept you as their
own,” the Beast said. “Because you are mine.”