Submit to the Beast (4 page)

She sighed, the small noise caught by
the wind. “You know there’s no choice.”

“
There’s always a choice,”
Tobias said.

“
Not in this,” she said.
“Believe me if there was I would have found it by now.” A pause and
then, “Come home, Tobias. Come home.”

Chapter Four

The building where Tobias lived was
one that the Beast had visited many times in the past. Years ago it
had belonged to his people, had in fact been one of their main
exits from the underground city. But over time the tunnel that had
led to it had become unsafe, and so in the early days of his
leadership, the Beast had ordered it to be sealed off. He still
knew the way through though. The Alpha of a city always knew the
old ways, and it hadn’t taken much to allow a small opening through
and up.

The tunnel itself led to the basement
of Tobias’ building, and the Beast owned that apartment, kept it in
case he needed to be above ground for any prolonged period of time.
A necessity he had never had to utilize. In fact, the Beast
couldn’t remember such a situation occurring in a very long time.
The people of this town had absolutely no inkling that another
species entirely lived under and around them. They had no idea that
the stuff of fairytales lived so close by. The Beast took a great
deal of satisfaction in that fact. His people belonged underground.
It was their way. And they would never consider living any
differently. Why would they? They had existed alongside the humans,
without their knowledge, for many thousands of years. And even now,
as modern technology moved apace, they were able to remain
hidden.

They always would.

And Tobias is part of that
now.

The Beast nodded slowly to himself as
he closed the door of his basement apartment behind him and made
his way into the lobby of the building. As he did so he couldn’t
help but notice the row of mail boxes, and Tobias’ name on one of
them. It was odd now, to consider the fact that his mate had been
so close all along. The hand of fate was at play in some way. The
Beast could feel its light touch along his spine. There was no
denying the nudge it was giving him. He’d known that through all
the weeks he had kept himself below ground, waiting for Tobias to
find his way back. The fact that he hadn’t? The Beast wasn’t quite
ready to consider what that might mean.

He made his way up the
curving staircase, pausing as he did so to admire the stained glass
window. It had been installed many, many years ago by one of the
pervious alphas, and showed several of their kind in the processes
of turning. The Beast wondered what Tobias thought when he saw that
window, and what he
would
think once he knew the truth.

A moment later and he was in the
corridor above, slowly making his way to Tobias’ apartment. He knew
which one it was because the moment Karl had brought Tobias below
ground he had ordered a complete background check on him. He could
still remember the jolt of wonder he’d felt when he realized that
Tobias had been just above him all this time…waiting to be
claimed…

Tobias’ door was in front of him in no
time, and the Beast knocked on it three times then waited. As he
did so his mind was a riot of thoughts.

What would Tobias think when he saw
him?

What would he say?

Would he agree to come back below
ground?

Would he have to force him?

And alongside the thoughts were the
feelings. The Beast was painfully excited at the thought of seeing
Tobias again. These last weeks of waiting, of hoping that Tobias
would see sense and return of his own free will, had been very
difficult. The Beast was the Alpha. What he wanted he got. What he
expected to happen happened. Allowing someone else to control the
direction of his life was something he struggled with. And yet, he
had been willing to do that for Tobias. Willing to allow his mate
time to become accustomed to the situation.

Clearly, that had been a
mistake.

Gregovitch had been right.

He had to take charge of the
situation, and if that meant forcing Tobias’ into compliance…then
so be it.

The door opened slowly,
almost like Tobias was giving the Beast time to still his racing
heart, to steel himself for what was to come. When it eventually
swung full circle his heart was
still
pounding, and when he locked
eyes with his mate, it simply pounded some more.

Tobias was…there were no words. The
Beast was struck, and captivated, by his beauty all over again. And
it wasn’t just the way that he looked. The connection the Beast
felt with this human was deeper than that, more
visceral.

Tobias was his. There was simply no
denying that fact.

“
Tobias,” he
whispered.

The other male’s eyes widened. He took
a step back, something like puzzlement chasing across his features.
And yet…underneath that puzzlement the Beast saw another emotion
struggling to break free.

Excitement.

“
What are you doing here?”
he gasped.

The Beast smiled. And it was a smile
filled with all of the emotions he was feeling.

Happiness.

Excitement.

Desire.

“
I am here to see you of
course,” he said.

“
But…”

“
You did not expect
me?”

“
You said—”

“
That you would come to
me?” The Beast paused. How to explain to Tobias that time was
running out? That he had no choice but to come? He couldn’t, he
realized. Not yet. Their connection had to be reestablished first.
That was the only possible way forward. “I did not expect you to
keep me waiting for so long.”

“
I…” Tobias visibly
swallowed and took another step back. As he did so he shook his
head in jerky motions, his hands clenching over and
over.

The Beast sighed, because
he could feel the emotions rolling off his mate, and they were as
confused as he had expected them to be. As Alpha he had that
ability with his people. To pick up the tenor of their thoughts, to
understand what they were feeling, but it was not something he had
ever experienced with the humans. He understood why of course, they
were not his. There was no connection to them, but Tobias? He had
known that Tobias
was
his the moment he had begun to feel what the other man was
feeling.

It had been obvious.

Clear.

There was no denying it then, and when
he had looked into his mate’s eyes for the first time, there had
been no denying it at all.

Tobias was his.

“
But you have kept me
waiting,” the Beast said slowly. “You have stayed away. Even though
I know you could find a way back if you tried.”

“
They blindfolded me when
I left,” Tobias said.

“
You do not
need
to see the way in
or out,” the Beast replied. “You will simply know it. It is
instinctual. If you want to find your way home, you
will.”

“
Home?” Tobias breathed.
“I
am
home.”

The Beast took a step forward. Tobias
responded by taking one back. That amused the Beast slightly,
because if Tobias really wanted some distance between them he would
surely have slammed the door shut. But he clearly didn’t, because
he was, perhaps unconsciously, allowing the Beast enough room to
make his way inside.

It was then that Beast understood
exactly what Tobias was feeling.

On an intellectual level his mate did
not want this. He was trying to pretend that what happened between
them was nothing, that it could be forgotten. Probably he was also
ignoring the changes that had already begun to happen to his
body.

That was why he had stayed
away.

But on a physical level there could be
no denying it. He craved the Beast’s touch. Hungered for it. And he
knew, deep down he knew, that something was happening to him that
he could not stop.

That was why he wanted to
return.

Dual desires.

Fighting against one
another.

The intellectual winning
over the physical…but only for now…for them, for their kind, the
physical would
always
win.

“
I know how you are
feeling,” the Beast said slowly. “I understand it.”

Tobias jerked his head again. “You
have no idea what I’m feeling.”

“
Tobias,” he sighed. “You
know that is not true. You’re confused. You are trying to tell
yourself that you can forget what happened. Convince yourself that
you can stay away from me. But that is never going to work. It will
win out in the end.”

“
What will?” Tobias
demanded. “What?”

“
The hunger you feel,” The
Beast said. “You’re fighting it. Trying to pretend it is not there.
You want to come home, you want to come home
to me
, but you’re trying to pretend
otherwise.”

“
I…”

“
You think that if you
ignore it, if you tell yourself it is not there, that you will be
able to resist.” He paused. “But it does not work that way. The
process has already begun. There is no escaping it now.”

Chapter Five

It was all Tobias could do to keep
himself still and steady. He looked up, into the yellow eyes of the
Beast, and felt his heart race faster than it ever had before. Part
of him couldn’t believe that the Beast was actually here, that
despite what he had said, he had come to Tobias, probably to take
him back below ground. The other part, however, the part that had
spent all of last night, and all of today, in a state of confusion
and panic following Layla’s visit, wasn’t shocked at all. It was
almost like this was always going to happen and he had been stupid
to think otherwise.

Because something
was
happening to
him.

There
was
no stopping it.

And Tobias had spent all of last night
and all of today thinking about it. About what it all might mean,
about what Layla had said, about what his feelings for the Beast
really meant. He had sat down on his couch, just a few minutes ago,
no closer to any sort of resolution, but one thing was becoming
increasingly clear, no matter how much he tried to resist it. If
the Beast had not come to him today…in truth Tobias was no longer
certain how much longer he could have held out.

He tore his gaze away from the Beast
and looked down at his body. The same dread and confusion assailing
him as it had constantly over the past weeks, and certainly this
morning, because, upon waking, Tobias had noticed another change.
His muscles were more defined than they had ever been, and yet they
shouldn’t be, because he had barely gone near the gym in the past
weeks, choosing to run for miles upon miles instead. He should be
losing definition, not gaining it…only he wasn’t…a process…a
change…

“
What’s happening to me?”
he whispered, because he couldn’t stand not knowing anymore, and
the Beast was here now, and that changed everything.

“
You’re changing,” the
Beast said.

“
Because of something you
did.”

It was not a question, but the Beast
answered it anyway. “Yes.”

“
What’s going to happen to
me?”

“
I can’t explain that to
you yet,” the Beast said.

Tobias looked back up, locked eyes
with the Beast. “You have to,” he said. “I’m…”

“
Scared?” the Beast
asked.

Tobias frowned, because he did not
want to admit to that, and yet…

“
There is no need to be,
Tobias,” the Beast said and he took another step forward so that he
was in Tobias’ hallway now, and the front door seemed to simply
close behind them. “I am here now.”

“
But
why
are you here?” Tobias asked. “To
make me return below ground with you?”

“
No,” the Beast said. “I
am here because I wanted to see you, because it has been too long,
and because you have ignored my calls to return.”

“
Your calls?”

The Beast nodded. “You feel them,
don’t you?”

“
I—”

“
It’s like an itch,” the
Beast said. “Impossible to scratch. Always there, always nudging at
you. You feel me around you, can see me beside you, and yet I’m not
there, and you want me to be.”

Tobias let out a shaky
breath, because the Beast’s words were so right. That was
exactly
how he felt,
exactly what it was like, and now, looking into his eyes again,
Tobias became aware that the itch was no longer there. The Beast
stood in front of him, as attractive, maybe even more so, than
Tobias remembered him being. That same scent that had seemed to
tickle Tobias’ nose these past weeks, elusive and yet so familiar,
was swirling around him again. A musky spice that screamed desire
and need.