Beauty's Cursed Beast Read online

  She pulled the car over onto the shoulder, thinking through her actions. In every book and movie, the girl who goes into the villain’s den with no backup rarely comes out alive. She shook her head, knowing she had to consider the long game, and not just her father’s momentary escape. If she died, there would be no one to come to her father’s aid the next time Gabe acted on his baser instincts.

  As if knowing she was thinking about not coming to him, her father’s name on her Caller ID lit up her phone. She rolled her shoulders back, a wave of the bigger picture washing through her, gifting her with a dose of clarity. She answered with shaking fingers, hoping her voice sounded in-control. “You’d think I’d be shocked that you’re not a man of your word, but I’ve always known what a snake you are. Let my papa out.”

  “I returned your father to your home, as promised.”

  “He’s in your drunk tank, Gabe. I’m not an idiot.” Though for a few moments, she’d veered toward the unwise choice of going in alone. She breathed through her impulses and tried to center herself. “And what a nice collection of cop cars in front of my house. Almost as lovely as a bouquet of roses, but I know you’ve never been a traditionalist.”

  Gabe paused, but then let loose his wicked laugh. “I’ll let your father go when I see you walk through the precinct doors.”

  “You took him without his shoes, and the entire precinct is empty. Who’s going to drive my father home, dummy?”

  She glanced at the shard of mirror, pursing her lips defiantly when she watched him look around wildly for signs of her. “Where are you, Belle? Are you watching me?”

  “I’m everywhere,” she chuckled darkly, relishing the feeling of finally being the one with a little bit of power that made him squirm with discomfort. “Do you really think there’s a move you make that I’m not seeing right now?”

  Gabe glanced up at a security camera with frustration, pulled over a chair and taped a piece of paper over it to block the view.

  “Guess again, buttercup. You try to get me kicked out of my house, then you go after my papa, dragging him out of bed in the middle of the night?” She tsked him as if he was a misbehaving schoolboy. “I’m disappointed in you.”

  “You won’t be so haughty after I get through with you.”

  “That’s the thing. You can’t get to me anymore. I think your time on the force is up, Gabe.”

  She watched his face sour. “It’s the beast who’s in your bed, isn’t it. Does he know how to satisfy you like I can?”

  Belle scoffed. “Adam is kind and gentle. He’s generous, and doesn’t leave me wanting for a single thing.” She let her words hang with all the intimate implications, just to drive Gabe crazy. “And forgive me, but what girl was lying through her teeth when she told you that you could ever satisfy a woman?”

  “Do you love him? You honestly love this monster? That’s who you’ve become? Mrs. Beast?”

  Indignation rose in her whenever Adam was attacked. He’d been through enough, and didn’t have much time left. “He’s not a monster, Gabe. You are!”

  There was a deadly quiet, and then Belle watched him finger his keys and march out the door. “Maybe it’s time we see who the bigger man is, then. If he’s talked himself out of the arrest I still haven’t seen come through the wire, then maybe it’s time he was taken out. Funny thing about people attacking officers. We can defend ourselves, you know. When a civilian dies in an altercation with an officer, it’s a boatload of paperwork, but I’m willing to wade through the extra headache for you. It’s time your beast was put down.”

  Belle’s blood felt cold in her veins. “Leave Adam out of this!”

  “In fact, I think this is a matter that needs the backup of the entire force. I can’t believe the beast has been holding you in his castle against your will.”

  “He has not! Gabe, stop this!”

  “Of course he has. It’s what everyone will believe, because there’s no other logical explanation that would make you stay with him over coming back to me!”

  “Leave him alone!”

  But Gabe didn’t back down. The last thing Belle heard before Gabe hung up was his squad car roaring to life.

  33

  Help from Remus Johnstone

  Belle was in tears when she called Adam, leaving him a voicemail. She checked the presets, but Henry’s number wasn’t in there. Rory’s text with her Uncle’s phone number had come through, so she called the Chancellor’s daughter as the bushes on the side of the freeway passed by in a haze. Belle cursed when Rory didn’t pick up, and tossed the phone into the case with the mirror. Too many emotions ran through her, clouding her thoughts until finally, one lucid idea rose to the surface.

  Her fretful angst began to clear by the smallest of degrees as a plan started to form in her mind. Once the decision was made, her fingers lost their tremble and her mind latched onto the last vestige of hope with a steadiness that relaxed her shoulders and lifted her chin. Her breathing evened out to an almost meditative state as she reached for the phone again, calling the number Rory had texted her.

  Rousing the great Remus Johnstone in the middle of the night was the only thing Belle would apologize for. With command in her voice she usually only reserved for troubled patients, Belle laid out her plan to the widely-respected stranger. The Chancellor’s brother was well-known and beloved for his sacrifice that saved his niece. Belle knew he had a handle on magic she would never dream of understanding. Yet as the conversation trudged on, he took the time to explain the ins and outs of the complicated spell he’d used to protect the treasured Aurora Johnstone.

  “Then I was right. I have everything I need, except a few drops of his blood.”

  Remus’ voice was huskier than she’d heard him sound in his interviews on TV, due to the late nature of the call. “Very good. Now repeat the charm to me. Pronunciation matters, so don’t hold back on your diction. Each syllable must be overly crisp.”

  Belle obeyed, opening her mouth wider than usual to get in the entire spell that Remus had set to the tune of “Happy Birthday” to get her to remember.

  “That’s exactly right. Do it just like that. But Belle, you have to understand that there are certain advantages to performing a counter-curse when the curse is fresh. It’s more pliable within the first hour, and hardens into place over time. To undo a curse that’s nearly a decade old?” His pause was telling that he was working up to something grave. “I’m not sure it’s possible to break it at this point, but I won’t begrudge you a try. If you follow my instructions to the letter, you won’t accidentally harm yourself in the transaction, other than the five years that will come off your life if it actually works, which is no small thing to consider.”

  “Thank you. Thank you so much. I have to try.”

  “Love,” Remus said with a firmness to his voice. “Malaura never understood love, so her curses aren’t set up to maneuver it. If you love Adam, hold that firmly in your heart. It’s your strongest weapon against her evil.”

  Belle nodded, though she knew he couldn’t see her on the phone. “That shouldn’t be a problem. I wouldn’t be calling you right now if I didn’t love him.”

  Remus’ next piece came out slowly, as if he didn’t want to put a voice to the worries that were beginning to surface. “Are you certain Adam is worth the sacrifice?”

  “Was Rory worth yours?”

  “Family always is. I don’t regret what I did to save her. But make no mistake, five years taken off your life is a hard pill to swallow. I want you to really think this through.”

  Belle’s lips tightened in a firm line as she pictured herself without Adam’s teasing, without his barking laughter, and without the gentle way he reached for her. She thought back to her life in the West Village, which seemed ages ago. Before Adam had come into her life, there was duty, imagination, and familial love, but not much more. Adam had enhanced all of those things, and gave her so much beyond that. She couldn’t stomach her life without their quiet reading
time by the fire. She couldn’t fathom going to sleep without him to curl her body around. “It’s worth it. He would be wasted with the Lupine.”

  “Then you know what to do. You’ll know he’s down to only days left when he starts howling in his sleep,” Remus offered sagely.

  Belle nearly veered off the road. “He howled in his sleep earlier this week, Remus!”

  There was a telling silence, and then the gavel of doom. “Then do it now, if it’s not already too late. And Belle?”

  “Yes?”

  “I want you to keep an open mind. The laws of magic aren’t as concrete as we assume. It’s often our assumptions that life can only be what it is that keep us from achieving our goals.”

  Belle drew in a steadying breath. “Are you saying that you think this could work?”

  “I’m saying it matters that you know it will work. For the next twenty-four hours, concentrate on breaking the rules. It’s your only chance to make this happen.”

  It was with no thought of her own safety that she sped down the freeway, and again it was an unselfish desire that drove her feet to pound through the snow to the house and fling open the front door. “Adam! Adam, I’m home!”

  “Belle, we were so worried!” Thomas fretted, closing the door behind her.

  “Bolt that shut!” she ordered, realizing that Henry, Ella, Rory, Cordray and the police must’ve left, if the household was coming back to life. “In fact, barricade it.” When Thomas backed up in confusion, she pointed to the front door, ignoring the rest of the staff that ambled in to greet her. “I’m serious, Thomas. The sheriff is on his way to try and arrest Adam. When Adam resists, Gabe is going to shoot him and call it self-defense. But if he can’t get in, that’s one point for us. All the doors, all the windows, lock them now.” She glanced around at the staff, who were gaping at her with fear in their eyes. “Hurry!”

  Bosworth took charge and clapped his hands. “Alright, troops! You two take the second floor, you never know if they can climb up the trellises. You four, secure the doors and lock all the windows on the first floor, then report back to me. I’ll see what we can do about reinforcing the glass.” Then he puffed out his chest and shouted, “If this will be our final hour, then we’ll go into the next phase intact.” His voice rose further, warbling slightly with emotion that caused Belle’s heart to swell. “They will not break us!”

  For all his usual bravado, Bosworth was built for taking control in dire situations like this. Belle appreciated him anew, and bent down to speak directly to him, once the staff scattered to their posts. “Where’s Adam?”

  “He’s in the West wing, milady. You shouldn’t disturb him.”

  Belle ignored the warning as she stood. She ran for the stairs, but paused on the third step. “Bosworth, what did you mean, your ‘final hour’?”

  Bosworth met her eyes and saluted her slowly with a grave look on his face. “The last petal will fall before the sun rises. Then Adam will turn into a wolf, and we will remain inanimate household objects forever.”

  Belle gripped the railing as a noise of angst and terror escaped her lips. “No!” She turned and bolted up the steps, taking them two at a time as her heart raced.

  She knew she wasn’t allowed in the West wing, but she didn’t care about the rules anymore. She didn’t care if he yelled, or if the world knew she was sharing sheets with her boss. She cared about Adam, and needed to see his face.

  “Adam!” she shouted when she threw open the doors to his study. She glanced around wildly, but didn’t see him anywhere.

  Panicking, she screamed loud enough for her voice to carry through the entire wing. “Adam!”

  She heard a commotion from his bedroom and bolted down the hall. She ran into the messy room she’d only been in once before, unsurprised to find it in the same state of disarray.

  Sitting at the desk where the rose was floating in the glass vase, there was Adam, a highball of whiskey in his fist. He turned to face her, light rising in his red-rimmed eyes when he took in the sight of her filling his doorway. “Belle? You came back?”

  “Of course I did! Why didn’t you tell me how little time there actually was? I thought we had more.” She tried to hold back her tears, but when her feet started to move her toward him, a few slid down her cheeks. She arrested the glass from his hand, noting how feeble his grip was. “You’re drunk.”

  He took in her face as if she was an angel, come to escort him into his next phase of existence. “You came back for me.”

  “Adam, listen carefully. There’s not much time. Gabe’s on his way, and he’s going to try and arrest you. He’s counting on you resisting, so he can murder you and call it self-defense.” When no shred of indignation rose up in him, Belle’s shoulders deflated. “You’re not getting a word of this, huh.”

  “You’re the lady of the house,” he said with a slowness to his cadence. He reached for her hand and pulled her down to sit on his thick thigh.

  Belle softened as she took in the sadness that was obvious, and etched in deep beneath his full, furry beard. “Oh, honey. I don’t want you hurting like this.”

  “It always hurts,” he admitted. “But I don’t feel it so much when you’re here. Stay,” he rasped, touching his nose to her shoulder so he could inhale a deep drag of her natural scent.

  “Of course, I’ll stay with you.” With tears in her eyes, Belle stretched out her arm and felt around on the desk for the letter opener that lie in the mishmash of papers. She wrapped her arms around him and thumbed the sharp end, hoping he wouldn’t even feel the prick.

  The commotion downstairs made her stiffen, and she knew they had only a minute together before it all broke loose. It was too much to ask the household objects to lock down the castle, trinkets as they were. Adam hadn’t enacted the various security measures, so all there was to hold the madness at bay were a few deadbolts. The staff were no match for a corrupt police force, and their boss was three sheets to the wind.

  Belle turned Adam’s chin so he could look into her eyes. “You should’ve told me the last petal was about to fall. Now, hold still. This might pinch a little bit.”

  “What?”

  “It’s your turn to trust me,” she said softly to him, kissing his cheek before she jabbed the letter opener half an inch into the firm muscle of his forearm.

  His sharp intake of breath told her that he wasn’t completely without his senses. “What was that?”

  “It’s my turn to protect you. Do you trust me?”

  “Trust?” Adam repeated with a frown as he tilted his head at her. “Love, Belle. I love you.”

  More tears fell, though she knew this wasn’t the time. She nodded and touched the wound, gathering up a few drops of his blood and touching them to her tongue. “Then let me do this for you.”

  “Do what?”

  Belle closed her eyes and pressed her forehead to his, tasting the rust of his blood on her tongue. She savored the flavor of him, but didn’t swallow. Remus had instructed her that she had to get through the entire incantation before she swallowed, which would seal the counter-curse. Her heart pounded as she began the soft tune of “Happy Birthday”, using the words that were a string of Latin and Greek in hopes that she could keep him a little while longer.

  Adam shook his head, confused, but trying to hold onto the moment as best he could. “No, Belle. No. You can’t do this. I won’t let you give up five years of your life for mine! It won’t work anyway!”

  Belle ignored him and soldiered on through the song, gripping his collar when he tried to slide her off his leg.

  She was only halfway through the verse when the door burst open.

  “Belle! Get away from the beast!” Gabe ordered in a booming voice.

  Adam’s head jerked over to the source of the disturbance, his lips pulling back to reveal his fangs. He snarled at Gabe, standing slowly and moving Belle behind him to shield her. “Get out.”

  “Now, now. I don’t think civilians get to make demands of
officers. Stand down, or I’ll be forced to draw my weapon.”

  Adam’s fists clenched, his neck straining forward as he opened his mouth to tell Gabe once again to get lost. But instead of a sharp retort, a frightening howl erupted from somewhere deep in his diaphragm, shaking the windows and rattling Belle’s teeth.

  Belle held onto Adam’s hips from behind, hugging him through the beginning of the transformation that frightened them both.

  His bravado cast aside, Gabe let out a whimper of distress. “Is it really happening? Right now?

  “Go, Gabe!” Belle shouted, furious that an interruption from the man she hated might make her too late to save the man she loved.

  Gabe found enough pieces of foolhardy candor to puff out his chest and extend his arm to her from the doorway. “Come with me, Belle! He’s going to turn, and when he does, he’ll attack you!”

  “He won’t hurt me; Adam loves me! I won’t leave him!”

  Adam dropped down onto all fours, his hair thickening and spreading out to cover his hands completely. The chestnut fur seemed to blow as if a breeze was bending it, spreading the follicles down his legs and over his feet.

  Belle sank to her knees and wrapped her arms around his ribs, promising him over and over that it wasn’t too late, and that she would find a way to fix this.

  The safety cocking back from the firearm was the one sound that snapped Adam back to the present. He growled at the intruder, who was now being joined by his colleagues in crime. He leaned back on his haunches like a slingshot ready to launch, and then lunged forward with a roar.

  Everything blurred in Belle’s vision when multiple shots fired. Fury formed a tornado in her gut, and everything in her swirled with a vengeance that made her teeth vibrate. Though she knew she couldn’t wrestle Gabe’s gun from her vantage point across the room, she clung to Remus’ sage advice to view the laws of magic as breakable.