Total pages in book: 28
Estimated words: 25821 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 129(@200wpm)___ 103(@250wpm)___ 86(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 25821 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 129(@200wpm)___ 103(@250wpm)___ 86(@300wpm)
I was tossed aside, the air leaving me roughly. I pushed myself up quickly, and that was when I saw several men with torches and pitchforks raised in the air, charging after the Beast.
Oh, God. It was an ambush.
My husband stood before them like the very devil himself. He ripped off the cloak, tore at his shirt until it fluttered in tattered pieces to the ground, and then he was tipping his head back and roaring so loud the leaves above shook.
The moonlight highlighted his horns and powerful physique, and if I didn’t know how gentle he could be with me, I’d have screamed in terror and escaped.
“I’m sorry. I’m sorry.”
I could hear my father repeating that apology over and over again and spotted him off to the side standing next to… Gaston, who had an evil gleam in his eyes, a sadistic smirk on his lips, and stared at the Beast as if he wanted so much blood until he was coated in it.
“What have you done?” I whispered but neither man paid attention, the growls and roars of the Beast mixing with the shouts and curses of the villagers who continued to attack him.
“The Beast needs to be taken out. He needs to be eradicated and rid of this world. He’s evil and is nothing but a corruption. He doesn’t deserve the wealth he has. He doesn’t deserve you, Belle. I’m going to fix that, though. I’m the man—” Gaston shouted as he pounded his chest like a barbarian “—who’s going to be the hero of this story.”
The Beast roared out again and I focused on my husband. When one of them charged forward, the Beast flung him away as easily as if he were an annoying fly.
But then another threw a pitchfork, the prongs sticking into his furry body before he gave a rage-filled growl and ripped it out, flinging it back to the man. I heard the human men screaming in pain, pitchforks sticking out of their bodies, the scent of blood coating the air.
Gaston made an angry sound. I heard a revolver being drawn. I looked over my shoulder to see Gaston holding the gleaming metal in his hand. Bodies were littered around, the men who attacked now nothing more than corpses on the forest ground.
The Beast’s chest was rising and falling, his broad, massive shoulders and chest so wide he blocked out anything else behind him. Although it was fairly dark and I couldn’t see much, I could see he had wounds and could smell the coppery tang of blood in the air.
“You,” the Beast snarled and lifted a huge furry arm to point a deadly black claw at my father. I watched in awe as that claw grew a little longer, became a little sharper. “Leave before I tear out your trachea for putting Belle in danger.”
I felt dizzy as I snapped my focus to my father. He didn’t even look at me as he hightailed it in the other direction. I lifted a hand to my chest, feeling that last shred of familial love fade. He’d left me, didn’t even check to see if I was okay.
I knew this was the last time I’d see him, and strangely enough… it felt like a weight had been lifted off my shoulders.
“And you,” the Beast growled so menacingly at Gaston that I shivered in response, hearing the nocturnal animals scurrying away as fast as their little legs could take them.
“I’m going to make sure your death is slow and painful, satisfying my bloodlust and delivering your heart in my palm to my female.”
The Beast took a step forward, and I swore everything happened in slow motion as Gaston took aim. I didn’t even realize I was moving until I was running toward Gaston.
I heard the Beast roar out, then the cracking bang of the revolver going off before I was shoved to the side.
I quickly checked to make sure I hadn’t been shot—in too much shock to let it sink in—but when I realized I was unharmed, I glanced back at where the two males stood off to the side.
Gaston didn’t have time to shoot again, not when the Beast was already charging forward and gripping him around his meaty neck and lifting him off the ground.
He grabbed Gaston’s wrist that held the revolver, lifted it high in the air and, with a sickening crack, broke the bone. The weapon fell to the ground and Gaston howled in pain.
“I am going to enjoy this, especially with my female watching me slay the ones who would have hurt her, who put her in danger.”
I should have stopped the Beast, maybe pleaded to let Gaston live. But I said nothing. None of the men who attacked the Beast deserved to live.
I felt my stomach clench when the Beast plunged his fist into Gaston’s chest, breaking through his ribcage, pulled out his heart, and held it in his palm as if it were nothing but a piece of fruit.