by Sophie Oak
A Faery Story 2
Beast
Fresh from his latest scandal, vampire playboy Dante Dellacourt has been given an ultimatum—take a consort and settle down or be disowned.
Exiled by her pack, the werewolf Kaja is stolen from her frozen plane and awakens in a foreign world. Frightened and alone, she savagely fights for her freedom.
When Dante and his Fae cousins are called to defend the gnomes of the marketplace from their feral prize, he discovers that Kaja glows like no other consort he has ever seen. Exotic and wild, her body calls to him in ways he had not dreamed possible.
In order to claim his werewolf, he must first tame this ferocious beauty. But to earn her submission, will Dante be forced to unleash his inner beast?
Genre: Contemporary, Fantasy, Vampires/Werewolves
Length: 91,416 words
BEAST
A Faery Story 2
Sophie Oak
EVERLASTING CLASSIC
Siren Publishing, Inc.
www.SirenPublishing.com
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A SIREN PUBLISHING BOOK
IMPRINT: Everlasting Classic
BEAST
Copyright © 2011 by Sophie Oak
E-book ISBN: 1-61034-870-2
First E-book Publication: September 2011
Cover design by Les Byerley
All art and logo copyright © 2011 by Siren Publishing, Inc.
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED: This literary work may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, including electronic or photographic reproduction, in whole or in part, without express written permission.
All characters and events in this book are fictitious. Any resemblance to actual persons living or dead is strictly coincidental.
PUBLISHER
Siren Publishing, Inc.
www.SirenPublishing.com
Letter to Readers
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DEDICATION
This book is for Liz Berry, tireless champion of authors both big and small—and for her Wine Wednesday girls. Ladies, I believe you’ll find this one goes with a nice red.
BEAST
A Faery Story 2
SOPHIE OAK
Copyright © 2011
Prologue
The Werewolf Plane
Kaja looked up into the eyes of the woman who had raised her. She had not been a kind mother. Helga wasn’t her mother at all. She had been designated by the First as her keeper when she’d been orphaned. But Helga had been the one to ensure Kaja survived. Helga had given her food and grudging shelter when the weather was too cold for any wolf to stand. Helga had only beaten her when there was no other option. Kaja was aware that she was far too thin for a woman of four and twenty, but that was only to be expected. She had no mate, and Helga must think of her own children first.
“What does it mean?” Kaja asked.
She could hear the fear in her voice. Her hands shook as she pulled the thin shawl around her shoulders. She thought about changing. She always changed when she felt this anxious. Fur and fangs and four strong paws seemed more solid than her two-legged body. She held fast to her human form since she needed to understand how her life had changed following the wise woman’s pronouncement.
The wise woman, a large, sturdy wolf, had stood up in the middle of the evening meal and spoken. Kaja had been at the edge of the dining hall. She knew the wise woman had spoken of her. Though she hadn’t been able to hear everything that was said, Kaja had felt the eyes of the pack turn, seeking her out. They had stared, some with open sympathy, most with sneers. She did not understand what was happening.
Helga’s eyes were anything but kind as she looked at Kaja. “It means you are outcast. Do you understand the word, girl? You are no longer welcome in the pack. I risk the First’s anger by even speaking with you, but you are too stupid to be expected to understand on your own.”
“Why?” Her voice was as small as she felt.
She ignored the insults. They were as ordinary to her life as breathing. She had never been particularly welcome in the pack, but it was the only home she knew. The world was a cold place. How would she survive on her own? It was winter, and there was barely enough food to feed the pack. She couldn’t compete with the warriors on her own. If she was outcast and they caught her poaching in their territory, they would kill her.
Sven would kill her.
Tears pooled in her eyes at the thought of the handsome Second. He was every inch his father’s son. He would be First someday. She’d fought him, but he hadn’t taken no for an answer. She’d hated the mating, but somewhere in the back of her mind she’d wondered if Sven wouldn’t help her. He desired her. That had to mean he cared about her. She had always known that Sven would not ask her to be his permanent mate. He would select a much more suitable she-wolf for that honor. But he had promised her the role of concubine. It was not without its benefits. She would be respected as the Second’s mistress. She would be the she-wolf who held his heart.
“Sven will not allow it.” Kaja felt her face firm as she said the words.
He’d said she was beautiful. He wouldn’t allow her to be thrown out of the pack. He couldn’t. He’d been the one to pursue her. Surely that meant he cared.
Helga sighed. “He’s done with you, idiot child. He’s going to permanently mate with the wise woman’s daughter. Did you think she would allow her daughter’s future husband to keep you as a concubine? That is an embarrassment she could not endure. You should never have given yourself to the chief’s son.”
“I did not realize I had a choice,” Kaja said bitterly.
She remembered that f
irst night. She had not been given a choice. Sven had come for her with his friends at his side. His friends had held her down as Sven took her. She had fought, and she had lost.
Helga frowned, and for the first time there was sympathy in her dark eyes. “You didn’t, child. You haven’t had a choice in anything. It would have been kinder if the chieftain had left you on the mountainside to die as I suggested. Now, go. I will not risk my place for you. I am fourth among the women now. I am the keeper of this long house. I eat well and have good shelter. I will not lose my standing for the daughter of a traitor. You must go.”
Kaja turned. There would be no moving her foster mother. When Helga had mentioned Kaja’s father’s perfidy, Kaja knew there was no argument that could sway the older woman. Her father had challenged Sven’s father and lost. That was what made him a traitor. Kaja knew if she had been born male, she would have been slaughtered along with her father. Perhaps that would have been easier.
As her father’s female pup, she’d been allowed to live, but never given a place in the tribe. Now that Kaja thought about it, she had been outcast all of her life.
She looked around the long house. She had lived here for many years. She was allowed to sleep in the back where they kept the cattle. Kaja never told them that she didn’t mind. It was warmer near the cattle. Where would she sleep this evening?
She was pulled from her misery by a rough hand. Kaja looked up and saw it was Sven’s closest friend, Stellan. He looked a little sad with his unkempt beard and dark eyes. Though his hand was tight around her thin arm, it was not painful. “Come, little one. You must go now.”
He began to drag her along. She saw the door to the long house. It was dark outside, and she could feel the cold from here. Once she left, she knew she would never be allowed back in. “Please, take me to Sven. He won’t let this happen.”
Stellan sighed. He stopped and looked down at her. “Oh, little one, who do you think ordered me to escort you out?”
Kaja felt sick to her stomach. All around her the pack was watching with judgmental eyes. She was weak, and they hated weakness.
“Out!” one of the women shouted. She tossed a rancid tomato at Kaja’s face. Stellan hurried them along.
Others joined in on the fun, and Kaja was covered in food and bruised by the time Stellan maneuvered her out. She shivered in the cold. The snow was deep, and she had no shoes. Shoes were a luxury. She was barely allowed food. When she turned, she saw the light glowing from inside the long house. Her heart ached. She had not known an ounce of real kindness there, but it was safe. It was warm.
“Sven is an ass, little one,” Stellan said, not unkindly. He shrugged out of his fur-lined coat. “He never keeps a mistress for long. You were just an easy one to get rid of. I would offer to keep you myself, but he’s made it impossible.” He held out the coat, easing it around Kaja’s shoulders. “You have to run. If they find you, they will tear you apart.”
“I have never been on my own,” Kaja muttered, feeling the cold seep into her bones. Though she had not been particularly welcome in the pack, she had never been without them. She had always been surrounded by wolves.
“Perhaps Freya will be kind. Perhaps she will show you the way to a better place as she showed the People when we left the first plane. There are other planes with other people.”
Kaja felt her eyes go wide. “That is sacrilege. There is only this world.”
“No, they just want to keep you ignorant. This is a barbaric world, but it is home. My father travelled to other planes. He went to many worlds, some in which he should not have gone.” Stellan smiled a bit at the thought. He pointed to a place far in the west. “Beyond that mountain, that is where he said the door is. If you can find it, Kaja, a whole new world waits for you. Do not waste yourself trying to get back into favor with the pack. They will never accept you. Find a new pack.”
Kaja stared at the mountains to the west. Could she make it? Were the stories real? She shook her shoulders and let Stellan’s coat slide off into her hands. She gave it back to him. She wouldn’t need it.
In a blink, she changed. Her limbs neatly adjusted themselves, and she was wolf. Her senses were a thousand times sharper, and she no longer felt the cold as keenly.
Stellan shook his head as he looked down on her. “Sven thinks the wise woman ousted you for her daughter’s sake. I believe differently. You are strong, little Kaja. If they ever fed you properly or gave you a moment’s training, you would be First among the women. Go, little wolf. Your destiny is not here.”
Kaja ran, her wolf legs eating the distance despite the thick snow. She ran, and she did not look back. Stellan was right. There was nothing for her here.
Chapter One
The Vampire Plane
Dante Dellacourt watched his family and friends as they stared at the floor-to-ceiling projection from the comfortable seats of Dellacorp’s media room. The room was done up for a party, but Dante was worried no one would want to celebrate at the end of the show. His whole family and several key members of the corporation were rapt with attention, watching everything that happened on this final episode of the most popular DL in the states.
Dante tried not to laugh at the image of himself pondering the decision he was about to make. The producers made sure he thought about the intensely important life decision he was making via reality television in various states of undress. He had spent an awful lot of time with his shirt off, but Dante had to admit, he looked good in a tux, too. He stood at the edge of a lovely, romantic pond, surrounded by greenery and flowers, waiting for the helicopters that would bring the two final women to him.
Dante took a long drink of Scotch as he watched the drama play out. He hoped the alcohol would relax him fairly quickly. He hadn’t had much of an appetite. He desired neither a meal pill, nor an actual warm-blooded dinner. His gut was not in a good place. On an empty stomach, the Scotch should work fast. He had the feeling that he was going to need it once his parents saw the way the final stock ceremony ended.
On the high-definition screen, the luxury helicopter landed, and a gorgeous vampire stepped out showing off her long legs and perfect figure. She wore a designer gown and looked like a woman on a mission. Veronica. Even her name made him shiver just a little.
“I knew it.” Susan practically shouted at the screen. Dante had to grin slightly. His big sister was a high-octane, type A version of himself, right down to her red-and-gold hair and green eyes.
His sister hadn’t liked Veronica at all. It had been a mistake to put two alpha females in the same room together. They’d practically had a knock-down-drag-out when he’d brought Veronica home to meet the family. The producers had been thrilled. It made for excellent television.
“They always dump the first one,” Susan said with a vicious fist pump. “Take that, bitch! I knew my brother would pick the consort.”
Susan’s husband, Colin, gave his wife an affectionate pat. He nodded Dante’s way. “Thank you. She would be impossible to live with if you brought that one home again.”
Dante noticed his mother was crying slightly. It made him a little nauseous at the thought of disappointing her. Her manicured hands came out to pat Dante’s shoulders. “I knew you would make the right choice. The consort is lovely, Dante. I can’t wait to begin planning the wedding. I know you’re contractually obligated to stay apart from Shelia until after the final airing, but I wish she could have been here. I can’t wait to welcome her into our family.”
On the screen, Veronica was rolling her eyes and vowing corporate vengeance. Her long red nails reminded Dante of talons. She’d actually scared the crap out of him. He’d been afraid to dump her before the final ceremony. More than one corporate war had been started because of this particular series.
His father walked up behind him and gave him a hearty pat on the back. Dante could feel the satisfaction coming off his father in waves. “I didn’t think this was a good idea, son. Your mother had to convince me this wouldn’t r
uin our corporate image. Playing around in hot tubs is no way to find a wife, I say. You should have done what your cousins did. You should have bought a consort at the marketplace. Still, I liked Shelia. You did good, son.”
There was a loud snort from the back of the room. Dante looked up and saw his twin cousins sitting in the small crowd with their market-bought wife between them. Six months of marriage had only brought the three of them closer together. Cian, the more sarcastic of the two, was watching the screen raptly. It didn’t stop him from making his opinion plain.
“I think you’re all crazy,” Cian said, his musical Fae accent filled with humor. “Do any of you know Dante? Seriously? I bet you all a thousand gold that he dumps them both.”
“Shut up, you bastard,” Beckett Finn said, slapping at his brother playfully. “You don’t have a thousand gold.”
“He won’t need it. Let him make the bet,” Meg Finn pronounced, her eyes narrowing on Dante. “He dumps them both.”
On the screen, a second helicopter was setting down on the top floor of one of the most luxurious high-rises in Manhattan. Dante had been happy the producers of the DL had chosen to film the end in New York rather than his own hometown of Dallas. Romantic music was playing. Shelia, a consort from the Faery plane with an amazing backstory to go along with her sweet good looks, got out of the helicopter. Her face beamed as she looked up at him.