Keith roars when I successfully remove her other eye and she pauses her movements, her face moving side-to-side in pain. “You took away my sight!” she growls at me.
“You had this coming, Keith!” I growl back. “You took what was mine and no one, not even my older sister, will get away with that. You will die today and then my mate and I will be safe again. I will take the throne and I will destroy anyone who stands in my way, so your precious Javier will be next to feel my wrath!”
Keith laughs at my words and I know what she’s going to do before she does it. She turns her back towards me, roaring in excitement, and then races towards my mate. Her razor-sharp teeth are extended, ready to rip apart the one person who completes me in every way possible, and I know I need to stop her at all costs.
Pushing past the pain, I run at Keith at lightening speed and even with my injury, I’m faster than her. She stands on her hind legs and raises a claw to Fay and I knock her sideways before her claw can make contact.
Keith lies on the floor in shock for a moment, and I use that one-minute of her daze to bite her throat out, roaring my victory and pain. Keith lies still underneath me, her body becoming lifeless and stiff. I know I won the fight when she changes back into her human form and her body remains still and silent.
Turning back to my human form, I grab a tarp from across the room and go to my sister’s body, laying it over her naked form. Although I hated what she had done, and what she tried to do to me years ago, she was still my sister, and I don’t want someone finding her in such a state.
“Hudson…” Fay sobs out and tears begin to fill her eyes. “Oh, Hudson, I’m so sorry. I—” she begins to cry. “Can you please let me go? I need you to hold me right now and I think you need me too.”
I nod my head, not knowing how to feel right now. But Fay is right; I do need her right now. I need to lose myself in the scent of my mate, knowing that what I did was to keep her safe.
I untie Fay and she flies into my arms in a sobbing mess.
But we’re together.
We’re alive.
~*~
Fay
After the event with Keith, Hudson and I have gotten back to everyday life, but we haven’t discussed what happened. And today, I’m making it a priority to talk about it with him because Hudson isn’t himself anymore. He’s having nightmares, he won’t touch me, and he’s distancing himself further and further away from me.
I don’t know what to do, but I know we have to talk. If we don’t, our relationship won’t last long and I refuse to let that happen after everything Hudson has sacrificed to keep me alive and us together.
He killed his own sister to keep me safe and the guilt he’s facing is slowly destroying the man I love. From their encounter in the warehouse, I know they weren’t close, but still, she was his sister and no matter how fucked up your family is, you’ll love them no matter what.
Hudson wakes up next to me and tightens his arms around me again. His eyes are troubled and his body is shaking slightly. “You had another nightmare, didn’t you?” I ask hugging him close.
Hudson averts his gaze and sighs. “Yeah, I did.”
I shake my head and break out of his hold so I can sit up. “Hudson…we need to talk.” His eyes widen in fear and he jumps awake, now fully alert. “I want to talk about what happened with Keith.”
“I’m sorry,” he whispers in defeat. “I know I should have told you about my bear, but I was sure that you’ll turn me away and want nothing to do with me when you found out. I was a coward, so I hid an important piece of myself from you. I can’t tell you how sorry I am, Fay. But…please,” he grabs my hands and his desperate eyes meet mine. “Give me another chance. I know my bear probably terrifies you, but I love you, and I can’t lose you. I promise you’ll never have to see him again.”
I blink at him in shock. “What are you talking about, Hudson? I wanted to talk about your sister, not your bear.” He stares at me in confusion and I can’t blame him. I saw him turn into a giant ass bear, but oddly enough, it doesn’t bother me. “Hudson, my favorite animal is a bear.” I smile and kiss him. “I’m not scared of your other half, although, it did take me by surprise.” I narrow my eyes at him. “Never hide something as important as that again, Hudson. People who are in love do not keep secrets from each other.”
Hudson nods his head and smiles for the first time in days. “So…we’re okay? You’re not going to leave me?”
“What?” I exclaim in puzzlement. “Why would I leave you? You saved my life back there, Hudson. If it weren’t for you, I wouldn’t be here with you today.”
Hudson grinds his jaw in anger. “If it weren’t for me, you wouldn’t have been in danger at all. I didn’t prepare you better or keep you safe. But I vow to you, Fay, I won’t make that mistake again.”
I nod my head and grin. “I know you won’t. You’re my big strong teddy bear.”
Hudson groans, rolling his eyes. “Seriously? You’re going to make bear jokes now?”
“My jokes rock! You’re just going to have to bear with them.” He groans again and I chuckle. Realizing we haven’t discussed his nightmare, I stop laughing and become serious. “What are your nightmares about, Hudson? They must be awful if they have you screaming in your sleep.”
Hudson grabs me in his arms, lays us back down, and sighs. “I dream about that night. About the fear I felt when I found you missing from my house. I thought you left me and that I scared you with my eyes glowing, but then I found the necklace you got from your dad when you were ten at the entrance of the door and I knew something bad had happened. I followed your scent and when I found you at that warehouse, tied up and terrified, I remember feeling so much rage at my sister for what she had done.” He closes his eyes and shakes his head. “Things worked out in the end, but in my nightmares, I lose you over, and over again. I didn’t think you could accept my bear, so some of my nightmares were of you leaving me over that. I can’t lose you, Fay, and the thought that I could have drives me crazy with worry.”
I lean up and kiss Hudson until his eyebrows aren’t furrowed in worry anymore. “That will never happen, Hudson. I love you too much to leave you.” I place my hand in one of his and squeeze. “We are a team now, Hudson. And I have no intentions on ever letting you go.”
Hudson presses his forehead to mine and lets out a relieved sigh. “You have no idea how much your words mean to me, Fay. I love you.”
I smile and rub our noses together, causing him to laugh. “I love you too.”
We then seal our love with a kiss.
Our future isn’t set in stone, and there’ll be many obstacles that will stand in our way, but we’ll always get through them because our love is worth it.
And love does really conquer all.
~*~
THE END
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Beast Unchained
~ Bonus Story ~
A Dragon Shifter Romance
Laney Parker is a stray; she has been trundled from foster home to foster home all of her life. She is escaping from an abusive relationship with a violent head of a gang when she meets Kyle Danner—in his dragon form.
Kyle is trapped in the basement of a property owned by Laney’s ex. After she frees him, he follows her, rescuing her from a violent group of men.
They hide out together, finding passion and romance in the week following. Kyle earns money by fighting in an underground club…where Laney finds that he is playing right into her dangerous ex’s hands. Kyle’s kind is sought after for their magical properties.
When Kyle is offered the fight of a lifetime with a large payout, Laney finds herself playing her ex-boyfriend to save her new one.
* * *
Nineteen year-old Laney Parker walked around the tiny, nondescript house. It was painted a cream color, which was peeling, as though from neglect. Brown, twisted shrubs grew d
espite the barren, grassless soil of the unkempt yard. Laney knew that inside, it was all cool, expensive modern finishes and furniture. But, in this part of town, the safe house had to blend in with its surroundings.
Laney looked inside of the rusting mailbox by the front door—waterlogged envelopes and circulars from the past few days had been stuffed haphazardly inside. No one had been here for several days. She let out a sigh of relief.
She knew that it was a risk to be walking around alone in such a bad part of town, but it was a risk that she would have to take. Her face was covered in bruises, and she had a split lip. Her arm sported the marks from where her ex-boyfriend had grabbed her with one of his large, beefy hands, and she had a fractured rib from when he’d thrown a five-pound weight at her.
Her ex, Lance Carter, was eleven years her senior. He had a long rap sheet, including prior arrests for black market deals, possession of certain illegal substances, money laundering, and most frequently, domestic violence. He had many safe houses across the city, where he could go to ground whenever the next warrant for him was drawn up.
Laney had been released from the hospital a few hours earlier. Her rib throbbed, and she could taste the metallic tang of blood from her busted lip. She had been used to mistreatment—she had been in the foster system up until a year and a half ago. All she had in the world was ten dollars and no options. She had to get out of the city before Lance was able to hunt her down. So, she was robbing Lance’s least favorite safe house and going to pawn a few items to get a one-way ticket out.
Finding a rock in the brown, spiny shrubs, she walked around to the back of the house, hurling the rock at a window out back. The glass shattered, and she covered her hands with her shirt sleeves, grabbing onto the window ledge and pulling herself up. Her abdomen dragged across the sill, making her gasp in pain.
She awkwardly climbed inside, dragging a duffel bag behind her. Looking around in the darkness, she waited for her eyes to adjust. She was afraid of turning any of the lights on—she knew that the security system would be sending an alert to the company, thus Lance would be receiving a call soon, so she needed to get moving.
Unzipping the duffel, she began placing items into the bag—a few crystal champagne flutes, a small oil painting, a cut glass vase. She heard a sudden noise—movement in the basement. She walked over to the basement door, opening it. The dank, musty air wafted up toward her. It was hot, as though the basement was heated, and it smelled musky, as though a large animal were down there. She heard a scratching of large claws and snuffling sound; the intake of breath. Something was down there. She frowned, walking down the moist, wooden stairs.
Looking around the unfinished wooden banister, she gasped in surprise. Taking up most of the tiny basement, there was an enormous lizard. It was golden, and it glowed with its own inner light. It was looking at her mournfully with two iridescent blue eyes that seemed almost human. It exhaled, releasing a wind of hot, steaming air. Lance was trapping this animal—just like he had trapped Laney.
Laney looked around. There were empty food and water bowls on the ground beside the beast, which was standing in the dust and filth of the dirt-floor basement. Thinking back to the full mailbox, Laney realized that the creature must have been here, alone in the dark, for several days, potentially without food.
She crept across the dirt floor toward the beast, which loomed over her. She held out a hand, and it lowered its majestic, reptilian face. It smelled her hand, rubbing its scaly face on her tiny palm, giving it a gentle, weak lick. Laney then felt safe enough to release it, fiddling with the buckle on the metal woven collar.
Finally, the collar dropped to the floor. There was a mark along the scales of the creature’s neck, as though from an acid burn. Horrified, Laney covered her mouth with a hand. The creature rose on its hind legs, causing Laney to step back. It angled its large, triangular head so that it looked down at her before it took off up the stairs.
Laney ran after the creature, but it was fast, and gone by the time she reached the upper floor. There was no sign of destruction or damage from its large body as it moved through the house. Aside from the basement where it had been held, the creature had left without a trace, as though it had never been there to begin with.
~*~
Without knowing why, Laney went back downstairs to retrieve the collar. Inspecting it, she found that there were strange symbols woven in to the strange metallic interlace. She did not recognize them. It was strange and beautiful in its deadly appearance. She placed the collar inside of the duffle bag with her other stolen items, and then quickly left the house; she had lingered for far too long as it was.
The pawn shop’s fluorescent lights hummed annoyingly above her as the door shut with a bang, and the ringing of the bell that was over the door. The shelves were packed with items of varying value. The accumulation of unwanted, desperate junk was depressing; it made Laney glad that she had next to nothing.
A rough-looking man with a goatee and a leather motorcycle jacket stood at the counter. Rubbing his hands together, he looked Laney over, an eye brow cocked. He did not smile, and his face was grim, as though he had seen everything and found it wanting.
“Buy, sell, or pawn?” he asked her wearily.
“Sell,” she replied in what she hoped sounded like a confident voice, and placing her duffle on the counter. She removed all of the items but the collar from her bag. The pawn broker sighed heavily, glancing over each piece tiredly.
“I can give you fifty for the lot,” he replied.
“Some of these things are worth way more than fifty,” Laney protested.
“These things are a dime a dozen,” he said. “It’s going to take me time to move them, and I have to make a profit.” Laney choked back the question, how much profit? She nodded her agreement. Beggars can’t be choosers, and Laney was desperate. She sighed and took the collar out of her bag.
“Do you, by any chance, know how much this would be worth?” The man’s eyes widened greedily, and her heart raced, hoping she’d struck something big.
“Where did you get that?” his voice came out almost as a whisper.
“Oh, my grandmother died, and I found it in a box of her old things in the attic.” She tried to keep a straight poker face and her voice modulated and calm, as the man picked up the collar, inspecting it.
“The only time I’ve seen something like this was when a man came in trying to sell one to me.”
“Did he say what it was for?” she asked. He laughed.
“He said it was for capturing and holding dragons. Can you believe that? Dragons.” The man laughed again as he looked at the collar. “That guy was nuts. But I’ve never seen anything like it until today.”
“How much would you pay for it?” Laney tried to keep the excitement from her voice. This had to be worth something—at least enough to get away and start over…maybe even to keep her going for a few months. The man shook his head and she felt her heart sink.
“Well, there’s little to no chance of me being able to sell it,” he said. “Near impossible to find a buyer—I wouldn’t even know where to look for one. So, honestly, it’s worth about its value in metal.” He placed it on a small set of scales on the counter, looking at the digital readout.
“Well, I can give you twenty-five dollars,” he said, rubbing his chin. Devastated, Laney nodded.
“Okay,” she said. She had to take whatever she could get. The man counted out the seventy-five that he owed her from her sack of the safe house. At least I have enough to get a bus ticket, she thought to herself.
~*~
Laney left the pawnshop. She felt exhausted already. She wondered how long it would take her to get to a safe place to sleep. There was a hotdog vendor, just packing up his cart for the night. She reached in her pocket, pulling out a five.
“Do you have anything left?” she asked the vendor.
“Certainly, miss,” he replied. “I have a few hotdogs and a soft pretzel or two.” Both s
ounded good, but she needed to conserve money until she got to wherever she was going.
“Can I have a hotdog, please?” Her stomach growled as he took out a pair of tongs, and took a hotdog out of the heating tank. He placed it on a white bread bun within a silver-toned wrapper, and took her money, calculating the change as Laney dressed the hotdog in ketchup and mustard.
“Your change.”
“Thank you.” She chewed slowly, taking small bites and savoring the hotdog as she began to walk to the bus station. As she walked, she began to get the feeling that she was being watched. Surreptitiously, she began to look around her as she walked, glancing at the passersby to see if she recognized anyone, and no one was paying her any attention as they went along on their way.
Entering the bus station, she walked down the stairs, and toward the ticket window. She heard someone call her name, and she looked up. Sitting casually on a bench, sat Dan Miller, one of her ex’s close friends. He smiled at her with a threatening, cold look in his eyes. As he began to get up, Laney ran, sprinting for her life.
~*~
Laney ran, disappearing into the crowd at the bus station. Forcing herself to walk at the pace of the rest of the crowd, she looked about her, heart hammering in her chest. She let herself go with the flow of foot traffic, allowing herself to be propelled back out on to the street.
Lance, by now, must know that she had not yet left town. He will have known about all of her movements, aside from which pawnshop she had gone to, although he might even have a vague idea about that. She headed toward the low-rent district, hoping to find a room at a cheap motel in the area that was run by a rival gang to Lance’s. He would think twice before going into the Kings’ territory.
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