Taming the Beast: Eleven Paranormal Romances

by Alyse Zaftig

  It seemed somehow familiar, that form.

  As the beast’s eyes locked with his own, he recognized it.

  Belle!

  He saw the beast’s eyes widen in recognition of their own, and for the first time in a very long time, he felt a grin spread over his face. He didn’t know why she appeared as she did, and he didn’t care. He just knew that she was here. He hadn’t been able to find his way to her, but she’d obviously had success where he hadn’t.

  He stood up fast, sending his barstool crashing behind him. He didn’t even look to see if it knocked over anything else as it fell, as he only had eyes for her.

  He saw the recognition in her eyes turn to panic and that confused him. He called out to her as she backed suddenly away from the window and disappeared from view. Somewhere in the back of his mind he heard the other bar patrons make fun of him for yelling his lover’s name out at the beast they’d just seen but their words didn’t reach him.

  He darted out of the bar like his ass was on fire.

  “Noooo ooooone scares sheep like Gastard, or fucks beasts like Gastard…”

  As their drunken laughter followed him out into the night he was just grateful that they were too busy making up more words to their taunts to follow him and kill the beast like they’d originally planned.

  He chased after her, following her trail, but she moved so fast it was hard to keep up. He ran all out, finally closing the gap a little as she neared the edge where the invisible wall always kept him from going any further.

  He called out to her again, to get her to stop before she’d get beyond his reach, but either she didn’t hear him calling or she was purposely ignoring him.

  But why would she come all this way, find me, and then run off without actually making any contact? It doesn’t make sense.

  Oh no, she was almost to the edge of where the spell would allow him to go!

  With one final, desperate surge, Gastard leaped toward Belle’s form in the dark. When his hands grazed fur he held tight, knowing that if he let go, if he lost her now, that would be the end of everything.

  His momentum pushed them both and he felt them falling together and rolling. When they stopped moving he jumped to his feet at the same time she did, ready to run again if she suddenly took off. But she didn’t run this time. She just stared him down, warring emotions shining in her eyes as she looked at him.

  He took that time to look her over.

  She was some kind of were-shifter, he could see that now.

  He just didn’t know if that was a secret she’d always carried and had just never told him, or if this was new, another tendril of the curse her father had thrown over them both.

  When it didn’t look like she was going to move, he took a second to take in his surroundings and give her a moment, as well. It was then that he realized he’d made it passed the barrier he could never get through before.

  “You!”

  Her eyes narrowed and hardened at him when he exclaimed the word, but they turned to confusion when he continued.

  “You must be the key! I’ve tried a million times, a million different ways, to get past that barrier, but holding onto you as you passed through it worked. It’s never let me in before now, not in all the times I’ve tried.”

  Belle

  She tried to ask him what he meant, but when nothing even vaguely human-sounding came out of her mouth, she just exhaled in frustration and jerked her head instead, telling him to follow her. As she led him back to the manor, so she could shift back and speak to him, her mind whirled.

  He’d recognized her immediately, she’d seen it happen when she was watching him through the window of the bar.

  Everyone else had been yelling “Beast!” and pointing at her, but he’d known. How?

  She’d grown quite pissed off in the minutes that she’d been watching them all inside the bar, before anyone had noticed her. She could hear them all, singing about him, celebrating his sexual prowess. It made her furious.

  “No one licks like Gastard, or flicks clits like Gastard. No one’s dick’s as incredibly thick as Gastard’s!”

  How dare he! she’d thought.

  While she’d been trapped in the manor all this time, pining for him, he’d been there, licking and flicking those women’s clits? How else would they have known how massive his cock was? While she was aching with need for him, he’d completely forgotten all about her?

  Had he not cared for her at all?

  “No one fucks like Gastard, no one sucks like Gastard! No one yanks, no one spanks, no one wanks like Gastard!”

  Hearing their words broke her heart in two. She thought she was the only one he’d ever spanked. And to find out the truth in such a public way?

  Oh, hell no!

  She’d started to leave, furious that she’d wasted so much time longing for him when she’s obviously meant so little to him, but that was when they saw her.

  And then he saw her, too, only he knew who she really was!

  She panicked and ran, but obviously not fast enough.

  Had he really tried a million different times to come to her? But then why had they been saying those things?

  As they stepped inside and her shift human happened immediately, she wondered what he would say when he found out about the staff in their cursed incantations.

  “Have you always hidden your animal from me or is that courtesy of your father?”

  “I’ve never hidden anything from you, not ever.”

  He nodded at her and they stood in the foyer in silence.

  “Out there, you said you tried to come to me?” She eventually asked.

  “Only every single day since your father chased me out.”

  “But, you couldn’t get here?”

  “I could never get passed his magic. It seems you could, though. You can come and go as you please, then?”

  “It appears so. In that beast form, anyway.”

  “But you never came to me before tonight? Or have you just never been seen before tonight?”

  “Tonight was my first time. I didn’t know I could. Every time I left the manor to try to go find you, I turned into that… thing… and then I freaked out and I’d run back inside to make it stop. I didn’t know I could leave the grounds until I did it. How did you know that the beast everyone was yelling about was me?”

  “Once I saw your eyes, I knew. After that, I only saw you.”

  “That makes it sound like you still…”

  She couldn’t finish the sentence, the words ‘care for me’ just wouldn’t push past everything she’d heard in the bar.

  “All those women, the things they were saying…”

  “Women can be cruel when you reject them as often as I continued to reject them. They found out about my curse, and they liked to rub my face in it, that’s all.”

  “Your curse? That you couldn’t get back here?”

  “That, and the bonus one your dad threw at me as I was leaving here that day.”

  “What bonus curse?”

  “And may your balls never again know release!”

  She gasped then in shock, “He did not!”

  “He did. I’ve been unable to come since I was last here, with you. Nothing I do to myself brings me any relief, though I’ve had many offers of help.”

  “Oh!”

  She looked at him differently then, the doubt beginning to thaw. She still didn’t know quite what to do with him though, now that he stood before her again.

  “You have more questions?” He asked her.

  She thought before shaking her head no. The only one she’d set out to have answered today was ‘Why did you never come back for me?’ But as the answer was that he’d tried to, a million different times, a million different ways, she was satisfied. She was both overjoyed and overwhelmed by that answer. She just didn’t know how to reach him again after all this time.

  It was one thing to ache for something you could no longer have, it was quite another to fina
lly have it just follow you home from a bar.

  “Do you? Have any questions for me?” She asked him, after answering his question.

  “Just one.”

  She waited a moment, preparing herself. She nodded at him when she was ready, then he voiced the question she hadn’t been able to.

  “Do you still love me?”

  Belle

  “Only with all that I am.”

  He stepped to her then, filling the space between them, drawn to her like a magnet. But she stopped him with the rise of her hand.

  “I guess I do have one more question. Can you still love me, after seeing me like that?”

  “Like what?”

  “Like a monster. A beast. There’s nothing sexy about that…”

  “I don’t love you because you’re sexy, Belle. That’s just a nice bonus. I love you because… well, cause you’re you. I love everything about you. I always have.”

  She smiled up at him then, a glowing smile that lit up her very being. With a light and joyful heart, she raised her lips to his, and welcomed the kiss of her one true love.

  The tender, reconnecting kiss started slow. Exploratory. Their lips recognized each other and the kiss quickly grew heated, from softly seeking to a long-banked but still burning ember catching fire and reigniting hot.

  Mouths and hands were suddenly everywhere as every inch of each of them demanded to reunite all at once.

  Gastard’s hands slid up, into Belle’s hair. He tugged the bow keeping her hair pinned back and released it, letting it cascade over her shoulders. He gripped her face in his palms, kissing her deeply before burying one hand in the locks at the back of her head and pulling.

  She moaned against his mouth as he used her hair to pull her face from his and expose her neck to the trail of kisses he proceeded to rain down on her.

  Nipping and licking he tasted his way down, sliding her dress from her shoulders and yanking the front of it down, baring her breasts.

  One hand encircled her waist, pulling her body against his, as his other hand found and cupped her naked breast. He teased the nipple with his thumb, making it pucker and come to life, begging to be sucked on.

  He dipped his head to do just that and the long-forgotten sensations of having Gastard’s mouth on her body drove her crazy with pent-up need.

  She gripped his hair in her fist and arched her back, offering her breast for any and all sucking and kissing he’d give it.

  He sucked one tit, then moved to the other, drawing her nipple deep as his hands yanked and tugged on her dress, finding their way under her skirt. His palms found her thighs and slid higher, til he was cupping her ass and pulling her harder against him.

  She could feel the massive hardness of him and she rocked her hips, rubbing herself against the rod still tucked away in his pants.

  She widened her stance to let his huge hand slide over the curve of her ass, his fingertips pressing on, until she could feel the tips of his fingers teasing her clit even as he kept her ass cheeks palmed in his hands.

  His fingers bent and straightened in a ‘come here’ motion, the friction of them sliding over her wet panties, the flimsy bit of fabric the only thing standing between her pussy and his fingers filling her full, was maddening.

  With a grunt he bent his knees and then he stood, picking her up. She wrapped her legs around his waist, moaning as he settled her perfectly over the length of his cock.

  Her panties and his pants between them or not, she couldn’t help the animal instinct to rock, rubbing herself against the length of him, squirming to get his cock to scrape against her clit just right.

  It had been way too long!

  “Now! Take me now, Gastard!”

  He walked a few steps, she was hoping toward the stairs and her bed. Or the couch. Or a table, she didn’t even care, she just needed to feel him inside her again.

  She felt her back hit the wall of the foyer instead, pressing her between the real wall and the huge wall of his body as he used his weigh to pin her there. She felt him tugging his pants open and down and she whispered, “Yes! Oh, yes!”

  Only her panties separated them now, she could feel the satin heat of him, so close!

  She felt his fingers find the edge of her panties and she groaned in anticipation.

  Move them, move them aside!

  Only, he paused instead.

  “What?” She asked. “What’s wrong.”

  “I want to see you first. To taste you. All I’ve thought about since I last saw you was burying my face between your thighs and making you come. I love how your thighs squeeze me when your orgasm is building. I want to taste you when it hits.”

  His words sent thrilling shivers right through her, and she wanted nothing more on this Earth than to give herself up to everything he’d just said, but his words also reminded her of his cursed inability to come himself.

  “Wait, Gastard. No. I don’t want to be the cause of any more of your frustration. If you can’t come, I won’t either. It wouldn’t be fair.”

  “I love you, Belle. For that, and for so much more.”

  “I love you, too. And I don’t want to be the one to bring you more pain.”

  “I’ve had a lot of time to think about this whole thing, and I want to do this, Belle. Your dad did his best to keep us apart, and any time I’ve ever heard of a curse being broken, it’s because true love found a way. Anger can’t stand up against love, not for long. So I’m thinking that maybe, now that we’ve found each other again and we’re together, here, where it all happened, laying with each other may be how we can break his spell.”

  “You think so? If we fuck, we can end this, once and for all?”

  “There’s only one way to find out. I’m quite sure us not fucking isn’t going to accomplish anything so we may as well try.”

  “What if it doesn’t work? What if you still can’t finish?”

  “Then I’ll be content to make you come. Your happiness is all I desire in the long run, anyway. There’s certainly no reason for us both to be frustrated. Making you happy makes me happy.

  If this doesn’t break the curse, then I’m screwed anyway. I might as well make you happy enough for the both of us. One of us should get something out of all this, and who knows? Maybe it will actually work and your amazing pussy will work its magic on more than just my heart and libido. Maybe it’ll break the curse and fix everything.”

  “Here’s hoping, then,” Belle said. “Magic pussy to the rescue!”

  With a deep laugh, he readjusted her, throwing her over his shoulder and aiming them toward her bedroom.

  She pinched his ass as he walked, to punish him for treating her this way and making her wait any longer when she was ready to be taken right there against the wall, but he just laughed at her some more. He pinched her ass in return, then moved any skirts that were covering her and smacked her with his open palm, spanking her as he fireman-carried her up the stairs.

  She would’ve bitten his ass after that, if she could’ve reached it, but she knew he’d just retaliate again.

  She shivered with delight just thinking of how he’d get her back but her attention was pulled back to her pinkening ass as he smacked it once again. It stung so perfectly, she ached for him to rub it, soothing it, to set it up for the next smack, but she felt his fingers finally move the bit of fabric of her panties aside and she almost lost it when he slid his fingers inside her.

  She’d never been fingered while being carried upside down before and she was torn between bucking, to try to welcome his fingers deeper, or just holding on tight so he wouldn’t drop her.

  She held on, wrapping her arms around his waist, and then she felt him. The shaft of his cock was just below where she was holding tight. She teased him right back by stroking the length of him as he carried her down the hall to her bedroom, the place that had started this whole curse to begin with.

  At least they wouldn’t be interrupted this time, she thought.

  She stroked
him right up until he reached the edge of her bed and tossed her down onto it. Before she could even get her bearings she felt him diving under her skirts, finally pulling her panties off, and then his mouth was on her.

  She gripped the bedspread in her fists as he drove her crazy with his mouth. He widened her thighs, pinning them open with his forearms as he licked, sucked, and strummed her clit until she did exactly what he’d said. She felt her orgasm building and her knees automatically tried to close.

  He let them, nuzzling her over the edge as her thighs squeezed his head with every wave and she called out his name.

  He moved quickly, sliding up her body to slide himself home. He filled her and fucked her, pinning her hands above her head as he rocked himself into her and her heels dug into his ass, pulling him deeper.

  She could feel him move with purpose, all thoughts of teasing her gone as he reached for his own release. She hoped like hell that he’d not be frustrated now, but she had no idea how to help him break it, or if any of the curses on them even could be broken.

  All she could do was hope, and maybe help push him higher by talking dirty in his ear as he reached it. He loved it when she talked dirty.

  “I missed that cock of yours so much, Gastard. I fucked myself with my fingers every single night, thinking of you. I even dreamed about you and all the naughty things you’d do to me if you ever found your way back here again.

  Did you miss my pussy, Gastard?

  Did you miss fucking my wet, tight hole?”

  She heard him grunt in need and felt his rhythm change. Yes! He was close, she could tell.

  “Harder Gastard, harder. Come inside me, fill me so full that I…”

  Her words were lost to her second orgasm. His strokes pushed her over the edge again and she pulled her wrists from his grasp and dug her nails into his back, riding the waves of pleasure as she called his name out into the night.

  Her voice was joined by his as her squeezing pussy brought him every bit of the relief it promised. Her loving, back in this bed, broke him free of his curse and he filled her, again and again, with massive bursts stored up from months of longing.