Winter's Beast: A Beauty and the Beast Novel

by Twyla Turner

  “Oh God, Yury! That’s the most horrific thing I’ve ever heard. I can’t even imagine.” Her amber eyes fill with tears. For me.

  “It’s okay, Winter. I am okay now.” I cover her hand that’s cupping my face with mine.

  “So he took you under his wing?” She asks, coaxing me to continue.

  “Yes. Just like he has an eye for talent now. He did then too. When everyone called me runt, he knew I would grow to be big. He made sure I was trained and ready. When I was little, I was his gofer. When I was finally big enough, I became his most trusted guard.

  “He was my savior. My uncle. Or even father. He gave me food, shelter, an education. He took me all over the world. I was able to see things that a kid from my background could only dream of. He has had my loyalty from day one. Until today. Until you. He used me to break you. I can never forgive him for that.”

  “Why did you let him?” Winter asks. Her voice is tinged with accusation. “Surely you can break his neck without the least bit of effort.”

  “He is the only family I have ever known. Following orders is all I have ever done. I do not know of any other way.”

  “I can’t even imagine. I’m sorry for putting the blame on you. It rests solely on the shoulders of Ivan Petrov.” Winter says kindly.

  I feel unworthy of her forgiveness.

  “Plus, you have to know that I am not his only guard. They would kill me and you would be left unprotected. I couldn’t let that happen.” I rub my thumb across her cheek.

  “True. I didn’t really think of that.”

  “That is what I am here for.” I smile slightly and tap my temple. “A criminal mind.”

  “You’re so much more than that.” She says before kissing my chest.

  She continues to plant kisses on my scars and I feel myself become hard once more. Winter notices and slides down towards my hip trailing kisses down my abdomen as she goes.

  “I-I’ve never seen anyone your size before.” She shakes her head. “I mean, I haven’t seen many. But still.”

  Her words make me flush. I know I am large. Being in Ivan’s club, I have seen that I am above average. But hearing Winter’s awe-filled praise means so much more. And already my cock is leaking with need at her proximity.

  “I want to take care of you now,” she says as she takes me in her soft hands.

  My breath has accelerated in anticipation, and she hasn’t even put her mouth on me yet.

  “I’m already close. It will not take much,” I pant.

  “Good, because I’m not good at this.”

  Winter moves to kneel between my legs and licks her tongue over the tip of my cock, lapping at the pre-cum that has seeped through. My body jerks in response. She wraps her large, plump lips around me and I almost come then. Next she dips her head down, miraculously taking all of me at once and then slowly slides back up. She circles her tongue around my tip. My hips shudder. She strokes her mouth down my shaft a few more times, and then looks up at me with heated amber eyes. It was my undoing.

  Never receiving a blowjob before, I am not ready. And because I am not used to speaking, I cannot even warn her before I explode in her mouth.

  Her only reaction is a low humming of delight in the back of her throat. It makes me come harder.

  Winter takes it all and I’m blow away.

  “I am sorry I did not warn you. My words got stuck.” I cringe as she looks up at me.

  How she can look sexy and innocent at the same time, I have no idea. I should be embarrassed considering how quickly she made me come. But her triumphant face puts me at ease.

  “It’s okay.” She moves back to lie beside me.

  “I thought you said you were bad.” I am dazed.

  “My ex told me I was. Maybe I’m just different with you. You make me feel comfortable,” she smiles at me shyly.

  “I do?” I ask with surprise. “I usually scare people or make them uncomfortable because it’s hard for them to look at me.”

  “You know what I’ve learned about a lot people over the years?”

  “What?”

  “They’re usually dumb.”

  A laugh bursts from my throat. It shocks me and I laugh harder. Winter giggles.

  “You act like you’ve never laughed before.” She smiles warmly at me.

  “I have not. Not like that,” I admit.

  “Well that makes me sad.”

  “No. Do not be. You make me laugh. You make me happy,” I confess. “I would have waited twenty-eight more years for the chance to feel this way, as long as it was with you.”

  Winter’s face is a mix of awe and affection. She leans in and kisses my lips softly.

  “He may call you beast and people may treat you like one. But you’re the sweetest man I’ve ever met.”

  She smiles, but it is short-lived. Her face is suddenly filled with worry.

  “What am I going to do tomorrow?” She continues after I give her a perplexed look. “Ivan said he wants me to move to his room tomorrow. He broke me down today, but that by no means, means that I’m ready to lie down and be his concubine. I am not his to claim, dammit! I hate him!” She growls under her breath.

  I think for a moment. I now find myself at a crossroads. The life I’ve always known or the possibility of a new life I have never considered until now. The question is, how can I get out of my current life and take her with me? And with us both still alive. Ivan may not be a permanent part of organized crime, but he is certainly as ruthless as any crime boss.

  “I will try to get you out of here as soon as I can.” I take a deep breath, trying not to even think about the memory of him touching her, inside of her. But the images are already burned into my mind. If I do not get her out soon he’ll break her down again and again.

  “Get me out? You’re going to help me?” I nod. “Will you come with me?” She strokes my scarred cheek with her thumb as she looks at me sincerely.

  “Yes… If you want me?”

  “Absolutely.”

  I pull her closer to me and kiss her deeply. I know I only have a little while longer, before I have to get out of her bed and get dressed. If Ivan happens to check on her and finds us naked together in her bed, there is no doubt that he would kill us both.

  So I cherish the next few moments she is in my arms. Just in case they were my last.

  It is time I start plotting our liberation.

  Chapter 17

  I’ve been on pin and needles all morning, waiting for Ivan to come and drag me from my old prison to my new one. It’s Saturday, and unless he’s got some meeting scheduled today, I know he’s home.

  Because of Ivan, I can’t even sit in peace and absorb all that happened between Yury and me last night. He took a confusing and upsetting night and turned it into one of the most beautiful nights of my life. The silent man had actually spoken. For the first time in over two decades! To me! And his first words were ‘I love you.’

  How profound and touching is that?

  It was amazing and yet here I am burning a hole in the rug as I pace back and forth.

  Not even Yury’s sweet note that greeted me when I woke up could calm my frazzled nerves. I look down at it again in the hopes that this time it will.

  I meant those first words.

  No matter what happens, I will always mean them.

  Until they are my last.

  The words warmed my heart, but they did nothing to soothe the doves fluttering around my stomach. Knowing Ivan and his calculating personality, he’s purposefully trying to drive me crazy.

  A knock on the door makes me nearly jump out of my skin.

  It isn’t Yury’s signature knock.

  “Come in.”

  The door opens and another bodyguard I’ve seen in the club before walks in with an entourage of people. He’s not quite as big or as scary as Yury is, but still formidable.

  “Miss Rose, we’re here to move you to Mr. Petrov’s room,” he informs me with an accent that sounds very Scandi
navian to match his blond, blue-eyed look.

  “And if I refuse?”

  “Then, I am told to leave you with nothing. Not even the clothes on your back.”

  “Touché,” I concede quickly.

  Ivan knew me well. He knew there was a chance I’d refuse, but he also knew I wouldn’t want this man to strip me naked and leave me sitting on the floor either. Which is why I assume he didn’t send Yury. I’m comfortable with the scarred man. And he’s already touched, kissed, and licked me that Ivan knows of. I wouldn’t mind Yury stripping me down, which would thwart Ivan’s plans to get me to his room.

  Dammit!

  I watch as a gang of people collect all of my toiletries, borrowed clothing, and personal effects and stride from the room, only to come back for more a few minutes later.

  They’re extremely efficient and are done within twenty minutes. All that’s left is me.

  “If you’ll follow me, Miss Rose.”

  He gestures towards the doorway.

  I sigh and get up from the chaise lounge and follow him out the door. He takes me up another flight of stairs I’ve yet to venture up. He leads me to a set of double doors and swings them open for me.

  Inside is a massive room. The master suite. There’s a four-poster bed that sits on a raised dais. There’s also a sitting area with a fireplace to cozy up to on cold nights. I slowly walk inside and look around the rest of the room. I peek inside a bathroom that most people only dream of.

  All of it screams high-powered, single businessman. Masculine, yet classy. Expensive.

  Something that so many women would die for. If he hadn’t have been a total jackass, Faith would have been falling all over herself for just a moment of Ivan’s attention. It’s too bad I prefer my men imperfect with a side of humble.

  I walk over to the foot of the giant bed and lean against one of the wooden posts. There’s no way that I’m going to lay in this bed with Ivan. I’ll sleep on one of the chairs in front of the fireplace. Hell, I’ll even sleep on the floor. But there’s no chance in hell that I’m getting into this bed at night with him.

  I gasp, startled as a body suddenly presses me against the unforgiving post. I feel warm, damp breath against my ear. A hard, muscular body presses flush against my back, and an equally hard erection nestles in the crease of my backside.

  A smooth callous free hand slides up my leg, under my shift dress. Ivan. My panties are torn away within seconds. Curious fingers find my clit and my traitorous body is already wet and betraying me before my mouth can.

  “You know you want it. Stop denying yourself.” His words whisper across my ear.

  “Y-Yes.” My mouth finishes my betrayal.

  A second later my pulsing cleft is impelled by a latex covered shaft.

  It all happened within the space of a few seconds. Barely long enough for my brain to even process what was happening. One minute I was standing there railing against my plight. And the next I am being almost violently fucked against a bedpost.

  Ivan’s large masculine hand comes from behind and grips my throat tightly as his other hand circles my throbbing clit. His hips slap against my cheeks as he ruthlessly thrusts into my aching heat. His breath comes faster and harder against my ear.

  “Do you think you can deny me after what we shared last night?” He pants in my ear.

  He squeezes my throat tighter. Not tight enough to really cut off all my air. More like a warning.

  “My guard told me that you thought of refusing to move up here. When will you learn that this cunt is mine? You are mine?”

  “Never,” I gasp past my restricted windpipe. Denying it, as he, in fact, claims me as we speak.

  He doubles his efforts, pounding into me with no mercy. His index and middle fingers strum my clit even faster.

  I try to fight the climax that is barreling towards me like a runaway freight train. But it’s no use. My insides liquefy. Stars burst behind my closed eyelids. My pussy flexes convulsively.

  I grit my teeth together and squeeze my lips in a tight line, refusing to cry out for him. Yet a strangled noise emits from my throat anyway.

  Ivan groans behind me and I feel his dick ripple as he cums in the condom.

  He finally releases my body from the bedpost when he steps back. Anger keeps me from crumpling limply to the floor. Rage forces me to turn to look at him. Behind him stands Yury at the door with a sick look on his face. My gut plummets as if I’m dropped from one hundred stories up. Hatred sends my hand through the air, and it connects satisfyingly to Ivan’s cheek.

  “Never. Touch. Me. Again.” I grind out, enunciating each word clearly.

  Ivan smiles like my words don’t even phase him. He rubs his jaw, where my hand connected, and then winks at me.

  “I love how feisty you are. It makes fucking you so much better. Your anger makes your pussy squeeze me tighter.”

  I try to slap him again. Though this time he catches my wrist and squeezes until my knees buckle. I drop down in front of him.

  “You’ll only get away with hitting me once, Winter. Try it again, and I’ll fuck you until you’re raw, and then I’ll get every one of my club members who have been dying to fuck you to take turns on that pink pussy. Do you understand me?” He growls.

  “Yes,” I grunt between clenched teeth.

  “Good,” he sneers before throwing my arm down. “Make sure you’re ready to sing tonight. I have new members coming in, and they expect to be impressed. Don’t test me.”

  And with that warning, he strides from the room, leaving me on the floor.

  I look up to where Yury had been standing. He’s nowhere to be seen.

  An unexpected sob chokes me.

  I hate him.

  Even more, I hate myself.

  How can I find pleasure in the arms of someone I despise? And not even hours after finding passion and pleasure and love in the arms of someone I have fallen for. How can the two blur together? Does my body not care what my heart wants as long as it gets what it wants? What it needs?

  And did I hurt Yury in the process? Not that it was my choice.

  But the guilt already starts to eat at me because I did enjoy it.

  ~~~

  Ivan told me to come to his room after I finished my lunch. I knew he was having Winter’s things moved to his master bedroom today. I assume he probably wants me there to guard her as usual.

  I head up the two flights of stairs, excited to see Winter for the first time since last night. I know I will not be able to touch her during the light of day. But that does not stop me from wanting to be near her.

  I hear the smack of flesh and muffled grunts as I approach the door and my stomach knots with foreboding. One of the double doors is wide open, so I step through, and as I suspected, but had sincerely hoped against, Ivan is pumping into Winter’s soft flesh to the point of near violence. His hand squeezing her neck tightly.

  It is hard to tell whether she is enjoying it or not. A willing participant or against her will?

  Her body tightens like a bowstring, and then a strangled sound bursts from her throat and her body convulses. Her legs tremble.

  She enjoyed it.

  Blind rage fills my entire body. I step forward. I have been trained to kill. I am a weapon. It is time to use it against the one who had me trained.

  Years of unflagging loyalty stops me. Visions of myself as a little boy, bleeding on the floor, almost dead, drains the fury and I can see again.

  What I see is someone that is better suited for Winter than I could ever be.

  My heart bleeds, and I feel sick to my stomach as she turns and our eyes connect. A look of surprise flashes across her face before I turn and walk out of the room. I cannot bear to see anymore.

  I do not care why Ivan wants me in his room right now. I head down the stairs, to my room and slam the door shut. I want to smash something. Anything. Instead, I fall back against the door and bang the back of my head against it as I squeeze my hands into tight fists. Maybe I
can eventually knock the image of Ivan fucking Winter out of my head.

  A knock comes from the other side of the door. I turn and open it reluctantly. Ivan stands there with a satisfied smirk on his face. I imagine swiping the cocky smile off his face with a solid punch to his mouth. But as usual, I don’t.

  “I thought I asked you to come upstairs.”

  I nod. He still doesn’t know I can talk and he’s not about to find out.

  “I need you to continue to guard the door. After last night I thought she’d be more docile. But it appears my pale singer is still resistant.” He smiles as he rubs his face.

  For the first time, I notice what looks like a perfect red handprint across his cheek. It looks to be about the size of Winter’s hand. She must not have wanted it as much as I thought she did.

  It still does not matter. She never exchanged words of love with me. It could not be possible for someone as lovely as her to love someone like me. She may be resistant now, but eventually, she will see the benefit of being with Ivan. They all do.

  I have never resented Ivan’s good looks. But there are times, once I became of age to date girls and women, that I wish I could look more like him than myself. Women are not often quick to date a monster.

  I was okay with that. Until now. Until Winter. She changed everything.

  I wish I could be someone who she would be proud to be on the arm of. But she is a beautiful superstar, and I am an ugly bodyguard/assassin/hired thug with no skills other than knowing how to kill people quickly and cleanly.

  “I have to say, Skotina, after years of having women fall at my feet, I love the challenge Miss Winter Rose presents. It’s hot as fuck.” He chuckles to himself. “Now head on up. I don’t trust her by herself for very long. Knowing her, she’ll teach herself how to pick a lock in the next five minutes.”

  Ivan drops the key to his bedroom door in my hand. Then he shakes his head and gives a wry smile before heading downstairs with a lightness to his step. The gait of a happy, sexually sated man.