Beauty's Beasts: An Urban Fantasy Fairy Tale (Poison Courts Book 1)

by L. C. Hibbett

  My hand stilled. “Where are your sisters now, Faye?”

  “Sleeping.” Her voice was the whisper of the breeze on fallen leaves. “For a fairy to be trapped, to lose its freedom—my sisters could withstand the pain no more, so they sleep. I have hidden them in the forest, safe from those who would do us harm, but if the curse is not broken soon they will pass into the deep sleep. And I will be forced to choose between following my sisters into the land beneath the waves or staying here in futile hope that one day the curse will be broken and I will once more feel my love’s kiss.”

  I swallowed hard, unsure how to respond. My chest ached with the weight of the pain in her eyes. “Faye, I—”

  But she was gone, fleeing the mirror in a flurry of flowing silks, leaving behind the smell of dying flowers and a burning pain in my throat.

  Chapter Nine

  “Has Faye seen what you’ve done to her dress?” Teddy was leaning against the wall when I walked into the corridor. I closed the bedroom door behind me and glanced down at my outfit. The ivory bra was just a touch too snug for my liking, giving me more cleavage than I normally displayed in daylight hours, and the full-length pink dress had been transformed into a passable, if slightly frayed, mini dress with little help from the nail scissors I found on Faye’s dressing table. Add my biker boots and my leather jacket to the mix—voila, punk rock chic. Or maybe not. But at least it wasn’t so girly that I wanted to claw my eyes out, which meant it was a definite improvement.

  I shrugged my shoulders and gave him a grin. “I think she’s going to like it. Faye and I had a bit of a heart to heart; I think we’re going to be okay. We’ve got some common ground.”

  Teddy tipped his head to one side and smirked at me with perfect white teeth. “You let the fae into the shower, didn’t you?”

  “What?” My cheeks were on fire, telling him I knew exactly what he was talking about.

  His smile widened. “Hey, no judgment here. Everyone deserves a little fun. Especially when they’ve just discovered all the nasties from the fairy tales are real. And downed their body weight in hard liquor.” His eyes made that half-moon shape that I was pretty certain could melt chocolate. “Of course, if you’d just had a shower in the den you could have had other company. . .”

  My eyebrows jumped a little and Teddy shifted his weight onto his other, clawed, foot. I forced myself to look away so I wouldn’t become lost in examining the contours of his strong face. Or his broad shoulders. Or his arms—his manly, manly arms. I took a deep breath and started down the corridor. “Is that the only reason you’re waiting outside my room, Theodore? To mock my outfit and my choice of company in the shower?”

  He followed me, his smile full of easy confidence. “Nope. Those were just fun little perks. Xander sent me. He wanted me to remind you he was waiting in his study.”

  “And he couldn’t wait a few minutes? How do you live with that dude, he’s so demanding.” I clenched my jaw in irritation.

  Teddy stopped and pulled a wallet out of his back pocket. “You want to know why I think living with Xander is a dream?” He slipped a photograph out of a side pocket and unfolded it with his clawed fingers to reveal a beautiful woman who looked around my father’s age, surrounded by six girls. “Six baby sisters and a mamma so tough she makes Alexander Blackwood look like a pussycat.”

  I took the photo from his fingers carefully and held it up to the light. The woman in the center of the photo had the same eyes as Teddy, and two of the girls had his smile. I gave a low whistle. “Seven kids. Your mom is a warrior.”

  Teddy’s smile was brimming with emotion. “You got that right. She’s something special.”

  “Have you been able to see your family since—” I gestured toward Teddy’s hands. He shook his head and we both stared down at the photograph again. My gaze settled on a girl with a mane of gorgeous tight dark waves bouncing around her heart-shaped face. Her arms were crossed and her expression was fierce. My lips curved upward. “Who’s this? She looks like fun.”

  “Precious?” Teddy ran his finger over the girl’s image. “Why doesn’t it surprise me that you like the look of my wildest sister, huh?”

  My grin widened. “She’s trouble?”

  “They’re all trouble,” Teddy said. “Mamma had a baby a year for seven years and Precious is the youngest, but that kid—I swear, I’ve never brought a girl home that she hasn’t scared away.”

  “Nobody’s good enough for her big brother. I know that feeling. My sisters say I hate all their boyfriends, but they just need to start bringing home people that deserve them. Not everyone is good enough—I’m with Precious. Power to the fussy baby sisters!” I fist bumped the photo and handed it back to Teddy.

  He took it from, surrounding my fingers with his large hand and holding onto them for a second. “I think she’d like you, Izzy. She’s going to be eighteen next month. If by some miracle we get out of this mess, you should come to the party with us, me and the pack. You’d fit right in.”

  My stomach tumbled, but the memory of Mac fleeing from the den tempered the butterflies in my gut. I slipped my fingers out of his grip and started to move down the corridor. “Fit right in? Don’t insult your family. I bet they’re nothing like this car crash.”

  Teddy gave me a look I couldn’t quite decipher but said no more until we reached the door of Blackwood’s study. I took a deep breath and straightened my dress, inexplicably nervous. “Fuck. I really hate this guy, this is worse than getting called to the principal’s office. I shouldn’t have cut the damn dress, I look like an idiot. I’m a mess.”

  “Hey!” Teddy grabbed hold of my waist and turned me to face him. “Stop talking about yourself like that, Izzy. Stop running yourself down. You’re not a mess or a car crash—you’re about the furthest thing from either.”

  I shrugged my shoulders, awkward under the intensity of his stare. “Come on, Teddy.” I pointed at my jagged hem and my boots. “I’m hardly a lady. Blackwood’s probably going to puke when he sees what I’ve done to the lovely girly outfit he wanted me to wear. I’m like Eliza Doolittle’s drinking, swearing, fighting cousin.”

  “You’re beautiful.” I lifted my hands to shoo Teddy away but he grabbed hold of them and stared into my eyes. “You are, Izzy. And I’ll tell you something, my mamma cusses up a storm, drinks all my dads under the table, and will tear anyone who tries to harm her kids or her mates into shreds. But if in every way that counts, she’s a lady. Don’t let anyone tell you that you’re not, Izzy.”

  Teddy leaned a little closer and brushed my damp waves over my shoulder. I felt the sharp tip of his claw trailing over the soft flesh of my neck and my chest rose and fell under the tight bodice of the pink dress. His eyes fixed on the curve of my lips and he stepped into my body. “You’re perfect, Izzy.”

  I gasped as he pulled me into by my waist, lifting me off the ground effortlessly. His mouth was hungry on mine, drawing me into him like I was water in the desert. My body responded instantly and a throbbing need pulsed through my core, like an itch begging to be scratched.

  “Theodore—we’ve been waiting for you. Thank you for joining us, Miss O’ Neill.” I groaned into Teddy’s mouth in frustrated disappointment as I pulled away from his embrace. Alexander Blackwood was standing in the doorway, his fingers curled tightly around the handle. I pinched my lips together and crossed my arms as Teddy slowly slid away from me and walked into the study. Blackwood and Teddy exchanged a look as Teddy passed, and I mumbled under my breath.

  “Excuse me?” Blackwood said.

  “Nothing.” I didn’t repeat what I’d called him. I doubted the boring asshat even knew what a cock-block was anyway. He held the door open for me to pass by him but I stopped on the threshold and tapped my foot. “You don’t have to play doorman, Blackwood. I can close the door myself. Thanks.”

  Our eyes met, and I felt a dart grim satisfaction at the realization that I was as much of a pain in his ass as he was in mine. Faye was out of her littl
e fairy mind—the man clearly couldn’t stand the sight of me. Which was fine by me because the feeling was mutual. More than mutual.

  The memory of that perfect moment of pleasure in the shower sent of a bolt of electricity down the length of my spine but I slammed down on the thought. Sexy daydreams weren’t the real thing. Sure, his hair was the perfect length to tangle my fingers in and his lips were so full that the thought of them trailing over my body was enough to make me weak at the knees. That was nothing but physical attraction—a biological instinct. I was a scientist, not an animal. And this scientist saw Blackwood for what he was—an uptight, self-righteous, self-satisfied jerk.

  I narrowed my eyes. “I’m not moving until you let me close the fucking door, Blackwood. So, if you want to get this meeting over with that badly, you might as well just move.”

  “As you wish, Miss O’ Neill.” Blackwood’s fingers released the handle and he walked into the room, leaving me clinging onto the door like a toddler with a stolen lollipop. Blackwood couldn’t possibly have known that he was using a quote from my favorite film to disarm me, but my legs still felt a little shaky as I crossed the room.

  Teddy and Jonathan were sitting on chairs near the window, and Mac was sitting at a small round table. I threw myself into the chair opposite him and he gave me a hint of a smile from the corner of his mouth. I exhaled, relieved to see him looking more like himself than the guy who fled the den this morning, and his smile spread across his face. He leaned over the table and whispered, “You’re wearing clothes.”

  I grinned at his impression of our first conversation and smothered an urge to burst into peals of hysterical laughter. Shit, this really was the principal’s office all over again.

  Teddy caught my eye from across the room. He covered his mouth with one of his huge hands but his eyes gave him away. Blackwood cleared his throat and extinguished my giddy happiness like the wet blanket that he was. I focused on him with my best don’t-fuck-with-me stare.

  “Miss O’ Neill, thank you for joining us. Your father will be arriving in the next few moments with a representative of the Guild to retrieve you. Due to the breach of contract caused by your exposure to the supernatural community, your father has been relieved of his debt to the Guild. You will be required to sign a confidentiality contract to ensure that our privacy is respected but the Guild will provide you with an appropriate level of compensation—you’ll be able to live comfortably for the remainder of your life.” Blackwood gestured for the other men to stand. “If you wouldn’t mind waiting here alone, your father and a Guild representative will be here shortly. As you’ve already made clear, you’re more than capable of seeing yourself out once your business is complete. Good day, Miss O’ Neill.”

  Jonathan was the first to stand and walk through the door. Teddy stood up slowly and gave me a long, deep look before he turned to follow Jonathan. Mac opened his mouth as if he wanted to say something, but closed it again, shooting me a loaded stare as he left. Blackwood didn’t even look in my direction before he followed the others out of the room and closed the door softly behind himself.

  For a moment, I sat there in stunned silence. Then, rage started to burn in my gut. I sprang off the chair and bolted across the floor, smashing the door open with such force that it slammed against the wall behind it. I grabbed it with my left hand as it swung back and stared at the four stunned faces in front of me. Well, three stunned faces. Blackwood’s face was as impenetrable as ever, but I didn’t give a damn. Nobody had the right to tell me what I could or couldn’t do.

  “Is that it?” I hung onto the door frame with white-knuckled hands. “You let me into your home, you open my eyes to a world I never dreamed existed, you let me know that this terrible thing has happened to you—virus, curse, whatever—and then you just shut me out? What, you think I’ll just forget about all this? Walk away and leave you to become wolves, leave Faye and her sisters trapped? No. Hell, no. That’s not happening.”

  Mac’s voice was strained. “Izzy, this isn’t what we want but it’s bigger than you or us. Your father doesn’t want you to be part of the supernatural world and we have to respect that. We have to do what’s right for your family. Our superiors have spoken to your father. He’s done. And he has every right to be finished with us. He made a deal with the Guild and we broke it—“

  “I don’t believe you.” I stared back at Mac, unblinking. Mac’s eyes flicked in Alexander Blackwood’s direction but Blackwood’s expression gave nothing away. I pressed my back against the doorjamb. “I know my father. I’ve worked with him on his research since I was a kid, and there’s no way my father will stop working on this until he finds a cure. This Guild of Supernaturals can’t just forbid him from coming here and trying to help you. He won’t let them do that. He won’t want to—you have it wrong.”

  The sound of a car pulling up outside the manor drew my attention and I ran to the front window just in time to see my father and a slim lady getting out of a chauffeur-driven limousine. Blackwood, Teddy, and Mac tensed visibly as they watched my father and the stranger ascend the front steps. Only Jonathan appeared unconcerned by their arrival. His eyes were focused on the gilt-edged mirror hanging on the wall and a smile played on his lips. I followed his line of vision to where Faye peered out of the glass, but she didn’t seem to notice the weight of my stare as she stared back into Jonathan’s eyes.

  The door swung open, without as much as a knock on the wood or a ring of the doorbell, and the lady marched into the entrance hall. I suspected she was older than she had appeared from a distance. Her figure was neat and her hair hung in a silky black bob to her shoulders, but when she turned to face me, I could see lines of care and worry worn into the skin around her mouth and eyes. She looked like a woman who had seen her share of heartache. Maybe a few other folk’s share as well.

  Before I had a chance to speak, my father shuffled through the door and swept me into his arms as if I was ten years old again instead of a grown woman. “Belle, my Belle. My wonderful, foolish, headstrong girl. What have you done child? What have you done?”

  “It’s all right, Daddy. It’s okay—I’m okay. I thought I was losing my mind last night, but I’m coming around. I’m glad you’re here. I’m ready to help you finish your work, now that I know everything.” I squeezed my father’s shoulder and frowned at how frail it was under his tweed jacket.

  My father’s face blanched. “The job is over, Isabelle. We’re going home.”

  He looked at the dark-haired woman and she gave a barely perceptible nod.

  “No. Dad, no. They need a cure.” My fingers gripped his sleeve tighter.

  “We’re leaving, Isabelle. My work here is done.” My father’s voice was stiff.

  I took a step back from him. “They need somebody to fix this before it’s too late, you said so yourself. You gave Blackwood your word. You taught me that means something, right? How the hell did that change overnight?”

  “They exposed you to the supernatural world, that’s what changed my mind, Isabelle! After everything I’ve done to shield you.” My father’s eyes slid over my shoulder and flashed at the four men standing behind me. “One careless mistake and it’s all undone.”

  “Pandora’s box, Pete.” The woman’s voice startled me. Her accent was like a daydream of my childhood. A perfect replica of grandmother’s brogue. Her smile was gentle and filled with compassion, completely unlike the heartless representative of the Guild I had been expecting. She turned to my father and extended a wrinkled hand. “You knew this day would come, eventually. They almost found it ten years ago. Poor little Francesca. If it wasn’t for your skill—”

  “Maeve!” My father blinked as if his tone had startled even him. His shoulders drooped. “Not now, Maeve. Please.”

  The crease between the woman’s brows deepened but she didn’t argue with my father. She gave me a tight smile. “Miss O’ Neill, the Guild offers its sincere apologies for the unfortunate situation that unfolded yesterday even
ing. I’ll be accompanying you home with your father and arranging for the details of a contract of confidentiality.”

  Memories of Teddy and Mac shooting drunken hoops seared across my brain and I shook my head. “I don’t need an apology, I don’t need to sign any contract, and I don’t need my father’s permission to do what I want—I’m a grown woman. I’m going to stay and help look for a cure. I don’t have my father’s experience, but I’ve learned enough from him to know when it’s important not to give up on something. I’m not going to walk away from people who need help.”

  Even Blackwood didn’t deserve that. Probably.

  “A noble gesture, young lady, and one that warms my heart, but I’m afraid Blackwood Forest requires a very different sort of intervention than any you have skill or experience creating.” I sensed the lady was choosing her words cautiously and speaking with deliberate care.

  I flung my arms wide. “So, what’s your Guild doing about it then? Have you got somebody else to replace my father? I’ll work with them. I’ll do the grunt work, whatever it takes.”

  She threaded her fingers together. “The Guild is making every effort to locate a suitable successor to the position, Miss O’ Neill, but I’m afraid—”

  “Isabelle, I forbid you from staying here.” My father cut across the conversation. His face was pale under his wispy beard and his fingers fiddled with the button on his jacket.

  Like a beam of moonlight penetrating the fog, I had a sudden burst of clarity. My palms itched as I turned to face my father. “Why did the Guild want you?”

  My father blinked and twisted the button on his jacket another rotation. “They wanted somebody with experience. A leader in the field.”

  “It’s not your field, Dad.” I spread my fingers wide and gestured toward the men standing behind me. “Viruses, biological weapons—that’s my field, not yours. Why did they want you?”