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

by L. C. Hibbett

  “Whoa, whoa. Take it easy, soldier, you need to rest.” Strong arms lifted me back onto the bed and Mac’s soft brown stare examined my face closely. I lifted my hands to my mouth and squeezed my eyes shut, overcome by a wave of emotion so tangled that I couldn’t even begin to comprehend it. “You’re going to be all right, Izzy. Your sister Francesca is next door, your dad is with her—everybody’s okay.”

  I gripped Mac’s upper arm and held him close. “Gastone. Did you get him? Did you get the blood to break the curse?”

  “Izzy.” Mac paused and closed his eyes for a moment. “No. We couldn’t. We almost had him, but we would have to take out all his people. And your sister…”

  “Nicole. She wouldn’t leave Gastone? She’s going to be his witch queen.” I wasn’t sure if I wanted to scream or to laugh. This had to be a joke. One big, huge charade designed to send me careening over the verge into insanity.

  Mac’s forehead creased. “Izzy, you’re more than likely experiencing some shock right now; you’ve been through a lot in the past couple of days. I’ve given you some IV fluids and medication to help with the physical trauma, but you’re probably feeling some mental strain too. If you want some space, or you want to cry—”

  “I don’t cry.” Mac gave me a lopsided smile and retrieved a medical trolley from outside the door. I crossed my arms. “What’s that look for, Mac? I don’t see the point in crying. It’s selfish and pointless and it doesn’t help anyone.”

  Mac took hold of my arm and began to examine my hands and wrists with fingers as gentle as a butterfly’s kiss. His expression darkened as he worked his way over my bruised and blackened flesh. I inhaled sharply. Despite Mac’s delicate touch, my wrists hurt like hell. I clamped my jaw shut and focused on the blank wall. Mac released my arm and lowered it carefully onto my lap. “Izzy, those wrists look pretty bad. I’m going to give you a shot to relieve the pain and swelling—”

  “No.” I shifted down the bed.

  Mac’s jaw tightened. “No?”

  “No, I’ll be fine. I don’t need medication, I just need to go see my family,” I said.

  “Izzy.” Mac rested his palm on the mattress, tantalizingly close to my bare thigh. “Your neck and wrists are covered in contusions. The ligaments and tendons—”

  “Mac, I said no, I don’t do meds, stop pushing it! I mean, shit—are you even trained to do any of this?” I pushed myself off the bed but my legs gave way before I could cross the floor. Mac caught me and lifted me onto the bed again. His hands were just as gentle as before but his eyes were burning.

  He took a heart rate monitor and held it out. “Will you allow me to use this please, Miss O’ Neill?”

  “Oh, come on, Mac—Miss O’ Neill? Don’t be such a baby just because I don’t want your stupid shot,” I said.

  Mac smacked the heart monitor down on the end of the bed. “Why? Because medication is pointless and selfish too?”

  “In this case, yes!” I raised my voice to match his, stung by Mac’s tone. So much for being the kind one in the pack. Asshole. “You shouldn’t be wasting your time with me when my sister needs help.”

  “You want to know what I think is selfish?” Mac asked. “I think people who play the martyr are selfish. I think not looking after yourself because you think it’s your job to save the world is selfish. I think leaving your elderly father and people who care about you behind so that you can play the hero is selfish. And I think expecting a doctor who has no idea why he gives so much of a shit about some crazy, bad-tempered, wildling girl to stand back and watch her suffer when they could help heal her is really fucking selfish. So, there you go. Maybe you’re not as perfect as you think you are. Maybe you should remember that next time you go so hard on your dad.”

  I knew my mouth was hanging open, but I appeared to have lost the use of my facial, muscles. My eyes stung and I felt as if there was a dam about to burst in my chest. Mac’s face burned and his shoulders dropped. His voice was muffled as he packed up his medical trolley and headed for the door. “I’m sorry. I had no right to speak like that. I’ll get your father. He can take over here.”

  Mac opened the door but closed it again without leaving the room. He pressed his forehead against the wall. “Izzy, I grew up with nobody. Nobody to call my own. My birth pack abandoned me on the steps of the Guild Headquarters in Boston, and I swore to myself if I ever found a pack, I’d never do anything to risk losing them. When I met Teddy, Xander, and Jonathan, they changed my life. I wasn’t alone anymore. For a shifter, for a wolf—it healed me. And I thought that was all I needed.”

  I stared at Mac’s back, willing him to keep telling his story, aching to look into his face. He pressed his hands against the wall. “Then I met Teddy’s family. And I knew that was the life I wanted. When I dream about my future, that’s what I see. Our pack, our children. I just couldn’t see our mate. And I didn’t want to because it wasn’t time to meet her, because we’re in the middle of a nightmare here, but then this wild girl comes tearing into our lives and she’s the most perfect creature I have ever seen. Every time she moves, my heart misses a beat. But she doesn’t have a clue, and how can you explain to somebody you just met that you’ve been waiting for them all your life? And then she throws herself into danger—”

  “Mac?” He stopped talking but he didn’t turn around. I swung my feet over the side of the bed. “Mac?”

  He raced across the floor and caught me by the waist, holding me steady. “Izzy, will you please stop doing that! You’re driving me crazy. You need to rest, please. Please.”

  “You really think I’m selfish?” His face was only inches away from mine and his fingers were strong on my waist.

  Mac stepped a little closer and lifted me so that my butt was perched on the bed. “Maybe. I don’t think you mean to be selfish. But I don’t think you realize how precious you are either. How much it terrifies them when you’re careless with yourself.”

  Mac’s whisper was like magic, I wanted more. My head was spinning faster than a tornado but my body needed him to move closer. I let my knees slide open so that Mac could step between them. My heart felt like it was beating in my mouth when he shifted slipped between my thighs. “Because you care about me?”

  Mac’s fingers brushed my hair away from my bruised throat with a tenderness that made my flesh tremble. His lips were so close to mine that I could practically taste his words. “Because I haven’t been able to get you off my mind from the moment I first laid eyes on you.”

  I was frozen, every inch of my body waiting for his touch. Longing for his kiss. Imagining those delicate strokes moving down my neck and over my breasts, lower and lower . . .

  Something behind Mac’s eyes shattered and he lifted me off the bed, crushing himself into me. I wrapped my legs around his waist as his soft mouth pressed against mine, moving slowly and deliberately until my head fell back into his hand and the tip of his tongue traced the inside of my lips. I groaned, and he perched my ass on the side of the bed again, kissing my lips with increasing intensity as his hands explored the curve of my waist.

  Mac pulled away and I protested, wrapping my hands in his hair and trying to drag his lips back to mine. He gave me a slow smile through his tousled fringe, sweet and sexy all at once, and began to work his soft lips along my skin. He followed the neckline of my dress over my shoulder and down my chest. He ran a fingertip underneath the hem and pulled the dress down so that my breasts were a millimeter from spilling over the top. Then, without warning, he dragged the dress a little lower and flicked his tongue against my hard nipple.

  He clamped his palm over my mouth as I cried out in pleasure and I bit down on my lower lip. Mac pushed the straps of my dress and bra down my arms until the fabric fell away from my chest revealing my naked breasts. He groaned deep in his throat as his eyes devoured me and I pushed my shoulders back so that he could see me fully, reveling in the hold my body had over him. Shivering at the sound of his ragged breath.

 
He pressed his fingertip against my lips and I licked it eagerly, reaching for his face, but he held me at arm’s length as he trailed his damp finger down my throat and over my chest. As if my body was a map and he was tracing a path to buried treasure. I lay back onto the bed and let him ease my dress down to my hips.

  “Shh!” I shot bolt upright and held my finger to Mac’s lips, certain I’d heard someone calling my name. We both froze as we heard footsteps outside the door.

  “Izzy?” No. No, no, no. Mac stared at me and I screwed my face up as we listened to the voice coming from outside the door. “Izzy, are you awake? It’s your dad.”

  I groaned, and Mac bit his lip as he fixed my dress and lay me back on the bed. He turned away to pull his shirt out of his jeans and fix himself, awkward in his haste. I twisted my head to the side and Mac whispered, “Hey, no peeking. Your dad is outside the door. This merchandise isn’t available for advance preview.”

  I grabbed the front of his shirt and pulled him in for a kiss on the lips. He ran his arms over the comforter, reaching greedily for my body. I grabbed his wrists. “No way. This merchandise is no longer available for advance preview either, Simon MacIntyre.”

  “Maybe we should reconsider those terms—” Mac stopped short and sprang away from the bed just as my father pushed the door open. Mac stood against the wall and rested his hand on his medical trolley. He nodded at my father with slightly red cheeks. “Dr. O’ Neill, I was just about to get you. Izzy woke a few moments ago, she appears to have no serious injuries, but I’m having a difficult time convincing her to take some pain relief and anti-inflammatory meds.”

  I shot Mac a filthy look—traitorous little sneak—and he gave me a lopsided grin. I cupped my hand over my mouth to hide my smile as my mouth responded to him of its own accord.

  My father frowned at me and patted my arm. “Isabelle, you need to listen to this young man. Maeve tells me he’s one of the finest doctors in the Guild forces.”

  “You really are a doctor.” I gave Mac a surprised glance.

  Mac shrugged his shoulders. “I didn’t join the service until after I was fully qualified. I’m the oldest in the pack, I just have youthful genes.”

  “And you’re the shortest,” I said. “Makes you look younger.”

  Mac spread his hands and gave an indignant snort. “Hey, I’m not short! I’m six freaking feet tall. Xander is just huge and Teddy is huger than huge. But I’m not short—in any way.” He pointed his finger for extra emphasis.

  I smirked. “Sure. Not short. Just cute, for an old man.”

  My father cleared his throat. “Isabelle, we need to have a discussion but I need you to be well before I can tell you what I must.”

  “I already know Gastone got away.” I dropped the volume of my voice. “I know Nicole went with him, but she doesn’t mean it, not really. When she understands what’s he’s really like . . . she’d never really hurt us.” I thought of my sister’s sneer as she walked away from me on the floor of Gastone’s bar and my gut twisted. “Maybe Gastone drugged her or enchanted her. Can supernaturals do that? Cast love spells?”

  My heart beat a little faster as I waited for my father to answer. Could shifters use magic to draw you to them? Maybe that explained the way I had been feeling since I got to Blackwood Manor. Maybe the place was charmed. Maybe Faye had put a spell on me to attract me to the pack. Maybe that’s why I wanted so badly for Mac’s words to be true. My gaze wandered to where Mac was sorting through a medical kit, his black hair tousled and his rich brown eyes dark with earnest concentration and I bit my lip—wouldn’t have to be much of a spell to make him hard to resist.

  “I don’t think it’s a spell, Isabelle,” my father said. I stared at him and he patted his jacket pocket. “Your sister. Nicole. I don’t think Julian Gastone is using a spell to control her. I think he may be using other means to manipulate her.”

  “What?” I heaved myself into a seated position on the bed.

  My father waved his hand. “No. No more until you’ve taken whatever medication the doctor has prescribed.”

  “All right, just give me the damn injections.” Before I had finished speaking, Mac vanished through the door and reappeared almost immediately with a tray of vials and sharps. My father smiled at Mac and patted him gratefully on the shoulder, muttering something about checking on Chesca and being back soon. I followed my father with my eyes as he slipped from the room, straining to see what was outside the door. “Where are we, by the way, Mac?”

  “Basement. The examination rooms attached to the lab.” Mac tore the sterile packaging on the syringe open. His nails had begun to sharpen again and there was a light layer of downy fur on the back of his wrists. I frowned at his hands as he swabbed my arm with an antiseptic wipe. How many days had we left to break the spell? Not many. Maybe not enough.

  Mac injected me with two different needles so quickly that I didn’t have time to question him about what was being pumped into my system. I grabbed his arm. “What the hell? You should tell people what meds they’re getting before you jab them. What if it was something I didn’t want?”

  “That’s exactly why I did it so quickly. It’s all part of my evil plan to keep you alive and well,” Mac said. He tucked a stray strand of hair behind my ear and kissed my forehead tenderly. “We’ve only just found you, Izzy. We’re not taking any more risks.”

  We? Before I could question Mac, my father appeared in the doorway again. And he has wasn’t alone.

  Blackwood’s face was drawn as he stepped over the threshold. Smoke-stained clothes and disheveled hair marred his normally immaculate appearance and there were dark smudges under his green eyes. He looked like a man who had spent a night on the rack. Mac pushed the trolley toward the door, stopping in front of Blackwood. “Izzy’s doing well, Alexander. Has Jonathan been able to make contact with Faye so that we can wake Francesca?”

  “He’s searching the woods. He caught her scent by the pond.” Blackwood answered Mac without lifting his stare from my face.

  Mac nodded. “Okay. I’ll check on Teddy and then—”

  “Teddy? What’s wrong with Teddy?” I sat up straighter on the bed and glared at Mac. “You told me everyone was all right!”

  “Hey, take it easy until those pain killers kick in or I’ll give you a sedative!” Mac gave me a warning stare and I swung my feet back onto the bed. His shoulders relaxed. “Teddy is okay, he’s just resting in the den. Apparently, somebody stabbed him last night. Luckily, it was with blades spelled to harm vamps so he’s healing up at typical shifter speed.”

  The curve at the corner of Mac’s lips told me he had a pretty good idea who’d stabbed Teddy, but he saved my pride by keeping it to himself. I tugged the comforter up to my chin and grimaced awkwardly. “Oh, right. That’s good then.”

  “It is.” Mac returned my grimace and raised one eyebrow as he pushed the trolley out of the room. “I’ll be back to check on you later, Isabelle. Rest. Doctor’s orders.”

  I smiled at the closed door for a moment. Normally, I was the one who liked to give the orders, but right at that moment, it felt pretty nice to have somebody minding me.

  Chapter Fifteen

  “Would you care for a seat, Dr. O’ Neill?” Blackwood looked like he’d spent the night in the seventh circle of hell but it hadn’t erased his impeccable manners. He eased the chair he’d taken from the lab closer to my bedside and my father sank into gratefully. I gave Blackwood a reluctant nod of thanks and tried to remember why he’d bothered me so much when I’d first met him. “We should try and get Miss O’ Neill up to speed. We need to make sure she’s out of the way before trouble arrives.”

  I gritted my teeth. That’s why I hated him. Condescending donkey. I twisted on the bed so that I was facing my father and blanked the handsome asshat. “What happened last night, Dad? Why was Jonathan at the club?” Blackwood started to answer my question but I silenced him with a wave of my fingers. “I asked my father, you probably have somebody m
ore important to talk to, so . . .”

  “Isabelle, I’ve asked Alexander to be here.” My father’s voice held a warning tone. I crossed my arms over my chest, trying not to show the discomfort in my wrists, but I kept silent. My father rested his elbows on the side of the bed. “Jonathan and the pack had already begun to work on a plan to infiltrate Julian Gastone’s nest. Faye had warned them that she saw treachery and trickery at work so the men thought it was best to be proactive, but they had to keep their actions hidden from the Guild until they could prove Gastone and those in his nest who swore on the Guild code had broken their oaths and therefore were no longer under the Guild’s protection.”

  “And they got the proof—the Guild isn't going to come blow Blackwood Manor up, right?” I turned my eyes on Blackwood, forgetting my irritation in my concern for the pack. Well, Mac and Teddy at least.

  Blackwood nodded. “Yes. As far as the Guild are concerned, whatever happens between Gastone and us now is nothing to do with the Guild anymore.”

  I felt the knots in my shoulders loosen a little. My father patted my foot gently. “Yes, that’s one complication out of the way. But, unfortunately, there may be more factors to consider than we were previously aware of.” My father glanced at Blackwood for a moment and then back at me. “When you couldn’t be dissuaded from attempting to save your sisters from Julian and his people, you forced the pack’s hand a little. Jonathan hadn’t spent much time gaining Gastone’s full trust. He hadn’t realized the full reach of Gastone’s magical resources or the scale of his plans. If I had known myself I would never have let you go.”

  My father paused for a moment and stared down at his knees. Blackwood placed his hand on my father’s shoulder firmly. “I’ve been fighting Julian Gastone, one way or another, for over a decade and I had no idea he had drawn fae and so many other supernaturals into his fold. Or that he planned to try and create his own free army.”