by Jennise K
“Oh, I am so excited!” She squealed, clapping her hands together before turning towards Dad and placing a loving kiss on his cheek.
It was normal for me to witness their weird romance, so I just rolled my eyes and looked at the passing views.
“The new house is bigger, Theia.” Dad chuckled and looked at me from the review mirror.
I knew he was trying to make me feel better about moving, leaving my old friends and life behind, so I just grinned at Dad and spoke the first thing I thought would make him worry less. “I get the room with the best view!”
Dad chuckled and nodded, making my grin widen. It was not hard to notice that I was a papa’s girl. And with me being the only child, he doted on me. I was his little Fuzzybottom—not that my bottom was fuzzy, but just because—well, he was my hero.
“One of the best things about the house is that it has great views all around the rooms. But you’ll receive the one with the best view, we promise. We should be settled by tomorrow. Hopefully, the day after, you and I could go shopping!” Mom said as she turned to look at me. Not excited at all, I somehow managed to produce a fake smile and plaster it across my face.
Nobody messed with Mom when it came to shopping. Nobody!
Once her attention was elsewhere, I turned around to see how far off our moving truck was behind us. Before turning around, I brought out a book from my backpack and plugged my earbuds into my iPod before playing “Davy Jones Music Box and the Rainy Mood.” Somehow, the rumbles of thunder together with the soft tunes created a more reading mood for me. Shoving the iPod inside my pants pocket, I flipped through the pages of my newest read, Indiscretions, slumped back into a more comfortable position and began journeying once again into a different time and a whole different world—this time, into the world of Lord Lockwood.
~
“Thi, we are here!”
I mumbled a few incoherent words before turning in my bed. Need sleep.
“Thi, wake up!” Dad’s voice urged before I was shaken on the shoulder and lightly tapped on my face. What the heck?
“Alright, alright!” I grumbled as I sat up on my bed and peeped my eye open.
I gasped. My face becoming warmer by the second as I finally realized that I was in our SUV and a couple of people were staring at me, smiling like a bunch of weirdos. My folks included.
My cheeks burned as my eyes rested on a blond-haired guy smirking at me, an axe in his hand as he rested it on his shoulder.
What was he? A huntsman? I rolled my eyes in my mind as I pushed any budding crush away. I was more of a Beauty and the Beast girl, anyway.
Finally managing to look away, I smiled at the rest of the folks smiling at me, two slightly elder couples.
“Oh, she’s so beautiful!” The red-headed one gushed as I shoved my iPod and book into my backpack and got out of the SUV.
“Thanks,” I mumbled back, knowing full well that the blond was still staring and smirking at me.
“Hello, dear. Welcome to Peidmond! I’m Jane, and this here is my son, Alex, and my husband, Hugh. We live just there beside your house. That one there is Mary and her husband, Grant. They have a son too, Matthew. He is good friends with Alex here,” Jane told me excitedly, and I smiled back, brightly mirroring her excitement.
“It’s nice to meet you all. I am really excited to be here,” I replied back happily as I extended my hand towards each one of them, shaking their hands softly but waving awkwardly at the smirking blond, Alex.
That boy seemed as beautiful as he seemed arrogant. But then, arrogance trumped beauty any day.
My new home stood tall and proud—red bricks and a posh-looking French door. It seemed to have at least three floors, including the small attic on the third floor. Even the front yard seemed beautifully cultivated. I waited for Jane and Mary to start talking to Mom and Hugh and Grant to start helping my dad and the movers place all our stuff into the house before picking up one of my smaller book boxes. I made a run for it.
Making a dash into the house as quickly as I could, I stopped only to grab Dad and drag him away, begging him to show me my room.
He grinned excitedly and exchanged a knowing look with both Hugh and Grant who led me upstairs until we came to a stop on the very end of the hallway. He unlocked the room and opened the doors, motioning me to walk in.
I walked in and froze.
There, in front of me was the most amazing view of a castle perched on a mountain, surrounded by pine trees and fog. Beyond it, I could see water, maybe a lake. Maybe a sea…It was actually hard to say through the fog.
I turned around, already readying myself to leap on Dad but frowned when I noticed that I was now alone in my room. The blond Alex was standing in the doorway with the usual smirk on his face and his axe missing.
I frowned. The urge of just smacking his smirk away seemed quite strong now, and it would be easy too.
“That is the Castle Dovelore, owned by His Grace, Alexander Whitlock. ‘His Grace’ because some say his grandfather was a duke, and that has now been passed over to him. He is also very rich if the castle isn’t proof enough. But not by heritage, most of it is self-made and all. We are supposed to visit that castle this year, you know. Mr. Whitlock is providing one lucky student with a full-time scholarship to any university he or she wishes to attend and another lucky student a chance to stay in his castle for the breaks with the full usage of his library and a full tour around the castle if he or she wanted to, that is,” Blond spoke, but his gaze did not once shift from the castle, which although looked quite brooding, looked equally inviting as if charming me into visiting. There definitely was something about that castle.
Suddenly very curious, I turned towards Blond and asked, “What would you like?”
He turned his attention towards me, and for the first time since the fifteen minutes that we had known each other, he smiled at me—a real smile.
“Although the most brilliant of literature are available in the castle library and I would love to roam the dungeons and secret pathways where the pirates were slain and beasts held hostage, I want the scholarship.” I nodded and turned back to look at the castle.
What beasts was Blond talking about?
The feeling of my feet pushing itself forward registered slowly before I found myself staring at the castle and my hands, sliding the window open.
Is someone living there right now? How many rooms can there be?
I swept my gaze along the windows of the castle but stalled when I saw someone staring back at me. It seemed a he. His bulky built made sure of showing no confusion even if he was so, so far away. It was quite distinguishable that he was wearing a white shirt, but that was all that could be made sense of. The rest was a blur.
“Hey, Blond, come here!” I whispered, motioning Blond to move forward.
“Blond?” he asked quite confusedly and sounding outraged as he made his way to me.
The man was still staring. His stare seemed so intense it made hairs stand at the back of my neck. I turned towards Blond, wishing he could see the strange man just as I did. Castles were always haunted. But the one I would see day and night could not possibly be haunted, could it?
“Can you see the man?”
“What man? I see no man,” he whispered back, scrunching his eyes as he looked in the direction of the castle.
I turned towards the castle, and the man was gone.
“He was just there! I promise!”
He looked at me frowning for a second before his smile came back.
“I can help you decorate your room.” He offered, looking as if he really were interested in sorting out my mess.
I smiled as I brushed a stray of brown hair behind my ear, silently thanking God for his sudden offer to decorate my bedroom. It would have taken me all day and night, otherwise.
“Let’s do this.”
If you enjoyed this sample, look for
Mated To The Alpha King
on Amazon.
BOOK
YOU MIGHT ENJOY
ONCE BITTEN, TWICE TURNED
Anne Marshall
In a world where vampires, werewolves, and witches run rampant, no one is truly safe. Adela is a normal human in a supernatural world, and that’s how she wishes to stay.
At the end of her shift one night, she takes a shortcut home, not thinking about her safety. She runs into an elderly man that promises her a gift if she would help him get to his house just on the other side of the woods.
Taking a chance on an old man, she takes him home. Little does she know that the gift comes with a price—a price she’s not ready to pay.
Adela not only enters the supernatural world; she runs straight through it and crashes into everything in her way. With the help of her friends, Gabriel and Millicent, she tries to adjust to her new life.
Just when she thinks she has enough problem to deal with, a series of big revelations continue to unveil, and now she has to curb her bloodlust, fight off enemies, and engage in a love life that is double the trouble.
How will Adela get through this crappy situation she now calls life?
BOOK YOU MIGHT ENJOY
PURR, KITTEN
Kristel Juurik
Living alone for years, the last thing Kathryn would want is to be caught by an attacking pack. A survivor of an attack that destroyed her own pack, she has always been a lone wolf. What seems to be the end of her life becomes a chance to start anew when she met her mate – Liam. The only problem: Liam is the Alpha of the blood-thirsty pack, responsible for many destructions and deaths.
Bound by fate, Kathryn’s only option is to try to change Liam from his cold-hearted ways. However, it is not as easy as she hoped it would be especially with objections coming from the members of the pack. To make matters worse, an imminent attack boils around the corner.
Having experienced a brutal attack that wiped away her pack, how will Kathryn face her own personal struggles? Amidst opposition and struggles for power, will she be successful in her goal of changing the pack’s tradition? How will Liam and Kathryn deal with what destiny had in store for them?
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
My special thanks to:
My mother, who never discouraged me from doing what I love and for always supporting me. I love you, Ma.
To my best friend, Saara, for always being there to help me whenever I got stuck and needed to pick between all the paths I could take in the plot.
I’d like to also thank Le-an and everyone at TYPEWRITER PUB who has allowed me to put out my hard work, who have given me such an establishment and have had faith in me. Guys, thank you so much.
AUTHOR’S NOTE
Thank you so much for reading Beasty! I can’t express how grateful I am for reading something that was once just a thought inside my head.
Please feel free to send me an email. Just know that my publisher filters these emails. Good news is always welcome.
[email protected]
Sign up for my blog for updates and freebies!
jennisek.awesomeauthors.org
One last thing: I’d love to hear your thoughts on the book. Please leave a review on Amazon or Goodreads because I just love reading your comments and getting to know you!
Can’t wait to hear from you!
Jennise K
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Jennise K comes from the beautiful country of Fiji and enjoys the tropical Island climate only when it’s winter. She began her writing career penning down poems all throughout her teenage life, and now in her early twenties she writes in all sorts of genres. Something that inspired her to indulge in the Werewolf genre was the fact that her all-time favourite fairy-tale is “Beauty and the Beast”.
When Jennise isn’t writing, she spends her time with her family at home, trying to survive her way through university, graphic designing, watching Crime Investigation Channel or Masterchef Australia, reading Harry Potter fanfictions and writing new chapters for her books on Wattpad-listening to Lana Del Rey.
Her books on Wattpad, such as “Beasty” and “Mated To The Alpha King”, have a collective read of almost 20M and she loves all of her readers very very very much!
If Jennise could spend the rest of her life watching one thing-it would be Korean Drama. She whole heartedly supports the notion that food comes before a love life and is fully aware of the fact that she has no will power when it comes to denying food. Her dream destinations are South Korea, Germany and London-where she dreams of settling, one day.