Page 1 of Beast

PROLOGUE

The shadow steers his Harley through the dark streets of St. Boniface. He rides until he knows he can’t take his bike any farther, then pulls into an alleyway where he kills the engine and climbs off. He takes the rest of the journey on foot through the shadows by lamplight until he reaches his destination. There, he climbs the fire escape to the top of the old theater and stands watching the little house across the street. The lights are on, and he can see her moving about inside. A familiar longing courses through him as he watches her. He hears his heartbeat pound in his ears, feels his blood sing with lust and longing. At his side, his fingers tighten into fists. Fists with blood on them.

Darkness crawls deep into his mind and he turns away.

One day, little one. One day.

CHAPTER 1

BELLE

“And the princesslived happily ever after.”

I close the book of fairytales and rest it against my lap.

“Yay!” cries Aurora, the five-year-old blonde cherub I babysit five nights a week while her parents work late.

It’s bedtime and we’re snuggled up against her pillows.

“When I grow up, I want to be a princess,” she says.

“You already are,” I say, giving her a little bop on the nose. She starts giggling. “You were named after a princess, weren’t you? Remind me again which fairytale she’s from?”

Aurora sticks her little arms up in the air and shouts, “Sleeping Beauty!”

I can’t help but laugh. “That’s right.”

She curls her arms around me. “Please read me another story, Belle. Please.”

“You know I would read to you all night long if I could but then your mom and dad would get mad.” I make a pretend mad face and she giggles. “Besides, you have your costume party at school tomorrow, and everyone knows that princesses need their beauty sleep.”

“They do?” She yawns and rubs her eyes.

“Uh huh. So you need to close your eyes and fall into your dreams, sweet Aurora, because tomorrow you’re going to be the belle of the ball.”

She’s going as her namesake, Aurora from Sleeping Beauty. Her mom, Dani, is a big-time radio personality with her own show, and somehow managed to get a designer to create the perfect Disney princess costume for her.

Aurora pouts. “Emma Duncan is going as Elsa, andshesays Elsa is better than Sleeping Beauty.”

“She did?” I gasp dramatically. “Well, I’m sure Emma Duncan isn’t the authority on princesses.”

“And George Brown is going as a Ninja Turtle, and he says princesses are stupid.”

“Well, that wasn’t a very nice thing for him to say.”

“He’s not a very nice boy.”

“Well, sometimes boys aren’t very nice. But it doesn’t mean you can’t be nice back to him. Try it. He might just change his mind about princesses.”

“Do you think so?”

“Maybe.”

She yawns again, and her lids grow heavy. “I wish you were taking me tomorrow, Belle. Maybe Mommy will let you come with us.”

“Me too, sweetheart.”

But I won’t be. Dani has made it clear that daytime ishertime and I’m not invited.

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