Page 153 of Beast

But it’s only a small reprieve from his attack. Shaking it off, he rises to his feet again, his knife blade dripping with my blood.

My eyes get heavy. Blood pours out of me. I can barely keep my eyes open.

I’m dying.

And I don’t know if I can fight off Gaston for much longer.

But I need to get to Belle.

If my time is up, then I’m going to spend my last moments protecting her.

I force myself to my feet, but I start to see stars.

“Belle…”

I take two steps forward, but my knees buckle and I fall to the floor again.

Across the room, I hear Gaston laugh evilly as he begins to approach me one last time.

CHAPTER 62

BELLE

“Takeone more step and I’m going to blow your goddamn head off your shoulders.”

I don’t recognize my voice as I raise the gun and aim it at Gaston. My vision is fuzzy, and the relentless hammering inside my head is making it hard to focus.

But I’m full of adrenaline and it’s what keeps me upright.

With his back to me, Gaston turns around, his eyes flaring when he sees I’m armed.

I narrow my eyes on him. “That’s right, asshole, I’ve got a gun.”

After waking up on the floor, I remembered the gun Beast keeps in the nightstand. While Beast and Gaston were fighting, I crawled over to get it.

Gaston laughs, his eyes gleaming with excitement as if this just got more interesting for him. “That’s a pretty big gun for such a little girl.”

“Step away from Beast.”

But he doesn’t. He fixes his gaze to me and wipes the beads of sweat from his mouth, smearing blood across his upper lip. Beast’s blood.

I look at my husband, collapsed on the ground. He’s losing consciousness. Dying. Seeing the blood pooling around him I know he’ll be dead in minutes.

Precious time is ticking by.

I start screaming for help, hoping someone in the clubhouse will hear me.

In response, Gaston starts screaming too. Mocking me. Then he’s laughing, because he is a psychopath and clearly getting off on this.

Then all of a sudden he stops laughing, and his face becomes eerily vacant of any expression. Those eyes tell me all I need to know. They are black and cold and full of evil.

A dark smile curls on his lips. “I do like it when they scream.”

I keep the gun trained on him, despite the heaviness. “You sick fuck.”

He laughs, and it’s cruel and empty of anything good. “But don’t worry, Belle, I’ll make sure you scream louder.”

I grip the gun tighter. “I don’t think so.”