Page 65 of Beast

I’m caught in his spell and I don’t even care.

The way he’s looking at me.

The warmth in his eyes.

The tenderness in his touch.

I want him to touch me.

I know it is crazy to feel this way. But something about this is so…familiar.

He brushes a stray lock of hair from my face. “Just stay by my side, and everything will be all right.”

It’s hard not to believe him when he has unshakable faith in me.

When I nod, he kisses me again, and this time I melt into him, and all my nerves and resistance disappear like a wave pulling away from the shore.

CHAPTER 24

BEAST

The momentwe pull into the parking lot of the town park, I know something isn’t right. Usually the barbeque is bustling with families and townspeople, and kids running around with cotton candy and corn dogs.

But tonight very few people have shown up, and the park is almost empty.

“What the hell?” I mutter.

Over by the food tents, I see Mya and the club girls comforting Viking’s wife, Demri, who is visibly upset that no one has shown up to the fundraiser she’s worked hard to put together.

This has Mayor fucking Boney written all over it.

“Where is everyone?” Belle asks, looking around at the empty outdoor tables.

“Someone has scared them off,” I say, feeling the anger unfurl in my chest.

“Who would do that?”

“Mayor Boney, that’s who.”

“Why would the mayor want people to stay away from a fundraiser that benefits the local hospital?”

“Because he’s a slimy politician who is determined to run the Knights out of town.”

God, I want to shoot him in the face.

Belle frowns. “Why?”

“Because he wants our land.”

Since Boney came into power four years ago, he’s had a stick up his ass about the Knights, and he’s campaigned to run us out of town for just as long.

He says we’re holding this town back. Keeping it from prospering so we can get rich off our illegal phantasia trade. He’s made no secret about wanting to tear down the clubhouse to make way for a green space he’s been promising the townsfolk. A park on the hill that overlooks the town and the ocean, where families can grill in summer and walk through quaint snow-capped parklands in winter. And we’re the assholes for stopping it from happening.

Over time, he’s taken the town’s eighty-year appreciation for the Knights and turned it into fear and resentment.

Tonight is a flex. He’s showing us the power he has over this town.

Belle frowns. “What does he want your land for?”

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