Page 97 of Beast

He's the one who breaks it off. His eyes are dancing with something dark behind long lashes.

“Nicely done, little one,” he murmurs over the wild cheers and clapping as we face the crowd. “We might just pull this off.”

Beast tellsme there is no immediate reception following the ceremony. In Knights tradition, the couple are expected to seal the deal with some good old-fashioned wedding night action.

He brushes his lips to my ear. “In tradition, tonight is for fucking.”

I shiver as Beast leads me away from the guests to his bedroom.

If tonight is for fucking, I’m down.

Inside our room, he closes the door behind us.

Last night we were interrupted just as things were getting hot, and we haven’t talked since.

Tonight is for finishing that conversation.

He shakes off his jacket and removes his shirt, and my heart kicks in my chest.

Dear Lord.

Shirtless, with his dress pants and belt hanging low on his hips, he walks toward me, and when he reaches me, he looks down at me with so much heat I think I’m about to melt into a puddle on the floor. He takes my face in his hands, and beneath his touch I feel the last of my reservations leave me.

I am his.

I swallow thickly.

“What happens now?” I ask, looking up at him. Willing him to start undressing me.

His eyes search my face. But I see the remorse in them. “I have to go.”

Confusion hits me in the chest.

Followed by disappointment crashing in behind it.

I stare up at him. “You’re not staying?”

His thumbs graze my cheeks. “Every inch of me wants to stay with you tonight. But what I’m about to do has to happen tonight. Or more people will die.”

Disappointment streams through every nerve and fiber. But I hide it from him.

“Are you going to be safe?”

He gives me a reassuring look. “You have nothing to worry about.”

I look into his eyes and I believe him.

“Go and do what you’ve got to do,” I say. “But know I will be waiting here when you get back.”

With a groan, he kisses the corners of my mouth, then my lips and my cheeks and my closed eyes—and fuck, I wish he could stay.

“Go,” I whisper against his lips.

With a growl, he turns and is gone before I can beg him to stay.

CHAPTER 37

BEAST

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