Page 26 of Betraying the Beast

And she would have to decide—would she damn him to save her family?

Or find a way to save them all?

From the highest tower window, Vael’Zhur watched her.

She moved like a shadow through the edge of the trees, her slender figure half-hidden by branches gilded with the first touch of morning light. Sunlight caught her raven hair, igniting the strands with burnished copper, and his chest ached at the sight of her—so human, so mortal, so heartbreakingly not his. She had claimed she needed air, time to clear her thoughts. The words had seemed plausible enough.

But he had known. Something in her voice had been too smooth, too careful.

Now he saw the truth.

She paused near the edge of his lands, cast one last furtive glance over her shoulder, then disappeared behind a thick oak. Minutes passed—long enough for dread to sink its claws into his chest—before a second figure emerged deeper within the woods. Cloaked and hooded. But the wind betrayed him, tugging at his mantle just enough to reveal a familiar crest.

Aldaric’s.

A low growl tore from Vael’Zhur’s throat. His claws scored deep furrows into the ancient stone, splintering the windowsill. A red haze blurred the edges of his vision, his body vibrating with tension. The beast within him surged forward, howling for blood, demanding vengeance. Betrayal, it hissed. Betrayal again.

But was it?

They had shared heat. Shared stories. Shared something dangerously close to love—but never vows. Never oaths. He had known her mission, known that time hunted her heels. And still, he had let himself hope. Let himself feel.

A mistake.

Her family remained Aldaric’s hostages. Her time grew short. What choice did she truly have? It was folly to assume she would choose a beast like him over her family, despite what they had shared. What did he truly have to offer her? A crumbling castle, a monstrous beast prone to fits of homicidal rage, and ghostly servants? Not much of a life, really.

When she returned, nearly an hour later, her shoulders were bowed beneath an invisible weight. Her eyes were red-rimmed. She sat beside the stream, trailing her fingers in the water, unmoving. Not hiding. Not smiling. Not free.

Good, he thought bitterly. If she was going to betray him, let it at least cost her something.

He turned from the window, shadows spilling around his massive form. He would not confront her yet. The beast raged, yes—but something more dangerous lurked behind that rage. Grief.

He waited.

He listened to her steps through the halls, light and familiar, until they faded into silence behind the door of her chamber. He felt her presence in the castle like a storm front pressing against his skin, and it wasn’t until evening that her footsteps came again—down the corridor, toward him.

When she appeared in the library, her scent reached him first—pine and woman, sorrow and fear, but also something new. Regret. The tension in her shoulders. The tremble beneath her stillness.

“You were gone a long time,” he said without turning from the fire. His voice was smooth, calm—ice over boiling water.

“I needed air,” she said, too quickly. “Time to think.”

He turned. She wore one of the green gowns the castle had provided, silk clinging to every curve, highlighting the strength and softness of her body. Her hair was braided over one shoulder, loose tendrils curling around her face. She looked like a forest goddess draped in moss and starlight. But her eyes avoided his.

“And did your thinking yield conclusions?” He approached slowly, watching the way her spine stiffened, how her fingers tightened in her skirts.

“Only that time grows short.” Her voice was low. “Aldaric expects my return in two days.”

Truth. But not the whole of it.

He circled her, silent but consuming, until he stood behind her, close enough for her to feel the heat of his body at her back.

“And will you return?” he murmured, his voice brushing her neck like a kiss and a threat all at once.

Her hands twisted tighter in the fabric. “What choice do I have? My family?—”

“Must be protected,” he finished. “At any cost.”

Her eyes lifted to his, shimmering now. “Vael’Zhur, I?—”

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