Page 18 of Beast
Pixie stood, her pulse racing.“Beast—”
“What the hell are you doing?”His voice was rough, deep, echoing with betrayal and anger.“You were just going to leave?”
Her lips parted, but no words came out.
“You didn’t think I’d find out?”he demanded, stepping closer.“You just vanished after your shift, Pixie.Gunner called me when you didn’t check in.You think I wouldn’t tear apart every damn inch of this town to find you?”
“I had to,” she whispered, clutching her bag like a shield.“You don’t understand.People I care about ...they get hurt.Every time.If I stay, he’ll come back.And he won’t stop until someone else gets killed.”
“You think I give a damn about that?”Beast growled.“You think I’d let him get that close?”
“You don’t get it!”she snapped, the dam finally breaking.“This is what I do, Beast.I run.I leave before it gets worse.Because it always gets worse.And you—your club—you don’t deserve to bleed because of me!”
Silence hung thick between them, the weight of her words sinking into the walls.Beast stared at her, jaw clenched, chest heaving.Then he stepped forward, slowly, deliberately.His hands closed around her arms—not to hurt, but to anchor.
“You’re not running anymore, Pixie,” he said, voice low and unyielding.“You hear me?You’re mine now and I protect what’s mine.”
Her breath caught.The word “mine” rang louder than any promise he’d made before.Not just protection.Not just shelter.But claim.
Her eyes searched his, trembling with fear and confusion and something dangerously close to hope.“You don’t get to decide that,” she said, but her voice wavered.
“I already did,” he said.“The second you walked into that warehouse and looked at me like you weren’t afraid.”
Pixie’s throat tightened.“But I am.I’m terrified.”
“So am I,” he said softly.“Because I’ve already let you in.And if you leave now, it’s not just your life on the line.It’s mine too.”
Tears welled up in her eyes, threatening to spill.For a moment, all she could do was stare at him.At the man who saw her not as baggage or danger, but as his.At the man who wasn’t afraid to fight for her when all she’d ever known was being left behind.She dropped her bag.It hit the floor with a soft thud, forgotten.
And when she stepped into his arms, his chest rose and fell beneath her cheek.He cradled the back of her head with his hand like she was the most precious thing in the world.She finally let herself believe it.
Chapter Seven
The air between themwas thick with tension, heavy and humming, like a storm waiting to break.
Pixie was aware of how close Beast stood.Too close, his frame a wall of heat and power as he looked down at her, eyes dark and wild.
