They spread out in a half-circle, cutting off my path back to the castle. Six of them, moving with the coordinated purpose of a hunting pack. The largest—the alpha—watched me with an intelligence that seemed wrong, calculated in a way wolves shouldn’t be. These weren’t natural predators. They were something the curse had twisted, corrupted into monstrosities that only resembled wolves in the broadest sense.
I glanced toward the castle, measuring the distance. Could I outrun them? Unlikely. Could I circle around? They were already moving to block that path. My only hope was to make enough noise to draw Beast’s attention.
“Help!” I screamed, loud enough to tear at my throat. “Beast! HELP ME!”
The wolves charged at my cry. I turned and ran, not toward the castle but along the garden’s edge, hoping to circle back around. My borrowed slippers slipped on the damp ground, and I stumbled, arms pinwheeling wildly as I fought to keep my balance.
For a heartbeat, I thought I might make it. Then my foot caught on an exposed root, and I went down hard, the impact driving the air from my lungs in a painful whoosh. I rolled onto my back, scrambling backward as the first wolf closed the distance, jaws opened impossibly wide as it lunged for my throat.
A blur of brown fur intercepted it mid-leap. Beast slammed into the wolf with such force that both creatures rolled severalyards away in a tangle of limbs and fur and snarling teeth. He’d come from the back of the castle, running faster than I’d ever seen him move, his massive body now positioned between me and the pack.
The roar he let loose wasn’t animal—it was something older, something that made even these corrupted wolves hesitate. He stood on his hind legs, rearing to his full height, claws extended and teeth bared in challenge.
For a moment, everything went still. Beast’s chest heaved with exertion, his nearly-glowing eyes burning with protective fury. The wolves circled warily, their previous confidence shaken by his sudden appearance.
Then the alpha gave a sharp bark, and they attacked as one.
Two wolves went for Beast’s legs, trying to hamstring him. Another leapt for his throat. Beast caught that one with a swipe of his massive paw, sending it flying with a yelp of pain. He dropped to all fours, spinning to snap at the ones targeting his legs, catching one by the scruff and shaking it violently before tossing it aside.
I scrambled to my feet, searching desperately for a weapon. There, near the edge of the garden was a fallen branch, thick as my arm and nearly as long. I lunged for it, fingers closing around the rough bark just as a wolf broke from the pack and came for me.
I swung wildly, catching it across the snout. It yelped and backed off, but only momentarily. Its eyes narrowed, jaws dripping with saliva as it circled me more carefully now.
Beast was fighting three wolves at once, his movements a blur of controlled violence. He was magnificent and terrifying, all coiled muscle and precise strikes. But even he couldn’t watch every direction at once. The sixth wolf had circled behind him and was preparing to leap onto his back.
“Behind you!” I screamed, already knowing he couldn’t turn in time.
Without thinking, I rushed forward and swung my branch with all my strength. It connected with the wolf’s side mid-jump, throwing off its trajectory enough that it missed Beast’s back, landing awkwardly to the side. Beast whirled at the sound, finishing what I’d started with a swipe of his claws that left the wolf howling in pain.
“Learn your lesson,” I gasped, already backing up as another wolf advanced on me. “No one touches him.”
The wolf lunged, faster than I could swing. I felt its claws rake across my forearm, sharp and hot, drawing blood that immediately soaked through my sleeve. Pain flared, bright and immediate, but I didn’t drop the branch. Instead, I swung again, connecting solidly with its skull. The impact reverberated up my arms, but the wolf dropped, momentarily stunned.
“Come on!” I shouted, swinging at another that ventured too close. “Try again! I dare thee!”
Blood trickled down my arm, warm and sticky against my skin. The cut stung, but it wasn’t deep enough to weaken me. If anything, the pain sharpened my focus, narrowed my world to this moment, this fight.
Beast roared again, drawing my attention. He’d pinned the alpha to the ground, massive jaws closing around its throat. The wolf thrashed and struggled, but Beast held firm until it went limp beneath him. The remaining wolves, seeing their leader fallen, began to retreat, slinking back toward the corrupted forest with tails tucked low.
I kept my branch raised until the last one disappeared from sight, then dropped it with hands that had begun to shake now that the immediate danger had passed. Beast limped toward me, his fur matted with blood in several places. A deep gash ran along his side, and one of his ears was torn.
“Thou art hurt,” I whispered, reaching for him with trembling fingers. I rarely used proper pronouns with him because for the longest time I didn’t know if he was a man. But now, this man deserved every level of respect from me.
As I touched his blood-soaked fur, something crystallized inside me. A realization so obvious I was stunned I hadn’t acknowledged it sooner. The thought of losing him, of seeing him torn apart by those wolves, had been unbearable. Not because he was my protector or because I needed him to survive in this cursed place, but because somewhere along the way, despite everything, I had fallen in love with him.
I loved Beast. The creature who had claimed me in the night. The being who brought me food and showed me wonders and treated me with more care than any human man ever had. The cursed royal trapped in a form not his own. I loved him, and the certainty of it struck me like physical pain.
“We need to get inside,” I said, my voice steadier than I felt. “Lean on me if thou must. I can support thee.”
Beast grunted but didn’t resist as I wrapped my arm around his massive form, taking some of his weight as we made our slow way back to the castle. The wound on his side looked worse up close, deep enough that I worried about how much blood he was losing. His steps grew more labored as we approached the doors, his breathing heavier.
“Just a little farther,” I encouraged, pushing open the castle door with my shoulder. “The sitting room. The fire will keep thee warm while I fetch what we need.”
I guided him to the hearth, where embers still glowed from the morning’s fire. I added logs quickly, stoking the flames until they leapt high enough to cast warm light across the room. Beast collapsed onto the rug with a whimper that tore at my heart.
“Don’t move,” I ordered, already heading for the door. “I’ll be right back.”
I flew down the corridor toward the kitchen, gathering supplies with frantic haste. Clean rags. A basin of water. Soap I’d made days earlier. And from a cabinet I’d discovered while exploring, a dusty bottle of what smelled like strong spirits, perfect for cleaning wounds.
