The Beast And The Blessed

Sixteen: Natalie

Natalie’s P.O.V.

After collecting myself, I tried to leave the room, only to find the door sealed *. Joselin was surely the culprit, and I *cursed the witch. I could flick the lock back and forth and even turn the knob, but the door wouldn’t budge.

When I knocked on it and received a rhythmic tapping in return, I knew Tobias was at least out there, guarding me still. It helped me to feel like I wasn’t completely alone.

After the first two hours, I accepted that it was going to be a long night. I wasn’t sure when dinner would be arriving or if it would at all, and I could only hope that *an would at least make it home at a reasonable time.

After a long, hot shower, the sound of the bedroom door being slammed *made me jump, and I wrapped the towel around me in a hurry. I could hear things being thrown around the room, and I tiptoed to the door, peering out through the crack into the bedroom. *an stood with his hands gripping the edge of the dresser. The muscles in his back were moving, coiling, and tensing as he appeared to be fighting off the shift.

I had seen him angry before, but not like this. His reflection in the mirror showed that he was absolutely livid. His glowing red eyes were burning into the wood of the dresser top. I flinched as his arm swung out, and he knocked the candle from the wooden surface, the glass shattering as it collided with the wall next to my side of the bed.

The loud roar of anger that followed shook me to my core, but I wasn’t scared. I was deeply worried for him. All rational thought to escape the violent and angered beast vanished from my mind, and I pulled the bathroom door open and rushed toward him.

“*,” I called out softly, only an arm’s length away.

He didn’t have to say anything as he turned to face me, I stood there in my towel with my hair dripping on the floor, but he never looked away from my eyes. His chest was rising and falling rapidly, and his hands were clenched in fists.

was

bit of hesitation, and I moved forward to

my eyes *as I waited for the moment he would *down and push me off him. Instead, I

moment if I spoke

feet swaying beneath me as he moved. I pushed my chest against him harder, hoping to keep my towel up as he

arm of the chair. But I paused as *adjusted it for me, pulling it over my thigh and placing his hand on top to keep it from moving. He wasn’t even looking at me, and

“Is he okay?”

head on his chest while my hands rested over his on my leg. “He’s dead. The venom was too strong.

eyes widened as my hand tightened on his

all thought they were extinct. The Great War and the aftermath of the battle had made sure of that. Those poisonous leeches *the

of all species, chained up for their clans to feed from freely. The pleasure of being fed from them was rumored to be addicting, but the poison that sank

discovering the remains of

me in tighter as

his eyes. My right hand released his arm, and I found myself placing it over his heart. The pounding beneath his ribs was soothing but far too fast. As I rubbed my palm over his peck in an unhurried up-and-down motion, his heart began

that to him, but I also never expected that his touch would be able to keep me calm. It was something Jake had

sliding up and down over the towel on