Beauty and the Beast: an erotic re-imagining (5 page)

“I’m sorry, Beast,” she called as she flew up the stairs out of dungeon.

Beast held his hand over the bleeding wound on his chest. Where had she gotten a weapon? And worse, why had she left him, right when things were starting to get interesting?

He was torn between rushing after her, or letting her go. Perhaps keeping her prisoner was a bad idea.

But it had been a decade since he’d become the Beast, and this was his first—possibly last—opportunity to get to know a woman without having her run screaming.

Which, of course, is exactly what Belle had just done.

The moon shone brightly through the cell window. Nighttime. The wolves would be out.

While he was safe from wolves, little Belle would be in danger. He had to go find her, and worry about whether he’d keep her or not until after she was safe from harm.

She still had her weapon with her…a saw of some sort. When he rescued her, she might cut his head off with the damn thing.

The idea didn’t bother him as much as he thought it would. If he couldn’t have her, he might as well give up hope of ever changing, and die a Beast.

***

Belle ran through the cavernous front hall. “Open the door,” she cried to the fairies. “Please, open the door!”

The door flew open and Belle tumbled out into the dark night. She ran blindly, her only goal to get as far away from the castle as possible.

“Fairies, I need a horse,” she said.

Nothing happened. The fairies were fickle, it seemed. So she ran on.

She’d cut the Beast badly. Was he okay? Her conscience tugged at her, but she tamped it down. She’d had a chance to escape, with him so close and her hand gripping the handle of the saw—so she’d taken it. When he bared his fangs at her, she knew he’d eat her alive, no matter what protestations he made on the matter. Even if he’d done incredible things to her body with those big hands of his.

Cutting him and fleeing was the right thing to do. The
only
thing to do.

Hideous howling and growling surrounded her in the dark forest. She gasped, freezing on the spot, afraid to move lest she betray her location to the Beast.

The growling came closer. Not the Beast—no—wolves!

Belle screamed and swung her saw around her in a circle, trying to make herself as big and threatening as she could. But the wolves knew they outnumbered her. Her frantic posturing did nothing to keep them at bay.

ROARRRRR

Belle turned to the sound behind her. The Beast!

“Get behind me,” he roared. “Now.”

She scrambled to obey, fearing for her life.

One wolf jumped at the Beast, and he gnashed his teeth, sending it tumbling to the ground. The Beast bared his bloody fangs to the pack, his own growls overtaking those of the wolves.

Finally (
thank the Lord!
) the wolves scampered off into the woods.

Belle gripped the saw in her hands. The Beast swiveled and knocked it from her grasp to the forest floor. She cried out in surprise.

He picked her up, throwing her over his broad shoulder. She screamed again, frightened to be so high up off the ground, and he was moving so fast, sprinting back to the castle.

“Beast, I’m sorry I hurt you,” she wailed, certain he was carrying her to her death. But he said nothing in reply.

When they got back to the castle, the Beast set her down in front of him on the stone.

“Are you all right?” Beast asked, his expression filled with concern.

Not what she’d been expecting. “Um…I’m quite all right I think, thank you. I mean…thank you, for saving me.”

He grunted.

“I’m…I’m sorry I cut you,” she added weakly. “Please don’t eat me.”

“For the last time, Belle, I will not eat you!”

Belle trembled. “Thank you.”

“You deserve to be spanked for pulling a stunt like that,” he growled.

She hadn’t received a threat like that since she was a child.

“It’s not my fault,” she said. “You confused me. First you made me feel so…amazing—that thing you did to me—but then you scared me half to death and I —I just want to go home. I can’t stay your prisoner forever. I’d rather die.”

She looked up, expecting to see anger, but instead, he looked sad.

“You’d rather die than live with me?” he asked softly.

Was this a test? If she answered yes, would he eat her?

“I can’t stand the thought of being here forever, and never seeing my Papa again. That’s all,” she whispered.

“I’m sorry, Belle,” he said. “I know what it’s like to be imprisoned, to want to be set free.”

“Someone…someone imprisoned you?”

“Yes.” He paused, as if surprised by his own words. “That’s why I need you to stay. Why I can’t let you go.”

“Please, sir,” she said. “I’ll do anything if you’ll give me my freedom.”

The Beast bared his fangs and she cried out.

“I apologize,” he said. “That’s just…that’s what I look like when I smile. No need to fear.”

“That’s your smile?” she gasped. “I thought you were going to eat me.”

Beast shook his head, his mane flowing down his muscular back. “If you say that one more time I will eat you just to shut you up.”

When he bared his teeth again, Belle held her ground. “You’re smiling again, aren’t you?”

“I am.”

“Well. So glad my terror amuses you.” She crossed her arms and stared at him defiantly.

“I won’t eat you,” Beast repeated emphatically. “But you wounded me and you broke your word, you ran away. You could have been killed by those wolves.”

“I’m sorry,” she whispered, gazing at the bloody laceration across his muscular chest. “Does it hurt?”

“Yes,” he said, his voice gruff. “Come here.”

Belle stood frozen, afraid to go to him. What would happen?

“Bend over the table,” he ordered, pointing to the marble table holding a vase of roses in the middle of the foyer. The cut roses hadn’t been there yesterday.

She eyed him warily. “Why?”

“Why do you think, Belle?” He raised his heavy brow, and once again she was shocked to discover how…
human
his beautiful, intense eyes were.

“You’re going to spank me,” she said softly. “I suppose I deserve it. I thought you were going to kill me for wounding you and running away when you brought me back here. I’d much prefer a spanking if it will put us on friendlier terms.”

“Enough talk. You’re stalling.”

Belle hadn’t been spanked in years, and never by a creature who was twice her height and probably four times her weight. Never by a creature, period. His huge hands looked strong and hard.

“Please Beast, don’t hurt me,” she whispered, leaning over the marble table to brace herself. “I’m sorry I cut you with the saw.”

“I fully intend to hurt you, Belle,” the Beast said. “But I would never
harm
you. Unlike when you tried to kill me with your saw, I am merely punishing you with a little spanking.”

Belle shut her eyes, knowing he was smiling, baring his fangs. She could hear it in his voice. It was almost as if he relished the chance to spank her. His large, warm hands lifted her dress, draping it over her back.

She’d never felt so vulnerable, with her naked bottom bared to the empty room. Not even when he’d played with her most intimate areas had she felt this vulnerable. That at least had been pleasurable. This…this frightened her.

The Beast caressed her ass, and she gasped at the contact.

“Hold still, beauty,” he said.

With a hard swat, he spanked her, his hand spanning both cheeks at once.

Belle cried out, more in surprise than pain. Not just pain—humiliation. How dare this Beast treat her like a child?

He spanked her again, harder this time. Heat radiated off her flesh and she knew her skin reddened under his touch.

“Don’t run away again,” Beast growled, spanking her bare ass faster, building a rhythm that left her breathless, gasping, whimpering.

“I won’t, Beast, I swear I won’t!” She would swear anything at this point, anything to make him stop. Because now, it hurt.
Hell and damnation
it hurt.

He paused. “You gave me your word when I released your father. How can I trust you now?”

She looked over her shoulder at him, her hands still pressed against the cool marble table. “I don’t know. I don’t want to be your prisoner…forever.”

“Are you suggesting that if there were a time limit, you’d be able to truly give your word, that’d you stay?” Beast asked slowly. “If I didn’t ask for forever?”

God,
was he giving her a way out?

“Yes, Beast. I can tolerate anything if I know I’ll be back home soon, if I can hold onto that hope.”

Beast bared his fangs, and she cringed.

“Y-you’re smiling,” she said. It might take her a while to get used to that.

“I am. I have a proposition for you.” He gently smoothed her skirt back over burning bottom, and turned her around to face him. “I haven’t had a woman in my bed for a very long time. If you’d be willing to sleep with me, I’d reduce your lifetime imprisonment to one short year.”

Belle gasped, both at the idea of sleeping with him, and the idea of a life sentence being reduced to a year.

“You’d crush me to death,” she said, looking up at his towering hulk.

“I would not. Wasn’t I very gentle with you earlier, in your cell, when I made you feel so amazing, as you put it? Right before you—”

Right before she cut him and ran. Yes, she could recall something like that happening.

“It’s really not ‘willing’ if I must bed you for my freedom,” she pointed out.

“Forget I said anything,” he growled. “I’ll see you safely to your cell.”

“Wait!” She paused, frantic, not willing to give up her one chance of freedom. And also not willing to give up a very rational excuse for having more experiences like the one he’d given her earlier. “Three months. Then I can go.”

“Six months, and you do everything I say.”

“It’s—It’s a deal, Beast.” She sighed. “I’m yours for six months. And then you set me free and you forget all about me and my Papa.”

Beast smiled. Yes…definitely a smile. “I very much doubt I will ever forget you, beauty. But I’ll never harm you.”

Her thoughts immediately flew to her sore bottom, at the way he spanked her so thoroughly. Although, it was as he said. He’d hurt her, he had not harmed her. She would remember her punishment when she sat down for a day or two, but it wasn’t like he’d crippled her.

Or ate her. That was something to be grateful for.

Beast looked around his castle as though seeing it for the first time. “I suppose, if you’ll be staying awhile, we could arrange more suitable sleeping quarters for you.”

“In your bed,” she guessed.

“You’ll have your own suite.” He spoke louder, and Belle realized he was probably summoning the fairies. “Belle will need a suite, with a four poster bed, a bath, dresses in the armoire, and a fire ready for her.”

“The fairies can do all that?” she asked.

“Fairies?” He shook his head and began to say something, but it just sounded like growling to her.

“Pardon?”

“Never mind. If you’d like to believe we have a fairy infestation, then by all means. Believe what you will.” Beast gestured for her to follow him up the stairs and into the west wing of the castle.

She followed, mesmerized by the glorious tapestries and paintings that adorned the long hallways. Where had a beast gotten such wealth?

One oil painting, of a young man, about her age perhaps, caught her eye. His handsome face seemed to draw her in. Belle stopped in front of it, gazing at the portrait.

“He’s beautiful,” she whispered.

“Thank you,” Beast said. “I mean…I’m glad you appreciate the art in my castle.”

There was something familiar about the young man’s intense green eyes.

“Do I—do I know him?” she asked.

“Perhaps. You would have been a child when this portrait was taken.”

She looked at the inscription on the gold plaque beneath the portrait. It said “Prince Frederick,” and was dated ten years prior. That would have been when she was nine years old, and certainly never out and about, gazing into handsome princes’ green eyes.

“I suppose I don’t,” she said.

For some reason the thought made her sad. What had become of that young man? Perhaps the portrait was from another country. She’d never heard of a Prince Frederick before.

Beast kept walking down the corridor, so she followed.

“I imagine you ate everyone who lived in this castle,” Belle said. “That’s why they aren’t here, and…you are.”

Beast whirled around, and she was so caught off guard that she stumbled against his enormous chest.

“I’m sorry,” she gasped.

“That is not what happened.”

“The painting was ten years ago. Ten years ago, you changed. You told me so. I was merely…taking an educated guess.”

“There was nothing educated about it,” Beast said. “And if you’ll be staying under my roof for the next six months, you might want to reconsider playing guessing games if you want us to get along.”

She put her hand to her mouth. “I apologize.”

“We’re here.” He stopped in front of a large door, with the words “Belle’s Suite” etched into a small silver placard on the door. “If you need anything—”

“I’ll just ask the fairies,” she finished for him.

“Um, yes. Exactly.”

“Will I be sleeping…uninterrupted?” She blushed as she spoke the words, but she had to know if he’d be taking her up on their deal tonight.

“Dawn is almost here. Sleep as late as you’d like. I won’t bother you until you come to me.”

“But…what if I
never
choose to…come to you?”

Beast raised his heavy brow. “Your six months begins when you do. Take as long as you need.”

He held opened the door to her suite and she stepped inside, reveling at the sight of the large four poster bed with the flowing white linens, the glowing warmth of the fire burning in the fireplace, and most of all…the roses. They were everywhere, the scent beckoning her.

“Good night, beauty.”

***

Belle shut the door behind her, pressing her ear to the wood until she could hear the Beast’s heavy footsteps continue down the hall. The suite was far more luxurious than even the home she’d lived in with her Papa, before he lost all of his wealth. She went to the bath, which was already filled with steaming hot water. Rose petals floated on the top of the water.