Bella's Beast by LeTeisha Newton Read Free Book Online Page A

life. That
her debt was, technically, already less by one million dollars. Money
didn’t make her want to take him in her arms again. The promise of freedom
didn’t drive her to taste his mouth once more. That was desire, pure and
simple, and a healthy sprinkling of an elusive emotion that she was just not
ready to acknowledge.
    Love
didn’t happen overnight. Did it?

Chapter Eight
     
    “It’s
getting late, Bella. We need to get out of the water,” Elijio said, eyes toward the windows as the sun went down.
    “Aw,
but I’m having too much fun. Tell me about you time in Paris again. Is it as
beautiful as they say?”
    “I’ll
tell you, after we get cleaned up and dressed for dinner.” Bella splashed him.
    “Don’t
mess up a good day, Elijio. Just come do a few more laps with me,” she said, her mouth in a pretty pout. What he could do with
those lips of hers. He shook his head, clearing the thought as he climbed from
the water. The change was already starting. He could feel it. With the coming
night the beast would be gone, and he’d be able to taste her again. That
spurned him on, happier for the pain of the transition in a way he hadn’t been
in a very long time.
    “Party
pooper,” Bella said but climbed from the pool, the water sluicing off her
frame. He wanted to be that water. He groaned, painfully, as his stomach
crapped. No, not yet , he begged.
    “What’s
wrong?” Bella asked, rushing to his side. He fell to his knees as thousands of
knives pierced his flesh at one time. He felt like his skin was too tight, as
if it would rip away at any moment. The pain, the witch had told him, would be
to remind him of her, every time he shifted. The plan, he was sure, backfired,
because it didn’t make him want to repent. It only made him hate her more. Made
him wish he’d torn her limb from pretty little limb, when she’d cursed him.
    “Elijio,
talk to me,” Bella said soothingly, and gripped his arms. Where her hands
touched they soothed the fire inside of him, but he couldn’t relish it. He was
howling, his body contorting and bones snapping until his fur fell away and he
was a man once more. He lay there, in Bella’s lap, as she wiped his brow and
ran her fingers through his hair.
    “Is
that how it always is?” she asked in a whisper.
    “Every
time I go from the wolf to the man,” Elijio gasped out.
    “That
bitch,” Bella cursed the witch.
    “My sentiments exactly.” He chuckled
painfully.
    “Every
night I am a man, and every day I am the beast, forever linked by the rising
and setting of the sun. It has become my nemesis during my existence. To think,
I’d once loved it.”
    “There
has to be a way to break this curse, Elijio. You can’t hope to live like this
forever. Don’t get me wrong, I kind of like the beast, but you shouldn’t be a
prisoner in your own body.”
    “It’s
my life, Bella. I’ve come to understand that.” He lifted his palm to her face,
and caressed her cheek.
    “But
you make it better,” he said with so much in his eyes she couldn’t fathom
exactly what it meant.

Chapter Nine
     
    The
days flew by. Bella explored Elijio’s home with him at her side. He had a large
library with every book she could imagine stocking the shelves and a computer
set up in the room that allowed her to have access to any online book she
didn’t have at her fingertips. He had a gym, a playroom with game systems that
she enjoyed, and a ballroom with a kick-ass sound system in it. They’d played
music all night and danced their asses off until he’d felt the change coming
and they’d went to his room. And Bella stayed by his side.
    He
never went through the change again by himself, and every day she felt like she
saw another side of him she hadn’t seen before. She found herself loving the
intelligence and strength of the beast, as much as she desired the touch of the
man. She didn’t know which one she’d fallen in love with first, but suddenly
she couldn’t imagine her life