Chapter 4: The Beast King 

POV: Valerian

She doesn't back down.

The guards still hold her arms with her feet barely touching the floor. Kova stands frozen behind her. And Aria, my impossible, infuriating mate, lifts her chin and meets my eyes like she's the one with power here.

Something in my chest pulls tight.

"Let her go," I say without looking away from her.

The guards release her immediately and she stumbles when her feet hit the floor, catching herself against the doorframe. Her hand grips the wood so tight her knuckles go white.

But she doesn't run.

I take another step closer and her breath hitches, just slightly, but I hear it.

"Everyone out," I say.

"My lord..." Kova starts.

"Now."

Kova hesitates with her eyes flicking between me and Aria, then she backs toward the door with her face tight with concern.

The guards follow and the door clicks shut behind them. The lock turns.

The sound makes Aria flinch.

We're alone now, just me and her and this impossible pull between us that gets stronger with every second.

She pushes off the doorframe and puts more distance between us. Her eyes track my every movement.

Smart girl.

"You can't keep me here," she says, and her voice only shakes a little.

"I can."

"That's kidnapping."

"That's territory law." I take another step and she takes one back. "You crossed into Shadowpeak. You were claimed by its king. You belong here now."

"I don't belong anywhere, and certainly not to you."

"Tell that to whatever's pulling me toward you right now."

"That's not..." She stops and swallows hard. "That's not real."

"Isn't it?" I move closer, slowly. "Then why can't I stay away from you? Why did I spend twenty years alone, and then you appear and suddenly I can't think about anything else?"

"That's just biology or magic or..."

"It's more than that, and you feel it too. Don't you?"

"No."

"Liar." I tilt my head. "Your heart just spiked. You can't lie to me, Aria. I hear everything."

Her jaw clenches. "That's not fair."

"Nothing about this is fair, but it is real. Whether you want it or not."

"I don't want it."

"Your mouth says one thing." I stop right in front of her. "Your body says something else entirely."

She backs up until her spine hits the wall.

Trapped.

I plant my hands on the wall on either side of her head and cage her in without touching.

"Let me go," she says.

"Where would you go?" I lean in, not touching but just close enough that she can feel the heat coming off my skin. "Back to your stepfather? To the Alpha who bought you? You'd rather go back to that than stay here?"

"I'd rather have a choice!"

"We don't get choices, not in this." My hands clench on the wall. "Do you think I chose to spend twenty years dying from a curse? Do you think I chose to feel like half of me was missing?"

Her eyes widen slightly.

"And then you appear," I continue, my voice dropping lower. "And for the first time in two decades, I can breathe. The rage that's been eating me alive goes quiet. The curse stops spreading. All because you exist."

"So what am I?" Her voice sharpens. "Your cure? Your magical fix?"

"You're the reason I'm still standing here as a man instead of a monster."

Something flickers across her face and I can't read it.

"That's not fair," she whispers. "You can't put that on me."

"I'm not putting anything on you. I'm telling you the truth." I lean closer until my forehead almost touches hers. "You walked into my territory bleeding and terrified, and something in me recognized you. Knew you. Like I'd been waiting my entire life for you to show up."

"Stop." Her hands come up and press against my chest. "Just stop."

But she's not pushing me away. Her palms flatten against my skin, warm and soft.

The touch shoots through me like lightning and my breath catches. My eyes want to close, want to just feel her touching me.

Gods, I'm in trouble.

"You should move your hands," I say through gritted teeth.

"Why?" Her eyes meet mine, challenging. "Afraid you'll lose control?"

"Yes."

The honesty catches her off guard and her hands start to pull back.

I catch her wrists gently and press her palms back against my chest.

"But I didn't tell you to stop."

Her eyes go wide.

I can feel my heartbeat hammering under her hands, can feel the way her fingers tremble against my skin.

"Your heart," she whispers. "It's racing."

"Of course it is. You're touching me."

"That doesn't..." She swallows. "That doesn't make sense."

"Doesn't it?" I release her wrists but keep my hands on the wall, trapping her without touching. "Haven't you noticed? Every time I'm near you, your breathing changes. Your pulse speeds up. You can't stop yourself from looking at me."

"That's not..."

"It is. And it's the same for me." I lean in and let my nose trace the line of her throat without touching, just close enough for her to feel my breath. "Your scent drives me insane. Your heartbeat is the only sound I hear when you're in a room. I can't think straight when you're near me."

She gasps and the sound is small and helpless.

It nearly breaks me.

"Twenty years ago," I say against her skin, "I rejected my fated mate. Refused what we could have been because I was afraid of a prophecy. She died from it. The severed connection killed her within days."

Aria goes very still.

"I've been cursed ever since. My beast growing stronger, more violent. I was becoming more monster than man, and I accepted it. Thought I deserved it." I pull back just enough to look at her face. "Then you appeared and everything changed."

"I didn't ask for this," she says quietly.

"Neither did I."

"Then let me go."

"I can't." My hands clench on the wall and claws extend, digging into stone. "You think I haven't tried to stay away? You think I want to feel like this? Like I'll die if you're not near me?"

Her breath catches.

"But I do," I continue. "I feel it. This pull. Like gravity. Like drowning. Like nothing I've ever felt before." I lean in again with my lips hovering over her pulse. "And you feel it too."

"I don't..."

"You do." My voice drops to barely more than a growl. "Why else are you trembling right now? Why else can't you look away from me?"

"Because you're terrifying."

"Am I?" I pull back and look at her eyes. They're dilated with pupils blown wide. "Fear smells different, Aria. This isn't fear."

"Then what is it?"

"You tell me."

She opens her mouth, closes it. Her hands are still pressed against my chest and I can feel her pulse through her palms.

"I don't know," she finally whispers.

"Yes, you do." I let one hand leave the wall and trail down her arm, slow, watching her face. "You feel drawn to me. Even when you don't want to be. Even when you're angry and scared and planning ways to escape. Something inside you reaches for me."

"That's not..." Her voice cracks. "You don't know what I feel."

"Don't I?" My hand reaches her waist and stops there. "Your breathing changes when I'm close. Your skin flushes. Your eyes keep dropping to my mouth even when you're trying not to look."

Her gaze snaps up from my lips.

Caught.

"See?" I lean in with my forehead resting against the wall beside her head. "You can deny it all you want, but your body knows the truth."

"What truth?"

"That you're mine and I'm yours. And fighting it only makes it worse."

"I'm not yours," she says, but her voice lacks conviction now.

"No?" I turn my head until my lips are barely an inch from her ear. "Then why is your free hand gripping my arm right now?"

She freezes and looks down. Her hand has wrapped around my bicep, holding on.

She releases me like I've burned her.

"That doesn't mean anything."

"It means everything." I pull back enough to look at her face. "Every time I'm near you, you lean toward me. Every time I touch you, you stop breathing. Every time our eyes meet, you can't look away."

"Stop analyzing me."

"I can't help it. You're all I think about."

The admission hangs between us, raw and honest.

Her eyes search my face, looking for lies maybe, or tricks.

She won't find any.

"Why me?" she asks quietly. "I'm nobody. I'm human. I don't even understand what I am to you."

"You're everything." The words come out rougher than I intend. "You're the reason I'm still sane. The reason I haven't let my beast consume me completely. You walked into my life and gave me something I haven't had in twenty years."

"What?"

"Hope."

Her breath catches and her eyes go soft for just a moment.

Then she shakes her head. "You can't put that kind of pressure on me. I can't be responsible for..."

"You're not responsible for anything except existing." I lean in close enough that our lips almost touch. "But now that you do exist in my world, I can't let you go. Won't let you go. Even if you hate me for it."

"I don't hate you."

The words slip out before she can stop them.

My heart kicks hard against my ribs.

"No?" I ask softly.

"No. I just..." She struggles for words. "I don't know what I feel. Everything is too fast. Too intense. I can't think straight when you're near me."

"Good. Then we're even."

"This isn't funny."

"I'm not laughing." I let my hand move from her waist to her face and cup her cheek. My palm covers the entire side of her face. "But I am trying very hard not to kiss you right now."

Her eyes go wide. "Don't."

"Why not?"

"Because I..." She swallows hard. "Because if you do, I won't be able to think at all."

"Would that be so bad?"

"Yes!"

"Why?"

"Because I need to think! I need to figure out what's real and what's just..." She gestures between us. "This pull or magic or whatever you want to call it."

"It's real. All of it."

"How do you know?"

"Because I've lived two hundred and forty-eight years, and I've never felt anything like this." I lean down and let my nose brush hers. "Because when I found you in that forest, bleeding and terrified, something in me broke open. Something I thought died with Saskia. And I knew, I knew, that you were mine."

"You keep saying that."

"Because it's true."

"But what if I don't want to be yours?" Her voice is barely a whisper now.

"Then you're lying to yourself."

"You're so arrogant."

"I'm honest." My thumb brushes her cheekbone. "Tell me you don't feel it. Look me in the eyes and tell me you don't feel pulled toward me. That you don't think about me. That you don't wonder what it would be like if you just gave in."

Her mouth opens, closes. No words come out.

"You can't, can you?" I lean in with my lips hovering over hers. "Because you do feel it. You do think about me. You do wonder."

"Stop." But the word has no force behind it.

"Make me."

Her eyes flash with anger mixing with something else, something that makes my control splinter.

Her hand moves so fast I almost don't see it coming.

The slap cracks across my face, hard and sharp, and my head snaps to the side.