Beast of Mine (Completed)

Chapter XXX

Ray watched the maiden on his bed. He had gotten up in the early hours because he just could not shut his eyes. But, watching Ana Matthews brought him comfort.

He hadn't used this room in ages. The newly furnished room and it was all Ana's doing. This room was a wreck, if he remembered correctly. He rubbed his eyes with his hand and pinched the bridge of his nose.

Theresa. The very woman he hoped never to face again. She was the reason he had lost all confidence, all charm. All because he fell in love with the wrong woman. Well, he thought it love at the time. He was naïve and young; never had he thought she were a witch. She tricked him into thinking he loved her; giving him a potion that cursed his movements. Making her in control of all his movements. She had used him for her own use. The thing was, he would've done anything for the woman had she asked.

He shook his head, now was not the time to think of hid past with Theresa. Right now he needed to find a way to keep his Little Doe away from him and away from Theresa's wrath. There was no telling what Theresa would do to Ana for staying with him. He knew this and yet, the thought of losing her was like dying and living only to repeat the same outcome. It was excruciatingly brutal.

Ana turned in her sleep, her backside exposed completely to him and he groaned in approval, his thick shaft hardening from the sight. He let his eyes roam about her backside until he decided to get up and cover her with the blankets she had discarded earlier. He pulled the heavy blanket over her and stilled his movements. His eyes were locked with the black spot on the middle of her back. He had seen every inch of her skin and there had never been a mole on her back. It did not even look like a mole, it was just a black spot right in the center, no bigger than a coin.

Ray Lorenzo growled in anger and exited the room as quietly as he could. Far away from the room Ana was in, Ray called her.

"Theresa!" He snarled.

She appeared in a cloud of gray smoke, smirking at his distress.

"What did you do to her?!" He demanded.

"Nothing really. I only cursed her entire body," She spoke innocently, as if it were nothing.

"What do you mean?"

"For every moment you are with her, Ray Lorenzo, that black spot will spread and cover her in it until her last breath. It will spread like the roots of a tree on her skin, covering her completely as she withers in pain and gasps for air," Theresa sneered.

Ray clenched his jaw. He truly was a beast for letting this happen to his sweet Doe, his sweet beauty.

"You really thought I was going to let her be, Lorenzo?" She laughed. "You betrayed me, my Beast. I will have you back and you will be mine again. Or would you like for your precious Beauty to suffer for your mistake?"

"Lift the curse off her, Theresa," He ordered.

She came closer to him, her slender fingers spanning his chest while the other summoned a mirror on a cloud of smoke. The mirror reflected back as the beast he was. With scars and marks up and down his face and some down his neck.

He looked away from his reflection. There was a reason there were no mirrors in his manor and it was because of his marred face.

"Look into the mirror Ray." she chimed.

The beast was gone and in place was the man he once was.

"Do you not want his curse lifted? Come back to me, Ray." Theresa moved closer, her lips almost touching his until Lorenzo pushed her away.

Theresa sneered, "You will pay dearly, Beast! And it'll be your wench who will feel it!" Theresa vanished in a cloud of grey smoke.

The moment she left he heard screaming. He ran to his Little Doe immediately, as if time were slipping by with no way of stopping it. He burst through the door and saw his Little Doe huddled beside the bed and knelt over. Ray raked through her naked body, the spot had released black roots like the ones Theresa mentioned. He did not know what to do, he was worried and frightened he'd lose her.

Ana shivered beneath him. He took the coverlets and placed them on her. He has to stay away from her. It was the only way he can save her from Theresa's wrath, but he could not leave her alone back to her village. No, Theresa would use her against him again as she already has.

Ray immediately thought of something. There was no time to waste.

Dorian was frustrated and angry and a bit confused. Ana had utterly chosen Ray over him. How was that possible? Dorian rubbed his temples. Did she not see what he was? His eyes widened in shock. He was thinking horribly about his cousin. He was really thinking his cousin was a beast! The shame! How could he? All over a woman?

Dorian sighed and took a sip from his drink. He had his things ready and he was prepared to leave. Ray would be most willing to teach her how to dance. Dorian's chest hurt, no, it ached with so much pain.

The door flew open and in his room was now a concerned Ray. Dorian had never seen this kind of look upon his cousins face at all. Ray took one glance in Dorian's room and spoke;

"You're leaving; excellent."

Dorian's face fell. "Thank you, Cousin."

"No, that is not what I meant." He gave Dorian a pained look before he spoke again, "Theresa's back."

Dorian sucked in a breath. Ray had told his cousin all about the curse when he came for a surprise visit. Theresa cursed Ray when he was able to get away from her by making her drink a certain potion Ray created.

"She cursed Ana and I need you to take her with you. As far away from me as possible."

"How will that solve a thing?" Dorian asked his Cousin.

"The curse Theresa placed on her was to prevent me from being with her. Ana will suffer slowly and painfully if she is not away from me."

Dorian sighed, "Cousin, I have seen the way Miss Matthews looks at you. I can assure you she does not want to be away from you."

"I do not give a damn what it is she wants. I need her away. Theresa will kill her, Dorian. I do not want her suffering from my mistake."

"You made no mistake. Getting away from Theresa was the most brilliant thing you can think of; it is she who needs to come to terms you do not want her," Dorian stated.

"Please, Dorian. I need you to take her away."

Before Dorian could object, his cousin's lifeless eyes spoke to him. Concern and pain etched across his face. Never had he seen Dorian show this kind of emotion. He was hard, serious; Ana had changed him.

"Answer me this; do you love her?"

Ray Lorenzo paused. The one thing he swore he'd never do since his mother and father and Theresa had failed in doing so.

"I love her, Dorian."

"Then I will take her away," he spoke.

The words stabbed him in the heart with such brutal force he almost roared in pain.