The Fairy Tales Collection Read online

  “Like hell we aren’t. Tell your friends to get out of my way or I’ll scream.”

  She crossed her arms over her ample chest and glared at the men blocking her way. They glanced over her head at Marty and when she felt his meaty hand wrap around her arm, she screamed shrilly.

  He cursed and pushed her up against the wall before clamping his hand over her mouth. “Jesus, Ella, why do you have to be such a drama queen? All I want to do is talk for one goddamn minute and you owe me the courtesy of – “

  There was an angry roar and Marty’s eyes widened as his friends were shoved aside and the blond-haired man stalked into the hallway. His hand tightened briefly on her mouth and then Duncan was ripping Marty away from her and throwing him against the wall. He squeezed his hand around Marty’s throat and Ella watched wide-eyed as he growled deep in his throat.

  “You dare to touch what is mine?”

  Marty, his face going a bright red, clawed at Duncan’s hand.

  “Duncan! Look out!” Ella’s thin scream came too late and she watched in horror as Marty’s friends jumped on him. They knocked him to the floor and fell on him as Marty staggered away from the wall and grabbed her arm. She slapped him across the face and he made a hoarse shout of pain as Belle, her large chest heaving beneath her sensible cardigan, bolted into the hallway.

  “Ella! Ella, are you okay?”

  “Belle!”

  “Son of a bitch!” Belle cried and Ella cringed when, without hesitating, her best friend jumped on Marty. Her considerable weight drove him to the floor and she punched him in the face. He shouted in surprise before shoving her off of him. Belle hit the floor, her head bouncing off the hard tile and her glasses flying off her face. Ella screamed again as Marty clambered to his knees. Breathing heavily, he touched his bleeding nose and snarled, “You stupid bitch!”

  He balled his hand into a fist and Ella, her legs shaking madly, latched onto his arm and raked her nails down his hairy forearm. He howled with pain and shoved her back into the wall with his other arm before raising his fist again. Before he could drive it into Belle’s face, a large hand gripped his wrist.

  Marty stared up at the bear of a man standing beside him. “Let go of me, man. Let go of me right now or so help me God, I’ll – “

  The man, his face serene, twisted his hand and Ella flinched when Marty’s wrist broke with a sharp crack. He screamed in agony and the man grabbed him by his hair and flung him from Belle with an easy strength.

  Belle, her head ringing, squinted at the man leaning over her. He put his large hands around her waist and lifted her from the floor as easily as a child. He set her on her feet and wrapped one heavily-muscled arm around her generous waist.

  He cupped her face as she tipped her head back as far as it would go and stared up at him. His eyes, the familiar colour of dark chocolate, stared anxiously at her.

  “Are you hurt?” He asked.

  “You,” Belle whispered. “It’s really you.”

  “Are you hurt?” He asked again as there was a low roar of anger behind them.

  She shook her head and he gently pushed her next to Ella before turning and lifting two of the men from the squirming pile of bodies on the floor next to him. He shoved them down the hallway before shouting, “Leave now!”

  They turned and ran as Duncan, blood pouring from his lip, knocked the final man off of him and leaped to his feet. He kicked the man in the ribs and he squealed once before grabbing his side and curling into a ball. Duncan pushed his way past Bennett and grabbed Marty’s arm. He hauled him to his feet and shoved him back against the wall.

  “If you touch her again, I will kill you. Do you understand?”

  Marty whimpered in pain and Duncan shook him roughly. “Do you understand?”

  “Yes!” Marty screamed as tears and snot dripped down his face.

  Duncan gave him a look of disgust as Bennett said, “Let him go, Duncan.”

  He released the man, wiping his hands on his jeans as Marty staggered down the hallway and disappeared. Kevin and one of the bouncers were standing at the end of the hallway and Bennett raised one dark eyebrow at them.

  “Everything’s fine.”

  “You need to leave,” Kevin said with a nervous glance at his companion. “Or Gaston’s gonna call the cops.”

  Bennett cocked his head at him. “Kevin, isn’t that right?”

  “Yeah,” Kevin replied. “Do I know you?”

  Bennett gave him a hard grin and Kevin took a step back, his eyes widening. “Do I know you, buddy?”

  “I was your punching bag for a brief period of time when we were children,” Bennett said before stepping closer. “For you and your gang of friends.”

  Kevin backed away. “That – that was a long time ago.”

  Bennett studied him silently before cracking his knuckles. “Indeed. It was good to see you again, Kevin.”

  “Y-you too,” Kevin whispered.

  “Tell your boss we’ll be leaving in a moment,” Bennett said as Duncan stalked angrily back and forth in the hallway.

  “You need to leave right now,” the bouncer said before swallowing thickly.

  “Give us a minute,” Bennett growled.

  Kevin grabbed the bouncer’s arm. “It-it’s fine, Mickey. Give them a minute.”

  They turned and scurried out of the hallway and Belle snorted soft laughter before shouting, “Thanks for your help, assholes!”

  She slung her arm around Ella. “Are you okay, honey?”

  Rowan rushed into the hallway. “What the hell just happened?” She put her arm around Ella from the other side and stared at the pacing Duncan.

  Ella didn’t reply and Belle squinted at her best friend. She was staring at Duncan and the two of them watched as he curled his hands into fists before hitting the wall.

  “Calm yourself, Duncan,” Bennett said quietly.

  “Calm myself?” Duncan snarled at him before wiping the blood from his mouth. His jaw was covered in a thick golden scruff and Belle felt more than heard Ella’s gasp when his gaze fell on them. Duncan’s eyes were a glowing dark yellow and she squeezed Ella reassuringly as Duncan made an actual growl.

  “He touched what is mine and only mine to touch,” he snarled again at Bennett. “I should have killed him.”

  “Leave, Duncan,” Bennett said. There was a mild note of alarm in his voice and Belle pressed her mouth against Ella’s ear.

  “Is it just me or is Duncan getting bigger?”

  “I – that’s impossible,” Ella whispered just as the seams of Duncan’s t-shirt tore with a soft purr.

  “Duncan!” Bennett said sharply. “Control yourself!”

  “She is mine!” Duncan hissed at him. “Do you hear me, Bennett?”

  “Yes,” Bennett said. “But you need to go before you do something you regret.”

  “I will not leave her,” Duncan snapped.

  “I will see her home safely, my friend. I promise you,” Bennett said softly before resting a cautious hand on Duncan’s bulging upper arm. “Go home. We will speak tomorrow.”

  Duncan glanced briefly at Ella before shaking off Bennett’s hand. “Do not touch her, Bennett. We are friends but if I find out that you placed so much as a finger on her, I will tear out your throat.”

  “I’m not going to touch her,” Bennett said calmly. “You know I won’t. Now go, you’re scaring her.”

  Duncan’s gaze snapped back to Ella and he seemed to shrink a little at the sight of her pale face and trembling lips.

  “Fuck!” He stalked out of the hallway.

  Bennett sighed deeply before bending and snagging Belle’s glasses from the floor. He handed them to her and she shoved them onto her face before blinking up at him.

  “Hello, Ben.”

  “Hello, Mirabelle.”

  * * *

  Belle stepped out of her car. Bennett had insisted on following her home and she waited nervously by her car as he shut off his truck and climbed out. Belle had driven
Ella home but she had been quiet and withdrawn. She had squeezed Belle’s hand before leaving the car and climbing the steps to her apartment over her stepmother’s garage.

  “Mirabelle? Are you sure you’re not hurt?” Bennett was standing next to her now and she craned her head to stare at him. He was massive with broad shoulders and a thick neck and she swallowed down the trickle of lust that went through her.

  “You’re so big,” she whispered.

  I bet he’s big everywhere.

  Her face flamed and Bennett gave her a curious look. “I’m sorry?”

  “I uh, I said you’ve grown a lot since the last time I saw you.”

  He shrugged. “Yeah, I started sprouting up when I was about twelve. Come on, I’ll walk you to your door.”

  They walked silently up the broken sidewalk to the front door of her trailer. She was suddenly ashamed at the state of it. It desperately needed repairs but they just couldn’t afford it. Not with her dad spending all of his money on booze. Her librarian salary had barely kept them fed and paid the bills.

  “This is, uh, nice,” Bennett said.

  She laughed. “Yeah, it isn’t but what are you going to do, right?”

  They stood awkwardly for a moment before she smiled at him. “When did you get back?”

  “A couple of weeks ago,” he replied.

  “Are you just visiting or…”

  She trailed off and he shook his head. “No, I’m back for good.”

  A fierce little rush of pleasure went through her. “Good, I’m glad.”

  “Are you?” He asked.

  “Yes, why wouldn’t I be?”

  “I almost got you killed when we were kids.”

  “No, you saved my life.”

  He started to protest but the light touch of her hand on his arm made him stutter to a stop. “Thank you for the roses, Bennett. I looked forward to them all year.”

  “You’re welcome,” he said gruffly.

  “How did you know I worked at the library?” She asked.

  Now it was his turn to blush. God, this was awkward. He should have realized she would ask him that but, of course, he hadn’t actually planned on seeing her again.

  Right, because she would have been easy to avoid in a town of twelve hundred people. Idiot.

  Fairly confident that Belle wouldn’t like knowing that he had basically Internet stalked her for years, he said, “Uh, I remembered you liked books. Figured you’d get a job at the library.”

  She frowned at him. “But how did you even know I was still living here?”

  Starting to sweat, he groped desperately for a believable answer. “I kept in touch with Duncan.”

  “Oh, right. He never mentioned it to me,” she said.

  He cleared his throat as she smiled up at him. “Why did you come back after all this time?”

  “A year ago my parents were on holiday in Panama and they did a sight-seeing tour in one of those smaller planes. It crashed and they died. I found out in my father’s will that he had never sold our house here. I missed living here so after the estate stuff was finished, I decided to move back.”

  “Oh, Bennett.” She was giving him a clear look of sympathy and his dick twitched when she stepped forward until her breasts were brushing against his arm. She squeezed his shoulder. “I’m so sorry.”

  His bear made a soft growl of happiness and he was about two seconds from picking her up and carrying her into her run-down trailer. She could show him exactly how sorry she was in the sweetest way possible. She would be soft and warm and those lush curves of her would cushion his body as he took her – again and again until she was his and only his.

  He bit the inside of his cheek until he tasted the metallic tang of blood and took a step away from her. Shit, he needed to get control. She was trying to comfort him over his parents’ deaths and all he could think about was getting her naked.

  “Bennett? Are you okay?”

  He nodded and she squeezed his shoulder again. “I really am very sorry. You must miss them terribly.”

  “I do,” he said hoarsely.

  She reached for his hand and linked their fingers together. He squeezed it tightly and cursed inwardly when a grimace of pain flashed across her face.

  “I’m sorry.”

  “That’s okay.” She smiled at him. “You’re pretty strong, huh?”

  He shrugged. “Yeah, I work out a lot.”

  A complete lie but he had to say something to explain his size and his strength.

  “Why did you leave, Bennett?” She suddenly whispered. “I got out of the hospital and my dad said you and your parents had packed up and left without saying anything. Why?”

  “Uh, there was a family emergency,” he said. “We had to leave and we just – it never worked out for us to come back.”

  “A family emergency,” she said softly.

  He nodded and she cocked her head at him, biting at her bottom lip in a way that made him want to lean down and nibble at it instead.

  “So it wasn’t because I told everyone that you were a bear?”

  He cleared his throat again. “Uh, no. Why, uh, why would you think I’m a bear?”

  “Because you are,” she said softly.

  “I’m not,” he replied. “That day in the woods, you were injured and scared and confused.”

  “No, I wasn’t,” she said steadily. “I remember everything about that day, Bennett. I remember Kevin and his gang beating you up and that we walked through the forest together. I remember the rose bush.”

  A small smile crossed her face. “You picked a flower for me and pricked your finger. The bleeding stopped after only a few seconds. Then, when the cougar attacked us, you turned into a bear.”

  “I didn’t,” he rasped. “Mirabelle, I’m not a – a bear.”

  She tugged her hand free and gave him a look of such unbearable sadness that it made his chest tighten. “Do you know that this entire town thinks I’m crazy? Even the children at the library know the story of crazy Miss Vale who thinks that people can turn into bears. I spent the first five years desperately trying to convince anyone who would listen to me that you had turned into a bear. I was teased at school. Hell even adults teased me until I finally stopped talking about it. It was too late though. People in small towns never forget, do they? I’ve spent most of my life being laughed at and called crazy behind my back. I told myself I didn’t care because I knew the truth and so did you.”

  She closed her eyes as pain flickered across her face. “Now, eighteen years later you’re back in my life. Only, you’re telling me you’re not a bear after all. All this time I really have just been crazy.”

  “Mirabelle,” he whispered. “You’re not – “

  “MY BONNIE LIES OVER THE OCEAN! MY BONNIE LIES OVER THE SEA!”

  Bennett turned and stared at the man staggering up the sidewalk. He moved instinctively in front of Belle as his bear growled angrily. The man tripped and fell to his knees, his singing cutting out abruptly and he heard Belle sigh behind him.

  “Oh, daddy.”

  She ducked around him and walked quickly to the fallen man before squatting next to him. “Dad, are you okay?”

  “Just fine, baby Belle! Just fine!” The man bellowed cheerfully.

  She winced and squeezed his arm. “Dad, be quiet. It’s late.”

  She helped him to his feet. Bennett rushed forward to help and she shook her head as the smell of whiskey drifted to him. “It’s fine. I’ve got him.”

  “I can help him into the house.”

  She shook her head again. “No, don’t worry about it. I’m used to it.”

  “Hey,” Belle’s father stared blearily at him, “I know you.”

  “Hello, Mr. Vale.”

  “Bennett Saxby, what are you doing here?”

  Before he could reply, the old man lurched forward and clapped him hard on the back. “How’s your new roof doing?”

  He grinned at Belle. “Bennett here hired me to fix his ro
of, didn’t you, son?”

  “Yes, sir,” Bennett said quietly.

  Belle wrapped her arm around her father’s waist. “Come on, dad. Let’s get you into the house.”

  She unlocked the door and her father staggered his way inside. There was the sound of a lamp tipping over and she winced before giving Bennett an embarrassed look. “You shouldn’t have hired him to fix your roof.”

  He just shrugged and she sighed before asking, “Did he even finish the job?”

  “Uh, well…”

  “He didn’t,” she said. “How much did you pay him?”

  “Two thousand,” he said. “It doesn’t matter, I – “

  “Of course it matters,” she said. “Although you really shouldn’t have paid him up front. Of course, you wouldn’t have known he would go on a bender with it.”

  There was another splintering crash and a muffled curse from her father and she closed her eyes for a moment.

  “I have to go. I’ll get the money from my father and stop by your house tomorrow afternoon with it, okay?”

  “Mirabelle, you don’t have to – “

  “Good night,” she said before shutting the door gently.

  He hesitated on the doorstep and his heart sped up when it opened and she stepped out into the cool night air. She studied him carefully for a moment before standing on her tiptoes and pressing her lips against his cheek. “Welcome home, Bennett.”

  She was gone before he could reply, leaving only her sweet scent of books and cinnamon and a burning warmth where her lips had pressed against his skin.

  Chapter 3

  He spent all morning gardening. His father had loved to garden. He had used to gently tease his mother that it was the only thing that soothed his savage bear and he had taught Bennett to love it as well. Eighteen years ago, the back yard had been a lush, colourful garden of brightly-blooming flowers and he was determined to return it to that. As he hacked away at the weeds that were choking out the bed of wild daisies, he sniffed the air before dropping his shears and wiping the sweat from his forehead.

  “Hello, Duncan.”

  “Hey, Bennett.”

  He grabbed the jug of water sitting on the ground beside him and drank nearly half of it before joining the lion shifter on the small deck.