The Beast And The Blessed

Eleven: Charlie

Charlie P.O.V.

"Did you feel unsafe?" Damien asked, and I shook my head, but there was a slight delay in my reaction. The truth was there were several times that I had felt unsafe. There were more moments during my time in the castle where I was either in immediate danger or was looking over my shoulder for it than I liked to admit.

"Not with him. My brother scared me a lot, he let his anger and beast get the better of him, but he always walked away. He never physically hurt me. He just yelled and shifted to intimidate everyone around him. It's what the pack knows him for.” I kept to myself how many people he had killed in his life because there were too many to count.

Executions alone were in the high double digits; if you bring in all the wars and battles he had fought, Killian had killed at least several hundred creatures, maybe thousands.

Regardless of how cruel he acted at times, he was still my brother. Killian was the only family I had left, and I wanted him to be happy. I wanted him to find his mate so he could see that he could be good.

"Do you feel safe now?" Damien watched me closely. I could still feel his stare when I turned away from him.

I glanced over my shoulder at him. I wasn't sure if he was asking if I felt safe around him or if I felt safe around my men, but the answer, either way, was, "Yes."

That made him smile.

Never in my life had I thought of a man as beautiful before. Pretty, sure. But never beautiful, not until I met Damien. His smile was so pure and genuine that I was determined to see it every day for the rest of my life. It was the kind of smile that would make the Goddess fall to her knees before him if She were to see it.

When I returned to his side, he had stopped chopping and held the head of the ax down on the stump with both hands on the end of the handle.

"Is he your only sibling?”

"Yes, do you have any?" I asked as I grabbed the last few pieces of wood and stacked them in the shed.

"I'm sure I do, but none I have met." His eyes were alight with amusement when he saw my surprise, and he shrugged his shoulders. "My father is a wanderer. I have to assume that I am not his only offspring."

The reminder of our different cultures made me feel sick. Would Damien be like that? Would he walk away once we had children? Had he already? How many women had he been with while traveling who ended up pregnant?

"Is that how all bears live?" It was almost impossible not to offend someone by asking how many love children they might have wandering around.

Most of them do, but not all of us. Some settle down for life."

clear in his distinct difference between 'them' and 'us.' It was as if he wanted to clarify that he hadn’t been a part of the wanderers that lived their life freely with no concern

A chance for us.

continue our conversation even though he seemed done chopping wood. I followed

wildly impressed when I sat down on it, and it swung backward. Had Damien built

bench rocked back a few inches as he sat down next to me, and I curled my legs beneath

with a Sprite causing trouble in the town." My cheeks burned, and I looked out at the forest. It was so peaceful here. Everything about the location he had chosen was perfect. People would pay millions to have a house

thigh pressed against my knee as he adjusted in his seat, and I turned to him with my best attempt at

stayed in the camp to

of my statement, and his eyelids lowered

and kiss me after I had practically

the realization that maybe I was coming on too strong.

my knee away to give him space, but as soon as I moved, his large hand grabbed my thigh, holding it in

failing to

It turned out that he hadn't been eating them as quickly as we assumed he would. He was keeping most of them in cages for later. We

acknowledgment, nodding slowly as

horrific, and I knew those children would be traumatized by what they saw. But I had been hoping that witnessing the ogre's death would give them closure and being with their families who loved them and would support them in

rest of their life. Some would probably

how his grip on my knee tightened, I knew my story bothered him. "There is too much

the other men I had grown up with made me feel sick. They did their best to lock

threat to the Princess, the heir to the

evil, and it will find you." I whispered. My life now was safer than when I had lived in a castle surrounded by guards. There had been limited happiness between my parents, my brother, the toxic women of the court, and

was free and at peace. I had chosen my own family and had been chosen by them in

wild. "You are strong and beautiful. I imagine many evils would

is very little in this world that I would let break me." There was an unspoken continuation

had reservations. I understood them, but I wasn't happy about it. Still, I could live with not being marked by him, but I didn't know if I could live

shivers down my spine, and I felt so out of control around him that I knew I needed to address what happened between

a rush of pleasure course through me. "Yesterday. Was that okay? I mean, did you