Logan’s bear was the monster. The real beast.
He was the one who slaughtered all of those people, who forced him to live out here in the woods. He was the evil one, the true killer.
And she liked him better…
He sighed as the ax slipped through his fingers, falling to the ground with a thud. He had been away too long, alone for too many years.
His bear was the good one.
I’m the beast now.
Bella laid on the bed, staring up at the dark ceiling. Her headache was finally starting to fade but she knew that seeing Logan one more time would have it racing back.
He was so aggravating the way he thought that he could just boss her around and give her orders. He was crazy if he thought that she was a pushover or one of those pathetic girls who just bowed their heads and let men take the lead.
Rules or no rules, she would have stormed out of there by then if her head wasn’t pounding so much and if she could walk ten steps without black dots flooding her vision.
Her stomach started rumbling as the delicious smell of something came wafti
ng in from the kitchen. She was starving and that smell was getting her mouth watering. After two weeks of eating canned beans and stale cookies, a home cooked meal would be pure heaven.
“Bella,” Logan grunted from the other room. “You will join me for dinner now.”
She rolled her eyes as she slowly stood up, wishing that she wasn’t so hungry so that she could tell him where to shove his dinner.
“Here we go,” she whispered, holding onto the rough log wall until the room stopped spinning. Man, I really cracked my head. Luckily, I have a hard one.
When the world settled she continued out the door, giving the creepy spare room a quick glance. It was locked up tight and the more she looked at it, the less she wanted to know what was inside. I’m just going to hope that it’s where he stashes his porn collection. Logan lived alone in the woods. He had to have a couple of skin mags hidden here somewhere.
“Bella!” he barked from the kitchen.
“What?” she snapped back, the annoyance thick in her voice as she walked into the kitchen. “I hit my head, okay. Every time you holler like that it feels like there are knives plunging into my brain. So can you please stop?”
He lowered his head and sighed. “You’re right,” he said in a voice just above a whisper. “I’ll do better.”
“Thank you,” she said, sitting down at the table. The sun was setting and the kitchen was already dark. The house didn’t seem to have any electricity but there were candles everywhere, though none of them were lit.
Bella watched him curiously as he moved around the dark kitchen with the hood still over his head, hiding his face.
“It smells good,” she said, picking at her fingernails like she always did when she was nervous.
“Rabbit stew,” he answered, turning from the stove with his head hanging low. He slammed the clay bowl down in front of her, making her jump. “Sorry,” he whispered as he sat down on the overturned box across from her, keeping his face hidden.
“Thank you,” she said, watching him as she took the spoon in her hand. “You don’t have to wear the hood.”
His body froze for a few seconds and then his shoulders dropped as a sigh escaped from his lips. “It’s better this way.”
“No, it’s not,” she said, slowly getting up. She walked over to him and gently took hold of the hood and peeled it back, revealing his face. “It’s better this way.”
His sad brown eyes locked on hers for a moment before he dropped them down to the stew. She waited for him to look up at her again but he didn’t.
“I’m not around people a lot,” he said when she sat back down. “I’m not good at this.”
“Yeah,” she said with a laugh. “No shit.”
His eyes darted up to hers and the faint whisper of a smile curled up on his lips. That’s a start.
“I think we got off on the wrong foot,” she said, taking a bite of the stew. “Oh man,” she said, shoveling in another two bites. “This is freaking incredible.”