Taming the Beast

ed to crackle the moment he met my eyes again, I was frozen in place. I knew what I wanted, peace and quiet be damned.

Everything felt hazy, like someone had flipped a switch and life was moving in slow motion. Bram's hand was slowly descending down to my knee, his chest was leaning in toward me even more, his head dipped down low and he looked down at me from under his thick set of lashes.

I held my breath. His hand felt like it was burning hot through my pants, and when his other large hand cupped my cheek, I felt dizzy. He glanced at me, his eyes soft before I closed my own and gave in to the warm kiss.

The emotions in my head swirled around—I had never experienced this kind of closeness with anyone without knowing exactly what they were thinking. I was able to give in completely, to lose my head so that every sense was picking up only a steady stream of Bram, Bram, Bram. Bram.

He pulled me up against him easily, his massive arms closing around my lower back and waist, not bothering to be careful. I gasped as Bram pulled away, his mouth trailing up to my ear and back along my jawline, his light stubble rubbing against my skin. I imagined his rough face between my thighs and couldn't help but moan as I splayed my hands across his wide chest, feeling the solid muscle under his t-shirt.

Growling against my collarbone, Bram pushed back my shawl and started undoing the metal bracket of my cape, taking it and balling it up before throwing it to the side. I bit my lip, ready to surrender to whatever was about to happen. God, the things I wanted to happen!

His burning hot mouth was on mine again, parting my lips so that he could snake his tongue into my mouth, sending even more shivers straight to my already damp pussy. If he was that good with his tongue…I was in for a real treat.

"I want you," I softly whispered to him, opening my eyes to get a good look at him. The silver in his eyes seemed to turn a steely gray and some kind of realization dawned over him.

Without warning, Bram pulled back and quickly stood up, his hands behind his head as he cursed to himself.

"What… What's wrong? I'm sorry, I didn't mean to ruin—"

He shook his head. "No, no. I'm the one who should be sorry. I can't…I just can't do this, Ella. I think I'll take the couch tonight. You can have my bed, it's just right around the corner there. Down the hall," he replied, sounding miserable. "I'm going to go wash up and get some sleep."

He turned on his heel without another word, heading down into said hallway until I heard a door slam shut.

Looking all around, I tried to work out in my head what had just happened, but nothing really came to me. Giving up, I waited a minute before slipping into what I assumed was his bedroom, complete with the largest bed I'd ever seen, and quietly closed the door behind me.

I wasn't going to give into the ugly cry that threatened to take over. I reminded myself that I was better than that, and climbed into the bed, aching far more than ever before.

Chapter 4

I wanted to slip out of Bram's house without him noticing, unfortunately I had no idea where the hell I was in relation to the rest of the town. So instead of gracefully bowing out before he woke up, still somewhat mortified about the way things unfolded the night before, I sheepishly asked if Bram would mind leading me back to town.

"Of course, that will be no’ a problem. And er, I just wanted to apologize for last night," he explained, running his hands through his thick reddish hair. "I was a bit of an arse to you."

Not expecting an apology, a little part of me was happy to hear him sound so regretful. Maybe I wasn't the only one who enjoyed the kiss? "That's okay. I was stupid for getting myself lost in the first place, and if I wouldn’t have done that, then we wouldn’t have…" I let my voice trail off, turning pink. Truth be told, I’d get myself lost in the moors all over again if it meant Bram would show back up.

Instead of looking as embarrassed as I felt, Bram simply nodded. "I don't know what got into me. I dinnae mean to take advantage of you like that."

That's what he thought…that he was really taking advantage of me? What in the actual hell? "You didn’t take advantage of me, Bram. I was just as into it as you were. Maybe even a little more," I said, wishing I could just shut my mouth up for once. Pretty soon I was going to wish that the moors had swallowed me up whole.

"Still, I apologize. You mentioned something about wanting peace and quiet while you were here in town. And I…I have a lot of work to get to, so we should probably go ahead and leave."

It didn't take very long for us to walk back into town, and I was surprised at just how strong my legs felt given that I nearly walked my ass off the night before. It would be hard not to be in good shape having to walk everywhere around here like this. I fully expected a toner ass and thighs when this was all said and done.

"I'm just right down the road from here," I said softly, not wanting to meet Bram's silvery eyes. I knew that if I looked at him any more, I’d probably melt into a sad, pathetic puddle right there on the ground.

"It was nice gettin' to know you," he said, placing his hand awkwardly on my shoulder as if he wasn't quite sure what to do with himself.

I bit my lip. "Yeah. It was nice getting to know you, too."

We stood there for a beat, and even though I kept telling myself I wouldn’t, I couldn't help but look up at him, meeting his gaze. How badly I wanted to kiss him again, to feel his strong hands gripping me in all the right places. I wanted to tell him that it didn't matter if he was a shifter or not, whatever secrets he had, he could tell me. I was the queen of keeping secrets after all, given my own abilities.

Bram traced his thumb along the edge of my jawline, burning my skin just the slightest. "Now don' go wandering off into the Moors again, ya ken? I cannae promise I'll be there next time," he said with a small smile crossing his face, his accent thicker than before. I would’ve been content just to hear the man read off a grocery list, honestly.

Finally, I had to look away. Why did it feel so hard to say goodbye to him? I swallowed against the lump in my throat, wishing I had something more poignant to say than, "Duly noted."

Letting out a sigh, Bram pulled his hand away from my cheek and stood there for one more moment, looking as though he had something to say, but quickly stopping himself.

"Thank you again," I whispered.