The Beauty and the Beast (1st book of Fantasy Series)

Chapter 12- Steven

I was annoyed with his constant complaining about seeing her before she went off to bed. 'Would you shut up!' I exclaimed, finally having enough of him. I growled and tossed a table across the room, the table breaking into large pieces.

'No,' my Human said. 'Not until you see her. I don't think that she is asleep yet, and if she is, then we don't have to wake her up.'

I growled and moved a hand through my fur, narrowing my eyes. 'We are not going to see her,' I said. 'Why should we?'

'Uh, because she hasn't rejected us yet, and she is our mate,' he replied. 'And she is our saving grace.'

I growled and slammed my hands on my desk. I stood, furious at my human for being such a pest. 'Fine,' I growled out, coldly. 'We'll see her.'

'Good,' he replied, and I scowled. He stayed silent as I made my way out of the room and walked towards her room.

The guard that I had stationed there was dozing, and I growled. He jumped up and looked guilty because he had been caught sleeping.

I took a deep breath to see if she was still in her room and growled when I didn't smell her. "Where is she?" I asked, my voice deathly and cold.

"S-She is in her room, Your Majesty," the guard said. "A-Asleep."

I snarled and grabbed him by the throat. Fury filled my body because I knew that she wasn't in her room, and he should know if he had smelt her. "She is not in the room," I growled. "Use your nose. Where is she?"

The guard tucked his tail and clawed at my hand. He tried to speak but couldn't because I was choking him.

"Well?" I asked, tossing him onto the ground.

"I-I don't know," he coughed out, earning a kick from me. He groaned and clutched his side. "She... said something about a horse," he said, grimacing in pain. "Like to visit? I-I don't know. There hadn't been any horses si-" He stopped talking when I growled, interrupting him and bowing his head.

"Consider this your lucky day," I snarled, leaning over him. I bared my teeth and growled. "Next time, you won't be so lucky." I turned around and walked away, knowing that there was one place she would be.

How she got there, I didn't know, and I didn't care.

As long as she was safe, that was all that mattered...

***

"Would you stop?" I heard her ask when I made my way into the barn. "You are going to get me in trouble if you mess this up."

There were some shuffling sounds before the sound of something being knocked over filled my ears.

"Really?" the female, my mate, scowled. "Why are you being such a brat?"

There were a snort and a whicker, and she huffed.

"Ya, ya. I know that you miss them, but that doesn't mean you can break down your stall. Especially when we are guests here, now, hold still. I am almost done."

I walked towards the last stall and noticed that there was some damage to the barn.

'What happened here?' my human asked, sounding rather worried. 'Is mate, alright?'

I didn't say a word as I picked up my pace and got to the last stall where I had heard my mate.

The horse caught sight of me and snorted as if he was warning me to stay away from the stall. He kicked the stall door and backed up, knocking something over.

"Really, Riser?" my mate asked, sounding rather annoyed. "You have cuts on your legs, and I am trying to clean them, but no, you just have to be a pain the butt and knock over the bucket. And, here I was going to spend the night with you."

I moved a little closer and watched as my mate picked up the bucket and saw that it had made a wet spot in the shavings. My mate was dressed in shorts and a t-shirt that was too big for her, probably some clothes she had gotten from someone.

"He sees me," I said coldly, and she dropped the bucket and turned towards me. I scowled and narrowed my eyes, and I instantly ducked her head and looked guilty. "And, I want to know why the hell you are out here and not in your room. You aren't considering escaping, are you? It would do you no good if you tried."