Three days passed in strange peace.
He did not come to my room at midnight. Did not summon me to the gardens. I barely saw him at all, just glimpses of shadow moving through distant hallways.
The collar remained. I stopped trying to remove it. Stopped noticing it except when I lied, even small lies, even to myself.
On the fourth morning, Lucien found me in the library.
"The master has some instructions for you tonight."
I looked up from my book. "For what?"
"The blood moon rises at midnight." His face was grave. "He will not be himself."
My stomach tightened. "What does that mean?"
"It means you stay in your room. Door locked. Windows barred." He set a tray of food on the table beside me. "Enough for the night. Do not leave. Do not open the door for anyone. Not even him."
"Why? What happens during a blood moon?"
Lucien's silver eyes met mine. "The beast takes over completely. What little control he has now will be gone." He turned to leave. "If he finds you, I cannot promise your safety."
"Wait." I stood. "Where will he be?"
"Chained in the West Wing where he belongs."
He left before I could ask anything else.
I tried to read. Could not focus. My eyes kept drifting to the windows, watching the sun crawl across the sky.
By evening, I felt it. A change in the air. Pressure building like a storm about to break.
I went back to my room as Lucien had ordered. Found the windows already barred from the outside. Heavy iron bars across the glass. The door had a new bolt on the inside.
The food tray sat on my table. Bread, cheese, dried fruit. Water. Enough for one night.
I bolted the door.
Then I sat on my bed and waited for midnight.
***
The moon rose red as blood.
I watched it through the barred window. Huge. Wrong. It turned everything outside crimson, like the world was drowning in wine.
At eleven, I heard the first howl.
It came from deep in the castle. West Wing. A sound of pure agony and rage that made every hair on my body stand up.
The collar around my throat grew warm.
Another howl. Closer. No, not closer. Just louder. Echoing through stone hallways.
I pressed my hands over my ears.
It did not help.
At midnight, something crashed. The sound of metal shrieking. Chains breaking.
Then footsteps. Heavy. Running.
My door handle rattled.
I stopped breathing.
A growl came from the other side. Deep. Feral. Nothing human in it at all.
"Belle." His voice was gravel and broken glass. "Open the door."
I did not move.
"Open it now."
"No."
He slammed against the wood. The whole frame shook. The bolt held but barely.
"I can smell you." Another slam. "I can smell everything. Your fear. Your want. You are dripping for me even now."
My face burned because he was right.
The collar confirmed it by staying loose.
"Lucien said to stay inside."
"Lucien does not own you. I do." He hit the door again. Harder. "You wear my collar. You carry my scent. You are mine."
"Go away."
A long silence.
Then his voice came again, softer but somehow worse.
"Please, Belle. I need to see you. Just see you. I will not touch. I swear it."
"You cannot control yourself. Lucien said so."
"I can if you help me."
"How?"
"Come to the West Wing. Let me see you through the bars. Let me..." He trailed off into a growl. "Let me know you are real."
I should have said no.
I walked to the door instead.
"If I come, you stay chained?"
"Yes."
"You do not break free?"
"I cannot promise that." At least he was honest. "But I will try."
The collar stayed loose for both of us.
I unbolted the door.
He stood in the hallway, chest heaving, eyes wild. He was bigger than before. Muscles straining against fur. Claws extended fully. His tail lashed behind him like a whip.
He looked at me and went very still.
"You came."
"I came."
"Follow me. Stay three paces back. If I turn around, run."
He led me through the castle. Down, down into parts I had never seen. The air grew colder. The walls rougher. We passed the iron doors to the West Wing.
He opened them with one clawed hand.
Beyond was a circular room lit by torches. Chains hung from the ceiling. Heavy manacles attached to a center post.
He walked to the post and locked himself in. Both wrists. Both ankles. The chains were thick as my arm.
Only then did he look at me.
"There. Safe."
I stepped into the room. The doors swung shut behind me.
We were alone.
He breathed hard, pulling against the chains. They held but I heard metal groan.
"Come closer."
I took one step. Another. Until I was just out of reach.
His eyes tracked every movement. Pupils blown so wide I barely saw gold.
"Closer."
"This is close enough."
"Please."
That word in his broken voice made my chest ache.
I moved until I stood right at the edge of where his chains ended. One more step and he could touch me.
I did not take it.
He strained forward anyway. Claws reaching. Stopping just short of my skin.
"Beautiful," he breathed. "So fucking beautiful."
His voice was rougher than ever. Each word cost him.
"Are you in pain?" I asked.
"Yes."
"From the moon?"
"From you." His eyes dragged down my body. I still wore only the collar and a thin shift. "From wanting what I cannot have."
"You have had me. Multiple times."
"Not like I need to. Not the way the beast demands."
He pulled harder against the chains. One of the links cracked.
I should have stepped back.
I stepped forward instead.
Close enough to feel the heat rolling off him. Close enough to see sweat matting his fur. Close enough to hear every ragged breath.
"What does the beast demand?"
His eyes snapped to mine.
"Everything. Your body. Your blood. Your submission." His tail thrashed behind him. "I want to mark you so thoroughly that every creature in this castle knows you are mine. I want to taste every inch of your skin. I want to hear you scream my name until your voice breaks."
The collar grew hot against my throat.
Truth.
I was soaked.
He scented it immediately. His nostrils flared. A growl built in his chest.
"You like that."
"No."
The collar tightened.
I gasped and grabbed at it.
He snarled. "Do not lie to me. Not tonight."
I forced the words out. "Yes. I like it."
The collar loosened.
He looked victorious and tortured at once.
"Come here, Belle. Stand between my arms."
"That is too close."
"I am chained. I cannot touch you unless you let me."
I looked at the manacles. At the thick links. At his straining muscles.
Then I stepped between his arms.
He inhaled deep, nose at my hair, my neck, lower.
"You smell like roses and want and me." His voice was pure gravel now. "Perfect."
His muzzle brushed my throat just above the collar. Not a kiss. Just contact.
I shivered.
"If I were free," he murmured against my skin, "I would bend you over that bench and take you until neither of us could stand."
"You are not free."
"No. But you are."
I did not understand until I felt it. His body pressed against the post, but there was space. Enough space for me to press back against him if I chose.
I chose.
I turned around and leaned back until I felt fur and heat and the hard length of him against my lower back.
He made a sound like dying.
"Belle."
"You said you would not touch me."
"I am not touching you. You are touching me."
His tail wrapped around my thigh. Pulled me tighter against him.
I tilted my head back and it rested against his chest. I heard his heart. Too fast. Too hard.
"This is a bad idea," I whispered.
"Yes."
Neither of us moved away.
His breath was hot on my ear. "If these chains break, I will not stop."
"Then hold them."
"I am trying."
Another link cracked.
His muzzle came down, lips brushing the shell of my ear.
"Ask me what I want to do to you right now."
"What do you want to do to me?"
"Bite that pretty throat. Mark you. Make you bleed just enough to taste." His voice dropped lower. "Then lick every drop while you come on my fingers."
My knees buckled.
He held me up with his tail alone. Wrapped around my waist now, keeping me pressed against him.
"Would you let me?" he asked.
"I do not know."
The collar stayed loose.
Truth.
His tail tightened. Not painful. Possessive.
"You will. Before this year ends, you will beg me to."
"Never."
The collar tightened so hard I saw stars.
I sagged against him, gasping.
He went rigid. "Do not lie to protect yourself. Not from me. Not ever."
I could barely breathe. "I hate you."
"No, you do not."
The collar agreed by loosening just a fraction.
Tears burned my eyes. From lack of air and something worse. Something true.
"Maybe," I choked out.
The collar released me fully.
I sucked in air and turned in his arms, forgetting the danger, forgetting everything except the need to see his face.
We were inches apart now. His muzzle. My lips.
One of his chains snapped.
His freed hand shot out and cupped the back of my head. Claws careful in my hair.
"Run," he growled.
"No."
"Run now or I will kiss you and never stop."
"Then kiss me."
His eyes flared.
The last chain broke.
His mouth crashed against mine. All teeth and tongue and hunger. He kissed like he was starving and I was the only meal. Like he would die if he stopped.
I kissed back just as hard.
His freed hands went to my waist, claws tearing through the shift like paper. The fabric fell away and I was bare against him.
He lifted me. My legs wrapped around him. His back hit the wall and he groaned into my mouth.
I felt him hard and huge between my legs. Only fabric between us now. So thin.
One thrust and he would be inside me.
He pulled back from the kiss, breathing like he had run miles.
"Not like this." His voice was shredded. "Not during a blood moon when I might hurt you."
"I do not care."
"I do."
He set me down. Stepped away even though it clearly cost him everything.
"Go back to your room. Now."
"Léandre."
"Go." He turned his back to me. "Before I change my mind."
I went.
I ran through the castle naked except for the collar. Back to my room. I bolted the door and slid down it, shaking.
The collar pulsed warm against my throat.
Outside, the blood moon bathed everything in red.
And somewhere in the West Wing, a beast howled my name.