It was night now and the Beast had left her to go look for food as he told her in two words.
"Food. Mate."
Violet ca to an oddly comforting conclusion. The Beast didn’t just operate on animal instinct, he behaved like a child. Not in size or strength but in his emotions.
When he laughed, it was unrestrained, and belly-deep joy. At the sa ti, when angry, it was fury unleashed like a wildfire. There was no in-between. No shades. Just the extres.
It made Violet wonder, was he just so split personality hidden in Griffin’s subconscious? Or was it the punishnt from the goddess as she has heard so many tis? Was this the cost for his power?
Deep down, she knew the answer.
Perhaps if Griffin let him out more often whenever she was around, the Beast would develop past instinct. Maybe even beco soone more than just a violent alter ego. Soone Griffin could live with.
Soone she could live with.
The word "Mate" still echoed in her skull. The beast had said it so many tis now that it had carved itself into her mory, every syllable lting into her bloodstream like wildfire. Like the mating fever she’d been trying so hard to ignore.
God help her, it was trickling through her veins like molten lava. Her skin had beco too warm, her senses prickled, and every inch of her felt tuned to him.
But Violet had to control herself.
She needed Griffin, not his oversized man-child beast with the emotional range of a sugar-rushed toddler and the strength to snap trees in half.
The universe had to be shitting her to slap her with a mate bond at a critical ti like this.
Fuck them!
Violet’s attention snapped toward the tremor in the earth as The Beast returned from his food hunt, his heavy steps reminding her an inhuman being was sharing this clearing with her.
"Mate. Eat," he said eagerly, lowering the bountiful harvest in his arms like an overenthusiastic dog presenting a prize.
A waterfall of fruits tumbled to the ground in front of her, revealing apples, berries, bananas and so others she couldn’t recognize.
Violet blinked in surprise. Okay, this was cute.
She picked up an apple, but before she could even mutter a "thank you," The Beast was gone again, disappearing into the trees with the grace of a wrecking ball. Except this ti, he ca back much faster, and he didn’t co alone.
The Beast was grinning with sothing suspiciously hidden behind his massive fra. Then, with the dramatic flair of a child revealing a surprise drawing to their parent, he pulled out a whole-ass boar, freshly killed and dropped it with a thud before her, his eyes gleaming with pride. His chest puffed out like he had just gifted her the moon and expected a standing ovation.
Violet knew then she was so screwed.
"Uh, I think I’ll stick to this," Violet said, forcing a smile and gently shoving more fruit closer to her side like a protective wall.
The Beast deflated slightly and Violet quickly added, "You can have that one for yourself. Eat for two!" She gave him a thumbs up and the most encouraging nod she could muster.
Apparently, that worked.
With a satisfied grunt, The Beast turned to his prize. Violet, for so ridiculous reason, assud he would skin it, and maybe roast bits of it over the fire she had built. But how she was wrong.
Her eyes widened to the size of the moon as he simply ripped into the boar like a living at grinder, tearing into raw flesh with his teeth and gulping it down like it was dessert. Blood dripped from his mouth, staining the ground in wet, sticky splashes, and he looked even delighted as if this was peak fine dining.
"Oh, God," Violet turned a shade paler.
She had to physically swallow the bile threatening to rise.
The irony wasn’t lost on her that she had actually been thinking about helping him smoke the at. As if this was so cute camping trip. What a joke.
He was a predator in human form, for heaven’s sake, while she had the unfortunate fate of a front-row seat to the National Geographic carnage edition.
Nonetheless, Violet let out a strangled, incredulous laugh. Today was really one for the books.
Apparently full, The Beast tossed what remained of the carcass aside and stepped back into the stream to wash off the blood. At least he had the decency to clean up. Good hygiene, great. Points for that.
Too bad every ti he moved, she got an eyeful of Griffin Junior, now in XL Beast Mode. Yeah. She was never recovering from this.
Violet forced her gaze to the side and it landed on the discarded carcass. She stared at the blood still oozing slowly from the gaping tears in its flesh, pooling in the dirt, and sothing strange stirred inside her. Sothing hungry.
The longer Violet looked, the more intense it beca. Her tongue swiped across her lips, and for so unholy reason, her mouth started to water. She wanted a bite.
What the hell?
Thankfully, the Beast returned right at that mont and Violet snapped out of it.
That wasn’t normal at all.
The Beast lowered himself beside her, stretching out his body. He didn’t say a word and just lay there, watching her. Then he reached out, his large, calloused, yet surprisingly gentle hand brushing against her arm, and Violet leaned into it.
She craved comfort, anchoring herself to him without thinking.
Except it didn’t end there.
In a blink, The Beast was on his feet, his eyes shining with a kind of wild excitent, his chest rising and falling like he’d just made so glorious discovery.
"Mate. Mine," he declared with urgency and satisfaction.
"Huh?"
Violet was still wondering what he was up to now when he turned her around without warning, pressing her forward on her stomach, hoisting her hips.
"Mate. Mate."
Oh. Shit.
It dawned on Violet that he wanted to mate with her.
That was what all this had been about. The protecting, the feeding, the sniffing, the obsessive scent-checking. It hadn’t been just instinct or affection, It was
carnivore-style courtship.
She had been so damn wrong. He wasn’t just a child with emotional extres but a beast with base instinct and he wanted to claim her.
The Beast rubbed against her with a low rumble in his throat, his massive weapon pressed against her.
Violet’s eyes widened in pure, horrified realization. No freaking way!
Then she scread at the top of her lungs.
"Griffin!!!!!!"
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