Beastly

Chapter Two

     Marius slammed the girl's business card down on the table in front of Hugo. He watched as his Alpha seemed to sniff the air for a moment before examining the piece of paper in front of him. Marius usually smelled like sweat and his cologne but for some reason, he seemed to emit an aroma of roses. 

     The card in front of him bore the name Bella Harding. Hugo repeated the name out loud. Something about it felt like music, and he wasn't sure why. "Where is she now?" He asked his second-in-command, who was staring at him as if he'd grown another head. 

     "In the cells downstairs," Marius said matter of factly. Hugo hadn't yet seen her face but internally, he found it shocking that the woman associated with such a sweet smell was slammed into the dungeons below. He rose from his seat at the desk and nodded toward Marius. 

     "Show me," he said. Together, the two of them made their way through the castle's back passageways. Hugo didn't feel like seeing any other members of his pack today. The side of him that still clung to his humanity couldn't bare to see their frightened stares. 

    Nowadays, his contact with others was mostly limited to those directly under his command. As his human side slowly slipped away, he understood that he was a threat to others, and they seemed to understand it as well. 

     Several weeks ago in the dining room, he had slipped up again. One of his pack members dropped a wine glass on the floor. The sound of the delicate glass as it hit the stone floors was all of a sudden too loud for him. He had to run out of the room so that he could shift in private and even then, a maid had to be called to clean up the scraps of fabric leftover from the tapestry he ripped up.

     It took everything he had now to keep his beast below the surface. When he was young, he could slip between human and wolf comfortably, summoning one or the other at will whenever it suited him. It was that damned curse's fault that he was losing control. 

     The other day during a shift, he had caught sight of his reflection in a piece of broken mirror. Instead of his wolf's eyes shining golden brown as they normally did, piercing red orbs stared back at him. He recalled the moment with a shudder, and forced his mind back to the present. 

     He hated the dungeons. The cells down there were so dark and dank. Every time he even came close to the passage to the basement, his nose was offended by scents of blood and mildew. Now, however, he also picked up tinges of rosewater. The pleasant smell seemed to calm the roiling beast inside of him. 

     "She's here, boss," Marius stated as the two stopped at the foremost cell. Crumpled in a heap on the floor, lay the most beautiful woman Hugo had ever seen. She had sandy blonde hair that sprawled in ringlets all around her and a light dusting of freckles that speckled her nose. She was wearing clothes that appeared business casual, but were not crumpled and dirty. 

     "Release her," Hugo commanded before he even realized what he was doing. He nearly closed his eyes it was so heartbreaking to see this woman curled up on the floor of his cells. 

     "Boss?" Marius questioned, confused. Hugo's wolf lept to the surface, furious that his Beta should question his orders. He saw the reflection of his red eyes in Marius' own. Immediately, Marius bowed his head while he simultaneously reached for the door's keys. "Forgive me Alpha," he grunted as he fumbled with the skeleton keys. 

     Hugo was trying to take deep breaths to calm down. The last thing he wanted to do was shift in these disgusting holding rooms, in front of this gorgeous stranger. His deep inhalations turned to growls as he failed to keep the beast at bay. The woman on the ground seemed to stir from a fitful slumber as she sat up and peered at the two men. 

     "Hey, you! Yeah, you!" She started as she rose. She placed her small hands on the bars of the cell and shook them in order to get their attention. "You better let me out of here right this instant," she demanded. 

     As she looked first to Marius, then to Hugo, her frantic breathing stopped. Next to the man she had spoken to earlier was an incredibly handsome figure. Curled brown waves framed his face as a five o-clock shadow outlined his chiseled jaw. As she looked up, she saw glowing red eyes. "Oh my God!" she exclaimed, suddenly feeling faint. 

     Hugo trapped her hands under his own large ones and he felt his nails elongate into claws. As he looked into her green eyes, his wolf sprung to the surface and let out a growl. 

     "Mate."

     "What the hell was that?" Bella questioned as Marius led her upstairs. For both of their safety, Hugo remained behind in the dungeon, despite every part of him begging him to track Bella down and mark her on the spot. 

"This is your room," Marius said, ignoring her questioning completely. She had been an endless stream of questions and complaints since he released her from downstairs. 

     "Who said I was staying?" Bella wasn't sure how long she had been locked downstairs. Probably a couple of hours. During that time, a few things had become clear. One, the people occupying Monblais were not contractors. Two, they had some serious problems with hospitality. Three, for some inconceivable reason, she was now their prisoner.      

     "My Alpha," Marius responded, opening the thick oak door to the bedroom. Despite the situation she had found herself in, Bella gasped. The room was beautiful. A mural of a night sky filled with constellations was painted on the ceiling, the center depicting a radiant full moon from which a crystal chandelier hung. The room consisted of a beautiful canopy bed, a desk, a loveseat and some armchairs. A gorgeous marble rococo fireplace held court in the center of the space, a welcoming fire already crackling within. 

     If she wasn't just held prisoner in some freak with red eyes' dungeon, she would have been really impressed. Instead, she was just more pissed off. "Listen here, I don't know what kind of weird French fraternity you people are in or what in the world was going on with your friend's eyes back there but I have a stay booked at the local inn. I don't need a room in your weird bro-castle."

     Marius just stared at her blankly. "That 'friend' of mine back there is my Alpha and my boss. Unless you want to piss him off and get me in a hell of a lot of trouble, I'd recommend shutting up and making yourself cozy, Bella."

     "That explains nothing. Just let me get out of everyone's hair. Otherwise, people will be worried about me," she said, hoping it would scare her captors into letting her go.

     "Trust me, nobody is going to come looking for you."