Evermore [The Beast/The Prince x Reader]

chapter twenty

The Beast was growing tired.

He wasn't sure how long he had been searching for her, but he knew that it was hours. It was probably in the middle of the night, and the forest has grown bitterly cold.

His limp was getting worse, and with every step, he whimpered. The sharp, burning pangs of pain almost brought him to his knees more than once. He wanted to go home and just sleep, but he had to find her first.

She had to be close. She had run straight into the forest - and he had followed her not long after. The angry people had long since gone to bed, giving up their fight. Plus, they were so deep in the forest already.

He debated on going back. Maybe he had went by her. Maybe she was hiding somewhere besides in trunks of trees and small caves. But still - he was sure he had checked every possible hiding place.

"___!" he called, cupping his paws around his mouth. All that was heard was the flapping sound of a bird's wings as it flew away from the Beast. "___!"

He stood there for a moment, waiting for her to respond to him. Maybe she would call out his name softly because she was scared. He would be able to find her if he listened hard enough.

"You don't have to be afraid," he yelled out, looking around nervously. "I am here! I am here for you. Just... call my name, ___, and I'll get to you."

Nothing.

He was growing more and more concerned. He just wanted her to be safe, and there was no way she would come out of here safe if he did not find her. There were many ways she could get hurt or killed, and his head spun as he thought of them all.

She could be attacked by an animal. Dragged away or left for dead, or just become a dinner entrée. There would be no way he could know if it was her if he did come across a pile of mutilated flesh and bones.

She could have been found by a villager. There was no telling if the villager would have been reluctant to kill her right away or not, but either way, if one of them had snatched her, it was apparent that she was either dead, or about to be killed.

She could freeze to death. It was below zero at this point, or at least close to it, because the Beast himself was shivering. His fur no longer provided the warmth he needed, and his outfit was in shreds. He didn't worry too much about himself, though. For one, she was his one and only concern as of now, and two, freezing like a human made him feel like a human.

But he wasn't a human. Not anymore. He was a beast, and perhaps that wasn't all bad - not right now, anyway. He turned his nose upward and sniffed. Maybe, if he caught the scent of her perfume, he would find her.

He knew her perfume well. She had bought it at a ball she went to with her friends in Paris. It was the night before he had met her. She had worn it to his ball, and he remembered thinking, along with how beautiful she was, how her scent fit with her whole aura.

As he turned his head to the left, he sniffed. Pine. Wood. An animal of some kind - a rabbit, maybe. He turned to the south. Nothing but pine. He turned his head to the right. Pine. Why was there so much pine? An animal. Perhaps a coyote, but he really was not sure. A bit of smoke, blown here from the village. And then, barely, the scent of her perfume.

"___," he whispered, and then he broke into a run. "___! ___!"

He scared whatever animal it was away. He ran forward, pausing for only seconds at a time to sniff the air. Her scent was getting stronger. He kept going.

"___!" he cried, breathing through pine trees and leaping over snow banks. "___, I'm coming! Stay there!"

His leg was hurting, but he was growing relieved. He could smell her. She was here, he could take her home, she was going to be-

He saw her. Just a few feet away from the pine trees, she was laying on her back. Whispering her name, he rushed to her. She was still as she lay in the snow, but she was shivering violently.

Her knees were bent, exposing her black and blue ankle. He touched it, and she jerked and whimpered. He sighed and shook his head, immediately scooping her up in his arms. She shivered in his hold, but he pressed her as tightly as he could to his chest.

"Your majesty," she said through blue lips.

"Rest," he said, standing under her weight.

"I'm so glad you're not hurt," she said. "I was so - so worried for you..."

His heart panged in his chest. He got away with a small, fixable injury, while she was left freezing to death because of him. And still, she worried for him and his well being. He pressed her head to his shoulder, nuzzling his head to hers.

He began to mentally curse the Enchantress and all she had done to him. She had left him with the book, and it was a gift of pure evil. It was a trick, a tool for her amusement. No one would accept him for who he was. No human, no creature.

Are you happy now? he wanted to shout. Satisfied with what you have seen?

___'s lips were blue and her skin was paler than the snow. She was freezing to death, and no amount of body heat from him could help her. He needed to get her to shelter. He needed to bring her home.

"I'm taking you home, ___," he said sadly. "You're going to be alright. I'm here."