To Love a Beast

Jambalaya Mayday

Sin found herself staring at a bare chest connected to a very angry man.

"How do you know that bastard?" Cedric said, his anger held back by fraying threads of rationale.

"Cedric, that's no way to speak to your long awaited mate," the mystery man Sin met in the painting room said, "allow me to introduce myself. I'm Nathaniel the first of the Western Imperial Family, this old champs childhood friend."

Sin almost snorted. What a pompous name.

"Leave," Cedric said.

Sin quirked a brow. Was he talking to her?

"You are not welcome here, Nathaniel. Leave." Cedric bared his teeth. "Or I'll drag you by the throat."

Nathaniel. She knew his name now, but the tension roiling between the pair of childhood friends only opened a new can of worms. Where Cedric was a bubbling volcano, Nathaniel was the epitome of cool as a cucumber, brushing off the threat like lint.

"Very well, I'll leave the two lovebirds to their mating." A sensual grin slid across Nathaniel's face. And again, Sin felt a slight peculiarity in her gut as she stared at his pearly teeth. The man's body language revealed nothing and the only thing she could fault him was his wide smile. Too shiny. Too friendly.

"Until later, darling." Then he was gone, as sudden as he arrived.

What an odd man...

A lethal rumble jolted Sin out of her thoughts.

Cedric was a quivering mass of wrath.

Though hesitant, Sin placed a soothing hand on his back, a maternal almost unconscious movement. She usually rubbed the children's heads, but Cedric towered over her so she settled for his back.

"How do you know him?"

Cedric's aggression cut through the silence. Then remembering that she was supposed to be upset at him, her hand fell away.

"Nathaniel is a friend," she said in spite. He wasn't. Nathaniel made her gut turn, but the man in front of her made her blood boil.

"A friend."

"Yes, a friend. At least more of a friend than you've been."

Cedric's jaw ticked.

"One doesn't just become friends with a murderer."

What in the holy hell.

The gravity of Cedric's severe expression clicked. A murderer. She'd been alone with a murderer.

Sin wrapped her arms around herself.

"Who did he...dispose of?" she asked. Just the thought of that wide smirk and watchful gaze made her hairs stand on end. A murderer...she'd never have guessed..

The formidable beast trembled at her question and she knew. She knew there was once a person dear enough to bring the beast to his knees. Soft enough to break stones and to move this mountain of a man.

His silence only further sparked her curiosity, but even Sin knew the ire of old pains.

"Never mind. I'm not in the mood for a heart to heart." Sin patted his shoulder, awkward. "You wanted to take care of me and I'm quite famished right now."

As if on cue, her stomach voiced its agreement.

Embarrassment seized her as she rubbed her neck, but another feeling blossomed.

Tingling. Tickling.

And as she watched Cedric's lips curl into an endearing smile, Sin wondered how she got herself into this mess.