How Beauty Saved the Beast (Tales of the Underlight)

by Garren, Jax

  His breath heaved in and his whole body shuddered. As she waited for his answer, fear hooked into her. He hid his skin from the world. She was asking him to trust her with his deepest fear. It was one thing to press forward in the heat of a moment, but here, with the cold space between them giving him time to think, it wasn’t his desire answering the question. It was his trust. She’d had desire from men her whole life. She had so rarely, if ever, had more. She’d been fine with that until Hauk.

  The curtains parted behind them. “Hauk? Oh, shit.”

  They both turned to see Catrina striding to them. Jolie dropped her hand.

  “I’m so sorry,” Catrina said. She dusted a speck of lint off Jolie’s hip before catching her eyes with a serious look. “You have no idea much. But the police are here.” Her eyes flicked to Hauk. “You have to go.”

  He avoided Jolie’s gaze as he pulled his hoodie back up. “All right.”

  “I’m dancing one more time…” Jolie said, hoping he’d ask her to meet him later.

  “Have a good show,” was all he said before he walked away without a glance at her.

  Jolie watched him leave, and each unhesitating step felt like a kick in the gut. The door closed behind him with a soft click.

  “Dammit.” Jolie tapped her head back against the wall as Catrina fidgeted.

  Finally Catrina snorted a disgusted breath. “Oh, for the love of God, if you won’t ask permission I’ll order you to,” she said with a firm poke in Jolie’s shoulder. “Mercy will fill in for you. Get your ass after him!” She flounced back through the curtains to the party.

  “Thanks,” Jolie called. She shifted her shoulders, straightening her body as she firmed her resolve. Time to mak S Hauk give her that answer. She jogged out the door after him.

  And into a fight.

  Five men surrounded Hauk, who was struggling for his life.

  A sixth man lined up a gunshot right in front of her.

  “Hey!” Jolie grabbed his arm and shoved up.

  The gun went off, jarring her wrist.

  “Bitch!” The guy took her feet out from under her, and she fell on her ass. He landed on top of her and backhanded her.

  Her head spun with the impact. “Fuck me…”

  His hands closed on her throat, choking her. She reached for his face, scratching, but his arms were too long.

  Too fast…fights happened too fast. She was losing again…

  Her opponent was ripped off of her. Gratefully she gulped in air. Hauk stood over her, protecting her.

  No, crazy-Hauk stood over her. He was full-on raged, and she was the spoils at his feet.

  The door behind them opened and Ashley came out. “What the…” The fight began again and she screamed.

  Jolie yelled, “Get back inside!” She’d deal with her later.

  Three guys down, three to go. One of them pulled another of those sticks that had dropped Hauk before and lunged at his back.

  Jolie kicked up from the ground. Her arch landed squarely and knocked the wand back at the Hands of Atropos.

  The wand didn’t break and there were no sparks, but as soon as the tip touched the Atropos soldier, he dropped to the ground just like Hauk had. Eyes terrified, he scrabbled at the ground, trying to pull himself from the fight.

  Jolie had never seen a Hand of Atropos afraid. It was like the spell holding him captive had been broken.

  Yelling obscenities, the two remaining men grabbed their comrade and took off.

  Hauk started to chase, but Jolie put a hand on his calf. “It’s done! Stop.” Please, for the love of God, listen to me and stop. She got up onto wobbly feet.

  Hauk pivoted to Ashley, his form still battle-ready, and assessed her like a threat.

  Ashley cringed back against the wall, eyes round in horror. “What’s wrong with him?”

  “It’s okay…” Jolie started, hoping that was the truth. She reached toward Hauk, debating if she should touch him or if that would set him off.

  But Hauk straightened up; apparently Ashley didn’t need killing. He looked back and forth between the two women.

  Jolie relaxed and turned to Ashley. “Nothing’s wrong, really. He’s just sort of—”

  Hauk scooped Jolie up and tossed her over his shoulder.

  “—oh, shit!—lost his mind. He’ll be fine in the morning.”

  He turned as if to carry her away from the club.

  “Hauk, sweetie, put me down.”

  Instead of setting her down, he started walking.

  Ashley took a SAshth="1em">< few tentative steps after them. “What’s he doing? Oh, God! Do you need help?”

  Jolie had to give her credit for bravery amidst obvious terror. “It’s all good,” she assured as best as she could while piked over a semi-deranged person’s shoulder.

  “But he’s gone crazy!”

  Jolie couldn’t help it. Ignoring her own fears, she waved gallantly and said mock seriously, “If I’m missing tomorrow, say nice things at my memorial. Hasta, baby!”

  * * *

  Brayden swirled his drink, pretending to laugh at Catrina’s joke as he watched the plainclothes cops insert themselves amidst the crowd. They were easy to spot. Cops on the prowl tended to move differently than everybody else.

  Mercy, the only one of the “men in blue” he’d ever trusted, strolled with faux calm over to the bar where they were sitting. She’d texted Catrina a warning as soon as she’d seen one of her coworkers, giving Catrina time to get rid of Hauk.

  As soon as Mercy reached them, her smile dropped, replaced by an angry mien. “I chatted up my buddy. Somebody called them.” Her usually subdued accent was thick with emotion as she added, “Specifically about Hauk.”

  Catrina frowned. “Who even knew he was here?”

  Brayden motioned at the alcove. “Anybody who went to the bathroom could’ve seen him. It wasn’t that spectacular a hiding place. I guess after watching Paul and Jolie get cuddly on stage, the dumbass couldn’t stay away.”

  Mercy called for a water across the bar then turned back. “He’s in love. I think it’s sweet.”

  That wasn’t the word Brayden would use. “It’s stupid.” That was more along the right lines. “Love is stupid and makes you do stupid things. If my best friend gets his ass thrown in prison for the rest of his mortal life over a woman…I don’t know what I’ll do, but it will be illegal because I’d have to try to get him out. Breaking into a military prison is no easy feat.”

  Mercy narrowed her eyes at him. “Yeah. Wouldn’t want you to do anything illegal now. Got your fake Jamaican visa on you?”

  “Easy nuh, sista, stop yah nying’i-nying’i. Skankin’ babylon’s ma ting,” he said, mimicking his dad’s accent.

  “I have no idea what you just said.”

  Chill out and quit nagging. I’m good at tricking cops. “I said, ‘Of course I have it.’”

  She lifted a disbelieving eyebrow; Mercy knew him too well. Water in hand, she stepped back toward the dance floor. “Catrina, I’m sorry, but I can’t dance until they’re gone. They think I’m here because I’m friends with one of the rally organizers.”

  Catrina fluffed her perfectly coifed black bob. “Possibly one who’s not a drag queen?”

  Mercy shrugged as if to say, What can you do?

  “That’s fine, dearie. Get them out soon if you can?”

  Mercy flashed an okay sign and disappeared into the crowd.

  Brayden shook his head. “I’m glad I’ve never had to worry about that kind of crap.”

  Catrina patted his knee. “You are a lucky, lucky boy.”

  “Speaking of lucky, where’d Red Hots go? Her dance partner is missing her.” He motioned to the floor, where Paul was ignoring quite a few pawing hands to search the crowd. Brayden had thought things were moving along between Hauk and Jolie. Then tonight she’d been all over that guy.

  “She followed Hauk out the door. I caught them three inches from each other’s faces. Hated to break the moment.” S
he grinned deviously. “Then I realized Hauk was wearing lipstick.”

  A jolt of happy surprise for his friend filled him. “Yes!” Brayden pumped a fist. Flying blond hair caught his attention. “Wait, what color was the lipstick?”

  Catrina leaned in to see where he was looking. “Not baby pink. Darling, if you do something as stupid as you appear to be contemplating, Hauk may forget to protect your pretty face the next time you’re on a mission. And that would be such a shame.”

  Blood heated Brayden’s cheeks as he turned to Catrina with his best impression of innocence. “What? Pff. I wouldn’t do that. Please. Just because two of the prettiest people I’ve met in months are both off limits because of him…” Jolie was knock-out gorgeous with the kind of curvy, athletic grace and self-assured smile he usually took a swing at.

  But Ashley, well now, Ashley hit every weak and naughty button he had. He was just enough bad-boy to get a kick out of good-girls and—boys. They were so much fun to wind up and watch pop. When he was younger, it had been what he lived for. Now that he was a little older, a little more responsible, he tried to have more respect for naiveté.

  He still thought innocence was a pointless extravagance, but somewhere along the way he’d realized not everybody shared this particular viewpoint. Some people, in fact, took exception to it. Hauk, particularly in this case, would be one of them.

  “I saw you two dancing earlier. Tsk-tsk,” Catrina teased.

  He shrugged but couldn’t stop the smile. “I saw Jolie heading back toward Hauk. I figured I’d give them a little time alone. It was all very selfless of me, I swear.” Totally selfless, considering how coyly Ashley smiled and how sweet she felt in his arms.

  Ashley scanned the crowd, caught his eye and practically ran toward the bar, eyes wide and breath gasping.

  Brayden hopped up. “What’s wrong?”

  She put her hot little hand on his arm to steady herself. “He’s gone crazy!”

  “Who?” Catrina hadn’t even bothered to get up.

  “Wesley. He just…he lost it. I’ve never seen anything like it.”

  Brayden straightened up as nerves pricked along his spine. “It’s okay. He does that sometimes. What caused it?”

  “And where’s Jolie?” Catrina asked, a trace of concern wrinkling her brow.

  Ashley’s eyes widened. “He threw her over his shoulder and carried her off. I don’t know where they’re going.”

  “What caused it?” he repeated.

  “There was a fight outside the bar. When I went out there, it had already started.”

  “Atrop S"-1r, eyeos?” Brayden grabbed her arm and pulled her toward the back exit. Police in the front and Atropos in the back? The party was a bleeding circus.

  “What’s that?”

  They passed through the curtains, and Brayden stopped. “What do you mean, what’s that? Who are the Hands of Atropos? How do you not know that?”

  Shaking her head, she threw a hand up in confusion.

  “I’ll explain later.” How long had she been in The Underlight? Maybe Atropos weren’t such a damnable nuisance in Cincinnati. He tugged her again, heading for the door. “Are they still out there?”

  “No. Wesley was nuts. I thought he was going to kill somebody. The guys ran away just before Wesley picked Jolie up and walked off. She asked him to put her down. He wouldn’t do it. I’m worried what he’s going to do to her.”

  So walking outside was pointless. Pretty much anything he could do was completely pointless. Great. He faked cool for Ashley’s sake. “He’s probably just taking her back to The Underlight. That’s what he did last time, anyway.”

  “There was a last time?”

  “Do you hear music?” There on the bench. Jolie’s purse. He picked it up and fished out her smartphone. “I love these.” He petted the plastic covetously, trying to distract himself from worrying over his friends. He didn’t think Hauk would hurt her.

  Travis’s name was on the screen. He could be calling for any Underlighters, as Jolie was one of the few with a phone and Travis knew where she was… He swiped it on and, despite the situation, felt a techno-thrill. Eff the rules; he had to get one of these. He could do a lot of damage with this sort of technology. “Brayden on Red Hot’s phone.”

  “Where’s Jolie?” Travis asked, voice full of tension. “No. I don’t care where she is. Where’s Hauk? I need to talk to him.”

  Brayden blew out a breath. “He’s, er, heading for The Underlight.” Probably.

  “I’ll catch him when he gets here. Thanks.”

  The thanks had a “close of conversation” finality to it. “Whoa there, pardner. You’re going to want to wait until morning to do that.”

  “Why? Oh, shit, did he change? Please tell me Jolie isn’t with him.”

  “Sure. If you’d rather hear that than the truth.”

  Travis yelled loud enough that Brayden pulled the phone away.

  “That’s an impressive vocabulary you’ve got. Don’t stress, man. He’s probably just taking her back home to cuddle like he did last time. And if he’s not, frankly, I’m not sure what we’re going to do about it. You haven’t seen him like this.”

  “Get home. We’ll figure something out.”

  “But—”

  “Get. Home.”

  “Fine, fine. But meanwhile, get LaRoche. Hauk asked him to work on a tranq for special occasions like this. I don’t know if he’s done or not, but it’s probably our best bet.” He dropped the phone back in Jolie’s purse.

  “How can you be so calm?” Ashley demanded.

  “This isn’t my first rodeo, Goldilocks. I’ve seen Hauk like this Suk ?” Ashlebefore. He freaks out. He fights. He sleeps. It’s scary as hell, but so far nothing bad has come of it.” At least, that’s what he reminded himself when he wanted to piss his pants and scream like a preschooler. “I’m heading back to The Underlight. Have fun at the party without me.” Strangely, he didn’t like that idea.

  Ashley straightened her spine. “I’m coming back with you.”

  Brayden shifted weight from one foot to the other. “He’s probably still going to

  be crazed. It’s going to be freaky.”

  Her voice was strained and her eyes moonlike in her fear. But still she said, “It’s Hauk.”

  Wow, that was so cute. Cool, even. Brayden rolled his eyes. “Come on. Let’s go. We’re taking Hauk’s bike.” Which meant she’d have to hold on to him for the ride home.

  He really had to quit thinking of Hauk’s ex this way.

  Chapter Nine

  Jolie had tried begging. She’d tried cajoling. She’d tried beating on Hauk’s back like a crazy person. But nothing changed the cadence of his quick march through a mile or more of tunnels she hadn’t known existed. Each relentless step brought a little more bile to her throat. She wanted to trust that Hauk, even in his current state, wouldn’t hurt her. Right now she felt so damn helpless, though, and it was hard to forgive him for that when he wouldn’t put her back down.

  When they stepped through a door into the forge where Hauk worked, she breathed a sigh of relief. At least he had taken her back to The Underlight. What he planned on doing now that they were here, though, was what had kept her worried her every jolting stride of the way.

  Last time he’d climbed into bed and fallen asleep with her in his arms. She hoped he had a similar plan in mind. Being forced into anything grated against her nerves, but if he’d asked her to spend the night, she’d have said yes.

  She had no idea what she was going to do if he had anything more carnal in mind. Despite that Hauk wasn’t making his own decisions, she didn’t know if she could forgive him. He’d never forgive himself; she knew that beyond a doubt.

  Two steps outside of his room, somebody yelled “Go!” and Brayden, Travis, Tally and LaRoche surrounded them. Ashley watched from the hallway, every bit as bug-eyed as she had been earlier.

  Hauk set Jolie on the floor and popped back up to ready stance. “What are you d
oing?” Jolie asked, unsure if she should thank them or curse them as idiots.

  “It’s okay! We got this!” Travis yelled, waving his hands.

  Hauk spun toward the sound but kept one foot touching Jolie.

  “Are you mental?” she asked. “You can’t fight him.”

  Travis kept his movements flaring wildly. “I don’t plan on it.”

  While Hauk leaned one way, Brayden grabbed Jolie’s feet and tugged, trying to drag her backward. “We’re rescuing you,” he whispered.

  Without turning from Travis, Hauk stuck the heel of his boot under Brayden’s chin.

  “Oh, God,” Brayden choked out.

  Jolie tried to stand up. “Hauk! These are your friends. Don’t friendրO” With a firm hand on her shoulder, Hauk shoved her back down. “Fuck!”

  “Shoot him,” LaRoche said.

  “What?” Jolie yelled. “No!”

  Tally, blue eyes wide, raised a rifle.

  Hauk lost what cool he had. He wrenched the gun from her hands and smashed it.

  LaRoche shoved his girlfriend behind him. Hauk picked him up by the collar and slammed him into the ceiling.

  Brayden and Travis went for his hands, trying to pry LaRoche free. Hauk kneed Travis in the groin, and he fell with a curse. With a hip check, Brayden went sprawling.

  “Hauk!” Jolie yelled. “Stop it! Stop it!”

  “Jolie!” Tally yelled as she rolled a syringe along the ground. “Hit his thigh. If you can.”

  Jolie uncapped it and looked back at the rifle. It was a tranq gun. They were trying to tranq him. She hated to do it, but this was a disaster that could get dangerous. “Hauk, I’m sorry.” She reached up and injected the contents into his inner thigh.

  He shuddered, and LaRoche went crashing to the floor.

  Hauk stepped back, and the needle snapped. He looked down, saw Jolie with the syringe, and the confusion on his face morphed into betrayal. The drugs kicked in and he fell forward. As his big body hurtled toward her Jolie braced for impact.

  It never came. He landed on his forearms just above her, accusing eyes boring down into hers.

  “I’m sorry!” Jolie whispered. “You were hurting your friends. You don’t want to do that.”