Seven Beasts_Reverse Harem Romance

by Kelli Callahan

  “Alexander, wake up!” I ran into the room and yelled at him. “Your rose! It’s blooming again!”

  “What?” Alexander sat up and rubbed his eyes. “It is?”

  I hardly slept during the days that the rose sat in the dirt and withered. Watching a petal fall was like hell manifesting in my heart. I had only known the men in the castle for a short period of time, but I felt like they were all bonded to me in some way. I didn’t know how long I dozed when I finally did close my eyes. I had the same dreams I always had since arriving in the castle, but they were not as vivid as they had been in the past. I woke up to the sight of color in Alexander’s rose and my heart practically overflowed with emotion. It had worked—or at least it was working. We could save Alexander and if we could recreate what we had done with his rose, we could save the rest of them as well. Alexander followed behind me in a hurried pace as we ventured into the greenhouse Randall had built next to the castle. The first was still roaring and it was warm inside. Alexander ran past me to his rose and fell to his knees as he stared at the green in the vine. He stood and I ran towards him as he wrapped his arms around me. The rest of the men had heard the commotion and followed us outside, where they stared in awe.

  “It worked!” Randall’s eyes lit up with joy.

  “Fucking hell...” Gill’s mouth fell open in shock.

  We decided to test the theory before we tried to cut any more roses from the vine. Alexander took the pot that held his rose and started walking from the gate. He kept giving us the signal that he was okay until he nearly disappeared out of sight. I wouldn’t have blamed him if he kept going. For the first time in two hundred years, he was a free man. He started walking back towards the castle and I could see excitement building in everyone else. He hadn’t been affected by leaving the castle. The rose was the source of his life and what kept him trapped in the castle.

  We hugged again and returned to the inside of the castle. The rose was placed back in the greenhouse where we believed it would continue to flourish. The next step was to see if we could duplicate it, but that came with a tremendous risk. Each rose that we cut from the vine could potentially kill the person it represented if we were not able to succeed. Part of me wanted to just leave with Alexander and try to find the witch before we attempted to put anyone else in jeopardy, but it didn’t seem fair to leave any of them behind.

  “I can’t wait to see the world again.” Gill looked down at his place at Randall served up his latest meal.

  “I can’t wait to do cocaine again—I’m going to do the biggest pile you’ve ever seen.” Shane grinned from ear to ear.

  “Brother...” Braden shook his head and looked at his twin. “Do you really think we should even consider that again?”

  “We’re immortal!” Shane’s eyes lit up. “It won’t hurt us. All the high without the heart attack—what could be better?”

  “Yeah?” I looked at him and narrowed my eyes. “What about when the police eventually catch you and toss your rose in the garbage? We can’t do anything to call attention to ourselves once we are out of this castle.”

  “Fine...” Shane grumbled and looked down at his plate.

  “What about you, Randall?” Shane looked over to our chef. “What are you going to do?”

  “Me?” He smiled. “I’m going to find my daughter—and then I’m going to cook her the best meal she’s ever had.”

  “I don’t know what I’ll do...” Boone stabbed his fork into his food aimlessly. “If what the rest of of you have told me is true about the world out there, everything I knew is gone. I can’t saddle up, ride until the sun goes down, and spend a night under the stars without a care in the world.”

  “Maybe not like you could in your day, but the world is fun—imagine being able to go faster than your fastest horse—with cool air in the summer and warmth in the winter.” Braden looked at Boone. “It’ll be fun, trust me.”

  “Why do you think there are more roses on the vine than there are people here?” I broke their fun discussion with a question I had been contemplating. “Alexander, do you remember how many were there when you arrived?”

  “I don’t.” He shook his head. “I didn’t even realize it was what kept me tied to the castle until others came and a new rose bloomed.”

  “Maybe one of them belongs to the witch...” Boone picked up a piece of bread and stuffed it in his mouth.

  Randall decided to start with his rose before he tried to cut any of the others free. We discussed trying to uproot the whole vine, but we weren’t sure what the repercussions of that would be. It would also have been difficult to pull the vines from the gate they had been wrapped around and frozen to for longer than any of us really knew. Randall cut much more of the vine away than my father did when he picked Alexander’s rose. He believed it would make the rooting process better and after a few passionate nights together with the six of them, we found that his rose had rooted. That gave us the motivation to continue and we decided to speed the process along, cutting the remaining four free and replanting them. I was worried about the conjoined rose that represented the twins, but Randall seemed convinced he could get it to grow. After a week passed, we were ready to put our escape plan into motion.

  “The real world awaits, gentleman.” I stepped out onto the front steps of the castle and stared out at the snow. “It will be a long walk. I’m sure they’ve had my car towed by now.”

  “There were some men that came looking in the area a couple of days after your father left, but we didn’t open the way to them.” Alexander pulled his cloak tight around his shoulders.

  “Is there a way we can leave the way open in case we need to return?” I looked around the group.

  “The way is always open for the cursed. For the rest, we simply have to want them to enter.” Alexander put an arm around me. “We’ll definitely want you to enter.”

  “Okay. Let’s go.” I let out a sigh and the seven of us started walking towards the gate, pulling an old wagon we had found behind us that contained the roses.

  “This is really happening...” Gill practically glowed with excitement.

  We left the gate behind and ventured into the snow. I started getting nervous as we put more steps between us and the castle. As much as the castle represented a prison to them, it represented safety to me. They were not going to have an easy life in the real world, but even if they didn’t like it, I fully intended to figure out who the witch was and what we had to do to stop her. I needed a modern library, a computer, and some time to do research. If there was a magical creature in the real world that could do the things she could do, I was sure she could be found. All it would take was one report of a strange event, a woman with a green aura, or a mention of her emerald eyes.

  Our steps got harder as we pushed through the blinding snow. I knew it would end once we got near Lake Vaughn—at least if there wasn’t a blizzard going on. Alexander was the first to notice that something wasn’t right as we continued our journey. He put his hand on my shoulder and stopped walking. The others did as well. The snow was still falling, but an eerie silence seemed to creep along the powdered ground. A few seconds later, the edge of the tree line erupted with life and I saw wolves coming our way.

  “Wolves!” Alexander took a fighting stance and pulled a knife from his belt.

  “Fuck, I’ve never seen this many.” Randall removed his bow from his back and dropped one, but it seemed like two more took its place.

  “We need to go! Now!” Gill grabbed the wagon and started running back in the direction we came.

  “We’re so close...” I looked ahead—desperate to see signs of Lake Vaughn but all I could see was snow.

  “Come on!” Braden put a hand on my shoulder and pushed me forward.

  The only thing we had on our side was distance. They wolves were coming, but we were far enough away that we could cover some ground before they caught us. I felt sick to my stomach with terror. I had led them straight to a massacre and if we
didn’t make it back to the castle, we were going to die. Gill was the slowest as he tried to pull the wagon along the snow, but we couldn’t leave it behind. Shane grabbed the other side and started lugging it towards the castle to assist him. Randall turned and fired his bow when a couple of them came close, but then he had to turn and run. He was faster than the rest, so he was able to keep up and still fire when necessary. Braden kept a hand on me as we ran and when I finally saw the gate, it gave me motivation to keep going.

  I pulled ahead of Braden, but then I felt something under me collapse. My foot slid sideways and my ankle rolled across it. I felt a searing pain shoot through my leg and I dropped down into the snow with a scream. Everyone stopped and ran to help me, but that delay allowed the wolves to get closer. There were too many of them for Randall to take down with his bow. There was going to be a fight and we were still outnumbered—plus I was useless if my ankle was as messed up as it seemed.

  “Just go! Get inside the castle—leave me here!” I stumbled against the wagon.

  “Nonsense!” Alexander roared. “Braden, put her on the wagon and keep going. The rest of us—we fight.”

  “No!” I screamed as Braden pushed me into the wagon and grabbed it. “You’ll die!”

  “You fools!” A strange voice suddenly broke through the chilled air.

  I spun my head to the side and suddenly it was like my dream had come to life. Standing at the gate of the castle was the man in the golden armor—but he wasn’t quite a man. He was every bit the beast the rest of them had been when I found them with thick blond hair matted into a tangled beard. He started walking towards the group with a sword in his hand. It didn’t glow like the one I saw in my dream, but he started to spin it in his hand as he approached the group, striking out at the first wolf with lightning-like reflexes. The fight officially began and I was pulled through the gate. The man in the golden armor was a blur on the battlefield, killing wolves like they were nothing. I heard howls of terror as they started to fall into the snow and cover the ground around the group in crimson. They dispatched at least two dozen before the wolves finally started to retreat with their tails between their legs. I jumped down from the wagon and landed on my good foot, holding it for support as he started back towards the gate.

  “You’re the one from my dream.” I stared at him and saw his bright blue eyes look at me with confusion.

  “My name is Arthur—and I think all of you need to get back inside my castle before the witch sends more of her minions to make sure you never leave.” He sheathed his sword and started walking past us.

  “His castle?” Alexander looked at me and then to him. “Your castle?”

  “Yes...” He turned back briefly. “This is Camelot—or what is left of it.”

  “Camelot...” I blinked several times in surprise as Braden helped me walk towards the castle. “You’re King Arthur!”

  “I used to be.” He pushed the door open as we approached. “Now I’m just the king of snow and stone.”

  WE MADE OUR WAY BACK into the castle and Randall put the roses back in the greenhouse. Alexander took me to a chair and knelt at my feet as he examined my ankle. It didn’t seem to be broken, but it was definitely sprained. It started to swell as time passed, throbbing with an agonizing pain. Our mission had been a failure. We had cut their roses from the vines and it was all for nothing. I should have known the witch would have safeguards in place to make sure we didn’t escape, but my foolish pride let me believe I could somehow figure out a way to break her magical curse. I even believed I could find a way to beat her. We weren’t going to be able to make another attempt with my ankle in the shape that it was in, even if we could find a way to beat the wolves. The hope that I had built up amongst the group seemed to fade as that realization set in for everyone. Arthur came over and knelt to check on my ankle after Alexander was done and I could see from the look on the face behind his mangled beard that it wasn’t good. He stood up and shook his head before turning to the group.

  “Did you really think you could escape her curse that easily?” He looked around the room. “If there was a way, I would have found it by now.”

  “Wait...” Alexander tilted his head. “You’ve been here the whole time? Where?”

  “I was the only one here for hundreds of years—long enough for everyone I knew in my lifetime to die. When the first man came crawling through the gate, he thought I was the one responsible for his fate and he attacked me. He wasn’t the last. As more and more came, I realized that I was going to spend my eternity as an executioner if I kept welcoming them to my home. I sealed off the northern section of the castle and I’ve stayed there ever since—alone.” He sat down in a chair and sighed.

  “How?” Randall shook his head in surprise. “How did you survive? How did you get food?”

  “I don’t need it.” Arthur sighed again. “The curse seems different for me. The rest of you can take your life—all you have to do is cut your rose free and you die—or you can leave the castle and die in the snow. I’m not that lucky. My curse is truly eternal. Even if I die, I just wake right back up here in this castle.”

  “That’s why you didn’t fear the wolves...” I nodded in understanding. “Even if they kill you, it won’t hurt.”

  “Oh, it hurts...” Arthur looked directly into my eyes. “I’ve died a hundred deaths and none of them were pleasant.”

  “Why did you choose to reveal yourself now? Why not let us die like the others that have come here?” Shane folded his arms across his chest and glared at Arthur.

  “I couldn’t let an innocent woman die. Even I am not that cruel.” He closed his eyes for a moment and then opened them back up. “I tried to warn you, Anabelle. I came to you in your dreams—I tried to show you the truth.”

  “It was you...” I nodded. “What were you trying to show me?”

  “There’s only one way to defeat the witch—only one way to end the curse.” He leaned over and picked up his sword.

  “Excalibur...” My eyes opened wide. “You have to be the one to stop her.”

  “No.” He shook his head. “This isn’t Excalibur. I can no longer wield it.”

  “I saw you with it in my dreams. I saw the indigo blade.” I leaned forward. “You were holding it.”

  “You saw what I wanted you to see. But before I tell you about the sword, you need to know what became of the man who used to wield it. You need to know the truth—about who the witch really is.” He looked around the room.

  Chapter 17: King Arthur

  456 AD

  “It is a glorious day, my king.” My trusted adviser, Merlin, walked out onto the balcony.

  “Because of you, and Excalibur.” I turned to him and smiled. “You were right when you convinced me to pull the sword from the stone and take back my birthright. Now, I am marrying the beautiful Guinevere and we have an eternity of peace in front of us.”

  “My mirrors tell me of another fate, one that may not be so peaceful. A darkness looms over Camelot and there may be a time when you must wield Excalibur once more.” Merlin’s tone was grim. “I wish I had better news for the future, but like I said, today is a glorious day.”

  “Thank you, old friend.” I put my hand on his shoulder and walked back into the castle.

  Growing up as a street urchin with no hope of a future wasn’t easy. I never knew that it was preparing me for a future as king. I didn’t know my birthright then and I certainly didn’t know what fate would bring. When the wizard found me and convinced me to follow him into the mountains, I thought he was an old fool I would rob for what wealth he had. Little did I know that it would change my life and set me on a path to claim the destiny I had been denied. When I walked into Camelot and pulled the sword from the stone, I started a revolution. The people united behind me and I overthrew the dark magician, Mordred. Since then, there had been peace. I had been able to build my kingdom, reward the twelve knights of the round table, and plan my wedding. My most loyal knight, Lancelot,
would be by my side when I said my vows. Everything seemed to be perfect. If there was a darkness looming over Camelot, then I believed we would be able to defeat it. Our legacy would last generations—our legend would be forever.

  “DO YOU, KING ARTHUR...” The priest began reciting the lines that would end with us as husband and wife.

  Guinevere was the daughter of a lord that helped me when I was a street urchin. I was poor and hungry, just trying to survive. He gave me food, provided me with shelter, and taught me how to fight. I had no idea what he saw in me at the time, but I later learned that he knew my lineage and he was one of the men who had sworn to protect me when my parents were murdered. I had been in love with his daughter since I was a young boy. Her beauty captivated me and made me feel something nobody had ever been able to replicate. I never considered myself worthy of her touch and I certainly didn’t expect to be the one she wed. Perhaps her father always knew that we would be together—he never discouraged my affection for her—even when I was in no position to give it.

  When fate gave me the gift of the crown, I knew she would be the one I chose as my wife. It was love in the purest form. Her veil covered her beauty, but I didn’t need to see her face—it was etched in my very soul. The priest’s words droned on, but I knew how it would end. I couldn’t wait to raise the veil and see the face of my beloved as my wife. When he was finally done, I pushed the veil from her face and stared into her beautiful emerald eyes—they were enchanting.

  “MORDRED’S FORCES HAVE gathered on the Plains of Camlann.” Percival tapped a map that was on the table in front of us. “He plans to attack Camelot.”

  “He shouldn’t have any power. We took the crown from him—how was he able to build an army like this?” I put both hands on the table and sighed.

  “This is very dark magic.” Merlin shook his head back and forth. “It is more powerful than I am. I’m afraid I will be of little use to you on the battlefield, but with Excalibur, you should be able to defeat him again.”