Beauty and the Bear (Werebear Shifter Billionaire Paranormal Romance Standalone)

by Luna Noir

  “Bella.”

  Startled out of her reverie, Bella stood, flustered. She could feel her face burning and prayed it wasn't too noticeable in the dim light. He moved as softly as a predator stalking prey, and she had been surprised by him more than once, but never before while she was thinking such... things.

  Bella cleared her throat, trying to regain her composure. “Sir?”

  “I wanted to show you something.”

  The tone of the Baron's voice gave nothing away, but set Bella's heart to pounding nonetheless. She nodded. “As you wish, sir.”

  He turned and walked away without waiting to see if she would follow.

  Bella hurried after the Baron as he lead her through Castle von Ursus' winding halls. His long strides kept him far ahead of her, far enough that she kept being distracted by his form as he walked, especially the way his buttocks clenched...

  She shook her head and tried to keep pace without being distracted.

  The Baron led her through the halls so quickly she was very nearly lost, even after she had been cleaning the castle top to bottom. Finally, he led her out into the grounds behind the castle from a small door she had never before noticed.

  Bella tried to gather her breath to ask where they were going, but he stopped not long after, in front of a small stone cottage that must have once been the home of a gardener or groundskeeper back when the castle held a larger family.

  Now, of course, it was only the two of them.

  “I wanted to you to see this.” The Baron's voice was quiet and strangely withdrawn. “I know how much it's been bothering you to have your father far away. This cottage hasn't been used in some time, but I wanted you to know it was here.”

  He took a deep breath. “If you wish, I will have it repaired so your father can live here on these grounds for as long as you work for me.”

  Bella's heart leapt in her chest. She didn't know what to say. She had been second guessing herself, wondering if she had made up all of her thoughts of the Baron's inner gentle side, but this – she had never expected he would do something like this.

  “Sir...” she whispered, overcome. “I don't know what to say.”

  The Baron smiled. “Does that mean you like it?”

  “Sir...” Bella stared at him, marveling.

  Not daring to think too much about what she was about to do, Bella took a step forward and kissed him.

  His eyes widened in surprise, and then closed. Bella felt an electric shock pass between them, a pang of need so strong she might not have believed it if, when she broke away, the Baron hadn't had the same look, dumbfounded, on his face.

  “Thank you, sir.” She whispered. “I won't forget this.”

  ~

  That night, Bella lay awake for long hours, remembering the Baron's lips on hers. How could she have been so daring? And yet, every time she thought on it, she felt a desire like she had never known and didn't think she would have ever been able to have him be so kind and not want to kiss him.

  What was she going to do?

  But surely the Baron wouldn't fire her – he knew she appreciated the gesture, that was all.

  Bella tried to calm her beating heart and keep her thoughts from him, but it was hard, so hard not to imagine kissing him once more, sliding her hands down his muscled arms and letting him clutch her tightly. Feeling their bodies press together as they bared their flesh, drinking each other in. The way it would feel when he buried his cock deep inside her...

  A mournful cry echoed through the castle, shattering her fantasy.

  Whatever beast roamed these halls sounded particularly pained tonight. It made her heart ache until she could bear it no longer. Somehow she knew in her heart of hearts it was in pain. Something or someone had changed things here in the castle, and Bella had the sinking feeling it was her.

  Sliding from her four-poster bed, she moved to the door on bare feet. The luxurious carpet gave no sound as she tiptoed across it, her silken nightgown brushing soundlessly against her smooth legs. She knew she shouldn't. But she had to.

  The knob too worked quietly, as though the whole room was conspiring to free her. Taking a deep breath, Bella stepped out into the hall.

  She could see nothing in the gloom of the night-shrouded castle, but footfalls not her own still echoed on the stone. Bella was not alone here.

  Her heart beating so loudly she felt sure someone would hear, Bella took one step, then another. Still no one.

  She turned the corner, and found herself face to face with the beast.

  A dark form loomed before her, great and terrifying. At first, she thought it was turned away, that she might back up and it would never know, but then the great head swung towards her, and Bella knew she had been caught.

  She froze, heart pounding.

  Oh please, oh please, pass me by.

  But her prayers fell on deaf ears, and the dark shape did not pass her by.

  Instead, it loomed before her, greater even than she would have thought possible by the sound of its footfalls and the size of the castle halls. It seemed blurry and indistinct in the dark until she realized that the shape itself was indistinct. It was a great beast after all, one covered in fur.

  She thought at first it stood on two legs like a man, but as it approached it was on all fours. Bella could smell it now, a deep musky smell that filled her with terror and a strange longing. Heart in her throat, she waited to die.

  But the blow she expected never came.

  Instead, she heard a heavy breathing and realized the beast was smelling her. She could feel a soft exhale on her belly, then her thighs, as the creature lowered its head. The thin gauze of her nightgown swayed with the beast’s breath, but Bella didn’t dare move away lest it provoke the creature into attacking.

  It breathed in deeply once more, and Bella felt a cool wetness press against her legs. The beast’s nose touched her through the thin silk of her nightgown. She struggled not to flinch or scream.

  The nose traced its way down her leg, until it reached the hem of her nightgown and its muzzle brushed against her bare ankle. She could feel its warm breath on her fair skin.

  Her pussy tingled with each exhalation. Now she pressed her lips together not to hold back a scream, but a moan. Why was her body responding to the touch of such a beast? How could this be happening?

  If the beast was smelling her, then he – and Bella suddenly felt very sure the beast was a he, though she could not have said why – he must know of her desire. The thought was strangely troubling.

  She felt him exhale once more, her nightgown swaying and her traitor body responding. The beast’s head lifted, and she felt as though she was being studied.

  With a low whimper she was not able to suppress, Bella closed her eyes, terror once more winning out. Whatever was happening here, she did not know if she could take it. This night had grown so strange, and she was not ready to die.

  Seconds lengthened into long moments with her heart in her throat. As her pulse calmed, Bella dared to open her eyes once more.

  She was alone in the darkened halls of the castle Ursus. Whatever beast had come for her, it had passed her by. She had come to no harm in the night.

  ~

  "Bella."

  She looked up from her labors at the sound of the Baron's voice, unusually gentle. "My lord?"

  "A moment of your time."

  Bella bit her lip and stared after his retreating form. He must have known what she had done. Or maybe he wanted to speak about the kiss the day before.

  She sighed, almost too tired to be nervous. Everything in this house was shrouded in mystery, and even though she was trying to make a difference here, she couldn't help feeling she was making things worse.

  Nervously, she stood, smoothing her hands on her dress, and followed the Baron to his study.

  For once, he was not at the desk looking to ignore her, but rather seated in one of the great claw-footed chairs by the fire. He gestured to the other one. Her unease gro
wing, Bella sat.

  "You were out wandering the halls last night."

  Bella bowed her head. She didn't see how she could deny it. "Yes, my lord."

  The Baron's voice turned harsh. "Why?"

  She felt a flutter in her stomach at his tone. The last thing in the world she wanted was to upset him! "I..." Did she dare tell the truth? "I thought you might need me."

  "Me?"

  Did he sound confused, or angry? She couldn't read the look on his face. There was something dark moving behind his eyes, something that troubled her, but also stirred something deep within her.

  "Yes, my lord." She bit her lip again. "My lord, I'm sorry. I'll resign if you wish."

  For several long moments, he didn't speak. Not knowing what else to do, she stood, getting ready to curtsy.

  "No, Bella. I don't need your resignation."

  "Sir..."

  “Stay in your room, Bella.” The Baron gave her a sad smile. “This time I’m not ordering, I’m asking. It’s dangerous here, and you… you have become important to me.”

  The words hung in the air, and Bella dared not think about what they meant just yet. “Thank you, sir,” she whispered.

  The Baron turned away. “No one has stayed with me so long except my father. It is I who should be thanking you.”

  This time she did curtsy, blindly, blinking back the sting of tears. She ached to go to him, to soothe the hurt behind those words.

  She couldn't help herself. She did.

  He didn't seem to hear her approach, only turning when she touched his shoulder. The Baron stared at her uncomprehendingly for a long moment.

  And then he lowered his mouth to hers, and her world began. His lips were soft and hard all at once, the sweetness of the kiss piercing the very core of her. Bella trembled against his mouth, grabbing to his muscled arms to keep from falling. But he plied her with skill, his tongue flicking between her lips and coaxing a low moan from her as she clutched him for balance.

  At her moan, he pressed her to him, as though he too had been holding back a dam of need. Bella crushed her breasts against his chest, feeling the heat of him as their mouths joined, feeling a rising tide of desire that she didn't know if she could withstand. His cock was now pressing against her hip, hard and long, and she ached to see it, to have him inside her.

  The Baron's hands were at her neckline now, working the buttons of her dress. Feverishly, she helped him, stripping the thin fabric from her and stepping out of it all in a moment. No sooner was she standing before him in her bra and panties than he grabbed her once more, groaning as their lips joined.

  Bella pulled at his jacket as they moved, stumbling, to the floor before the fire. There, on a great bearskin rug, they explored each other, her sliding her hands to finally untuck his perfect shirt, him cupping her buttocks and drawing her down beside him. They fit so well together, Bella thought, and for a moment wanted to cry.

  She stroked her fingers down his well-muscled chest, tracing them lower and lower. But he caught her hand, and she looked up at him in wordless protest.

  Even disheveled and dark with desire, he was handsome. He quirked a crooked smile at the protest on her face, and put a finger to her lips. "Lay back."

  Heart pounding, she did as he ordered.

  She closed her eyes against the cheerful crackling of the fire, wanting to savor every sensation - the fur on her buttocks, his skin against hers, the feeling of him about to fit himself inside her. But it was only his hands she felt, gently removing her bra and panties until she lay, naked and exposed, on the Baron's floor.

  "Sir..." she began softly, but then he was moving on her once more, and she did not know what it was she meant to say.

  It was not his hands she felt this time, but his mouth. That glorious, perfect mouth and full lips, lowered to kiss her thigh. Bella moaned and spread her legs. She ached for him to touch her with that mouth.

  His probing tongue trailed along her thigh and then gently slipped between her lips. Bella whimpered, unable to help herself. The Baron's mouth was warm and firm, laving her in long strokes as he drank in her juices. He moved so sweetly and gently that she could almost no longer tell where his tongue ended and where her pussy began. He drank in her juices, suckling her clitoris and then moving again in the long, slow strokes that built pleasure within her until she needed to scream.

  It was the most perfect sensation she had ever felt.

  He gently pressed her thighs back into the bearskin rug, holding them firmly with his large hands. The Baron took another long lick, his skill urging her to new heights. The pleasure was building now, impossibly hot in the core of her, exquisite and aching. She could feel it crashing through her, desperate and fulfilling at once.

  As he moved once more to her clitoris, she felt as though her whole body was engulfed by his mouth. Bella gasped and cried out, pressing his face deeply into her pussy. He held it there, deep inside her, as she came, cresting the wave of pent-up need that joined them both.

  For long moments, he held there as her breathing slowed. And then, he began again.

  Bella shuddered against him, lost in the afterglow of her climax and aching with the need to have him continue, to touch her everywhere, to drive his hard cock deep inside her. She gasped against the wave of pleasure that crashed over and through her, breaking against the tongue at her cunt and leaving her full of a need so exquisite she had trouble breathing. Her toes curled, and she fought the urge to completely succumb and press the Baron's face more firmly between her legs.

  She could see the muscles in his shoulders flex as he held her still, and with each move of his head he brought her to new heights of desire she had never before known. The pleasure was like nothing Bella could have imagined. She screamed as she came once more, her pussy pulsing against the Baron's lips.

  "Please," she whispered.

  Slowly, slowly he rose from between her legs, his face heavy with desire but also a strange look of fear.

  "Bella," he whispered, his voice husky with need. "I have to fire you."

  Bella stared at him in shock. "What?"

  "I have to let you go."

  "But - " But she was naked on his floor. But he had just pleasured her in ways she had not ever known she could be pleasured. But he had already told her he needed her to stay. Bella bit her lip, wanting to say all of those reasons, and none of them.

  "Bella, please." The Baron's voice sounded strangled now. "Get out."

  Slowly, Bella stood and gathered her clothes, feeling dirty and ashamed. She didn't know what had happened. She didn't want to leave.

  Once more she turned to him before she left, wanting to speak, but the tormented expression on his face as he stared into the fire left no room for discussion. She went.

  ~

  Not knowing where else to go, Bella found herself walking down the hall to her father's room at the assisted living facility. Was it only yesterday she had been planning how to tell him he would be able to come live with her in the castle, that they wouldn't have to be apart? How had everything gone so wrong so quickly?

  She still didn't understand what had happened. Bella and the Baron had finally come together, been close, and he had given her the best orgasm she had ever known. But what she couldn't understand was the pain in his eyes afterwards. He had ordered her to leave, but she couldn't help feeling as though it was a punishment for him as well as her.

  Then why make her go?

  With a sigh, Bella let herself into her father's room. He was sitting by the window, staring out, but he looked up when she entered.

  “Bella? What's wrong?”

  “Oh, Daddy.” She knelt by him, putting her head in his lap. “I'm so confused.”

  He stroked her hair, and Bella finally let herself cry the tears of hurt and confusion that she had been holding back since she left the castle.

  ~

  The next morning Bella woke, determined. Somewhere in the night she had come to a conclusion: the Baron hadn't tru
ly wanted her to leave. And she didn't want to leave him.

  She deserved an explanation.

  Steeling her courage, Bella went up to the castle as usual that morning. It was almost the time she usually arrived for work, and for a moment she was able to pretend that it was all a bad dream, that she would be welcomed inside as always.

  But when her knock fell, the door didn't open for several long minutes. She hadn't been expected. For a moment, Bella worried that the Baron might not even open the door for her at all.

  He did.