Gabe Aston’s blood-soaked fingers were shaking as he cocked his gun, shouting in agony as he twisted in Adam’s fanged grip to aim his weapon at the beast.
“No!” Belle screamed, reaching him just before the shot went off. She kicked his hands, and the bullet missed its mark as the gun fell from Gabe’s grip. The bullet shattered the tall glass door that led to the balcony, introducing a gust of freezing air to the castle.
Belle didn’t have time to shudder at the cold; she wanted Gabe finished.
Adam was just as determined to defend the lady of the house to the death. He dragged Gabe over the glass, cutting his own hands in the process as he heaved the sheriff out onto the stone balcony. There were two gargoyles perched on either end of the terrace, each staring out at the world, silently asking it how everything had spun so out of control.
Belle watched as Adam dropped his grip on Gabe, wound up and let his fist fly across Gabe’s dimpled jaw over and over again. The punishment was unforgiving, and meant to be a wound the crooked sheriff wouldn’t easily recover from.
Belle stiffened, and Adam paused his second punch when they heard a band of wolves calling out in the night.
“It’s time,” he growled to Belle, falling back to sit on his butt, exhausted.
Belle kicked Gabe in the temple with her boot on her way over to Adam, falling down at her love’s side. “No! No! I won’t let this happen!”
“It’s too late.” He clutched his chest and screwed up his face, letting out a roar as he fell backward, lying supine on the balcony. His torso twisted violently, and his legs kicked out as they prepared to change into those of a wolf. Belle tried to hold eye contact, but the pain of the transition made his words come out choked as his lashes fluttered. “At least I got to see you one last time.”
Belle’s hands fluttered over his chest, her vision clouding as tears fell down on his shirt. “This isn’t how this ends! I can fix all of it!”
She didn’t expect Gabe to stumble around her, nor for him to have the wherewithal to clutch a shard of glass with steadiness enough to ram it into Adam’s side. He stood with a weary triumph at Adam’s guttural howl, but stumbled under the weight of the many blows he’d sustained.
Fury flooded Belle from head to toe. She was tired of the constant bullying by Gabe, and even the wolves who came by to howl at night and remind Adam of his doom. For all the weaponry and shattered glass strewn about, Belle didn’t bother with any of it. She leapt over Adam’s body with a cry that resounded from the very depths of her soul. It wasn’t a call for help or even mercy. It was a thunderous pronouncement that she would endure the tyranny no more.
It was as simple as a push to his chest, but that was all it took. Gabe screamed as he toppled over the railing on the stone balcony, managing to catch himself on the ledge. The howls from the Lupine below widened his eyes in fear. “Belle! Belle! Help me up!”
Belle glared down at him, her resolve feeling colder than the snow that cascaded around her. “Beg me, tasty cakes.” Then before he could get in another word, Belle kicked at his fingers, releasing him from the ledge.
Gabe fell three stories, landing with an unnatural thud on the frozen earth. He didn’t move – couldn’t move – as the Lupine closed in on the fresh kill they hadn’t had to work for. One of them howled up at her in thanks while the others made quick work of tearing flesh from bone.