Edward
After my breakfast and I had made sure that Bella was safely back in my chambers, I sought out Arnold. He needs to be made to understand that Bella is off-limits. She is my mate, though I am not sure how. The curse gave me ultimate power but at the cost of never finding love again. At the time, I was so sure that Ara was my mate and my chance at love died when my father killed her, but what if I was wrong?
I snarled at my uncertainty. Ara was my world in the light. Her death allowed me to embrace the shadows and summon The Darkness. Had she not been my Fated there's no way I could have summoned it. All Fae were stripped of that power centuries ago when one tried to wipe out humanity during The Dark Age.
I shifted into The Beast as I drew my dagger across Arnold's abdomen again, anger over the past making me an even more formidable opponent today. I wanted him to know that I could obliterate his soul, but not just yet. So I put it back into its magic sheath that molded into my body. I drew my sword, and as I lunged at him again, he barely managed to spin away from me enough that my sword barely grazed him so I pivoted with him, slashing through the air repeatedly, cutting into his back so rapidly that before he had hit the ground, I had sliced him several times before I pulled my arm back. I glared at him as I balanced the heavy blade for a moment in the air before plunging it into his shoulder. My lips curled up in a silent snarl as I pushed the blade deeper, making him fall forward to the ground as the sword became embedded in the dirt below him.
The curse had made me The Beast and with it made me the ultimate warrior. I would never be held at bay again nor would I allow anyone to take what is mine! Rage coursed through my body, making every blood vessel almost throb with the need. But I won't allow the bloodlust to take over as it did when I killed my father and all of his supporters. Instead, I want Arnold to fear me and know that no matter where he went, he was going to die at my hands, while I stalked him like the predator that I now am. My father created The Beast when he took my life, my heart, and my very soul from me as I watched Ara die. I will not allow Arnold to do the same. Bella is mine!
I yanked my blade out of Arnold, relishing his whimper of pain before wiping his blood off of it and onto his shirt. When my sword was as clean as it was going to get, I spun away from him and I sheathed it. "On your feet!" I demanded. "I'm not done with you!"
"Ed," he said as he held his side, "We need to talk! I want the girl!" He must be dumber than I thought. Did he not know that this fight was about the girl?
I let out a rabid roar as I walked toward him, sliding the sword out of its scabbard. I swung it at him quickly, backing him up against the wall. When his back hit it, I thrust the tip of the blade into the wall before moving the hilt to the left to press the sword against his throat. I bared my teeth at him as I glared at it. "YOU CANNOT HAVE THE GIRL!" I yelled. "SHE IS MINE! MINE! NOT YOURS!"
I took several deep breaths to calm my frustration before pulling the blade out of the wall and stepping away from him. I couldn't afford to lose the one person who was on my side who knew all the ways our family fought and how I became The Beast. I let out a shaky breath as I paced away from him. As much as I needed him on my side, I wanted to kill him for even thinking he could have her. He reminded me of my father. Always wanting what he couldn't have. Ara had told me that my father had repeatedly tried to pursue her. His infatuation with who was mine was why we eloped in the human world. It was also the night she became pregnant.
But we had to keep it all hidden until our wedding in the Fae Realm and our coronation. My father killed her before we were crowned. He clung to his Kingship for years past when he was supposed to. He killed any who challenged him. I bided my time because I had always sought to do what was just, but when her death kept playing in my dreams I snapped. I found scrolls in a cave on Earth near a beach that Ara and I frequented. She loved pretending to be human. I never understood why until I saw Bella.
Bella is making me question everything. Because now, between these nightmares of my past and the new feelings I was having for this little human, I was faltering. I found myself wanting to do nothing but be around her. Bella was quickly making me forget why I had taken her and didn't kill her. She was the key to getting back to my death and the end of The Darkness' hold over me.
"Ed?"
I spun around to pin him with a deadly glare. "WHAT?!"
"Your skin. It's changing," he answered, pointing down at my wrist. I looked down at my hand, completely shocked when my darkened skin held spots of ivory flesh. I lifted my hand, turning it every way in the light, astonished by the way the skin was spreading until my skin from my fingertips to my elbow was almost ivory. I stared at it for a few seconds before it slowly turned back to dark tan. I let my arm fall back to my side before shaking my head. This had to be because of this new situation between me and Bella. I met Arnold's eyes as I shifted my weight anxiously once between my feet.
For centuries I had remained in my dark Fae form. My skin and hair were both dark as were my eyes. When I shifted into The Beast I had dark tanned, rough skin covered in scars, while horns graced my temples. My blood-red eyes would pierce another's soul. It was so different from my light Fae form. In that form, I could almost pass for a human. The only thing that made me look physically different from humans were the large tattooed wings on my back that my shimmering wings once sprouted from instead of my beastly dark-scaled wings tipped with knifelike feathers. "You can't have her. Choose another. I won't tell you again."
I took another deep breath before turning away from him. As I walked away from him, I was slowly reverting to my dark Fae form, he called out, "She is not Ara, Edward! She will never be Ara!"
I clenched my jaw tightly. "No, and maybe that's why I won't let another have her…" I growled loudly as I stomped away. I need to find out why he is obsessed with Bella because it reminds me of how obsessed my father became with Ara. The two women are polar opposites and the only thing that they had in common was me. Does my only friend want to rob me of my chance at happiness?