A Light in the Dark (Banish the Dark Book 1)

by Miranda Sapphire

She hoped she would be able to coax him into blushing like that more. It made something inside her…purr.

She smiled as she took a step towards him. "Well alright then," she said, and wasn't it a bit odd that her voice sounded almost...husky, just then? She cleared her throat and met Beast's soft brown eyes again.

"What if I don't want you to keep out of the way?" she asked softly. He blinked. "Then I suppose I will have to accommodate," he said slowly, a shy grin sliding across his sharp face.

I will absolutely be filling your days with rude interruptions while I’m here.” He paused, darting a nervous look at her. “I look forward to it,” he rumbled softly, making her heart do something odd in her chest.

His wound from the last one was still tender and aching, even though it had been half a year at least since he’d sustained it.

“Gods, but she was beautiful, and so damned nice. No one’s ever talked to me like that. And she touched me. Like I was just a regular person, Tully.”

Omg he’s to freaking adorable

“I didn’t say you could look at that,” he rasped, taking himself in his hand and pumping his huge fist up and down the stunning length of himself. “You didn’t say I couldn’t look,” she shot back,

Beast was terribly addicted to romance novels, and the raunchier the better.

He had been locked up at just sixteen,

He yearned to find someone who would prove that they cared for him and wanted to take care of him and would treat his heart like the fragile thing that it was. He wanted true love, soul-deep and powerful. He wanted a best friend who he could lavish with attention and pleasure. He knew he’d have a lot of learning to do, but he would be all too happy to learn, if his partner was fine with teaching.

He was practically pouting, and it made her want to slap him upside the head and wrap him up in a bear hug at the same time.

How did someone even heal wounds like that, anyway? How did you heal something you couldn’t see, couldn’t touch or smell?

She’s here to save me. And there was a chance he was worth saving. Something thick and heavy inside of him started to crack open, chasing away the last of his dark mood.

“I’m not saying you are a grandpa,” she teased as they’d talked about his crafty hobbies and love of quiet. “I’m just saying that you have a lot in common with the average grandparent.”

she hated to underperform. She just couldn’t shake it, the feeling that if she wasn’t better than good then she was less than acceptable.

“You know, your tragic backstory. In all the adventure novels the hero always has one.”

“You have been reading too many damn books, my friend!” she howled, swiping tears from the corners of her eyes. “Although thank you for finally admitting that I’m your hero.”

“I’m only dangerous to people who are cruel to those I care about,” he rumbled, blushing and making her melt.

“Thank you.” She turned to look at him again. He was still on the floor, though he’d shifted to face her. “What for?”

“Alright, that’s it,” she snapped, putting her diviner on the armchair. “Unless you say no I’m coming in for a hug.” He looked shocked, his brown eyes wide, but he didn’t say no.

heart doing acrobatics in her chest. She really did love his smile, sharp teeth and all.

She’d done some simple two-strand twists the day before and had pulled them back into a bundle at the back of her head, but all of her baby hairs and flyaways were going to frizz up and stick to her face in the way that drove her crazy.

And his body—sweet Delenaa, he was exactly her type. Wide shoulders, a broad chest, thick with muscle but with a nice layer of softness over the top of it all to cuddle into and grab onto. And those hands. She’d always had such a weakness for hands,

created such deep rifts with her father and her sister by insisting on this.

Pretty sure that would be there either way

but with Adeela retired and Aubrey’s medical bills from transitioning she didn’t want to have to do that if she could avoid it.

I love that there is no explanation of any of the queerness.

There was a particular warmth to the way he looked at her sometimes that would sweep through her like a wave, lighting her up and making her feel taut and tingly.

made her want to keep peeling away at his gruffness and his caution, until every beautiful inch of his soul was revealed to her.

only to get distracted by the first pretty face and climbable body she came across.

“I will see you at dinner, then,” he finished awkwardly, forcing himself to move away from her door with an oh-so-casual wave when all he really wanted was to twine himself around her like an enormous snake and hold on for dear life.

She flushed with heat, picturing how consuming romance literature might inform his approach to a relationship.

The last of her control fled, her whole body going tingly at his sweet shyness. He was going to make her combust, truly.

He scoffed, trying his best to stifle a grin and failing. “You’re back on this already? How does such a tiny person fit that much audacity inside them?”

No one would call me small!” “That’s rude, calling me no one.”

He found himself smiling, his chest warming with something softer than lust. She was so precious, his Claire.

I’m utterly useless with this stuff.” He frowned at her. “That’s my friend you’re slandering. Please be nicer to her,” he scolded,

When he looked back up she was blinking at him, looking shocked. When their eyes met her expression softened, color creeping into her cheeks. “Yes, sir,” she murmured, smiling at him gently. He nodded, smiling back.

part of him envied the spindle for being able to spend so much time wedged between all that glorious flesh in the near future,

he found himself suddenly struggling to keep his hands in his lap, to stop himself from reaching for her brown heart-shaped face, cupping it in his massive gray hands so that he could capture her mouth in a kiss.

making her wonder how he’d feel about her gently sinking her teeth into him. He was so…meaty, and now that she’d had that one little wisp of a taste she was hungry for more, to get her mouth all over the rest of him.

Her chest ached at his words. She imagined what it must be like, stuck here for the gods only knew how long, with nothing and no one beyond the rare visitor. It was so immediately awful it took her breath away. It was like the loneliness of her childhood but bloomed up to unthinkable proportions.

He had things that he enjoyed, but having fun was different: it was bigger, louder, and you had to cut something loose to have it.

And she especially tried to ignore the way the sight of him light and laughing and free made her ache in a way which was absolutely not friendly.

“For you,” she announced, “for saving me from danger and certain death. Even if it was your fault in the first place.”

“Can I kick people out?” she asked. His eyebrows shot up. “You’re really trying to take charge here, huh?” “For your own protection, civilian.” “Of course. Not because you just really like being bossy.”

“I’ve got you,” he murmured, the heat in his gaze curling around her heart. “If he makes you uncomfortable, then I’ll stay with you. If you want to get rid of him, I won’t stop you. I trust your instincts.”

the idea of seeing Claire scared, or gods forbid in pain, unleashed something primal and hot inside him that made him want to shred things and spill blood.

Beast heard Kiernan snort in his chair behind them, and a surge of pride made him feel warm. He might have been ugly, but he could make Claire smile, make her laugh. He could make her feel safe, and that was worth at least as much as a pretty face.

He wasn’t sure how he could say that being ripped away from her would be more horrible than any of the two hundred years he’d spent stuck at this manor. That just the idea of never seeing her again made him feel like he was dying.

She was all the hope he had left in the world, and without her, he…he was scared. So scared.

“I won’t go if you don’t want me to,” she murmured. “I’m here to protect you and keep you safe, sweet man.”