The Fairy Tales Collection (19 page)

They were lying in his bed.  They had
showered together earlier.  They washed each other’s bodies and it was tempting
to take her again right there but he was worried that he was pushing her too
much.  Not many women could match his large appetite for sex.  He had tamped
down his libido and kept it strictly non-sexual with a control he hadn’t
thought possible.

Now, he studied Ella carefully.  It was
after eleven and dark but he could see as easily as a – well, cat – in the
darkness and he rubbed her tummy lightly before saying, “What do you mean?”

“The day before last a courier brought a
parcel to my house and it was my favourite Samuel painting.  It’s the
original.”

“I thought it was sold at the show,” he
said.

“It was.  There was a card but all it said
was ‘for the prettiest girl at the gallery’.”  She hesitated.  “You – you
didn’t buy the painting for me, did you, Duncan?”

“No,” he said.  Technically he wasn’t
lying, he couldn’t buy something that belonged to him already.

He watched as a soft glow covered her
face.  “That was a stupid thing to say.”

“No, it wasn’t.”  He kissed her cheek and
cupped her breast, pushing his half-erect cock against her ass.  “Someone must
have seen you admiring it at the gallery and bought it for you.”

“That doesn’t make sense,” she said.  “Who
would buy such an expensive painting and give it to a woman they’ve never met?”

He shrugged.  “Maybe Samuel was at the show
and liked your enthusiasm for his work.  Maybe it was his way of saying
thanks.”

She giggled and elbowed him lightly. 
“Samuel never goes to his shows, everyone knows that.  Besides, as much as I
love the painting, if he really was there and noticed my love for his work, I
would rather he had just introduced himself.”

“Really?”  He said.

“Yes,” she said enthusiastically.  “Not
that I’m not incredibly happy to own one of his paintings – I am, stupidly so –
but it would be a dream come true to meet Samuel.  I’ve admired his work for so
long and he’s so,” she paused, “inspiring to me, I guess.”

She laughed softly.  “It’s probably better
that I’ll never meet him.  I’d make a total fool of myself if I did.”

“You wouldn’t,” he said before cupping her
pussy and rubbing his fingers over her clit.

“Ohhh,” she sighed and arched her back.  “I
would.  I’d stutter and stammer and not even be able to express how much his
work means to me.  God, Duncan, that feel so good.”

“I like making you feel good,” he whispered
as he continued to caress her clit.  “Do I need to be jealous of this Samuel
guy?”

She shook her head.  “No.  Unless Samuel is
super hot and insists that I’m his muse and he must paint me.”

He growled and bit her lightly on the neck
and she grinned cheekily.  “What?  It’s a dirty job but someone has to do it.”

He cupped her face and turned it toward his
before kissing her possessively.  “You’re mine, Ella Cinders.  Say it.”

She squinted at him and he slid one finger
deep into her pussy.  She gasped, her nails digging into his arms, and he
whispered, “Be a good girl and tell me you belong to me.”

“I belong to you,” she said in a soft
little moan.

“That’s right, you do,” he growled again
before kissing her.  “It’s time to show you what good girls get, Ella.”

“I like the sound of that,” she said
breathlessly and he laughed before pushing her onto her back and pulling down the
covers.  He kissed his way across her body, taking his time and finding all the
spots on her luscious curves that tickled.  She squirmed and moaned and dug her
nails into his scalp.

“Stop teasing, Duncan.”

He was lying between her legs, pressing wet
kisses across her lower abdomen and he gave her an innocent look.  “What do you
mean?”

“Give me what I want.”  She scowled at him
and pushed on his head and he laughed before sliding his hands under her ass.

“Yes, ma’am.”  He studied her lovely pussy
before sliding his tongue across her.  His lion growled happily at the taste of
his mate and he licked her again, cleaning away her sweet cream as she moaned
and sighed.

“Mine,” he muttered again before spreading
her open with his thumbs and licking her clit.  She gasped, her hands pressing
against his scalp, and he licked and teased and tormented the sweet little bud
until it was swollen and peeking out from between her lips. 

He sucked on it and when he growled, the
vibration of his lips sent her over the edge.  She shrieked his name, her
thighs clamping around his head and holding him firmly in place as warm wetness
covered his lips and cheeks.  He licked her clean again as her body shuddered
with little aftershocks of pleasure before sitting up and rubbing her thighs. 
He stared at her in regret, wanting so badly to fuck her that he could barely
stand it, but he made himself lie down beside her.  He had already taken her
twice and she would be tender and sore.  The thought of hurting her made him
feel sick to his stomach.

“Duncan?”  She frowned at him.  “Aren’t we
going to have sex?”

He shook his head.  “No, you need to rest. 
I know you’re sore.”

“Is that why you didn’t fuck me in the
shower?”

He nodded and a look of relief mixed with
frustration crossed her face.  “God, Duncan, I thought – I thought you were
getting tired of me already.”

He scowled at her.  “I’ll never get tired
of you, Ella.  You have no idea how much I want to make love to you.”

She smiled happily and spread her thighs
wide.  “Good.”  She tried to tug him on top of her and smacked him lightly on
the chest when he refused to move.

“Don’t make me tie you to the bed and have
my way with you, Duncan Gillis.”

“We should wait,” he moaned when she
reached down and gripped his cock firmly.

“No,” she said. “I’m not sore and if it
starts to be too much, I’ll tell you.”

“Are you sure?”  He said hoarsely but
already he was reaching for a condom.

“Positive.  Unless,” she gave him a cheeky
grin, “it’s too much for you?  Totally understand if you’re not able to and I
won’t judge you at all.”

He growled at her and nipped her
collarbone.  “Keep talking like that and I’ll fuck you until you can’t walk,
Ms. Cinders.”

“Promises, promises,” she whispered before
kissing his chest.  “Come on, Mr. Gillis.  Show me what you’ve got.”

* * *

Ella squirmed unhappily and tried to shift
away from Duncan.  She was much too warm, he was like a damn furnace against
her, and it felt like his entire body was draped across her abdomen.

“Duncan, get off,” she muttered.

He didn’t move and she opened her eyes,
blinking in the bright light from the window as she stared blankly at the
ceiling.  She yawned and reached down to push Duncan away.

“Duncan, you’re too heavy.  You need to…”

She trailed off as her hand touched soft
fur and – holy fucking hell – a wet nose.  She looked down and adrenaline flooded
her veins as a low moan of fear escaped her lips.  A lion, a very large and
horrifyingly real, lion was in the bed with her.  His giant head was resting on
her stomach and she snatched her hand away from its face as her limbs began to
shake.

“You’re dreaming, Ella,” she whispered and
closed her eyes.  After ten seconds she opened them and tears slid down her
cheeks.  If this was a dream it was terrifyingly realistic.  Her breath was
tearing in and out of her throat in harsh gasps and she froze when the lion
stirred against her.  He raised his head and yawned, his teeth were the size of
her goddamn hand, before blinking sleepily at her.

He immediately began to purr and she made a
terrified little yelp when he butted his face against hers and rubbed his forehead
on her chin.  His tongue, large and painfully scratchy, licked her neck and she
moaned again in terror.

The lion raised his head and blinked again
as an almost human-like look of confusion crossed his wide face.  He sat up on
his haunches and Ella lunged to the left as little cries of fear burst from her
throat.  She fell out of the bed, banging her hip hard against the wooden floor
and scrambled to her feet before turning to face the lion.

“G-good kitty,” she whimpered, holding her
hands out in front of her like a shield.  “Stay, kitty.  Stay.”

The lion stood on the bed and she screamed
and backed away, almost tripping over her own feet.  Her eyes widened and her
mouth dropped open as the lion’s body began to ripple and there were soft
cracks and pops.  His fur receded, his fangs retracted and in less than five
seconds, the lion was gone and a naked Duncan Gillis was on his hands and knees
on the bed.  He slid off the bed and started toward her.  “Ella, honey, take a
deep breath.  It’s okay.”

“You’re a fucking lion,” she whispered.

“Ella, honey, don’t panic.  I’m not going
to hurt you,” he said desperately

“Don’t – don’t come near me.” 

Her ears were ringing and the whole room
was beginning to blur.  She swayed on her feet, only dimly aware of Duncan
rushing forward.  Her eyes rolled up in her head and she fainted for the first
time in her life.

“Ella?  Honey, wake up.  Open your eyes.”

Belle’s voice dragged her out of the
darkness and she stared blearily at her best friend.  “Belle?”

“Hi, honey.”  Belle smiled with relief. 
“How do you feel?”

“Uh, fine, I think.  My hip hurts.”  She
took a deep breath.  “I had the craziest dream, Belle.  I – I dreamt that I was
in Duncan’s bed and there was a lion sleeping with me.  A crazy-ass big one. 
And then it – it turned into Duncan.”

She sat up and rubbed her forehead.  “It
was so real.  I can still remember the way his fur felt and how he…”

She trailed off and stared blankly at the
room before glancing down at herself.  She was wearing Duncan’s shirt again and
she touched it lightly.  “Belle, I’m in Duncan’s room.”

“Yeah, honey, you are,” Belle said gently.

“I – it wasn’t a dream,” she whispered.

“Ella, listen to me carefully, okay?” 
Belle took her cold hands and rubbed them with her warm ones. 

“It wasn’t a dream, was it, Belle?”  Ella
could hear the panic in her voice and she took several deep breaths.

“No, Ella, it wasn’t.  Duncan is a lion
shifter.  He can change from human to lion.”

“That’s impossible,” Ella whispered.

“I know how it sounds but, honey, it’s
true.  I swear to you it is.”

“H-how did you know that Duncan was a…”

She trailed off, not quite able to say the
words ‘lion shifter’.

“I didn’t.  At least not until Duncan
called Bennett this morning in a panic.  I had my suspicions, after you
mentioned the whole purring thing, but I didn’t know anything for sure.”

“Why did Duncan call you and Bennett?” 
Ella, feeling slow and unbelievably stupid, couldn’t quite grasp what she was
missing.

“Well, he called me because Bennett – “

“Is a shifter,” Ella finished in a whisper
as understanding dawned.  “He’s a bear shifter, isn’t he?”

Belle nodded solemnly and Ella pulled away her
hands.  “Why didn’t you tell me?”

“I couldn’t, honey.  Shifters don’t, for
the most part, want humans knowing of their existence.  I can’t blame them for
that.  You know what humans would do to them.  Experiments and…”

She shuddered lightly before taking Ella’s
hands again.  “I’m sorry, honey.  I wanted to tell you, both you and Ro, but Bennett
asked me not to.  He never even told me that Duncan was a shifter.”

Ella stared at their clasped hands.  “This
isn’t real.  There’s no such thing as – as shifters, Belle.”

“It’s real, Ella,” Belle said.

There was something in the tone of her
voice and the look on her face that brought home the truth to Ella. 

“Oh my God,” she whispered.  “Why – how can
you be so fucking calm about this?”

“Well,” Belle said carefully, “Bennett did
shift into his bear form when we were kids so I’d already seen it.  After my
dad had his heart attack, Bennett told me the truth and shifted to his bear
form.  Honestly, I wasn’t that surprised.”

She stopped and gave Ella a nervous look. 
“And there was something else.”

“What?”

“Before my dad left for rehab, he told me
that my mother was a tiger shifter.”

Ella stared in shock at her.  “You – you’re
a tiger shifter?”

“No,” Belle said.  “I’m as human as my
dad.  When a shifter and a human mate, their offspring is either fully human or
a shifter.  I didn’t get any of my mother’s shifter abilities.”

“Fuck, how many types of shifters are
there?”  Ella said.

“I don’t really know.  Bennett doesn’t like
to talk about it very much and I haven’t pushed him on it.”

“If it’s such a secret, why did Duncan
shift to his – his lion form when I was in his bed?”

“I don’t know,” Belle said.  “You’ll have
to ask him.”

Ella paled and rubbed compulsively at her
lips. “Wh-where is he?”

“In the living room with Bennett.  He’s
pretty upset.”

“He’s upset?  I’m the one who woke up with
a fucking lion sleeping on me, Belle,” Ella said.

Her eyes widened.  “I had sex with a lion!”

“No,” Belle said.  “You had sex with
Duncan.”

She squeezed Ella’s hands.  “You should
talk to Duncan, honey.”

“I’m afraid,” Ella whispered.

“You don’t need to be.  Duncan would never
hurt you.”

“You – you don’t know that.  What if he was
really hungry one night and lost control and shifted.  His lion would tear me
apart and eat me for supper.”

Belle snickered.  “Honey, that isn’t going
to happen.”

“This isn’t funny,” Ella said.

Belle winced.  “I know.  I’m sorry, honey. 
I didn’t mean to laugh.  I know how weird this is but I think you’ll feel
better if you talk to Duncan.”

“I don’t want to be alone with him.”

“I’ll stay right there with you and so will
Bennett.  Nothing’s going to happen, honey, I promise.  Come on, get dressed,
okay?”

* * *

Ella, her heart pounding, followed Belle
into the living room.  Duncan, wearing just his gym shorts, was standing by the
window with Bennett and he started toward her.

“Ella, sweetheart, I’m sorry.  I didn’t
mean to – “

He stopped, pain shattering his features
when she made a low moan of fear and skittered away from him.  He glanced at Bennett
and the bear shifter gave him a sympathetic look as Belle rubbed Ella’s arm.

“It’s okay, honey.”

“Ella,” Duncan tried again.  “I’m sorry for
frightening you.  I swear I didn’t – “

“Shift,” she interrupted.

He gave her a wary look.  “What?”

“Shift,” she whispered.  “I want to see
it.”

“That’s not a good idea,” he said.  “Belle,
tell her it isn’t a good idea.”

Ella shook her head.  “I’m not even sure I
believe any of this is real so if you want me to believe that I’m standing in
front of a man who can turn into a lion, you need to prove it to me.”

Duncan hesitated before grabbing the
waistband of his shorts.  He turned to Belle and she said, “Oh, right, sorry.”

She turned around and faced the wall as
Duncan shoved his shorts down.  He took a deep breath and closed his eyes and
Ella watched in a combination of terror and fascination as he shifted to a
lion.

He sat on his haunches and stared
unblinkingly at her as Belle peeked over her shoulder before turning around. 
There were a few moments of silence as Ella studied the giant lion.  His fur
was the same colour as Duncan’s hair, the thick mane that surrounded his head a
darker brown.  He was massive in size and she stared for a long moment at the
thick, sharp claws on his feet.

“Ella?”  Belle said softly.  “Why don’t you
touch him.”

She didn’t want to, she was still terribly
afraid despite both Belle’s and Bennett’s presence, but she stumbled forward on
legs that felt like wooden stilts.  She clutched Belle’s hand like a lifeline
as she stopped a few feet in front of the lion.  Even sitting on his haunches
he was taller than her and her hand was trembling badly as she stretched her
arm toward him.  She caught a glimpse of his fangs and dropped her hand before
backing away.

“No.  No, I can’t do this,” she whispered
before turning and running from the room.

Duncan shifted immediately and Belle caught
his arm when he tried to run after her.  “She needs some time, Duncan.  I’ll go
after her.”

She ran out of the room and Duncan gave her
an anxious look when she returned only a few minutes later.  “She jumped in her
car and sped off,” she said.

“Fuck,” Duncan muttered as he yanked his
gym shorts over his hips.  “She’s terrified of me.”

“Give her some space.  She’s not really
afraid of you, just afraid of what she doesn’t understand,” Belle said.  “I’ll
go to her apartment this afternoon and talk to her again.  She just needs time
to process, that’s all.”

* * *

Ella was barely in her apartment before
Edith and Ana were bursting through the door.

“Where have you been?”  Edith demanded as
Ana glared daggers at her.

“None of your business,” Ella snapped.

“You little whore,” Ana spat.  “Did you
think we wouldn’t find out?”

For a moment Ella thought she was talking
about Duncan being a lion shifter and fear curled in her belly.  “What are you
talking about?”

“The whole town knows that you and Duncan
were having sex in the bathroom at the diner.  Marlene told everyone!  How
could you do this to me?”  Ana spat.

“I didn’t have sex with Duncan in the
bathroom,” Ella said.  “Although I did have sex with him multiple times in his
bed last night.”

“You fat bitch!”  Ana screeched.  “Duncan’s
mine, you know that!”

“Duncan is a human being, not some
possession that you can own!”  Ella shouted at her.  “I’m sorry he’s not
attracted to you but get the fuck over it, you spoiled little brat.”

“How dare you!”  Ana shouted before looking
at her mother. “Mother!  Are you going to allow her to speak to me that way?”

“Apologize to your sister.  Immediately,”
Edith said angrily.

“She’s not my sister and I won’t
apologize,” Ella replied.

“You think you have some kind of future
with Duncan Gillis?”  Ana said.  “He may have felt sorry for your fat ass and
thrown you a pity fuck but it’s me he’s going to be with.  Stay away from him,
Ella.  I mean it!”

“Fuck you, Ana,” Ella said wearily.

Edith stormed forward and slapped her
across the face.  Ella staggered back and stared at her stepmother as Edith
glared at her.  “Don’t you ever speak to my daughter that way again.”

“Get out,” Ella said.  “Get out of my
house.”

“Your house?”  Edith’s eyes widened.  “You
live here because of my generosity.  Everything you have, everything you ever
will have, is because of me and don’t you ever forget that.  If it wasn’t for
my generosity, you would have grown up in some foster home where they didn’t
give a shit about you.”

“Your generosity?”  Ella laughed bitterly. 
“You made me a slave.  I spent my entire childhood cleaning your house and
other people’s houses while you made money from it.  You have a funny idea of
generosity.”

“You ungrateful cow!”  Edith shouted. 
“I’ve given you more than you deserve.  What more could you want?”

“What more could I want?”  Ella stared at
her in disbelief.  “Are you kidding me?  You were the only mother I ever knew. 
All I wanted was your love.  But I’ll never get that, will I?”

“No,” Edith said.  “No one will ever love
you, Ella Cinders.”

Ella blinked back the hot tears as Ana gave
her a look of triumph.

“You will stay away from Duncan Gillis.  Do
you hear me, Ella?  Ana wants him and she’s going to have him,” Edith said.

“Are you going to make me stay away from
him?”  Ella said softly.

“As long as you’re living under my roof,
you’ll do exactly what I say,” Edith replied.

“Fine.  Then I’ll leave.”  Ella crossed the
apartment and grabbed Gus’ crate and a small suitcase from the closet.

“What are you doing?”  Edith said.

“Leaving,” Ella said.

“You have no place to go,” Edith replied. 
“You need me.”

Ella laughed.  “No, I don’t.  Oh, and I
quit.  I’ll never clean another toilet for you again, Edith.  Now get out. 
Both of you.”

She stuffed clothes into the suitcase and
didn’t look up when Edith and Ana left the apartment and slammed the door
behind them.

* * *

“Can I ask you a question, Belle?”

“Sure.”  Belle placed the stack of books in
her hand on the table and dropped into a chair.

Ella stared at the shelves of books in Bennett’s
library.  She had driven to Bennett’s house after packing a suitcase and Gus. 
Belle had welcomed her with open arms and she and Bennett had returned with her
the next day to her apartment to pack up the rest of her things.  For the last
three days, Ella had been hiding out in one of the many bedrooms in Bennett’s
home with no one but Gus to keep her company.

She smiled at Belle.  “Thank you again for
letting me stay with you and Bennett.”

“Honey, it’s no problem. You can stay for
as long as you want.  Bennett’s place is so big there’s plenty of room.  Hell,
the three of us could live here and never once cross paths if we tried hard
enough.”

“You’re sure Bennett doesn’t mind?”

“I’m positive.  It’s about time you cut the
cord with those horrible bitches.  They weren’t good for you, Ella.”