“Montgomery?” he repeated, barely above a whisper.
When I didn’t answer, his hands curled on the wooden armchair rails so hard the wood splintered. I jumped at the reminder of how strong Edward could be, how quickly his moods could shift. He pushed himself up to pace before the fire. “Montgomery left you. He didn’t come back for you. I did.”
My heart started pounding. This was wrong—talking of Montgomery here, now.
“I must get home. It’s nearly morning. I’ll need to give myself an injection, and I haven’t any here.”
I crawled out of the chair and snatched my dress from the floor, shaking it out and struggling into fabric that was stiff with dried blood. I started to reach for my coat, but Edward grabbed my arm. “Wait.”
I didn’t dare look at him. “I’ll come back tonight and we’ll work on the serum.”
But his hand held me with an unnatural strength. Outside, the wind howled all the same warnings that my heart was whispering to me. My thoughts turned back to the broken chair rail and how easily that could be my bones splintered in two. I shivered, but not because of the cold.
Sharkey picked his head up and growled low in his throat.
“He’ll never understand what’s inside you,” Edward whispered. “He wants Moreau’s daughter, the girl he used to know, but that’s not who you are now. You’re no one’s daughter anymore. You can think for yourself, take care of yourself. You’re Juliet, and that’s enough, and Montgomery will never fully understand that.”
His other hand slid to touch the delicate skin above my rib cage but I twisted out of his grasp, not certain if I dared believe his words.
“The professor will worry,” I stuttered.
“I don’t care about the professor. I won’t let anything, or anyone, come between us.” He stepped close enough that I could feel his breath on my neck, warm and moist. I noted a different smell in the air—an animal smell. Not Sharkey’s light musty scent, but something heavier, more primal. I felt like here, in this moment, I was seeing that tenuous line between man and Beast I had been so curious about.
“I love you, Juliet.”
Sharkey stood up now, growling louder. I could tell by the deeper timber in Edward’s voice that the boy I knew was slipping. The Beast was used to getting his way, and I was refusing him what he wanted most—me. How far would he go to get what he wanted?
I had to be careful, now. Very careful.
“Edward, please . . .”
His fingers curled into mine nearly hard enough to bruise. When I met his gaze, my breath caught. His pupils were already starting to elongate. In moments the Beast would fully emerge. He leaned close enough that his lips grazed my earlobe. “I won’t let you go.”
Sharkey barked now, twice, very loud.
“I must get home,” I said, trying to keep my shaking voice under control. “If I don’t, the professor will send half the police after me, and they’d soon trace me here. We can’t let them find this place. Find you. I’ll come back tonight, and we’ll be together.”
I forced myself to look him in his animal eyes. I ignored how broad his shoulders were growing, how dark the hair on his arms was becoming. I pulled my lips in a smile that I prayed would convince him. His tight grip eased a small degree, and I cautiously slid from his grasp. I reached for one of my boots, though the moment I picked it up, the knife slid from its holster and clattered to the floor.
Blast. I dove for it, but he was faster.
His hand clamped over my wrist. Sharkey exploded in barks that tore at my ears.
“Let me go!” I lunged for the knife again, but it only seemed to excite his predator instincts more. As he clutched my wrist, I could feel the bones in his hand shifting and popping as the transformation came faster.
A flurry of noise came charging across the room as Sharkey tore at Edward, barking and growling. Edward gave him a single kick that sent him cringing under the bed.
“Don’t you dare hurt him!” I cried, trying to pull him away from the dog. But my hands on his arm had the wrong effect, and he turned to me with a leer.
“Juliet,” he muttered, his eyes dilated and glowing. His voice was still Edward’s, and yet the edges of it were changing. The Beast was coming, fast. “How I missed you.” He leaned in close, his forehead against my temple, breathing in the smell of my hair and skin. His lips grazed my cheek and I shivered, painfully aware of the coldness of his flesh.
“I can’t help it,” he said. “I am what I am. An animal. Can you blame me for that?”
He nuzzled my cheek again, breath cold against my skin, as the last traces of Edward’s voice dissipated. That voice. That humanity. It was unnaturally deep in tone and yet spoken like a man, calculated, polite. The creature before me was larger, taller, stronger—the same body and yet such a different person. I couldn’t control the shivers of fear that ran along my spine, nor the goose bumps on my bare skin.
Before I could think, he was kissing me. It wasn’t Edward’s gentle, slow kisses from last night. Now the animal was coming out and it was passionate—no, famished—and it started to awake something in me, too, a wildness, a recklessness, but I shoved that part of me away as my heart pounded frantically back to life. This is what had fascinated me about him—monster and man sharing the same breath—and now it terrified me.
Well, I could be a monster, too.
I just needed a weapon. The knife . . . it was too far away. My gaze darted around the room for anything within arm’s reach that I could use. A jar of potassium powder sat on the table, and in my desperation I reached for it just as a terrible sound like bones sliding began. A sound I’d heard only once before, when the Beast had let loose its claws.