Beast: Happily Ever After is available now! Here's a little sneak peek!

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Alyxandra Williams

“Finn!!!” I squealed, downing my shot of tequila and placing my shot glass on the bar before rushing over and wrapping my arms around his waist.

He looked beyond handsome in his all-white tux, adorned with gold jewelry and compliment with a pair of what seemed to be expensive gold shoes, and a gold mask.

I almost didn’t know who he was for a second.

“What’s good with you best friend?” He grinned, leaning down to place a kiss against my temple.

To say that I was excited to see him was an understatement. I’d been feeling anxious and out of place ever since the moment I landed in Laganos, and I was happy to have at least one person here with me that I knew I could trust.

“How long you been here?” He questioned, releasing me from his embrace but grabbing hold of my hand as he led me to the bar.

“Just a couple of hours. I got a room at one of the village inns and made my way here.”

Originally he and I were supposed to have been on the same flight, but due to a situation beyond our control, I was forced to leave my home a little earlier than expected.

“You find him?”

“Negative.”

Shooting me a lopsided grin, Finn ordered two drinks from the bartender before focusing his attention on me. “Still haven’t gotten the balls to face the music huh?”

“No,” I rolled my eyes bitterly. “And don’t plan to.”

“Laganos isn’t that big Alyx,” Finn reminded me. “You’re bound to run into him at some point. By seeking him out you’re the one in control of the situation. At the very least you’d have the upper hand.”

He was right, but I wasn’t trying to hear what he was saying. Not right now. Finn knew me inside and out, so, more than anyone he knew how much of a sensitive subject my father was. 

Justice Williams was so famous on this island that anyone who was anyone knew who he was. At least that’s what my mom had told me about him before she passed away.

She’d never kept who he was a secret from me, but for some reason, she’d been determined to keep my existence a secret from him. Whenever I’d ask why, she’d pacify me with some excuse about how it was to protect me, but all it ever honestly did was add to the burning curiosity inside of me that yearned to know who he was.

With the help of Finn and the mounting pressure from a few other things, I’d finally gotten the nerve to come to Laganos to find him.

I’d gassed the hell out of myself on the plane, but once I arrived, fear set in making me wonder if finding him was something that I really wanted to do.

Approaching him about who I was could go one or two ways. He’d either accept me and welcome me in as a daughter, or he could play me to the left and act as if I didn’t exist to him.

I wasn’t prepared for the latter, so, until I was, I was keeping my distance from him.

However, my fear hadn’t stopped me from finding a way for Finn and me to sneak into the huge party he was hosting at his home tonight.

It seemed that from the moment I landed it was the only thing people were talking about.

In my head, I figured it would be an excellent way to get a glimpse of him without putting myself at risk of him finding out who I was.

“I don’t want to talk about that right now, okay?” I voiced, taking possession of the shot glass he was extending my way. “Right now, I just wanna spend some time with my best friend. I missed you, and I’m happy you’re here with me.”

“You know I always got your back shorty,” Finn grinned, and we married our shot glasses before knocking the drinks back.

The smooth, burning sting of the tequila slid down my throat, and I started to flag the bartender down to order another round when a commotion by the front door caught my eye.

Squinting my eyes to see a little bit better, there appeared to be someone arguing with the bouncer before they were hemmed up and then escorted out.

At the same time, three guys were walking in laughing and joking with one another.

I may have been new here, but I could tell that they were both well known and respected. The respect couldn't have been due to their looks, because the three of them were wearing masks. But, it was evident in the aura that they exuded, the reaction people gave them as they walked by.

If the men weren’t damn near breaking their necks to speak, then women were staring at them lustfully, doing the most in an attempt to be seen.

As they stalked past me, I locked eyes with one of them. His gaze was so intense that my breath hitched into my throat, and I began to get a little light-headed from lack of oxygen.

Clad in a blood red dress shirt and black slacks, which complimented his caramel skin tone perfectly, he was the showstopper of the night and he didn't even know it. He wasn’t skinny, but he also wasn’t what I would necessarily consider big either. I’d say he was healthy, and it looked damn good on him.

It was impossible to get a good look at his face with his black, diamond-studded mask covering most of it, but even still I could tell he was handsome as fuck.

All three of them were, but it was just something about the one in the red that made him stand out over everyone else.

At least to me.

I attempted to force myself to look away, but the hold he had on me just off one look alone had me pinned under his intense stare until they were past Finn and me.

“Damn girl,” Finn laughed. “You need a napkin? Bruh got you damn near drooling over his ass.”

“Shut up Finnlyn.” I frowned, punching him in the arm before getting the bartender's attention once again.

“Aasim is so damn fine,” One of the girl’s sitting at the bar said while I was waiting for my drink, catching my attention. I was ear hustling hard as hell because I wanted to know if she was talking about this mystery man that had immobilized me with just his eyes.

“Tell me about it,” Another girl spoke up, shaking her head. “If he didn’t have a girl at home and a baby on the way--”

“Fuck his girl and that damn baby,” The first girl cut in bitterly, causing me to shake my head.

“He does look good in that black,” She second girl said, ignoring her friend’s outburst. “And I can’t front, Laurent looks good as fuck in that blue.”

“See now you playing with your life,” The chick that wanted Aasim chuckled. “You know damn well his girl is crazy as hell over him.”

Neither of them had mentioned the color red, so I tuned the rest of their conversation out and grabbed the shots from the bartender, turning and handing one to Finn.

“Here.”

“Thanks,” He took it, gesturing towards the grand balcony that loomed over the room. “And I think that’s your pops.”

My head shot up, and for the second time, I lost my breath as I stared at the man that fit my mother’s description to a tee. He was dark-skinned with a solid build, and an aura that was a regal as they came.

If they still existed, I would say he had the demeanor of a king.

The music that had been playing in the background lowered a bit, and the room went silent as the party guests waited patiently for my father to speak.

My father.

“I would just like to take a moment to thank you all for coming out tonight,” His deep voice rumbled as his eyes swept across the lower level of his home, studying his guests. “It isn’t very often that I get to show appreciation to the people that hang out in the background but have a heavy hand in helping to keep my many businesses afloat. So, this is for you. Eat, drink, and have a good time.”

He smiled widely at the end of his short speech, and the crowd burst into applause as he faded into the background.

The party resumed as usual, but I was still stuck. I couldn’t believe that for the first time in my 22 years of life, I’d just laid eyes on the man who’d gone half on creating me. And he didn’t even know that I existed.

“Damn Alyx,” Finn let out a heavy breath, wrapping an arm around my neck. “Your pops is large as fuck.”

“Tell me about it,” I mumbled, allowing my body to melt into his.

If I hadn’t been second guessing myself before, I for damn sure was now. There was no way somebody like him would be accepting of a girl like me.

He was damn near royalty, and I was just some girl from Everland that had gotten herself into a situation where I was way over my head. Which was another reason why I’d made a grand escape to Laganos, but now wasn’t the time to dwell on that.

“I’m ready to go,” I pulled away from Finn, ready to put as much distance between myself and this mansion as I possibly could. 

“That’s cool.” He agreed. “I’m hot as fuck in this tux anyway.”

“I’m gonna run to the bathroom and then meet you by the front door in a few.”

“Aight, see you in a minute.”

We separated, and I picked my way through the dense crowd of people, struggling to see through this stupid mask on my face.

Turning down a somewhat empty hall, I spied a bathroom just a few feet away from where I was.

Barrelling down the hallway, I pushed the cracked door open completely, nearly jumping out of my skin when I saw that it was occupied.

“Oh!” I gasped, backing up a few. “I’m sorry, the door was open and-”

The person that had been standing at the sink washing their hands turned to face me, and for the third damn time that night, I lost my damn breath.

I thought that he’d been a sight from far away, but up close it was nearly impossible to stand the intensity of power that he exuded.

From behind his mask, his eyes swept from my head to my feet, sending tiny shockwaves through my body.

My mind was screaming at me to turn around and run, but once again my body was under his control until he deemed otherwise.

Running his tongue against his top row of teeth, my mystery man approached me slowly, and my heart rate began to pick up in anticipation of being so close to him.

He came to a stop only when our bodies were mere centimeters from one another, and he stared without saying a word before lifting one hand and gently removing the mask from my face.

“Just as mi tink,” His baritone voice rumbled with a deep accent causing my breathing to speed up. “Beautiful.”

I couldn’t have formulated a word if you paid me.

A broad smile appeared on his face before he leaned in and pressed a kiss against the middle of my forehead and then replaced my mask.

I barely had time to register his actions before I blinked and he was gone.

He’d moved so quickly that he had me wondering if the short exchange between the two of us indeed happened, but the lingering scent of the cologne left behind let me know that he was indeed real.

It also was a reminder that I need to add him to the list of people that I needed to stay away from, but I’d end up in real trouble.