Read Online Loving an Ugly Beast by Danielle Monsch - Free Book Online

can’t survive this time. Not again.”
    Not again ?
    Tears streamed down her cheeks. The leader grinned at her distress, his hand clutching the fabric at her chest, the cloth starting to tear.
    Not again ?
    Byron was useless. This piece-of-shit form of couldn’t protect her. It couldn’t withstand a few hits. It couldn’t rip these bastards apart for touching her, for making her cry. He was helpless, as helpless as Nissa.
    But Benton could protect her.
    Not again ?
    That meant…
    She had been helpless like this before .
    Benton could kill them all. Benton would ensure her safety. And after he killed these men, Benton would visit the monsters in her past and skin them alive for what they had done to her. “ Nissa , look at me!”
    She didn’t acknowledge Byron, her moans the only sign she was still conscious. He had seen this before, soldiers retreating within themselves to escape the hell they were going through. He had to break through before she was lost to him.
    “Nissa, look at me, look at Byron. Nissa ! Remember your kids at school, remember teaching Benton to read. Nissa, look at me! Come back to me, Nissa!”
    She was fighting his words, but slowly she was being pulled back to awareness. The leader laughed. “Good, good, I like it better when they fight.”
    Byron ignored him. Now he had to reach Nissa. “Think about school and your kids. Nissa , come back to me.”
    Her eyes raised and locked with his. She was back in her right mind, but it wouldn’t be for long. Fear already shot through her beautiful eyes as her situation pressed upon her, and he spoke before fear took her away again. “Nissa, I’m Benton.”
    Confusion stopped fear’s movement, halting its progress. “What? Byron—”
    “I’m not Byron, I’m Benton. A fairy godmother granted my wish and made me this. I’m Benton, your Benton.”
    Her eyes were clear as they locked on his, and he saw… acceptance . She believed him. She believed him. “Benton?”
    “Enough of this,” the leader interrupted. “Shut him up, let’s get to our fun.”
    The leader grabbed her chin and forced his mouth on hers. Nissa’s head twisted violently as she struggled to get away, and the other bandits watched with laughing interest.
    None of them were paying attention to Benton, the two holding him so loosely their contempt of him obvious.
    Pain ripped through his body, sharp and stabbing, ten times greater than what he had experienced to turn into Byron. His teeth nearly bit through his lower lip as he held back screams.
    After long moments both the transformation and the pain were finished. In a swift movement he leapt to his feet, freeing himself from both of his captors. He grabbed the one on his right and broke his neck, grabbing the dagger from his belt and tossing the body aside before his jailer on the left bothered to look in his direction.
    Benton stabbed him in the throat, pulling it out to throw it at the third bandit and hitting him square in the chest. The man fell to the ground, blood oozing from the wound.
    It took seconds to kill them all. Only when the third man hit the ground did the leader realize something was wrong. He looked at Benton, his eyes widening to see a hulk of a man instead of the slender pretty boy he expected, but this man was used to battle, as evidenced by how quickly his features schooled themselves into near emotionlessness. He pushed a stunned Nissa away and pulled his sword.
    Benton held back his own breath of relief that the bandit freed Nissa instead of using her as a shield. This would take no time at all.
     
     
    “Nissa!” Joseph ran through the door, screaming his friend’s name. If she was hurt Marie would never forgive him. He had sworn he would protect her, to not let that fragility from when she first arrived in the village enter her eyes again.
    The men he brought were following so closely that when Joseph stopped short they knocked him over.
    Four dead bodies littered the floor of the tavern,