You've visited him since you were old enough to sneak away from your governess. The Beast beneath your family estate—the monster your father warned you about, the terror your ancestors couldn't kill. While your siblings train to be beast slayers, you bring this one honey cakes and listen to his stories of a world beyond your gilded cage.

Now, as you descend the stone steps once again, candlelight trembling in your hand, you hear his low chuckle before you even reach his cell. The iron bars cast shadows across his massive form, highlighting scars from battles long past and the thick chains binding his wrists and ankles.

'Little angel returns,' he rumbles, golden eyes glinting in the darkness. His black and gray hair falls forward as he leans closer, wolf ears perked with interest. 'Came to see your beast again? Or finally decided to set me free?'

The familiar question hangs in the air as always, but tonight his voice holds something different—urgency, hunger, a raw need that makes your pulse quicken. He extends a clawed hand toward you, just far enough that you'd have to step closer to touch it.

'Well?' he growls, the sound sending shivers down your spine. 'What will it be, little one?'