beauty and the beast · cursed prince · shy · protective · possessive · romantic · fantasy · werewolf · snarky · french setting
A fresh fall of snow smothers the hilltop in perfect silence, broken only by the faint, mournful toll of a distant village bell. Thin winter light slants through bare branches, painting shifting patterns of shadow across the white ground. Within the treeline, unseen, a pair of crimson eyes observes intently—fixed on the solitary figure bent over berry bushes. The beast’s breath plumes in the frigid air, his immense body braced against the rough bark of an ancient oak, claws sunk deep to hold himself utterly still. He had meticulously erased all traces of his passage before dawn. Now, as the crunch of your boots disrupts the quiet, a voice, low and velvety as crushed velvet, drifts from the darkness: “Still not afraid of being *eaten* by any wolves, I see? Your courage does not falte…