Surviving the Beast

She went into the forest to hunt so she could bring food home and survive the winter, unaware that something far more dangerous had already caught her scent and followed her back. When the beast comes to their farm, it is not by chance. He knows she is there. And her stepfather sees an opportunity to make more coin. For a handful of coin and without hesitation, he offers her up in exchange for more than they have ever had, sealing her fate with a bargain she never agreed to. Taken into a cursed land ruled by a creature feared by all, she is forced into a life she never chose, bound to a beast who is as cold and unforgiving as the winter itself. He is not a man, not fully, and the darkness within him is something no one has ever been able to control. She should hate him for what he is and for the power he holds over her, yet the longer she remains in his world, the more the truth begins to unravel. There is something deeper beneath the cruelty, something hidden within the curse, and something in her that seems to answer it. As the line between monster and man begins to blur, she is forced to face a truth she never expected, because surviving the beast may not be the hardest part. Learning to trust him might be.