The Beauty in the Beast (Godly Tales Book 1)

By J. Dawn Light

With the death of the former goddess of wisdom and acceptance, another has been chosen to step up and take the name Wisdom, along with the responsibilities that come with that title. It's every minor goddess' dream.

But on her first day in the inner sanctum of the major gods, Wisdom has a very unpleasant run in with "The Beast" also referred to as Death , the god of death and the underworld who also happens to be the crankiest, most self-important god in the clouds. And the brother of Time, the leader over all the gods. Though not completely happy with the way he treats people, she is drawn immediately to his terrifying beauty and demanding presence.

Death is furious that the beauty he is saddled with talks to him the way nobody had dared since the day he was cursed by a witch over 100 years ago. He's even less happy when she tries to teach him manners. But when living souls start popping up in the underworld, he'll need her help to not only fix the portals leading to the In-Between, but also to fix him and break the curse.

• Language: English
• Publisher: J. Dawn Light
• Release date: Feb 28, 2012
• ISBN: 9781466166707

J. Dawn Light

There's not much to know about me personally. I'm extremely boring. But I'm completely in love with my life, so it works for me. I've been married for over 13 years now to a man that still gives me butterflies and I have 3 amazing children that are obviously the best children ever!Writing wise, I'm all about the paranormal romance. Mostly adult, but have something in mind for a YA. We'll see how that goes.I think in my advancing age, I've managed to contract adult ADD, so I have a really hard time reading something that doesn't keep me completely entertained, which is why I write the way I write. I'm not big on romanticizing the appearance of a wall or putting scenes in my books that don't either lend something to the romance of the two main characters, or the story in general. Unless it makes me laugh. I do a lot of stuff because it makes me laugh.

Book preview

The Beauty in the Beast

J. DAWN LIGHT

Copyright © 2012 Jessica D. Lightfoot

Smashwords Edition

After I published Catalyst Envisioned, supportive people just popped out of nowhere. Some I never thought would care one way or another if I had decided on this path or any other and some that I never doubted would be right by my side through the whole thing. There were complete strangers who took time out to stop by my website or Facebook page and just drop me a sweet line that always made me think maybe I'd made the right choice.

If you are one of those people who cared enough to ask questions or voice your opinions, this book is for you. Thank you so much for your support and constructive criticism. I love you all.

Chapter One

The goddess of love watched adamantly as the new goddess of wisdom unwisely sat in Death's chair. Literally. She was lowering her butt into the god of death and the underworld's chair.

Not a soul warned her as she wiggled around in the seat in the farthest, darkest corner of the great room. Love knew she should. Death was quite the bastard. And even though the seats weren't assigned and there was no name on that one, everybody stayed well away from it. Because honestly, who wanted to piss Death off?

War slid into the seat beside Love, smiling his mad ass off. What do you think the bastard will do? She had to force herself to look away from him and over at Wisdom.

War was something that not one else had ever been to her, a desperate, lusty need. And she had to stop letting those thoughts creep into her head...now...now.

I don't think he'll kill her. She hoped. It was really the only reason she hadn't warned the poor little beauty.

Really? He moved in closer -- like he always did -- and whispered in her ear. I thought he didn't like women.

She struggled -- also like always -- for her cool composure. They had never been lovers. Mostly because they liked and disliked each other in equal parts. But he always came on to her like he was actually interested -- he wasn't -- and she always tried to pretend like it didn't make her a little hot -- it did.

He doesn't like anyone.

True. You want to tell her don't you?

She shifted her eyes to look at him without actually turning her head. He was beautiful as always. In a really depraved way. Silky black hair always disheveled, white-blue eyes, sharp features, square jaw loaded with short stubble -- mmm, stubble -- and his body... Well, he was a god after all.

What was the question?

Uh...yes! Love took a deep breath. Yes. I mean...a little. He's just such a dick.

I kinda like him...from a distance.

She laughed, shaking her head.

Finally the door opened again and Death walked in. He didn't smile at anyone. He never did. He just walked through the room like nobody else was in it, because as far as he could see when he looked directly through them, nobody else was. In his world nobody was at his level of importance and therefore completely ignorable. Even his brother Time was of little consequence.

If he saw Wisdom sitting quietly in his chair, bravely meeting the stares of all the gods watching her, both eager to know a little about her and to see what Death would do, he didn't even give a sign of it as he lifted the chair, elevating the back and dumping the tiny beauty on her butt.

There was a moment of stunned disbelief on her face as the rest of the room burst into laughter, but that only lasted long enough for the pain in her ass to light the flames of anger inside her.

Smooth peach colored skin took on an angry pink glow, soft butterscotch eyes narrowed, soft pink lips tightened and a huff of indignant air sent a honey colored ringlet out of her face as she slowly turned her head to look over her shoulder toward the giant that was Death.

She didn't yell or blast him with her god's anger. Probably for the best when he was one of the strongest gods in the clouds and could probably easily crush her with his own. What she did surprised everybody in the room into a deathly silence.

When Death had positioned himself in front of the chair, ready to sit down, ignoring everyone and everything as usual, she waited until he started to lower himself into the seat before she hooked the leg of the chair with her foot and pulled it right out from under him.

And he went down. Hard.

She didn't say a word. Just rose gracefully to her feet with a slight smile on her face and brushed the dirt off of her jeans.

Death didn't say anything either, but the thunderous silence in the room said everything as he rose from the ground like a billow of smoke and stared hard down at the top and back of Wisdom's head.

She turned slowly, her mouth beginning to form words when she faced Death for the first time. And not surprisingly she was stunned into silence.

Most beings found the enormous black being terrifying. He wasn't black in the way that pointed to African ancestry, but black in the dude-pissed-off-the-wrong-person-and-got-himself-cursed way that made him the color of ink and shiny like a bug. If the light was low at all, his features all blended together, making him look almost like a giant inky shadow. His bright, lit-from-within amber eyes were a nice and terrifying touch, especially when they flashed scarlet red when he was angry.

But Wisdom didn't look disgusted or scared as she looked up into his face. She looked intrigued. And a little flushed.

***

Wisdom wasn't just stunned silent, she was stunned stupid as she looked into the face of this terrifyingly beautiful being that had only moments before dumped her right on her butt on the marble floor.

He didn't say anything as he glared down at her. In fact, nobody did. The silent room kind of disappeared around them.

The anger there in those eyes as they flashed from a bright amber to a brilliant scarlet should have scared her, and on any other day it might have, but right then she was inches away from the most amazing face she had ever seen.

And she wanted to touch. Bad.

She had heard so many rumors about the beast when she was growing up as a minor goddess on Everest. He was said to be ugly and mean and frightening. She'd never seen him and knew that he had been cursed, but she'd always expected him to actually be ugly. This man standing in front of her was anything but ugly.

Sure, he had skin so black and shiny, she thought if she reached out and touched it, it would be hard and brittle like the husk of a beetle, but he was beautiful in a way no other being she had ever seen could possibly be. He was unique, and she wanted the freedom to touch all that smooth shiny skin.

Now is not the time to be staring at 'the beast'. He growled.

That's probably true. But she couldn't seem to look away. Even with those eyes drilling into her like a laser.

Are you usually this stupid then?

That snapped her out of her transfixion with his face. Not usually! Otherwise I probably wouldn't have been chosen as the goddess of wisdom and acceptance, now would I?

Wouldn't be the first time my brother's screwed up.

She probably shouldn't have said what came out next, but it was the one thing she knew would get under his interesting skin. "You know all about screwing up, don't you Prettyboy?"

Okay! Suddenly Wisdom was being dragged backwards by Love.

When Death looked like he was about to follow so he could rip her head off of her shoulders, War did possibly the bravest thing a god could do. He stepped right in Death's path, putting his immortal life at risk to save