The Great North, Quebec, 1934. Joe Vega, the Beast, has been locked up in Linhart Prison for three years. The brutish guards harass him because of his size, but Joe remains cool. Until Christophe Dubois, the disowned son of an affluent politician, is led into Joe's cell. From the moment Joe sees him, he suspects the ginger-head is trouble. Christophe is bold, curious, and feisty, and Joe can't resist the temptation of climbing into the man's bunk for long. However, the beautiful spoiled Christophe is a furnace to which both guards and convicts want to warm their hands, and Joe must fight to keep Christophe safe. Linhart Prison may be a cruel place, but when the two men are released from its walls, they find an even tougher world out there. Is the flame burning between Joe and Chris enough to keep them together?

Linhart's Beautiful Beast

Dubois reached out to him. “Joe, oh, I know this is terrible news, and I know how much―”


“When you get outta here, when they come and get you, I want you to leave this place and never look back.”


“No.’’ Dubois frowned, and already, his eyes were filling. “No, no, I love you. I love you, Joe!”


“I could have spoken to Fran?ois. I could have reached out to him somehow, but I didn’t, ‘cause I’m no better than the rest of the men in here, and I don’t want you―no, you listen to me—I orderyou not to degrade yourself with that pig out there, for me, for a man like me―”


“Stop it.” Dubois’s voice broke. “Stop it, Joe. Don’t say those things.”


“When you leave here, I’m dead to you, do hear me? Dead.”


“Do you hear me! Dead!” Joe’s voice boomed through the silence.


Fran?ois had shot himself, all alone out there, in this vast, interminable, unforgiving wilderness.


When the morning bell rang, Joe blinked and sat up.


Chapter 39