How to Tame a Beast in Seven Days (The Embraced #1)

Not possible. He shoved the images away.

A guard and maid were accompanying her, although the guard quickly abandoned her to go talk to his friends. Leo winced. The man was neglecting his duty.

Her maid left, and she was alone. Vulnerable. He scanned her surroundings, assessing the danger. If an assassin was standing on the battlements atop the keep, he could shoot an arrow at her. Or one of the guards on the wall walk could approach her and stab her with a knife.

The horns blasted behind him, and Leo twisted in his saddle to watch General Harden and his entourage start their ride toward the gatehouse. A dozen of the castle guard marched out to position themselves on the drawbridge.

He returned his gaze to the woman. She was watching the general arrive. Alone and unprotected. Dammit to hell.

Suddenly she stiffened, and he caught his breath, wondering if she’d been hit by a weapon he couldn’t see. He followed her line of sight and saw that General Harden had removed his helmet and was greeting the duke.

She looked away, and a breeze swept her hair across her face. With a graceful gesture, she brushed her hair back, then she stilled.

She’d spotted him. She was looking straight at him with an intensity that took his breath away. Time seemed to stop, and he no longer heard the sounds of his army or the call of seagulls. He no longer felt the heat of the sun or the breeze from the sea.

How long he stared at her, how long she stared back, he didn’t know. Didn’t care. For in those few seconds that stretched into an eternity, he felt like an essential truth was being imprinted on his soul, a truth that would remain as eternal as the sea and sky.

She was meant for him.

She was the one he wanted.

A second truth struck him hard, like a hammer shattering his soul into the jagged fragments of a broken mirror. And in those fragments, he saw his own reflection. Multiple images of himself. The Beast.

No matter how much he wanted this woman, no matter how much he felt she was destined for him, he could never touch her. His heart squeezed painfully in his chest. How cruel of fate to reveal her to him only to keep her beyond his reach.

You knew it was impossible before you came here, he reminded himself. Why do you let it torment you now? But back then he hadn’t seen her yet. Hadn’t felt her eyes upon him.

Now he knew she was real.

“Leo!”

Brody’s shout drew his attention. The dog shifter and Nevis were standing right next to him. Damn, he hadn’t even heard their approach.

“You’re alive,” Nevis muttered.

“Of course I’m alive,” Leo replied.

“We said my lord six times,” Brody grumbled. “We were beginning to think you were asleep on your horse.”

“Or in a trance,” Nevis added.

Leo ignored that and motioned with his head toward the woman. “Is she the Lady of Vindalyn?”

“Where?” Nevis looked toward the fortress wall. “Oh. Aye. That’s her.”

Yes! Leo smiled to himself. Tatiana. He’d known it was her.

Nevis snorted. “He is in a trance.”

“Sod off,” Leo replied, although he was too relieved to be angry. His betrothed was also the woman he wanted.

“I think she’s looking at us,” Brody said.

Me, she’s looking at me.

“The rumor about her beauty was true,” Brody added.

“I hope some of the rumors are false,” Nevis grumbled.

Leo slanted a quick glance at him. “Why?”

“It’s nothing,” Brody said, shooting Nevis a pointed look. “The castle is full of servants who gossip for entertainment. It would be foolish to believe it all.”

Nevis scoffed. “You just think she’s perfect because she gave you a pork chop and rubs your ears.”

“It’s more than that,” Brody protested.

“What?” Nevis smirked. “Did she rub your belly?”

Leo gritted his teeth.

“I’m not the only one she’s been kind to,” Brody explained. “She’s kind to all the servants.”

“She’s all the servants talk about,” Nevis said.

“Why?” Leo growled, his jaw still clenched.

Brody heaved a sigh. “I’m sure it’s nothing, but there’s a rumor that she has changed a bit.”

“More than a bit.” Nevis glanced at the woman on the wall. “She wasn’t always kind. They say she was vain and rude before she and her father left for court. But during their travels, she came close to dying.”

Leo nodded. “She was nearly poisoned to death.”

“Aye,” Nevis agreed. “Although her father believed it was a plague until I told him otherwise. Anyway, her brush with death made a huge impact on her, and she decided to change her ways.”

“For the better,” Brody added. “Her inner beauty now matches her outer beauty.”

Leo eyed the dog shifter. He seemed more than a bit smitten with her. Somehow the woman had managed to earn his loyalty in only one day. Maybe she had rubbed his belly.

“And there’s more—” Nevis began.

“I don’t think it’s true,” Brody interrupted him.

“He still needs to hear it.” Nevis gave Leo a sympathetic look. “It’s rumored that she has a lover.”

Leo jolted back in his saddle. No. He ran a gloved hand over his hair, accidentally knocking off his hood. No. She was his betrothed.

He looked at her, and for some reason, she appeared equally stunned. She stared at him, her eyes wide, her face pale. Would she do that if she loved someone else?

“I heard she’s having an affair with one of the guards,” Nevis said.

“I don’t believe it,” Brody insisted. “I haven’t seen her meet anyone or make any attempts to arrange a meeting. Look at her. My lord, she has eyes only for you.”

True, Leo thought, as he watched her. She couldn’t take her eyes off him. She will be mine.

Suddenly she turned and walked away.

He winced. She wasn’t his yet.

Caw, caw. The seagulls mocked him. “Any leads on who the assassins could be?”