Page 7 of Sassy Embrace

“Agreed,” she said and took his hand to shake it. But as she did, something stirred inside of her. It was her inner wolf, and she was practically howling in excitement.

She hadn’t felt like this in a long time, since she was very young and the world around her was still full of new discoveries. Every new scent would send her wolf into fits of anticipation. This was exactly like those moments.

Our mate,her wolf was saying, over and over.He’s our mate! Our mate!

Leigh gritted her teeth and pretended like she wasn’t having a complete meltdown in front of her new business partner. Certainly, he was handsome, and she wouldn’t mind a fling or two in his bed, but mate? That felt a bit overdramatic.

That’s ridiculous, Leigh replied.He’s a vampire! Our mate would not be a vampire!

It is! It’s him!

Leigh considered her inner wolf was just restless, maybe even a little moon drunk. It had been a while since she'd last shifted. She’d just been too busy. She chose to ignore her wolf’s cries for attention and continued with the business at hand.

“Shirley Rosario?” he asked, looking at a message. “Is that your name?”

She cursed herself for getting so wound up with her wolf that she somehow forgot her manners. “Oh, it’s Leigh. You can just call me Leigh, all my friends do.”

Claude raised an eyebrow. “Oh? You’d consider us friends already?”

Her inner wolf barked, crying out they were much, much more.

Leigh put her hands on her hips, wondering why she said something so silly.

“Well… No, I wouldn't say so. But I also understand how important building this alliance between wolves and vampires is for our respective leaders. So, I wanted to get off on the right foot.”

Claude nodded, his face giving off no sign of emotion. “Wise words. Well, shall we?”

He took her on a tour of the building, pointing out where everything would be going and what all needed to be procuredstill. The whole time, Leigh’s inner wolf made it incredibly hard to focus on anything but Claude's silky-smooth voice.

It was very inconvenient.

FOUR

CLAUDE

The fire had truly stripped the establishment down to the bare bones. The gray chrome sky overhead brooded as Claude walked the grounds with Leigh, listening to her detailed descriptions and apt suggestions on not only the way to run Embraced,but how to make it lucrative. She impressed Claude with her knowledge and assertiveness. Clearly, it wasn’t her first rodeo.

But she also impressed him in a whole different way he wasn’t ready to acknowledge.

She was built like a wolf. Solid and capable with an enchanting beauty. Very similar to vampires, though vampires tended to be more wiry and compact. Claude was an exception to the rule, with broad shoulders and a chest and back like a concrete wall. The black and neatly coiffed hair gave him away only slightly, but not as much as the dark ambiance that followed him.

His quiet demeanor allowed him to absorb a lot. He found that people, especially supernaturals thirsty for power, revealed too much in their endless banter. He had met many wolves—and vampires—who hadn’t learned the art ofshutting the fuck up.

Leigh wasn’t like him. Not in the slightest. But she wasn't like the others either. Her words were thoughtful and meticulous.

Claude was surprised to find himself enjoying that. Also, the way her black jeans hugged her thick thighs and her T-shirt pressed into her like a second skin.

Her face was stoic and hardened. But that stole nothing from her beauty. Nothing about Leigh Rosario was watered down.

Claude found himself losing focus as she spoke, studying the dew of her lips, the golden flicker of her eyes. He had to blink a few times to get himself back into the moment. Attraction to a wolf?What is going on?

"You do this a lot, don't you?"

Leigh had been pointing at the roofing structure, which had been completely replaced due to the incident, when he brusquely cut her off. She turned to him and let her arm flop down to her side. She appeared exasperated.

“Do what?” she said, clipped.

“Organize. Delegate. Work."

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