Page 63 of Captive Bride

Tristan

I feel her heart beating against my chest.

Slow and steady, its rhythm synchronizing with my own.

I breathe deeply, her scent washing over me in waves.

It’s all I can do not to trap her as she steps away from me. Her eyes meet my own as she does, pulling me into the endless blue depths that swim there.

Isobel.

Yesterday, I had no idea that she even existed. Today, she consumes me entirely.

Twenty-four hours ago, I didn’t believe in love. I only believed in lust. Raw, angry, passionate, but fleeting.

Before today, I had never felt the insistent pull that now tethers my heart to her own.

I spent my life surrounded by violence and dread.

Then somehow, this morning, I woke up filled with hope.

Millions of foreign ideas dance in my mind with every simple glance in her direction. Thoughts of love and happiness, a future free from bloodshed.

Things I would never even have conceived before as possible.

I only have to look into those eyes to know it.

As she looks back at me, I feel my thoughts echoing in her stare.

I’m not the only one who’s been a victim of being born to a famous crime family. Isobel knows that pain as well. Maybe that’s what draws us together—or maybe it’s something else entirely.

I don’t know the cause, only the effect that it’s taken on my once hardened heart.

I am hers.

She is mine.

Mine.

I break from my thoughts, looking around the courtyard.

Benny and Merc are watching us silently, different emotions playing across their faces.

Benny wears a look that somewhat resembles relief. I know that he’s happy to see what Isobel means to me, no matter the implications.

Merc, of course, looks more than a little hesitant.

I really can’t blame him. We all know what our relationship might mean.

Their stares weigh heavily on me, intruding on a moment that I suddenly feel we should be alone for.

“Come with me,” I say, grasping her hand firmly in mine.

She doesn’t resist or fight me. Instead, she simply grips my hand in return, legs already moving to match pace with mine.

I steer us away from the courtyard and towards the tree line marking the woods.

I know exactly where we should go.

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