Page 53

He snorted. This was not a battle he could win with brute strength and endurance. Merde. If only it were so simple. If he wanted to win over Isobella, if he wanted to have any chance at a bond that included both him and Edmond—and by the Fates, he hungered for that with every inch of his misbegotten soul—it would take more than a few words, more than an apology.

“Have faith in Isobella. She is strong. Did she run when House Allard attacked us in the forest? No, she stood her ground and used her magic. She killed three men. Look at how she withstood your brutal training this morn.” Edmond stretched his legs out, crossing them at his ankles. “And have faith in the true mate bond. She will be feeling the pull toward us, too.”

If only he could. “We had a bond with Sabine.” He kept his voice low. Isobella’s hearing, untrained as it was, was as good as any werewolf’s. She had reason enough to dislike him already. Finding out Aubert had almost killed his twin would not help his cause. Their cause.

“I am not so sure we did.”

What? They had never discussed Sabine. Not since that fateful day. By unspoken agreement they had put her and the whole putrid mess behind them. Had his brother had misgivings about her?

“We never stopped to consider if Sabine were best suited to one or the other,” said Edmond. “Or if she would suit either of us at all.”

Of course they had not. She was their true mate. A woman who would best match them in every way. Yet, in the depths of his heart, he knew Sabine was not the woman he would have imagined for himself. Or for Edmond. The way her greedy gaze had perused their keep. The things that had gone missing—their mother’s favorite brooch, a gilded comb, more than a few coins. Her harsh treatment of the servants turned his stomach sour even now. Her high-pitched false laugh, and her liberal use of floral unguents that had made him sneeze. But still he had wanted her with everything he had. So had Edmond. He had not questioned it then, too love-drunk on the bond already forming. He could not help but question it now.

Edmond sighed. “I do not know what I am thinking, but… Does it feel different with Isobella to you? Less…forced?”

Aubert could not deny that it did. He liked Isobella, even when he had been trying not to. She never complained, she never asked for anything—apart for them to turn her because she was dying. And she’d been prepared to take full responsibility for that. A brave woman. Resilient, too. And there was a gentleness about her. Isobella had a good heart.

All morn he had had to fight the impulse to swoop her up in his arms, to cradle her against his chest and hold her, whisper promises in her ears. With each soft word she spoke, every time he looked into her beautiful eyes and saw her soul shining through, another thread had woven around his heart, drawing him closer, threatening his resolve to remain unaffected. Aubert wanted her with a desire at once raw and overwhelming, yet sweet. He wanted to protect her and pleasure her in ways she would never forget. Imprint himself on her soul. He would give her the world if she asked it of him.

With Sabine, the urge to claim her had swirled in his gut like a meal of rotten meat. He could not deny his body had wanted her, but even when his cock had been as hard as an untempered sword his rage had swirled closer and closer to the surface until it had been nigh unstoppable. “Sabine would not have been a good mate for either of us.”

“Agreed. And Isobella?”

Just the thought of her made his heart lighter, made him smile. “She is perfect.”