Title - Savage: The Awakening of Lizzie Danton
Author - L.A. Fiore
Genre - Contemporary Romance/Romantic Suspense
Release Date - November 17, 2017
Cover Designer: Melissa Stevens, The Illustrated Author
Photographer: Scott Hoover
They call him a monster.
Pale blue eyes as cold as ice that see right through you.
Heās hard.
Heās damaged.
Heās dangerous.
He lives in a castle fit for a fairy tale, but heās no prince.
Heās savage.
Heās brutal.
Heās a killer.
By an act of fate, our worlds collide.
They call him a monster, but he is my salvation.

Text copyright Ā© 2017, L.A. Fiore
All rights reserved
My hands fisted in the pockets of my trousers as I watched Lizzie Danton walking down the drive. Fuck. Damn that fucking conscience. I didnāt need it, didnāt fucking want it. I wanted to turn my back, but I could hear Brianna and Fenella, even Finnegan, in my head. āFucking hell.ā
Fenella was just entering the library as I was leaving it. She was giving me her stink eye, that frosty look that condemned without her needing to speak a word. What the hell did she want? I let the woman sleep here, fed her, and clothed her. It was the clothes, or lack of them, that stirred something left well enough alone. āOur guest is walking home.ā
āI saw.ā
āI think sheās coming down with a cold.ā
āFucking walking in the rain will do that.ā
āNot her fault the car broke down.ā She narrowed her eyes at me before she added, āAnd itās not her fault sheās kin to Norah Calhoun. Remember, sheās kin to Brianna too.ā
I didnāt pay my staff to lecture me. They werenāt staff; they were family, but I ignored that. I was halfway down the hall when Fenella called after me, āShe wants to paint your home.ā
That stopped me, my head swiveling to her. āShe said that?ā
āYes. Said you could Google her to see her portfolio and that she would gift you the painting.ā
I didnāt need to Google her. I was familiar with her work. But after my interrogation last night, why the hell would she offer that? āWhy?ā
āBecause the sight of the castle from the lane took her breath away, her words.ā
It was the view from the lane that sold me on this place; more specifically the feeling of peace it evoked, a foreign, but not unpleasant feeling. Fucking hell.
There were a few broken branches blocking the drive. By the time I got the Range Rover out of the garage, it had been about an hour since Miss Danton left. Halfway back to the village, I saw the body on the boulder. My chest grew tight thinking harm had come to her; the unwanted sensation annoyed the hell out of me. Pulling over, I climbed out to hear Lizzie Danton talking to herself. She had a bizarre habit of talking to things, like those cows and Briannaās ghost. Her words that day had lingered because despite the shit sheād seen, she still had it in her to paint fucking spritesā¦to try for happy. I couldnāt decide if she was the most well adjusted person of my acquaintance or the craziest. I wondered if sheād spent any time in a mental facility.
I couldnāt make out what she was saying, didnāt really care. My goal was to get her ass back to the cottage. That would ease the nagging from my fucking conscience. I stepped closer, to peer down at her, her eyes went wide then she screamed. She jumped off the boulder like it was on fire.
āWhat the hell! Didnāt you ever learn not to sneak up on someone resting on a rock?ā
I ignored that ridiculous question. She was pale and there were dark circles under her eyes. āYou donāt look so good.ā
āNice. Scare the shit out of me and then insult me. Seriously, charm school was completely lost on you.ā
She had the oddest way of communicating. More surprising was the urge to grin at her nonsense. āIāll give you a ride to the cottage.ā
āNo, thank you. I wouldnāt want you thinking I was after your car, or your house and heaven forbid you. Iāll walk.ā She started walking away but stopped and turned back. āAnd why assume I was like my mother? You knew Aunt Brianna, but you interrogated me like I was after something. Never mind. I donāt care what you think.ā
She did care. I saw how deeply it cut her to be compared to her mother. Another unfamiliar sensation curled in my gut. Guilt. I shook it off. āYou can barely stand.ā
Temper burned behind her eyes, but she acquiesced. āFine.ā
She didnāt wait for me and walked to the car in much the way a child in temper might do. She yanked open the door and dropped into the seat. I climbed in, felt her eyes on me, but when I looked over her focus was out the window.
āWhy are the villagers freaked out by you?ā She turned in her seat to face me. āThey think youāre a werewolf.ā
Iād heard that rumor. Was actually rather fond of that one. āMaybe I am.ā
I glanced over at her and she was contemplating the real possibility that I was a werewolf. Damn, if I didnāt want to grin.
āI donāt think so, but Iāll be sure to stay inside on the full moon.ā


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