The world was a blur. Everything before Levi’s eyes were disfigured, blurry shapes. Levi blinked slowly, trying to get things to come into focus. His hearing was muffled, unable to piece together or make sense out of anything around him. His entire body ached, giving him resistance when it came to lifting his head to see what was going on, or where he was. His eyes scanned about, trying to get any clues from his immediate environment.

That was when he saw her.

The entire world was out of focus, but she was sharp and perfectly defined. Paisley blue eyes, creamy, unblemished skin, waterfalls of auburn hair framing a perfectly heart-shaped face… She was unreal, the embodiment of perfection. There was a warm glow about her that made him want to fall into her and never get up. It all led him to a pointed question.

“Are you an angel?” he croaked.

The woman snorted and let out a stifled chuckle, “Hardly.”

The ungraceful way she answered caused his brows to knit together in confusion. If he wasn’t dead, and she wasn’t there to guide him into the light, then where was he, and who was she? Pressing an elbow into the mattress, Levi started to prop himself up.

“Hey, hey, take it easy there,” she fussed, gently pushing his shoulders back down. “You’re going to want to take your time getting up, all right? You had several blows to the head.”

“Sounds about right,” he grumbled. That sounded about right for any day of the week to him, actually.

“What happened to you?” the woman asked, sounding attentive. Her voice had a slight rasp to it, like a jazz singer, but all the sweetness of honey. Levi’s eyes fluttered closed. Had he hit his head that hard? Why was he romanticizing everything about a woman he was just meeting?

“Ah, well, the usual. Was taking a walk and a couple of scrappy shifters came up on me. If it hadn’t been three against one, I assure you I wouldn’t be the one you’re doctoring up.” His eyes returned to her face, feeling a sharp pang in his heart. Why was he so thankful that he was the one in that gorgeous woman’s presence? Beautiful women were a dime a dozen these days, and it wasn’t as if Levi had ever struggled to get some company for a night. There was something so very… different about the woman in front of him. Or was it him that was different? Did that even make sense? Levi was seriously beginning to wonder if he really had hit his head too hard this time.

“Three against one? That’s not very fair.”

“What is war ever fair?” he asked with a chuckle.

“War?”

“That was an exaggeration,” Levi amended, but it was the most he would clarify his statement. He was too captivated by her to think about his enemies. Only… the more he came to and the fog in his head subsided, he realized who exactly it was he was looking at. It was the daughter of Carlyle Tallant.

Levi took another glance around the room, that time being able to see the luxurious architecture and décor. He was in the palace.

The realization that he was in the belly of the beast should have made him want to run for the hills, but he didn’t feel even slightly bothered by the fact. Not right then, at least. Not while he was in the presence of… What was her name again? Evelyn, Edith, Eva… Something with an E.

Eden. What a perfect name.

“How are you feeling?” Eden asked him. “I tried to heal you the best I could, and the rest, I’ve been cleaning and bandaging up for you.”

Glancing down, Levi saw his chest bandaged. It was only then that the events leading up to his crash fully came back to him. Flying around, trying to escape the three warriors, the blistering pain, the sound of snapping wood, then blackness. Levi blinked rapidly and composed himself before giving her a soft but pearly smile. “I feel fine. Thank you for patching me up.”

“Well, of course. I wasn’t going to just leave you there in the middle of the forest by yourself, and injured, on top of that. I don’t think I could have lived with myself.”

Levi’s heart skyrocketed at that statement. Did that mean Eden was feeling the allure between them as well? Levi should have been thinking to himself how absurd and complicated it was for him to be feeling anything at all for the daughter of his enemy, but he wasn’t. He was thinking about how adorable her sloped nose was, how her eyes reminded him of the Caribbean waters that he wanted so badly to dive into, and that the feeling brought on by being in her presence wasn’t going away.

Then he noticed that Eden wasn’t looking at him closely just because of his wounds. She was looking in his eyes and down at his lips, puzzled and curious herself. Oh, she definitely felt it, too.

“What’s… your name?” she asked softly, her head tilting slightly to one side.

“Levi,” he introduced himself. Just as he felt brave enough to reach for her hand, Eden jerked away from him as if he had announced he was Lucifer, the Lord of Hell.

On her feet, she shook her head and paced several steps away from him. “You… you can’t be Levi. You can’t be Levi and be in my room, in the family estate.”

Geesh, denial was instantaneous with this one, wasn’t it? “The one and only. At least, I think. Haven’t heard of another dragon shifter named Levi.”

“You’re a rogue. What were you doing so close to the family grounds?” Eden demanded to know. Her tone of voice took Levi by surprise, and he did his best not to smile at it, knowing it would only enrage her more. Eden sounded like she was scolding an old friend for doing something foolish, not an enemy of the family. Even as she denied her own intuition, they were on the same page.

“As I said, I was running from some guys. I must not have paid attention to which direction I was going and wound up nearby.”

“Well,” Eden said, “that’s simply idiotic for someone with a status such as yours.”

Levi cocked a brow at her. “Status? Do you think I care about my status?”

“Oh, you know what I mean. Even in nature, animals don’t wander near their natural enemies’ dens. You practically waltzed into this one.”

“Although I don’t remember how exactly I got in here, reasonable deduction causes me to believe that you carried me in here.” Oh, if looks could kill, Levi would have been struck with lightning by the heavens at that very moment. He couldn’t fight back the smirk that demanded to be on his lips. “It’s sweet that you already care so much about me, though.”

“Already? What are you talking about?” Eden questioned as she crossed her arms over her chest.

Levi took a moment to truly study her and drink her in, along with the situation he was finding himself in. Just that afternoon, he had been trying to sneak out of his ill mother’s house to return to his lone cabin in the woods and remain in his forced isolation—only to be hunted down by Carlyle Tallant’s men and wind up in his daughter’s bed. Albeit, it wasn’t sexual at the time being, but the irony of it all was not lost on Levi. Fate had crash-landed him into the presence of his soulmate.

“We make quite the peculiar pair, don’t we?”

“I have no earthly idea what you’re talking about,” Eden dismissed. She was shaking her head vehemently and turning away from him. But she was no fool. She knew just as well as he did that they were soulmates. It was an instant connection once you met your “one.” If Levi could feel it, she could feel it as well. Under the circumstances, however, he knew that it was probably going to take some time for it to fully sink in. After all, Levi was the most wanted man in the Kingdom.