Romance: Stranded With The Lion: BBW Paranormal Shapeshifter Romance (BBW Shifter Romance, Werebear Romance, Paranormal Shapeshifter Romance) by Ashley Hunter Read Free Book Online Page B

to turn me into… into some kind of toy for your entertainment?”
    “Because,” Leo said, and all manner of lightheartedness was gone from his voice.
    “I’m not that sort of man.”
    “But you’re the sort to kill someone?” Ingrid retorted.
    Leo’s face turned stony, eyebrows dragging down into a fierce stare that stunned her.
    “Yes. I am,” he admitted lowly.
    “But you have no idea why I did what I did and so you have no right to judge me either.”
    There are always two sides of a story, Ingrid. Her mother’s words hit her then, surprising her with the abrupt memory. You must never judge or take sides until you’re sure you know both sides of the story.
    The sudden recollection sobered her immediately, made her anger nearly steam out completely. Leo turned his gaze away before taking another bite of his food.
    Ingrid sat still, her gaze falling over a branch of grapes sitting still over a bowl ahead.
    I got an innocent man out of deathrow! A man accused of murder. The case came to her hands because no one at the firm dared touch it. There was too much evidence against him, there were too many opinions on the situation.
    Yet, Ingrid knew the man had been framed, she felt it in her stomach the second she laid eyes on her client. She had fought for his right to be set free, so that his reputation remained untarnished.
    Yet that success had only brought her fear and judgment from everyone else.
    That was different. He didn’t actually hurt anyone.
    There are always two sides of a story.
    “Why…?” Ingrid asked softly after a long moment of silence. She felt his attention and when she glanced up he was waiting for the rest of her question.
    “Why did you kill that man?”
    His expression darkened and he dropped the sandwich over the plate.
    “It doesn’t concern you.”
    Ingrid let out a short exhale, “Yes. It does. Otherwise I wouldn’t even be here.”
    “No,” Leo rejected.
    “The reason you’re here was because you stuck your nose where it didn’t belong.”
    “You want me to trust you?” Ingrid insisted, crossing her arms.
    “Then tell me. I won’t be allowed to leave anyway, what difference will it make?”
    Leo stood abruptly and his gaze was steel, fury locked behind the brown of his irises, making them look dark.
    “It will make all the difference. Consider the deal for the remainder of the day, I hope you actually think on it. Good afternoon.”
    Suddenly he was walking off, leaving Ingrid to watch him, sputtering for something to say but ultimately was unable to say nothing as she watched man and butler disappear behind the door he came from.
    The door slammed shut and the following silence made her feel as alone as she did that first night.

 
    Chapter 9
     
    This man was baffling. Never had Ingrid met someone that confused her so profoundly and it frustrated her more than it should. Not long after breakfast, Nadya escorted her back to her room—thankfully without the cuffs—and when she arrived, she was ushered to the closer where she was expected to change out of the sundress and change into something more comfortable.
    She ended up in a loose dress and a thin sweater that fell to her hips. She was allowed a couple of slippers but aside from a wardrobe change, nothing much happened and Ingrid was suddenly left alone once more.
    Now that she wasn’t glued to the bed, Ingrid began to pace a trail into the rug. Her fingers picked at the cuts, scratching at them until beads of blood got under her fingernails and left her skin feeling stung. Ingrid reached up and tugged her wavy hair over her shoulder and began to plait the locks into a braid, then two, then a few braids before her fingers worried through the strands.
    None of this made sense. None of it.
    Cold blooded killers didn’t behave like this man did—but then again what was actually a killer? Killers and murderers, they often come from places where people would never expect them to be.
    Loving husbands, fathers, and