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He stopped his pacing and glanced over his shoulder at me, the tail of his long hair sliding like ink over his shoulder. “You won’t like it.”
I snorted, wanting to fold my arms but settling for sliding the razor edge of one index-finger claw against the curved back of the other. It made a satisfying hiss. I seemed to be improving with my dexterity. Small comfort. “Color me shocked.”
“He mentioned it to you—his services to those such as Lady Healer. He has a gift for giving pain.”
“The opposite of Darling’s anesthetic abilities.”
“Close to that.”
“Not terribly useful, as magical gifts go.”
“No, but then he’s never been imaginative with its application either. Instead he squanders it on sexual play with those who crave such things.” Rogue raised a brow at me. Significantly.
I nearly choked. “You think thatIwould have…” I couldn’t complete the sentence, the image revolted me so thoroughly.
“Falcon did imply as much.” He lifted one shoulder. “And it’s not as if I didn’t find you seeking pleasure with that human man.”
“That was…” a mistake. A diversion. A desperate attempt to rediscover my own agency. And the betrayal that had nearly cost him his body, if not his life. And I’d failed to finish yet another sentence.
“You asked me about Titania.” He pointed that out with relentless calm. Ouch.
“Then no. I didn’t even really want him. And I did not dally with Falcon. You’re the only one I’ve ever wan—” Shit. I shouldnothave confessed that. And three time’s a charm.
Rogue pounced, literally, on me in a moment and lifted my chin so I had to look into his face. “The only you’ve ever… what?”
My face grew hot. Along with the rest of me. “Really wanted. Like this.”
“Like how?” He feathered a kiss across my mouth, as if tasting what I might say.
Desperately. Unceasingly. Beyond will and reason.Easier to show than say it, I opened my mind to him again, only then becoming aware of how tightly I’d shut it on that set of feelings. No wonder he’d been uncertain.
His mouth turned hard, demanding and as voracious as the spirit animals he’d described. My own hunger billowed explosively to his spark. In a moment, the kiss was over, leaving me blinking in confusion.
“I feel the same,” he said. Then grinned. “Your technique of needling for extra reassurance is an excellent one.”
I groaned, dropping my forehead on his chest. “I’ve created a monster.”
“No,” he replied, with easy charm that belied the anger that swirled from inside him, “that happened long before you met me.” Before I could respond to that, he continued, setting me back on my feet and stepping back. “Turn your eye inward, toward your animal like you did for yourself when I asked that question. What does she want? How does she want it?”
Ignoring for the moment the sneaking suspicion that this whole conversation had been a teaching ploy, I did as he said, searching her heart as I’d searched my own, asking for her feelings.
Unlike the reasonably quiet inner chambers of my mind, hers ran wild and hot, a quicksilver slide of seeking desires. Sharp teeth wanted bloody meat. Razor claws needed to rend and tear. Sinews to slide and stretch. Muscles to run.
“She wants out,” I whispered, profoundly rattled by the power of the cat spirit’s need. “Nothing else matters.”
“But she can’t be out.” Rogue’s voice was firm. “She cannot last long without your life to draw from. If she comes out now, you’ll die, which means her death also. Make her understand that.”
“She doesn’t care. It would be worth it.”
“She’s wrong. She doesn’t know. Tell her what she can have if only she waits, has patience.”
“What? What can I have?” The voice purred inside me, speaking with my tongue. Disconcerted by it, I almost lost the focus on her, but a brush of Rogue’s thoughts directed me back. Keep the thread.I clung to the anchor with gratitude.
“You could have centuries,” he offered. “Power beyond dreaming.”
“Flesh?”
“Flesh to wear and to rend and to eat. But, if you spring upon the prey too soon, it will escape you. Patience rewards the wily hunter.”
