Page 68 of Bait N' Witch

Rowan eyed him warily, her arms crossed over her stomach like she was holding herself together. “So…what did they decide?”

Grey stepped closer. “Do you remember the night you told the girls a story about a pony who went to live with a family of donkeys, hoping to hide from the master who wanted to send her to the glue factory?”

She blinked at him, then frowned. “You know about those stories?”

Grey watched her, searching for any sign of her true feelings. This witch had sent his emotions into a tailspin. He had no idea what had been real between them and what had been an act to survive. “I listened outside the door almost every night.”

“Oh.” She glanced away.

“Was that story about you?”

That pulled her gaze back to him, and he could see the questions and doubts swirling there. She opened her mouth to answer, then took a deep breath. “Yes.”

“In the story, the pony ends up wishing she could stay with the donkeys forever,” he murmured.

Again she opened her mouth and closed it. “What did they decide, Grey?”

He blew out a sharp breath, no closer to the answers he needed and with no clue how she’d respond to what he was about to say. “That depends on you.”

She frowned. “Me?”

“Yes. You won’t be punished if you agree to certain conditions.”

Rowan’s already pale skin blanched, those adorable freckles across the bridge of her nose standing out in stark relief. He took another step closer but held back from going to her. They needed to work this out first.

“They want you to teach them the magic you were taught by the demon.”

She glanced down at her hands and appeared to consider that, then nodded, her gaze back to his. “All right.”

“You work with other Anevals to both spread the word about this vulnerability their power creates, and also to work with werewolves we trust to develop magic to protect you and the others.”

Now interest sparked in her eyes, the wariness easing. “Which werewolves?”

“That will be determined later, but I’ll make sure they’re safe.”

Again, she nodded. “Done.”

Her instant trust eased something inside him.

“What else?” she asked.

“You stay with me for the foreseeable future.”

Now she frowned. Not the reaction he was hoping for. “As your…prisoner?”

He hid a wince that she could even think that. Grey stepped closer, right into her personal space, inhaling the wildflower and honey scent of her, wanting to hold her, but they weren’t there yet. Rowan didn’t back away, but she still regarded him with wary, wide eyes, swirling with darker gray, like a storm. “Not as my prisoner.”

“As what then?”

“I want to give you a set place in this life.”

The flutter of her pulse at the base of her throat kicked up a notch, and the hope gleaming in her silver eyes couldn’t be just a trick of the light. Gods, he’d better not be seeing things he wished to see.

“What do you mean?” she asked.

“As a bonded pair. You and me.”

He caught her soft gasp, her eyes dilating. “You know about that?”

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