Page 34 of Rogue's Possession (Covenant of Thorns 2)

“Would I?” He straightened and touched one of the lily earrings, setting it swinging. “I thought you’d be angry when you found out.”

“If you thought I’d be angry, why did you do it?”

“Besides that it was necessary for dealing with Falcon and his cronies? Because I thought you would not agree to a formal mating.”

“Insightful of you.”

“Though the offer stands.”

“No, thank you.”

“A thousand girls would kill to be my lady.”

“Don’t let me get in the way.”

He laughed, took my hand and set it on his hair. “Why don’t you touch me when you want to? It’s your right.”

“Because,” I whispered past the dryness in my mouth, unable to resist winding my fingers through the silk of it, watery soft as ink, “it’s dangerous.”

He raised an eyebrow. “How so?”

“Each time I give in to temptation, it makes it easier to give in the next time, to yield a little more.”

“Yield a little more, lovely Gwynn,” he coaxed, turning me so he had me boxed against the bench, one hand clinging to his hair like a lifeline. “Shall we have our kiss now?”

“I thought we’d have the lesson first.” But my eyes were glued to his mouth, the dark-blood lips. My body thrummed in anticipation.

“So orderly.” His mouth hovered a breath away from mine. “Work before pleasure. Do you want me to kiss you now?”

I did. I didn’t say so.

He smiled, knowing anyway. “But I think you’re right. Lesson first. When I kiss you next, I want it to be in my bed with you wearing the nightgown I made specially for you.”

“Remember I get consultation on that.”

“I need no magic to remind me. Now, shall the subject of the lesson be how your cat took you over this afternoon?” He stroked a finger over my left temple, eyes intent on the spot.

“Are the lines more pronounced now?” I asked, though I was afraid of the answer.

His gaze returned to mine, the deep blue thoughtful. “Than at midday? No. But they will be. You won’t be able to control this, clever Gwynn.”

“How do you know what happened? I thought you didn’t remember things when you were the Dog?”

His lips twisted in a wry grimace and he pulled away. With reluctance, I let his hair slide through my fingers, leaving them bereft. He tucked his hands behind his back and paced the tent. This was what he often did, pacing as he taught. I smiled to myself, that he was so familiar to me in some ways, and scooted back to sit on the bench.

“Answer me this—do you recall what occurred when the cat took over?”

I started to say no, but that wasn’t precisely true. “It’s like a dream. Flashes of images. Not vivid, like your dreamscape—whatever that is—but more an ordinary dream. Jumbled and nonsensical.”

He nodded. “You’ll find that the cat will have its own agenda. One that will likely grow more defined over time. But it will retain something of your interests too. You may remember more of the things that the cat witnesses because you are interested.”

“Thus the Dog arriving to witness my practice. Because you wanted to know what I was doing.”

“Yes.” He flashed me a wicked grin, full of teeth. “We are both interested in you.”

“Fuck me if I know why,” I groused.

“That too.”

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