Page 40 of Auctioned Mate

“I’ve done no such thing.”

“Just admit it. You want me to give you sex in exchange for protection. Isn’t that what you did when I first got here?”

My face drooped and my shoulders went with it. She was exhausting. Hadn’t she wanted to have sex with me on that second night of her stay? She’d begged me to get between her legs. She’d practically shoved me into her without hesitation. Now she was saying I was using her for sex.

When did it end with her?

I fixed my posture and went to the counter to grab an apple. “When are you going to learn to trust me?”

“When are you going to learn that I don’t trust people?”

“If that were the case, you would have run off by now.”

Silence.

Was that the silence of defeat? Of me being correct? Or had she finally given up her bickering? Truly this woman must have been tanked every night after her daily arguments. I was growing tired of her myself, regardless of how much I wanted to slam my mouth to hers—if not to taste her sweetness, to simply shut her up.

This was dizzying. I rinsed the apple and took a bite, taking my time to enjoy the tart and sweet flavor exploding in my mouth. Green apples—that was her scent too. It was one that stuck with me whenever I left the cabin. It came to mind when I was flying over Silverdawn territory to check for invaders or faulty spells.

It was her and her alone.

Why did she haunt me so?

“Fine,” she sputtered.

And then the sound of her footsteps retreated from the room. A door slammed down the hallway. The lock turned right after that.

Predictably so.

Doesn’t she get tired of that too?I asked myself as I took another juicy bite.It’s like she just has it ready to go.

At least she looks good from the back, came a thought that wasn’t mine.

Fury whirled me around, positioning me at the porch door. Sunlight streamed over Izdor’s shoulders while he flashed his usual sneaky grin. He tapped the glass a few times, urging me to let him inside without saying—or mentally speaking—a word.

I reluctantly opened the door. “You need to stay out of my head.”

“I could say the same about you to her—and her to you.”

“How do you know about—?”

But that was truly a silly thing to be asking such a powerful Elderling. I shook off the inquiry and invited him into the kitchen, checking the hallway to make sure the door was tightly sealed.

It was.

“I’ve got new information,” he whispered. “Baneridge Hounds are starting to make more waves in the surrounding areas. They’ve gained traction with a northern Mafia group.”

“Any word on which group?”

He shook his head. “No, but there are a lot of ears to the ground.”

I stared quietly for a moment.

“It means I have people listening to whatever rumors are going around,” he added. “That means I know what Percy is doing most of the time.”

“Which is?”

He lifted an apple from the counter and tossed it idly with one hand. “Nothing.”

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