"Please, Bodin." I was begging him to slip inside me. To fill me with his hard length. Yearning for everything I'd felt before.

When he'd been with me in Demetrius House. Having his way with me in my own bed.

I sat bolt upright. Panting. Shocked from the dream I'd ripped myself from.

After a moment, I noticed my door was slightly ajar. Torches in the hallway casting an orange glow around my bedchamber door. Next, I registered the silhouette standing near me.

My eyes adjusting until I realized it was Bodin I saw.

Bodin. In my room.

For a second I wondered if everything I thought I'd been dreaming had really been happening.

"Careful whose name you're calling in that tone of voice Sweetheart." There was the hint of amusement in his voice.

I touched my lap and verified the blanket was over me. Feeling the fabric of my nightgown over me.

I'm dressed.

I blinked huge blue eyes up at him. "Were you just touching me?"

"Would you like me to?" He countered.

***

That's a no.

He wasn't touching me.

"I didn't have to." He touched his temple, patting it with a fingertip.

"You put thoughts in my head?" I asked incredulously.

"You weren't complaining a moment ago." He laughed.

I glared at him. Furious he was intruding in my brain.

After a few seconds he surrendered and admitted. "But no. I did not. That was all you."

"It felt so real..." My gaze fell to the bedding assessingly before shooting back to him. "How'd you know what I was dreaming about?"

"I knocked but you didn't answer. I came in to check on you..." He stepped back to peer under the edge of my bed. "And to see if Vix was in here again."

"Were you going to chase her off?"

"No. But I was going to tell her, her mother misses her, and she might at least send word she's okay instead of toying with her mother's emotions."

I gasped. "That is rather cruel! I didn't know her family didn't know she was here."

"She ran away again and has been hiding from me, so I don't take her back."

"Why does she keep running away?"

"Curious about me, I'd say."

"Why?"

"Because I'm the only one of my kind."

"What kind?" I snooped.

He chuckled. And tapped the bottom of my chin with a finger. "Nice try, Pretty Belle."

***

He turned and walked away.

He was almost to the door when my words stopped him.

"Why am I here, Bodin?" I asked softly.

"It was the only way I could keep you safe." He rounded.

"Safe from what?"

He paused a long moment as if deciding how to answer me. "From evil."

"What evil?" I asked skeptically. "There was no evil at Demetrius House."

"Not yet." He sighed. Trying to walk away again.

I decided to ask the question that had been plaguing my mind. "Did you really persuade my father to turn me over to you on his death bed?"

"Yes."

"Why would you do that? What a horrible thing to orchestrate at such a time!"

"Randy was already making plans to move in. I got word from some servants in his household that he had immediate plans to come to Demetrius House and collect you from the moment your father was proclaimed deceased." His words were so matter-of-fact. Dreadful and cold.

I eyed him. "Why so concerned about Randy?"

"Because I've glimpsed in his mind and seen the demons that lie there."

I scoffed. "Don't we all have demons?"

"Not the same breed." He walked out this time and closed the door decisively.

Running from me. I saw it for what it was.

This conversation had made him uncomfortable. Why?

Nothing had seemed make Bodin unsettled so far.

So why does talking about Randy?

There was something dark coiling low in my belly. Some hint of fear that Bodin knew something I did not.

Or a lot I don't.

Why would he have spies in Randy's household?

I had endless questions and desperately wanted answers.

***

I relaxed and tried to go back to sleep but my fear that I would have the same manner of dreams wouldn't go away.

I found myself tempted to walk down the hall to the decorative door that clearly marked the Lord of the House's door. I fantasized about creaking it open and dropping my nightgown to climb atop him and settle myself over his lap. Caressing over his body.

Then when he sat up in alarm, I'd shove him back to the bedding and caress my hands all over his body until he was making the same sounds he had while he was inside of me.

I thought perhaps my touch could arouse him the same way my body had. And I had the innate female sense that the sight of my body would bring him pleasure.

Would he want to touch me the same way I want him?

Without meaning to, I found myself on my feet padding down the hallway. Pausing outside his door as I asked myself what I was doing.

Am I really such a wanton now?

What if he wakes up and demands to know why I'm here?

Bodin was on the other side of the door, staring at the knob and waiting for it to turn. Sensing I was there and already feeling my arousal from inside his chamber. He sat up shirtless in his bed. Woke by the fierce racing of my heart and the sense of arousal wafting through Charters House. Recognizing desire in another when he felt it rippling over him.