Chapter 36
THIRTY-SIX
ROGUE
It was late when there was a knock on my door.
That already meant something was wrong.
No one in this goddamned place liked me, and if Knox visited, well… he knocked. Mostly because I don’t think he liked the idea of catching me walking out of the shower. But he didn’t knock so lightly.
Which meant… shit.
I knew who it was.
I hesitated before opening the door, warring with myself, but finally cracking it open.
Sure enough, my beautiful scent match was waiting on the other side. She was wearing a silk nightgown that hung open to reveal pretty black lace. Tucked into the gown pocket, was Bunny.
“Knox is out tonight,” she declared, looking pleased with herself.
“How did you get down here?”
I was out of the cage. There was literally no way he’d let her come.
“I uh…” She gently pushed on the door that was still open a crack, eyes scanning my room. “Main stairs.”
“They’re locked.”
I watched as she, with almost comical dramatics, tucked something that glinted briefly silver further into Bunny’s pouch.
“You stole his key?”
“He left his office unlocked. Wouldn’t have done that if he minded.”
“Ah.”
Well. Shit. “Might be best to give him a little more time to cool down?” The wounds were just scabbing over on my face.
“Well…” She shrugged, eyes still on my room greedily as she edged closer to the door frame. “I think he’ll be fine.”
“This is a bad idea—” I cut off as she ducked beneath my arm and hurried in. I reached out to snatch her just too late.
I spun to see her backing in, pupils blown as she looked around happily. “And I left a fake Omega bundle in the bed, too, so he probably won’t even notice when he gets back.”
“Kitten—!” I tried to reach for her, but she let out a sudden shriek and dived for my bed, seizing handfuls of blankets and disappearing beneath them before I could catch her. I grabbed my own handful, lifting it, but her lithe form had already wriggled up to the top of my bed. Her head popped out, and frosted moonflower was overpoweringly smug and her eyes danced.
“You can’t stay,” I warned.
She folded her arms. “I already burrowed.”
“What does that mean?”
She pouted. “It means you can’t make me go!”
I opened my mouth to argue, then shut it. Her scent was settling over the room like a blanket. Comfortable. Safe.
“Are you trying to get me killed?” I grumbled.
“No!” she squeaked, affronted. “If he’s mad, I’ll take the punishment this time.”
“No, you damn well won’t. That means letting him fuck you while I watch.” And besides, how far could she push him before sex and sketchbooks weren’t his response?
She didn’t understand how volatile he was.
She cocked her head, genuine confusion clear on her face. “But… you already did.”
I opened my mouth to argue, then shut it.
That was different.
Thistle was wringing her hands, though, as if convincing herself as much as me. “He’s… he’s coming around. Already said he would share if I heat bonded you.”
I groaned. “He’s seriously still on that crap?”
“It’s not crap,” she snapped, then frowned and added quickly, “He said so.”
I rolled my eyes. “You shouldn’t be here, Kitten. Stay the night, sure, but there won’t be anything on that camera to suggest I had anything to do with it.”
“What does that mean?”
“It means you burrow, you stay, but I won’t fuck you.”
“I never asked.”
“Right,” I snorted, eyeing the lace beneath the open silk gown. “So you put shit like that on to go grocery shopping?”
Her mouth popped open, and she glanced down at Bunny. “He’s almost as rude as Knox, Bunny.”
I raised my eyebrows. “Rule number one of the sleepover,” I said. “I don’t want to hear Knox’s name.”
The prick wove himself into every crevice of my life. The fewer times I heard his name on my mate’s tongue, the better. Especially when she was dressed like that.
“Fine. But you’re just as bossy as him.”
“Him?” I asked, folding my arms in challenge as she broke my rule in record time.
“You’re just as bossy as Daddy .”
We both froze, staring at each other wide eyed for a long beat.
What had she just said?
The scant blush of colour in her pale face evaporated.
“I…” Her voice wobbled, and she looked panicked. Genuinely, terrified.
I opened my mouth to speak, but she let out a strangled sound of distress, and then dived for the edge of the bed.
What the hell?—?
But she’d careened onto the floor, flattened herself, and then scrambled beneath the bed frame.
“Kitten, I?—!”
I was cut off with another wail, then a pale hand stuck out and seized the tip of a blanket that draped to the floor.
I watched, as one huge tug at a time (each punctuated with a whine of misery), the entirety of my bedding was eaten by the flighty Omega hiding under my bed.
I strode across the room and sat down beside it. Again, I could hear her whispering within. “We’ve ruined it.”
I blinked, struck with both how cute and ridiculous she was.
I grabbed the corner of my bedding sticking out and began pulling it back out in the same manner she’d pulled it in.
One tug at a time, Thistle reappeared. How she’d managed to get so tangled in blankets while trapped beneath the bed was beyond me, but she was a huge, soft Omega bundle with two violet eyes, and a bunny peering out.
“You haven’t ruined anything.”
Her chin quivered. “I haven’t?”
I picked my bundled Omega up and set her down on the bed. Knox wasn’t the only reason I couldn’t get close. It was frightening how much I was falling for her, and if he got wind of that…
Yet nothing changed the guilty pleasure I took at the idea of her staying tonight, even if I needed strict boundaries to keep myself sane.
“You can call…” I trailed off, made an effort to unclench my teeth, and try again. “You can call Knox whatever you want.”
“Really?”
“Really. Doesn’t change the rules tonight. You get a sleepover. Nothing else.”
She pursed her lips, seeming to try and figure her way around that, but I was already unbundling her and straightening the sheets.
If I didn’t turn in soon, I would fucking crack.
I flipped the lights off, climbed into bed, and faced the wall, pulling a blanket over me. She let out a shrill sound of distress which, with difficulty, I ignored as I shut my eyes.
Silence fell on the room, and I was practically drowning in bitter moonflower as she simmered.
One inch at a time—as if that would stop me from noticing—she shuffled closer.
When I could feel the heat of her body at my back like a furious little furnace, I turned, sat up, picked her up and dumped her back down on her side of the bed.
That happened three times before I gave up, and she was scrambling over my torso like it was a military training wall, clumsily tumbling over me, all her poky limbs making me grunt before she’d settled in.
And of course, that wasn’t the end of it.
“What are you doing?” I growled as I felt her shuffling about.
“Nothing.”
“You can’t just sneak on my dick without me noticing.”
The pout in her voice was audible. “But it’s really big. Don’t you want to make sure it fits?”
“You’re my scent match. Wouldn’t be fair if it doesn’t fit.”
“Some people have faces no one would ever want to draw. That’s not fair but they’re born like that, anyway.”
“Kitten,” I growled. “You’re going to close your eyes and go to sleep, or I will carry your bratty little ass back upstairs and chain you to Knox’s bed for him to deal with.”
She huffed, but shut up.
Annndd didn’t listen.
She kept wriggling backward, grinding her pert little butt against my cock, which was, naturally, rock hard.
Fuck me.
“Rogue,” she whispered at last.
“Yes,” I gritted out.
“It’s quite clear you need taking care of.”
Delicate little hands were suddenly fumbling for my waistband.
Goddamn.
I closed my hands around her wrists, drawing them up.
“Thistle.” My voice was warning.
“Am I breaking your rules?”
“Yes.”
“Maybe you should punish me.” My eyes adjusted to the darkness, and I saw the flash of a grin on her face as she looked up at me.
Christ, she was horny.
It wasn’t just her words, either—her scent was smothering.
My sanity flickered out of existence for a moment.
I don’t know what happened. All I knew was the growl rumbling up my chest, and then I’d turned us both and was pinning her wrists over her head.
Mistake, because her scent became a siren’s call in the room as her perfume hit the air. Even in the darkness I could see the way those galaxy eyes sparkled.
Her legs tangled around my waist.
She was mine.
I needed her.
There was nothing in the world that could get in the way of that.
Nothing.
Fuck…
I growled, reeling back.
I was losing it. And if I did when Knox wasn’t here—if I did anything I couldn’t take back…
That could mean the end of her.
But a tide was coming in.
One that had been threatening for forever.
And now, with her here, with the imminent danger of what that meant, self-preservation collided with a thousand cracks, formed over years and years, and my mind began slipping down that cliff face at last.