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I dug my heels in. “Go where?”

“To my room, I don’t want anyone else seeing you naked—”

“What! No, that was not what I want from you. I’m not talking about sex.” I tugged my hand from his.

His rough exhale came out more a low growl, and he took another step toward me.

I lifted my hands. “Stop.” He wasn’t trying to be threatening, but the beast in him seemed to be the dominant force more often than not.

And right then, I didn’t want to think about the way my body instantly heated up in response.

“You’re lying to yourself,” he said.

Heat washed through me, embarrassment and anger, mainly because he wasn’t completely wrong. “If you’re that hard up, go fuck one of your groupies.” I crossed my arms over my chest because the asshole threw me off balance with his sexy voice and outrageous arrogance. And goddess help me, it turned me on, all of it, and it shouldn’t, and that pissed me off. What the hell was wrong with me?

“There are no females here, remember?” he said. “Not until this is over.”

“Wow, how will you survive a day without screwing some random chick?” Shut the hell up!

“Jealous?”

“What? No, of course not.” I kind of was, and that pissed me off as well.

“Don’t worry, dove.” His nostrils flared, and he prowled closer. “I have a hand…and an excellent imagination.”

Do not think about it!

Too late. I was totally thinking about it.

Ugh.

“I don’t want to know,” I said, lying through my teeth, because I did. I really did.

He licked his lips. “You sure about that?”

“Yep.” Time to move this conversation along. “Okay, so, if I ward this place, will you train Ren?”

He frowned, his chin jerking back before his gaze sliced to Ren, then returned to me. “To do what?”

I took several calming breaths. “He needs to learn to fight, in both his human and animal forms. He’s young, and foxes aren’t natural fighters. But with everything going on with me, and him being my familiar, he needs to know how to protect himself and take my back when necessary.” Warrick didn’t need to know the deep emotional pain Ren was going through. A male like him, devoid of any tender emotions entirely, wouldn’t understand. But he would understand the need to protect, to fight.

“You need someone to take your back, I’ll do it.”

He said it completely serious, like it was obvious. Nope. No way. “Look, you don’t understand how it works between a witch and her familiar. Ren has a need to…protect me, to the point that if he thinks I’m in danger, he will throw himself into a fight against someone who could kill him. It’s instinct…”

“He wants you for himself,” Warrick said, a whole lot of growl in his voice. “He wants to fuck you.”

How was I even attracted to this guy? Seriously? “Nope, not even a little bit.”

“Does he prefer males?”

I blinked up at him. Was he really saying that if a male didn’t want me, it could only be because he was gay? I drew in a breath, trying to find patience. “The feelings we have for each other are like brother and sister.”

His massive shoulders relaxed a little, but he didn’t look completely convinced.

“So, do we have a deal?” I asked.

“How long will it take? The ward?”