Page 131 of To Catch A Rogue

However, Jelena wasn’t finished yet. "Prove it," she said. "Prove you are ready to surrender."

His pulse thickened in his throat. "And how would you like me to do that?"

"Open the doors, Dido."

"Jelena," she warned.

"Malloryn wants to prove he is willing to doanything."

The door swung open, though Dido didn’t look happy about it.

"Walk through the door, Malloryn. You’re going to walk up those stairs, and you’re going to open the Iron Maiden, and you’re going to get into it."

A chill burst over his skin.

Not this.

He wasn’t certain if he could do this again.

"Malloryn?" Ava whispered.

He looked at her, with her frightened green eyes and her nervous hands clutching at her skirts.

It was different this time. The Rogues had come for him. He had to trust them. He had to hope. And he wasn't strong enough to defeat bothdhampir. Not in this condition.

"As you wish," he said coldly, and forced himself to limp toward the door.

* * *

Sunlight drenchedthe pair of them.

Charlie traced small circles over Lark's bare back as she dozed atop him, her cheek resting on his chest and her hair draped across him. He'd been awake for an hour, but he didn't want to move and wake her.

Last night had been the culmination of all his dreams, and yet there was something to be said for the lazy satisfaction of waking up with her in his arms like this.

Lark shivered as his fingers tiptoed down her spine. Slowly, she lifted her head, eyes blinking sleepily.

"Good morning," he murmured.

"Someone looks pleased with himself," she grumbled, rolling off him and dragging the pillow over her face. "How can you look so cheerful so early in the day?"

She'd never been an early riser.

He burrowed his face under the pillow and pressed his lips to the tip of her nose. "Because some woman ravished the hell out of me last night and I feel utterly fantastic."

Her eyes blinked open. She blushed.

"If I recall correctly, I was the one being ravished. I have the bite marks to prove it."

He tossed the pillow aside, and Lark groaned, dragging the sheet over her head. He hauled her into his arms, letting her stay buried. "Did you know you become quite primal when someone tries to lay hands on me?"

"I do not!"

"No, I quite like it," he said with a laugh. "I thought you were going to punch Lady Kirinov in the face when she grabbed me by the balls." He rolled onto his side. "Thank you for protecting my virtue."

"You were in a difficult position," she growled. "If you shoved her away from you, then you'd have broken our cover. And I could tell you were struggling. You'd never hit a woman, but I could. Your sense of chivalry's going to get you killed one day."

"And how do you feel about what happened afterwards?" He knew she didn't kill lightly. The first time she'd cut down a man from one of the slasher gangs who haunted the East End, she'd shrugged it off, but he'd found her casting up her accounts in the gutter several streets over.