The latter didn't look like news to his friends, who had surely known him for decades in much freer environments than even the garrison party house, but it made me look at him with consideration. At first I'd been shocked—Dain, of all people, wanting to try out submission? But thinking about it, I realized that it probably had nothing at all to do with the ropes or being a sub, but about the last two words: being enjoyed.

He'd told me, that night of the first revel, that what he wanted when he was having sex was for his partner to be overwhelmed enough to forget about who he was. But under that desire was a belief that he was monstrous and undeserving of affection, and a rock-solid certainty that nobody would look at him and want him on his own merits. The women who came to him wanted the wildness, the ferality, and the danger of a night with the Beast of Phazikai, or maybe were social climbers willing to compromise on number of limbs to snare a crown prince. But Dain was more than the Beast and more than the crown prince, and underneath the ferocity of his reputation was a man who wanted to be wanted.

But then, don't we all want that?

We left Zhiolas and Alluin at the garrison sometime around one in the morning and made our way back up to the palace in companionable silence, the cool breeze helping to sober me up, sweeping away some of the pleasant fog of alcohol and laughter. When I wobbled my landing dismounting my deer, Dain took it as an excuse to escort me back to my rooms with his arm around me. We were going the same way, anyway, and he was warm and gorgeous and I'd spent the better part of the night with my hand on his inner thigh.

Some wild impulse seized me as we got to my rooms, and I wrapped an arm around his waist to force him to come in with me, kicking the door shut so that the guards wouldn't be so obviously there. He disentangled himself from me at the doorway into my bedroom, looking down at me with his wolf eyes fond and his mouth touched by a smile. His long tails swayed behind him hypnotically.

"You were very torturous to sit next to tonight, Leah," he said.

A smile spread across my face. "You started it, putting your mouth up on my ear like that. Ear touches feel nice, especially from flirtatious men."

"As I recall, you escalated with great willingness," he replied, searching my face with an edge of worry.

"Good memory," I said. "Can you blame me? You're striking and strong, and you have such sharp teeth."

He leaned a little closer. "I thought you said my teeth were too sharp for you," Dain said, his voice going a trifle hoarse.