“I-I’m sorry if I offended you.”

“You haven’t offended me, but we both know you don’t want this.”

“I want you.” Even as she begged to be his, part of her hoped he would send her away and spare her.

“But not enough for this. I can see it written in your body language. This isn’t for you. Go before I change my mind.”

She hesitated.

“Go!”

Faith fled out of the dungeon. She didn’t stop until she reached Leo’s room. Whatever his reasoning, he didn’t want her. She’d practically thrown herself at him, and he’d pushed her away. What the fuck kind of magic powers did Caprice have that made it possible for her to seduce Leo when Faith couldn’t manage it? The other woman wasn’t even that pretty.

* * *

Leo cursed at the empty room. She said yes, you dumbass, said the demon on one shoulder, who looked more like Angelo than Leo in his smooth Armani and scar-free face. She’s too scared for this, you did the right thing, said Father Leo on the other shoulder.

In reality, he knew she wouldn’t talk. She wasn’t the type who wanted to be a hero or get involved with the police. Given all the time he’d spent with her, and the time Angelo had spent with her, he was certain he could convince his brother that she was safe to release into the wild.

But she was his. Even if he could never bring himself to break down and use her in the way he wanted, he’d grown used to thinking of her as his to protect and own. Even if he never whipped her or tied her up or fucked her, he owned her more than any woman who had ever been in this dungeon, and he couldn’t bring himself to let that go. She was all promise and possibility—the only thing standing in his way was himself. And some day that barrier would crumble and he’d be free to have her.

Faith was his only chance to feed the urge that lived underneath every other urge. To own a human being was the driving need that underscored everything else. He couldn’t bring himself to give that up, no matter how many weak rationalizations he had to make. He could never let her go.

It was like owning an exotic bird. The idea wasn’t enough, a picture wasn’t enough, visiting one at the zoo wasn’t enough. It had to be there, in his home, in his possession.

Leo turned out the lights and locked up the dungeon, then he went back upstairs to his office and opened the black leather journal. He’d made lists of alternatives. There were kink clubs he could go to, people he could meet for casual flings. Ways he could do this that didn’t involve Faith losing parts of herself she could never retrieve or him traveling further down a path of no return—sins that even a priest couldn’t absolve him of.