God she was beautiful, but she addressed him like a toddler. Was she judging him? Pitying him? The way she’d brushed off his advances was cold as ice, rigid, all kinds of palm up and no way. It made him horny as hell. Not only was she beautiful, she’d proved herself a worthy adversary. How he longed to tame her, bring her to her knees.
He took another bite, enjoying the fantasy that played out in his head. Selene on her knees. But even as he reveled in it, the vision warped from a sexual one to something else entirely. Selene on her knees in her ceremonial robes, praying to the goddess.Fuck him. She was an acolyte. What was he thinking, lusting after her? The guilt drove into him like a freight train.
“Once you’re finished, we’ll begin stage one,” she said.
“What’s stage one?”
Selene’s violet stare cut straight to his soul. “I take you apart so I can put you back together.”
ChapterEleven
Selene hadn’t meant her words to sound threatening, but from the way Jason’s face paled and his fork hit his plate, they fell sharp and heavy on her target. What was she doing, saying it like that? Only, he’d shaken her to her core. That chiseled, almost gaunt face, the charming smile, the way his gaze raked over her… His words and actions promised delights she’d only dreamed about. She’d caught herself leaning toward him, thinking about how his lips might feel on her own. She’d smelled his desire for her, musk and spice, a heavenly scent that made her inner wolf far too interested. Thank the goddess she’d caught herself before things went too far.
“Take me apart?” Jason said. “What will that entail?”
The scent of desire was gone, replaced by the sharp tang of fear. Good. She pushed her fruit around her plate. “Attachments like yours don’t develop overnight. This started with your wolf, true, but yours has morphed into a twenty-four-hours-a-day, seven-days-a-week addiction. For that to happen, there must have been a trigger—a cancer hiding in the dark recesses of your subconscious. Maybe you know what it is. Maybe you don’t. My job is to isolate that trigger and bring it out into the light where we can address it directly.” The truth was she suspected what the trigger had been. Everyone in the pack knew he’d lost his parents and his potential mate. But it wasn’t about her knowing. It was about him admitting it, about giving him the tools to talk about it.
With a shake of his head, Jason growled low. “No. I don’t need that. It’s a wolf’s vice, that’s all. I’ll break it, but I don’t need you in my head to do it.”
“No? So your need for sex exists onlybeforethe full moon, when your wolf is most active?”
He shifted, leaned back in his chair like a reticent toddler, and crossed his arms over his chest.
“You don’t have to answer me. I know the truth. I saw it when I broke Nickelova’s curse. This behavior, it’s bled beyond your wolf, which means you’re coping with something your human form is feeling.” She sipped her coffee and waited for him to deny it. He didn’t. “What we need to do is unravel exactly why this vice was able to get its hooks into you so deeply.”
“So you’re going to psychoanalyze me?” he gritted out. “What, do I lie on the couch and tell you how I lost my virginity?”
“I’m not a psychiatrist. I’m an acolyte for the priesthood. I don’t want to tap into your mind. I want to tap into your soul.”
If he’d been pale before, his current chalky corpse color redefined the term. He cleared his throat. “No.”
She sat back, rubbing her palms on her thighs. “This is how it’s done, Jason. I know you don’t like me being here, but you want to get better, right?”
Jason’s eyes tightened at the corners, seeming to size her up. “I’ll need to do some work before we start. I have a few pressing emails I have to review.”
“Can’t it wait?”
“No. I’m an angel investor. People are counting on me.”
She looked at him blankly.
“Our parents left us a large fortune when they died. My job is to use my portion of that inheritance to invest in businesses that need capital… after I vet them first.”
“You just give them the money?”
“In exchange for a percentage of future profits. So, you see, as much as I’d like to dive right into your therapy, I have an obligation to my clients that comes first.”
“How long will it take you?”
He stood and placed his plate in the sink. “A few hours. I’m sure you can, um, touch my soul later, right? Or tomorrow?”
She shook her head. “Jason—”
“Then it’s settled.”
Selene sighed heavily as he retreated into his bedroom, the click of the door locking behind him signaling the end of their conversation.
* * *
