His fingers trailed up my spine, following the rope’s path. “And when I touch you like this, when you want me, it races. One hundred and twenty, perhaps one hundred and thirty. I can hear the exact moment desire takes over.”
I shivered, goosebumps racing across my skin. He could hear all of that. Could track my body’s responses in real-time, could know what I felt before I even admitted it to myself.
“That’s. . .” I searched for words, my thoughts tangling. “You can hear everything.”
“Not everything.” His hand settled on my shoulder, warm and steady. “But enough. Heartbeats. Breathing patterns. The rush of blood through veins if I am close enough.”
“So you’ve just been. . . listening to me? This whole time?”
“Not deliberately invading your privacy, if that is what you are asking.” He came back around to face me, kneeling so we were eye level. “I cannot turn it off, Violet. My enhanced hearing is always there. But I can choose what I focus on, what I pay attention to. I have taught myself how to lower or increase the sensitivity of my hearing. Otherwise? I would go crazy.”
“And you pay attention to me.” It wasn’t a question.
“Yes.” No hesitation. No shame. “I pay attention to you because I care whether you are safe, whether you are afraid, whether you are in pain.” His hand cupped my face, thumb stroking my cheekbone. “And because when your heart races like it is now, I know you want me as much as I want you.”
My breath caught. Because he was right—my heartwasracing, my pulse thundering in my throat, my body responding to his proximity and his words and the knowledge that he could hear every single physical tell I had.
It should have felt invasive. Violating. Like he’d been spying on me without permission.
But instead, it felt. . . intimate. Known. Like he saw parts of me I’d been hiding and didn’t flinch away.
“You really can hear my heartbeat right now,” I said softly.
“One hundred and twenty-four beats per minute and climbing.” A smile tugged at his lips. “You are aroused, Violet. Your body gives you away.”
“That’s. . .” I shook my head, trying to organize my thoughts. “That’s creepy, Rowan.”
“You are not the first person to tell me that,” he said with a small laugh, the sound warm despite the heavy conversation. “Well, you wanted to know how I identified the shifter. This is how.”
I swallowed hard, acutely aware of my naked vulnerability in front of him. The rope held me but didn’t hide me, and knowing he could literally hear my body’s responses to him left me feeling exposed in ways that had nothing to do with nudity.
“So the girl. . .” I forced myself back to the original topic. “You think she killed that student?”
“I think she might have been involved, yes.” His expression turned grim. “She smelled of blood, Violet. Fresh blood. Not her own—too much of it, too strong and it was within the last twelve hours.”
The implication settled over me like a shroud. “And you were going to. . . what? Confront her?”
“Identify her. Follow her if possible. Gather information.” He shrugged. “But you pulled me away before I could get close enough to see her face clearly.”
Guilt pricked at me. “I thought you were flirting with her.”
“I know.” He smiled, no trace of recrimination. “Your jealousy was apparent.”
“I wasn’t jealous.”
“In the classroom, your heart rate spiked from seventy to one hundred and twenty in a few seconds. You were very much jealous,princess.”
I wanted to argue, but he’d literally monitored my cardiovascular response in real-time. There was no point in lying.
“Fine. I was jealous.” The admission tasted bitter. “Happy now?”
“Oddly, yes.” He returned to his rope work, and I felt him making final adjustments. “Though I would prefer you simply ask me questions rather than assume the worst.”
“That’s rich coming from you.” I couldn’t help the edge in my voice. “You assume the worst about everything.”
“Because I have learned that assuming the worst keeps you alive.” He tied off what felt like a final knot, then stepped back to assess his work. “But I am trying to be better. With you.”
The vulnerability in those last two words tightened my chest.
