“I’m sorry,” I murmured, glancing down.
“Don’t bow your head to anyone, and only bow your head to me when I ask for your submission.” Rowan’s big hand gripped my chin and angled it up. “And don’t apologize for missing one of your mates.”
“One of your mates,” Damien mused. “I like the sound of that.”
Rowan dropped my chin and glanced up at Damien. “It’s clear that you will be. Fox mating is different, and it has a lot of complexities, but I do remember that she won’t be attracted to anyone who won’t be her mate from here on out. The matebond when it snaps into place will bind your souls to both her and whoever else she’s mated to.”
My gut bundled itself in nerves as I thought about the other guys I’d been spending time with and how much I’d cared about them already.
Thorn, Kian, Lachlan, Rhett, and Alister.
If I wasn’t their mate and they weren’t mine... My heart twisted in my chest.
“Matebond or not, she’s my little bird.” Damien played with the shadows on his fingers. “And I’m fucking delighted that Trixie and you broke the bond between you and Grayson.”
“You were there?” My mouth dropped open.
“Oh, I was with you the moment you two left the dorms.” His voice dropped. “Which you’ll be punished for later.”
A hot wave of excitement filled me, and I nodded.
Damien grinned at Rowan before his shadows started to swallow him whole. “I’ll be a good demon and let you have your time with her, but play nice or I’ll rip your throat out.”
Rowan stared at the spot Damien had vanished from and shook his head. “Always threats with that one.”
My cheeks warmed but I nodded. “Damien’s... Damien.”
“Right.” He stood up next to me, and my heart stopped.
Rowan was more than a foot taller than I was, and I reached mid-chest. I let out a squeak of acknowledgment, and he chuckled.
His chuckle was a deep rumble that made every nerve in me stand at attention. He had such an attractive laugh.
My cheeks ached with how big I was smiling.
“What?” He looked down with a smile still etched on his face.
“You have an amazing laugh, and your smile is giving me butterflies,” I blurted out but kept my gaze locked with his instead of looking down like I wanted to.
His lips curled into a smirk before he jerked his chin toward another door in his office. “Follow me.”
We went to the back of his office, and he opened the other door. “Go on in.”
I obliged and stepped through the doorway and into a good-size bedroom with a master bath attached. The design was simple but comforting. Mahogany panel walls and wooden floors, and there was a fire in the fireplace that was built into the wall in front of the king-sized bed.
The scent of embers, Rowan’s masculine scent, filled the air. My inner fox purred at that.
“You live in your office?” I glanced back at him as he shut the door.
“You live at the academy too,” he said, and I giggled.
“Yes, but you live in your office.”
“Do you not like it?”
“It’s not that,” I assured him, walking over to him and wringing my hands together. “It’s a beautiful living space and it’s homey too.”
“But?”
