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"I don’t norers," I said, arms crossed

"And I don’t normally escort naked hoydens about the countryside," he said "But if you stand around here uncovered for too long, so to find you Besides, I can’t take you home like this It has to be respectable"

"What has to be respectable? And where do you think you’re takingout of his coat and holding it out tohis teeth "It won’t bite"

I wasn’t too worried about being naked, but if he wanted me to wear his coat, that was fine The air was chill and claed into the coat, and he buttoned it up to ht under my chin, our eyes aze He was just a little taller than I, rangy but h the open neck of his shirt

I wasn’t used to things tight around led to unbutton the top button

"Mustn’t," he said, his glove catching my hand "That’s the rowled as he swatted land? No one buttons anything up to the neck, unless it’s snowing," I coland?" he said "Never heard of it But showing your neck is dangerous here Showing any skin, really If it were anyone but me, you’d most likely be dead"

He held out his arm, and for lack of options, I took it His black coat orn but thick and beautiful, fitted and darted in a way thatelse on His own shirt fluttered in the breeze, the scarlet waistcoat enhancing the paleness of his skin

As we began to walk, I breathed in the scent of his coat It sreen I got a little light-headed, drawing in the aro me, and he chuckled "Do you kno a et so for a while, and you toss it in with her In the cage or the cavern, where she sleeps That first one, she rips up, shreds it to nothing The second one, she justthere The third bit of clothing, she starts dragging it around, loving on it, sleeping with it And then you’ve got her under your spell She’s got the scent of you, wants to keep it around She’ll follow you anywhere"

"Are you callingme a man?" he said

"What else would you be?"

He shot rin full of pointy teeth I started and then shook it off

"I’ can harm me"

"A dream?" he said, one arched eyebrow raised "You think this is a drearinned "Sweetheart, you couldn’t conjure lared at each other then, a battle of wills

Motion caught my eye, and I looked down to see a s out from the wood It hopped and halted, hopped and halted, almost to us

"Did you dream that?" he said

"The rabbit? Sure, I suppose I did," I said "He’s a cutie Probably representslike that"

The rabbit sniffed ht I ss into , kicked it It shrieked, too, tu with a thuhted itself, it turned to hiss atback into the underbrush

H from two puncture wounds And it hurt Bad

"You’ll have to watch out for that one now," the ot a taste for you"

"Still not scared," I said "Just a bunny, fangs or not It’s all in ot friends," the s And you’re bleeding If you think you’re strong enough to fight off a warren of bludbunnies, I assure you that you’re wrong You’d better co it I needed to take control of the dreaers splayed and focusedhappened

"What in Sang are you doing, love?" he asked

My ar bolts out of ertips," I said Then, quietly, "It usually works"

"Told you it wasn’t a dreaave a little hop, butsullen and es weren’t going at all the way they usually did He should have exploded in a ball of blue lightning by now

"If you’re done playing around," he said, "we really should get ain, the glove waited for my hand I considered