Melina

I’d had my dad drop me off at Trevor’s office so I could bring him lunch, simply because I really needed to be close to Trevor. That decision had been made when I’d discovered that Julia was leaving work early. She’d offered to watch the familiars so I could surprise Trevor. I’d even brought my laptop so I could work in one of the conference rooms at Trevor’s office. My only concern had been Julia running into Gryph. He was likely in a bad mood after discovering she’d left the office before he’d shown up for his lunch with Allie.

I’d been enjoying Gryph’s pursuit of Julia. It was subtle enough that Trevor hadn’t noticed. I wasn’t always sure Julia realized it was happening. First, Gryph had won over Oliver, so the only way for Julia to avoid Gryph was to stay away from the house. I was pretty sure Oliver’s howls upon arrival were his way of alerting Gryph to their presence.

For Julia’s part, she alternated between bitchy and distant with Gryph. Most guys would be turned off by her attitude, but not Gryph. I could tell Julia was attracted to him, but I wasn’t sure she liked him, so I figured there was no reason to warn Trevor about the flirting he was oblivious to. Besides, Gryph had assured me more than once that he was not going to have sex with Julia until after this job was over.

There was no way I could have predicted the scene that played out in front of us when we walked into Trevor’s home and found Julia pinned to the wall by Gryph’s much larger body. What I saw was Julia’s hands clutching the fabric of Gryph’s shirt to pull him closer. It would seem that what Trevor saw was his sister being molested by a horny werewolf, which was essentially what was happening. It was just a lot more consensual than Trevor seemed to realize.

Trevor’s face first registered shock, and then rage flashed in his eyes.

“Get the fuck off my sister!” he yelled before mouthing the words to a spell that sent Gryph flying across the room.

Julia continued to clutch Gryph’s shirt, causing her to stumble to the floor.

Gryph let out a growl, and his eyes turned an eerie shade of yellow as he broke free from Trevor’s spell. Had Trevor not been distracted with Julia’s fall, the spell would have held.

“You hurt her!” Gryph roared.

“I’m so sorry, Julia,” Trevor apologized before spinning on Gryph again. “You attacked my sister!”

“He didn’t attack me,” Julia insisted.

“What the hell do you mean, he didn’t attack you?” Trevor demanded. “He had you pinned to a wall. Are you going to tell me he was holding you there so you wouldn’t fall over?”

“Don’t talk to my female that way,” Gryph warned.

I didn’t know Julia very well, but I knew that was a stupid thing to say. While I’d like to say Gryph probably wouldn’t have said something that stupid if he weren’t so out of practice dealing with people, I had a feeling Gryph hadn’t been very good when it came to social niceties before he’d lost his arm. Trevor, the idiot that he was, didn’t see the problem in what Gryph had said.

All the anger drained from Trevor’s face, and he ran a hand through his hair. “Sorry for assuming the worst. I had no idea you were interested in my sister for more than fucking around.”

“No worries,” Gryph assured him, both men oblivious to the very pissed off Julia. “I was going to wait to claim her until after my job guarding Ms. Melina is over, but your sister being more receptive to my claim changed things.”

Trevor nodded his understanding, because, apparently, they were speaking in the same moron code. “So, you and my sister are a couple? It’s nothing against you, but I didn’t expect Julia to settle down any time soon. I’ve gotta warn you about my parents.”

“I know they aren’t likely to be happy about welcoming a werewolf into the family,” Gryph told him.

Trevor chuckled. “They aren’t like that. It’s just that they’ll be trying to get you to convince Julia to give up working with Allie.”

“My sassy girl’s smart enough to make her own choices,” Gryph told Trevor.

The thing that surprised me most was that Julia had remained quiet this long when she looked like she was going to stab one of them in the balls.

“Are you both out of your fucking minds?” Julia screamed.

Gryph gave her a patient grin. “Calm down, Sass. Your brother and I needed to come to an understanding.”

“I’m okay with you dating him, Julia,” Trevor insisted.

“Dating?” Julia asked. “You were both obviously dropped on your heads as babies. Scratch that. I’m sure you both sustained serious head injuries recently, because that is the only explanation for your idiotic behavior. I am not dating Gryphon.”

“Not yet,” Gryph foolishly added. “We were working on the details of that when your brother walked in.”

“No, we were not,” Julia insisted.

Gryph’s green eyes were turning yellow again. “Then what exactly were we doing, Sass?”

“Sex, Gryphon,” she huffed. “We were going to have glorious sex against the wall in Trevor’s house.”

Silence greeted that statement, and I began pulling together my magic, knowing this was going south fast.

Gryph took a step toward Julia when she made a move toward the door, but she ignored him and stormed out. When Gryph reached the door, he was met with the invisible wall of my power.

“Let me out of this house!” Gryph roared loud enough for everyone in the neighborhood to hear.

“No,” I said.

“I’d better go after her,” Trevor insisted.

“Neither of you are going after her,” I told them. “You’re both acting like idiots today. Gryph, I understand that you want more from Julia, but I think you need to discuss that sort of thing with her before you announce it to people.”

“Why?” Gryph asked. “I was using nice words to tell her brother she’s mine. I didn’t even try to mark her.”

It took me a moment to process his words, having not realized any man could be that clueless. “Julia is not a piece of property that you can claim.”

“But she wants me as much as I want her,” Gryph insisted. “My wolf wants her, and her familiar loves me. We’re a good match.”

“She still may not want you,” I told him with an exasperated sigh.

“Do you think it’s because of my arm?” Gryph asked, and I decided Gryph needed some tough love to help get his head out of his ass.

“No one gives a fuck if you’re missing an arm. You’re still a total badass, and Julia is attracted to you. With that being said, Julia’s not going to end up in a relationship simply because of instincts. She’s not a wolf.”

I could see that light bulb moment for Gryph when he finally realized that sex with Julia wouldn’t represent a claim for her. Unfortunately, Trevor was still confused.

“Are you trying to say my sister was going to use Gryph for sex?” Trevor looked utterly bewildered.

I let out a long-suffering sigh and removed the spell from the door since I’d given Julia enough time to get out of the neighborhood. “I don’t think that’s all Julia wants with Gryph, but I definitely think the two of you set back any progress that might have been made in convincing her to explore her feelings.”

Gryph cleared his throat. “We should get you to work, Ms. Melina,” he suggested.

I looked at the clock on Trevor’s wall and almost cursed out loud. “You’re right. We’re going to be late as it is.”

Trevor made no move to kiss me, and I could see he was still sulking about his sister, so I decided to leave him to it.

“I’ll talk to you when I get home,” I told him.

Trevor merely nodded and let me leave.

I loved that man, but he was acting like an ass. At least, I could guarantee he’d realize what an ass he was being before I got home. That was one of things I loved about Trevor; he wasn’t afraid to admit when he was wrong. I had to bite back a smile while thinking about how much I loved that warlock.