Chapter 13

Julia

I’d expected my evening with Gryph to be tense after he’d gone down on me in his kitchen and then refused to let me return the favor. At the very least, I’d expected some awkward moments where neither of us were sure how to act around the other. Neither had been the case. After returning from his run, Gryph had been in a more relaxed mood. We’d gone over some details related to the threat against me, and then we’d watched television with Oliver. It had been the most relaxing time we’d ever spent together. We hadn’t talked more about why Gryph refused to have sex with me, and he’d made no attempts to join me in my room. That would have made the evening better, but I was still happy with how things had gone.

Lying in bed, I was trying to decide if I should get up early. I didn’t have any appointments until eleven, but I could always go in to do some paperwork and finish unloading shipments. Gryph had been moving around the house for the last twenty minutes, but I wasn’t quite ready to get up. I’d always been one of those people who needed more time to wake up in the morning.

The rustling under the covers indicated Oliver was finally stirring. Normally, I didn’t allow him to sleep with me because he was a restless sleeper. I’d made an exception since he needed to be close to me while he was adjusting to the various smells at Gryph’s house. I smiled when I saw the outline of his body moving up toward me under the covers.

Oliver’s head popped out, and he let out a huge yawn.

“What have you been eating?” I asked my familiar, prompting him to move even closer so I could get a better whiff of his foul doggie morning breath.

“You don’t like the way I smell?” he asked, and even though he was trying to sound hurt, I clearly caught his amusement.

“No, I most certainly do not like your breath,” I told him, reaching over to the side of the bed where I’d stashed a couple of his breath freshening treats. They were the same ones Mr. Whiskers used. After Oliver had tried one while I was watching Mr. Whiskers, he’d become hooked on them.

“Treats for me!” he exclaimed happily, fully emerging from under the covers to bounce around the bed.

“How am I supposed to give you a treat if you don’t sit still for a minute?” I asked.

Oliver stopped and took the treat before gobbling it up and plopping down onto his back. “I wish Gryph could live at our house instead of us living here,” he lamented.

“We don’t live here,” I reminded Oliver. “We’re just here so Gryph can keep us safe in case someone really is trying to hurt me.”

Oliver rolled over and gave me his sad puppy-dog look. Beagles excel at that look. I expected him to start begging me to live with Gryph since Oliver clearly loved him. Instead, Oliver’s voice sounded small when he asked, “Why would someone want to hurt you?”

Reaching over, I scratched behind his ears. “No one really wants to hurt me,” I soothed.

“I don’t want you to get hurt,” he insisted. “I love you, Julia.”

“I love you, too, my sweet boy,” I crooned.

A knock on the bedroom door interrupted our discussion.

“It’s Gryph,” Oliver told me.

I laughed at his announcement. “I’d assumed that since he’s the only other person in the house.”

“Come on in,” I called out.

Gryph opened the door and froze when he saw I was still lying in bed in my pajamas. I almost laughed at his reaction. “It’s okay, Gryph,” I assured him. “I’m fully covered, and these pajamas are far from sexy lingerie.”

He stepped the rest of the way into the room, carrying a plate with far too much food on it. “I figured you’d want to have breakfast before I drive you to Bliss,” he explained.

His sweet gesture both touched and surprised me. Looking at the plate, I was curious to know how he expected me to eat that much food. “Is that for me to share with Oliver?” I asked.

Gryph shook his head. “I left his plate in the kitchen.” His gaze shifted to Oliver before he began speaking again. “After seeing you eat last night, I decided you’re much too messy for breakfast in bed, my friend.”

When I looked at my familiar, he seemed unsure if he wanted to argue that he wasn’t a messy eater or just rush downstairs to eat. Finally, he scurried off the bed, chanting, “Breakfast. Breakfast. Breakfast,” as he raced out of the room.

“I guess he doesn’t mind eating in the kitchen,” Gryph remarked as he stepped forward to hand me my plate.

“He’ll complain about it later,” I told Gryph. “For now, all he cares about is eating.”

“I’m the same,” he admitted.

It took some maneuvering to get the pillows in place so I could eat in bed. “Breakfast in bed always sounded much simpler,” I remarked.

“You mean to tell me you’ve never had breakfast in bed before?” he asked with a grin.

“No, have you?” I asked.

“Not many werewolves were willing to enter my home when I was still with the pack,” he admitted.

“I take it they were all afraid of the big bad wolf,” I teased as I took a bite of my eggs.

“The smart ones were,” he replied. “You should be, too. It wouldn’t take much for this big bad wolf to devour a sweet little witch like you.”

With our relaxed mood, I decided to be daring with my humor. “I quite enjoyed being devoured last night,” I said with a playful bat of my eyes.

Gryph chuckled at my response. “I noticed, and if we weren’t in such a hurry, I’d devour you again.”

“Why are we in a hurry?” I asked, grabbing my phone to check the time. I figured I must have read it wrong the first time. “It’s only eight, and I don’t need to be at Bliss until eleven today.”

“I have some people coming by to do a little work on the Bliss security system,” he explained. “I want to get this handled as soon as possible. Sorry about making you go in early.”

“It’s all right,” I assured him. “I’d already been considering going in early to handle a few things. Thanks for making breakfast, Gryph.”

“You’re welcome,” he replied uncomfortably before adding, “I was cooking for myself, anyway, so it wasn’t any extra effort.”

“I still appreciate it,” I began. “This is a little too much for me. Two eggs would have filled me. How many are on this plate?”

“I just made you a small plate, about half what I had,” he explained. “There are six eggs and eight slices of bacon on there.”

“I don’t need even half the calories a werewolf needs,” I pointed out. “This is really sweet. Why didn’t I know you could cook before?”

“We were too busy dancing around how much we wanted each other,” he replied. “That and arguing.”

“I’m pretty sure those things aren’t mutually exclusive,” I added.

“You’re right about that,” he agreed. “I should finish getting ready. I’ll meet you downstairs when you’re ready to go.”

I nodded and watched as he walked to the door. “Gryph,” I called out.

“Yeah,” he replied.

“Thank you again for breakfast and for having me here,” I said awkwardly. “There’s this part of me that wishes I could be your mate. I know you’ll find someone.”

I expected him to either argue with me or agree with me. Instead, he simply walked out of the room without another word. I decided it was for the best. Talking to Gryph about the relationship he wanted with me only seemed to make matters worse. Perhaps, he also realized that. As I picked at my breakfast, I wondered why I was so sad when it seemed I was getting what I’d wanted.