Chapter 4

Gryph

It had been months since I’d seen Julia. No matter how I felt about her, I was determined to keep this professional. She’d turned me down, and I wasn’t about to act like some lovesick pup following her around, hoping she’d fall for me. My wolf disagreed. That side of me wanted her in every way imaginable. He was clawing at my insides and howling for his mate. With the duality of my existence, the man in me dealt with logic while the wolf was ruled by instinct.

Hoping to at least have my lust under control when I saw Julia again, I’d jerked off in the shower before heading to Bliss. I was sated, so I expected to be fine in Julia’s presence, proving I was an idiot. The moment I walked into the building and caught her scent, I knew I was in trouble. Releasing a harsh breath through my teeth, I reminded myself I couldn’t just walk in there and fuck her senseless. I was certain she’d let me, but only because she didn’t understand what it would mean. There was no casual sex between mates. Once I took her, she was mine. Over the years, I’d been accused of being less than civilized; the fact that I wasn’t acting on my instinct to claim Julia proved those accusations wrong.

When I stepped out of the elevator and into the Bliss lobby, Julia’s scent grew stronger. Inhaling deeply, I groaned. She smelled so damn good. I’d missed everything about her. This was going to be harder than I’d thought.

The little redhead behind the desk gasped loudly. When I glanced her way, I noticed her eyes were moving along me with a weary expression. I got that a lot. At six feet six inches tall, I was intimidating. Even if it weren’t for my large frame and height, my missing arm usually caught the attention of others. Since I’d started doing security again, I had someone alter my shirts, sewing up the arm. Dangling fabric could be dangerous in a fight. With the alteration to the shirt, my missing arm was more obvious.

The receptionist’s unease helped me work past my reaction to Julia’s scent. She was a tiny woman, and I certainly didn’t want to frighten her. Moving forward, I kept my eyes locked on the nervous witch at the reception desk. The weariness in her large green eyes quickly faded to be replaced by fascination.

“You’re a werewolf,” she stated excitedly as she met my gaze. In general, it was foolish to look a werewolf in the eye, but something told me this little mouse didn’t know much about the world. She had an almost childlike innocence to her.

“Yeah,” I replied gruffly.

“That is so exciting!” she chirped, oblivious to my bad mood. “My name is Persephone. You’re the first werewolf I’ve ever met. Are you planning to turn into a wolf while you’re here?”

“No,” I assured her. “I’ll stay in this form.”

Rather than looking relieved that a giant wolf wouldn’t be wandering around the office, she seemed disappointed. “I suppose I’ll have to see a werewolf in wolf form another time,” she said with a sigh.

Before I could point out that wolves were dangerous and she might want to avoid them, Allie emerged from a room to the right of the lobby.

“Gryph!” she greeted me. Julia’s scent wafted out of the room Allie had just exited.

I struggled against the temptation to head back there immediately. With a forced smile, I greeted Allie. “How are you doing, Allie? Is your puny warlock still taking good care of you?”

“Don’t insult Dylan,” she told me before continuing. “Thank you so much for coming. I appreciate it and so does Julia.”

I shrugged. “You knew I’d come for her,” I replied.

“You didn’t have to come for her,” Allie added.

She was wrong. Even though I’d pretended I could allow someone else to protect my mate, my wolf had rebelled against the idea.

“Should I set up a meeting room?” Persephone interrupted, sounding professional and polite.

“Why don’t you take off for the day, Persephone?” Allie suggested. “We don’t have any other appointments.”

“Are you sure?” Persephone asked. “There are still a few orders to unload. I can stay and take care of those.”

Allie shook her head. “We can handle them tomorrow. I heard you on the phone earlier trying to find a new place to stay. You sounded worried you wouldn’t make it before the rental offices close today. You’ve put in a lot of extra hours recently. The least we can do is give you an hour of paid time off to find a new place.”

Persephone let out a sigh. “Thank you. It’s hard for a witch to find a rental out here. Should I send the calls to voicemail for the remainder of the day?”

“Yes,” Allie replied. “I’m glad you thought of that. I need you to find a new place to live as much as you do. You’re the first receptionist we’ve been able to count on. I don’t want you deciding to move back home.”

“There’s no reason to worry about that,” she assured Allie. “I love it here. Thank you again for giving me the afternoon off. Tell Julia I said goodbye.”

It didn’t take Persephone more than a few seconds to forward the calls to voicemail. After that, she shut down her computer, grabbed her purse from the desk, and hurried toward the elevator. I waited until she was on the elevator to speak again. “Even if you hadn’t mentioned her possibly leaving you to go back home, I’d have noticed that little mouse isn’t from around here.”

Allie smiled and shook her head before meeting my eyes. We’d known each other long enough that my wolf didn’t think his dominance was threatened by Allie meeting my eyes. I was somewhat amazed that my wolf also seemed okay with Persephone meeting my gaze, but I assumed it was because she didn’t pose any sort of threat. “You’re underestimating her if you think she’s a mouse. I’ve seen her stand toe-to-toe with powerful demons who were trying to push her around.”

“That could be taken to mean she’s not very bright,” I pointed out.

“Don’t insult my receptionist,” Allie told me. “She’s actually brilliant. I’m sure once she realizes she could be making much better money, she’ll leave Bliss. Persephone led a very sheltered life, and she doesn’t always react with caution when she should.”

“I’m sure you’re watching out for her,” I remarked before adding, “As much as she’ll let you.”

Oliver’s howl cut through the air, meaning he’d noticed I was there. I grinned when I heard Julia shushing him. Oliver, Julia’s beagle familiar, hated most werewolves. While our first meeting hadn’t gone well, Oliver had soon become one of my biggest allies. His howl made me grin. I’d missed him.

“Is there some reason you’re hiding from me, Sass?” I drawled, certain her ear was pressed to the door.

Rather than answering through the door, my sassy witch stepped out of the room. My cocky smirk faded when my eyes landed on her. Wearing a blue sundress that brought out the color in her eyes, she looked young and carefree. That dress also looked like it could easily be slid down to expose her breasts to me. Her blonde hair was secured on top of her head, revealing her delicate neck. Unwanted images raced through my mind. I could picture myself freeing her hair as I kissed her. After I had her panting and clawing at my shoulders, I’d spin her around to face the wall. I’d grip her hair as I bit her neck. I wouldn’t mark her. It would be a tease for us both, a reminder of what was going to happen as soon as I slid into her welcoming body for the first time.

“Hi, Gryph.” Her greeting cut through my fantasy, but it did nothing to pull me back from the edge. Her voice was like a hand wrapping around my dick and stroking it.

I was in serious trouble. My self-control and the discipline I prided myself on were never more threatened than when I was around this witch.

“Wanna tell me why you were hiding from me?” I asked, going on the attack because it’s what I did when I felt threatened.

“I’m meeting Dylan for an early dinner tonight,” Allie interrupted. “Julia can show you the email and fill you in on everything we haven’t already talked about.”

“Make sure you say hi to your puny warlock for me,” I told her without taking my eyes off Julia. “I’m sure Sass will be able to take care of everything for me.”

Allie hurried out of the office while my eyes remained locked on Julia. I wanted her, and I knew it was going to kill me to resist the temptation to take her. Julia turned her back on me and moved toward an office near the back, trying to appear unaffected by my presence.

“You can look at the email on my computer,” she called out.

I followed her into the room, and when she sat down, she finally answered my question. “I wasn’t hiding from you when you first arrived. There was some work I needed to finish up in that room.”

A snort of disbelief was my only response.

Oliver interrupted our argument when he barked at me.

“Sorry, Oliver,” I told him as I crouched down to speak to the beagle. “It was rude of me to ignore you.”

Oliver moved in closer until I scratched behind his ears. He let out a doggie sigh, which I assumed meant we were okay, so I stood to face Julia again. “From what Allie said, the police don’t believe this is worth investigating,” I began as I moved in behind her chair, satisfied with Julia’s shudder.

“They phrased it more politely, but that’s essentially what they said,” Julia confirmed.

“What do you think?” I asked, curious to know if she really believed she needed a bodyguard. Knowing Allie as well as I did, and having met Julia’s brother, I knew one of them would have pushed for her to have some kind of protection if they were worried. I was curious to see if Julia felt she needed protection.

Oliver settled himself on Julia’s lap to look at the computer as she opened the email in question. “I think it was someone who just needed to work off some anger,” she replied. “It’s obvious I did something to make them mad, but I don’t think they’ll do more than threaten me. In fact, it’s likely I’ll never hear from them again. There was only the one email sent two days ago. Here it is.”

It didn’t take Oliver long to realize there was nothing interesting on the computer, so he quickly jumped off Julia’s lap.

I read the email and immediately began to suspect Julia and the police were underestimating the person who’d sent it. There was no obvious threat in the email, but the implied threat was there.

Dear Blonde Bitch,

You took away my chance at the life I’ve always dreamed of. Had you not opened your big mouth, I could be happy. What makes you think you deserve your life after what you’ve stolen from me?

Karma is a wonderful word. It helps me deal with my rage at you for all you’ve done to destroy my life. You’ll get what’s coming to you. Enjoy your over-privileged existence. Karma will take it all away from you very soon.

Payback’s an even bigger bitch than you are.

Those hateful words directed at my mate made me furious. My muttered curse sounded more like a growl.

Julia looked over at me with startled blue eyes. “Are you okay?”

“Someone is threatening you, Sass,” I replied, struggling to keep some of the rage from my voice. I knew my eyes were nearly yellow as my wolf clawed at the surface, desperate to protect Julia.

“They’re angry,” she began. “I’m sure whoever it is has gotten it out of their system.”

“Do you have any idea who could have sent this?” I asked.

“No,” Julia replied with a shake of her head. “I don’t recall doing anything to ruin someone’s life. I’ve never even had a particularly bad breakup.”

“Could it be a dissatisfied Bliss client?” I asked. “Maybe their fantasy resulted in the end of their relationship.”

Julia considered my question for a moment before responding. “I don’t think so. To the best of my knowledge, no one’s been all that unhappy with their fantasy. We’ve had a few couples who backed out, deciding it wasn’t for them. There have even been some who, despite my warnings, went with fantasies that were too extreme for them. All but one couple agreed to let us make it up to them by setting up a new fantasy date at a discounted price.”

“What about the couple who didn’t want to try another fantasy?” I asked. “Any idea what happened with them.”

“Once they settled down, they took the blame for their date gone wrong,” she explained. “I just can’t imagine any of our former clients being this angry.”

“Have you turned down any couples?” I asked. “Maybe someone was trying to use this to save their relationship, but you refused to set up their fantasy for some reason.”

“Allie screens all incoming clients,” she began. “She’s turned down a few, but they wouldn’t have any reason to blame me for that. I honestly can’t imagine why anyone would be this angry with me. I suppose it could be someone who felt I wronged them when I was a kid. That sort of thing happens.”

It was possible, but this anger sounded fresh, and I got the impression Julia didn’t really believe it was an old grudge either.

“So, what do you think?” she asked. Julia had likely started out believing this was nothing, just like she’d told me. Doubts had probably been creeping up on her since she’d first read the email. I wouldn’t be surprised if she’d read it more than once. What Julia wanted was for me to tell her the email was nothing to worry about, but I couldn’t.

“I think you’re in danger,” I told her.