Chapter 5

Julia

My mouth opened, but no words came out. Had Gryph really just told me he thought I was in danger? I’d been more than a little concerned that Gryph would agree I wasn’t in danger, tell me I didn’t need protection, and leave. At best, I’d hoped he’d tell me he should stick around just to be on the safe side. Until Gryph had told me I was in danger, I had pushed down my own worries.

“You didn’t expect me to say that,” Gryph stated. “No, that’s not right. You were hoping I wouldn’t say that.”

Needing some space to think, I stood and moved across the room. “I’m not sure what I expected,” I admitted. “I thought you’d read it and tell me I didn’t need a bodyguard. At first, I wanted to blow off the email. I thought it was nothing to worry about.”

My back was to Gryph, but I heard him moving toward me. When he was standing right behind me, I felt the heat from his body and heard him release a ragged breath.

“If you didn’t think you were really in any danger, why am I here, Sass?” he rasped out.

I smiled, liking Gryph’s nickname for me. I’d never been big on pet names, but when he called me Sass, I had trouble controlling my desire to turn and slip my arms around his waist. The name had started when he’d accused me of having a sassy mouth. Soon, he was either calling me Sassy or Sass. Taking a deep breath, I turned toward Gryph. Facing him, the heat from his body seemed to affect me even more. My nipples hardened, and I wanted to press my legs together to relieve the pressure. “I wanted to seduce you, and this seemed like the only way to get close enough to you to do it.”

His nostrils flared at my admission. “You don’t hold back, do you, Sass?”

“I wanted to,” I confessed. “I’d never planned to tell you any of this.”

“Then why are you telling me?” he asked, looking genuinely bewildered.

“That’s a good question,” I mused with a slight smile playing on my lips. “I’ve never been good at playing games to get what I want. It’s always been my preference to be direct with people. When I came up with this plan, it seemed like a brilliant idea, one I’m blaming on months of fantasies. I want you. I can’t stop dreaming about you. You won’t call me, and I don’t even know where you live. This seemed like the only way to get to you. Still, I don’t want to lie to you, Gryph. You don’t deserve to be manipulated that way. You’ve always been completely honest with me.”

“Why didn’t you ask Allie where I live?” His voice was rough with what could have been either anger or arousal.

I shrugged. “I figured if you wanted me to know where you live, you would have told me.

Gryph nodded and ran his fingers through his hair. “This is a bad idea.”

“What is?” I asked.

“Me guarding you,” he replied. “It’s pure insanity for me to agree to this. I should have insisted Allie call the local pack or someone from the Sonoma pack. I should insist you do it now. When your new guard gets here, I should walk out that door and never look back.”

“But you aren’t going to, are you?” I asked, curious as to why he was still standing there. He was right about it being a mistake to guard me if he hoped to avoid giving in to the desire between us.

“I don’t trust anyone else to keep you safe,” he told me, reaching forward to brush his rough fingers against my cheek. His eyes locked with mine, yellow swirling in the pale green depths. His eyes were more yellow when his wolf was closer to the surface. I’d seen his eyes turn a beautiful shade of yellow when we’d been arguing and even after he’d kissed me a few times. On more than one occasion, I’d sensed both halves of Gryph struggling for control. At other times, they’d seemed completely at peace with each other.

“What do you look like in wolf form?” I breathed out.

A low rumbling growl sounded from Gryph’s throat, and the yellow in his eyes became more pronounced. “Why do you want to know?”

“I’ve never seen you in wolf form,” I replied, licking my suddenly dry lips and doing my best to keep my eyes away from Gryph’s mouth. While I still planned to seduce him, something told me we needed to wait.

“Do you want to see me in wolf form?” he rasped out, moving even closer.

I nodded.

“Why?” he asked.

“Why?” I parroted, not sure why he needed to know my reasoning and not at all sure I could explain it to him.

“Most witches don’t have much interest in seeing a werewolf in wolf form. I’ve been told it makes them uncomfortable to be reminded of how different we are,” he explained. “You want to seduce me, so I’d think you’d be trying to remember me as a man not a beast.”

The laughter that flowed out of my mouth was impossible to hold back. Gryph’s expression only made me laugh harder. His brows were pulled together in a confused line. “You’ve done your best to perfect the beast image in your human form,” I told him around my giggles. “What makes you think your wolf could look more beastly? The whole image is a lie, but it’s what I saw when we first met, and I still wanted you. I’ve seen your wolf peek out; he seems much more civilized than you do most of the time.”

I was suddenly worried I’d offended Gryph. My answer was likely too blunt, but he honestly did try to look like the scary badass with everyone. Gryph shook his head and chuckled softly. “I suppose you have a good point, Miss Sassy. We’re Bratty and the Beast.”

“Hey!” I protested. “I’m not bratty.”

His response was a snort.

“I’m not bratty,” I repeated. “Most people think I’m very mature and reasonable.”

“Then I have to assume the brattiness is just for my benefit,” he mused with a grin. “Before you get your hackles up, you should know I like the brattiness.”

“That’s just because you like threatening to spank me like a child,” I accused.

Gryph let out a startled bark of laughter and shook his head. “We both know I don’t want to spank you like a child.”

“So, I was right about you just saying that,” I said triumphantly. Though Gryph’s threats to spank me had aroused me, I’d been somewhat annoyed by my arousal. I’m not interested in having any man try to run my life or treat me like a child. I’m also not exactly the kinky type, despite what some of the fantasies I set up for clients might suggest.

“You’re definitely not a child,” he murmured. “I’ve never thought of you that way. When you were standing toe-to-toe with me that first day we met, I was more turned on than I could ever remember being. While I might have said I wanted to spank you to teach you some manners, I really just wanted to get you naked.”

“Then why did you turn me down when I was more than willing to sleep with you?” I asked.

“That’s a conversation for another time,” Gryph told me. His hand reached out to my cheek, hovering less than an inch from my skin before dropping to his side. “We need to go over the plans to keep you safe and then try to figure out who could be threatening you.”

I nodded. He was right. Now wasn’t the time for this conversation. “Should we work at my place?”

“Lock up here and then we’ll go grab some of your stuff and head to my place,” he told me.

“We should just stay at my place,” I insisted. “I’ve got plenty of room.”

“So do I,” he stated. “I’ve also got better security at my home, and people won’t be looking for you there.”

“Don’t you live in a small trailer behind a house in Hayward?” I asked. That’s what Allie had told me shortly after I met Gryph. It’s not that I needed to live in luxury. I was just having trouble figuring out how Gryph’s trailer could be that secure.

“I bought a new place a few months ago,” was his response. “A witch even came out to add a bunch of magical wards on the place for me. Trust me. You’ll be safer there.”

“Oliver might not like staying at your place,” I pointed out. It was a lame excuse since Gryph seemed to be very good at understanding my familiar. He couldn’t understand him as well as I could, but he would definitely be able to pick up on Oliver’s excitement. Oliver had been exploring something under the desk, but he’d rushed out at the suggestion of going to Gryph’s place.

“I want to go to Gryph’s!” Oliver chirped excitedly as he ran back and forth across the office, nearly slamming into the wall twice. “Please say we can go play with Gryph.”

“You don’t like werewolves,” I reminded Oliver.

“But Gryph is your mate,” Oliver told me, stopping to regard me with curious eyes.

I put my hands on my hips and rolled my eyes before responding to my familiar. “No, he is not my mate.”

“I’m glad one of you has some sense,” Gryph added.

“Even Gryph thinks you’re being ridiculous,” I told Oliver.

“He was talking about me,” Oliver corrected me. “I’m the one who has some sense.”

“He was not referring to you having sense,” I insisted.

“Yes, I was,” Gryph told me. “Let’s get moving. I want to get back to my house so we can try to figure out where to start with looking for this asshole who’s threatening you.”

Rather than argue, I gathered up my belongings and set the protection wards on the office. Things hadn’t gone the way I’d imagined, but I’d accomplished one thing. Gryph seemed determined to be around me constantly. He obviously still wanted me. It would only be a matter of time before he gave in to his attraction.