Page 13 of Hidden By the Gargoyle

The smirk returned. “Yes.”

I opened my mouth to tell him not to bother, but a low moan filled the cave.

We both moved. I jumped in surprise, but he was on his feet next to the enormous cushion before I could blink, crouched as though he was preparing for a fight.

“What was that?” I asked, my voice little more than a whisper.

He shook his head at me, taking a silent step forward and craning his neck to look into the darkness.

Another moan, followed by a grunt. This time, the sound was familiar, but I couldn’t quite place it.

Before I could say anything else, a tugging sensation appeared at the edge of my consciousness.

“Talant, I’m waking up,” I said.

There was another grunt, this one louder, and it echoed in the cavernous space. Again, it was familiar, as though I’d heard it before.

“Ally, be safe,” he said. A wicked smile curved his lips, but it didn’t hide the wariness in his gaze. “I still need you to save me.”

“Ha, ha, you’re so funny?—”

Before I could finish my thought, that tugging sensation became a sharp pull. Darkness swept over my vision, and I opened my eyes to stare at the shadowed ceiling of Dax’s bedroom.

There was a rustling sound at the end of the bed, followed by a soft groan.

That’s where the sound was coming from and why it sounded so familiar. Dax was moaning and groaning in his sleep. He sounded as though he was in pain.

I sat up in the bed and crawled to the edge. When I peeked down into the floor, I saw that Dax was on his back, one arm thrown over his head, his eyes open and on me. He looked wide awake and alert, as though he hadn’t just woken up.

“You okay?” I asked.

“Fine.”

“You don’t sound fine,” I retorted. “You sound like you’re in pain. Probably because you’re sleeping on a hard floor.”

He just stared at me from the said floor, silent.

I rolled my eyes and backed away from the edge of the mattress. “Just get in the bed, Dax.”

“No.”

“Why not?”

“Because it wouldn’t be appropriate.”

Seriously? I rolled my head back to stare at the ceiling. Appropriate?

“Two unattached adults sleeping in a bed with three feet of space between them is inappropriate?” I asked, my words all but dripping with sarcasm.

My temper was beginning to twang. I rarely lost it, but when I did, I let it fly. I preferred to talk through disagreements, but he was irritating me more than usual.

“You’re so much young?—”

“If you say I’m too young, I’m going to strip down to my underwear and streak through the resort so everyone can see how much of an adult I am.”

And those words were the exact reason I didn’t like it when I lost my temper. I said things I didn’t really mean and did things that I regretted. Like streaking through a resort in nothing but a pair of panties. Which would contradict my claim to be an adult because it was a childish threat.

Dax was silent for a brief moment, letting my words hang between us. I knew what he was doing. He was giving me a chance to apologize, but I wasn’t going to. While I didn’t like losing my temper, his reasoning for not sleeping in the bed was stupid.

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