Page 19 of Hidden By the Gargoyle

From the look on his face and the quiet violence of his voice, I believed every single word of what Dax said. He would kill to protect me. Even die for me if he had to.

Another tremor wracked my body at the thought. I couldn’t stand it if Dax died.

I couldn’t hear Sommerton’s response, but he must have hung up because Dax lowered the phone, his fingers clasped around it so tightly that it gave an ominous creaking sound. His head was lowered so that he was looking at the ground, but there was tension in every muscle of his body. He seemed poised on the brink of something.

“Dax?”

His head came up and, when he looked at me, his irises were nothing but brilliant blue fire. He was enraged.

“Stay here with Poppy. I’m calling your aunt.”

My mouth closed with a snap, and I nodded.

Dax left the office, taking my phone with him. He was so angry that I was afraid what he might do if I asked for it back.

“Interesting,” Poppy said.

I’d been gazing at the door, bemused, since he left the room, but now her voice brought my attention to her.

“What?”

“It’s interesting,” she repeated, sitting down in the chair behind the desk. “I’ve never seen Dax so…” She paused and seemed to be searching for a word. “Unhinged.”

Neither had I, but I wasn’t going to admit it because it freaked me out more than a little.

“How long have the two of you been seeing each other?”

I blinked at her, confused. “Seeing each other?”

“Dating. Sleeping together.” She tapped her nose. “I can smell you on him and him on you.”

I shook my head. “Oh, it’s not like that. I slept in his bed last night. He took the floor.”

Poppy arched a brow at me. Just one. I’d always envied people who could do that because I never could. “Please, don’t lie to me. In order to smell so thoroughly of you, he would have had to be touching you all night. Especially since you both showered this morning.”

I bit back a sigh. Damn werewolves and their superpowered noses. At least I wouldn’t have this issue with Minerva. She wouldn’t be able to smell anything.

“He only has one bed and he spent most of the night on the floor, but he was moaning in his sleep and obviously in pain. His bed is enormous, larger than any king-sized bed I’ve ever seen, so I told him we could just share and neither of us would even know the other was there.”

Poppy cocked her head but waited in silence until I continued, her expression stating that she knew there was more to the story.

“And I must have moved across the bed in my sleep because I woke up using his back as a pillow this morning.”

A small smile tugged at her mouth. “And he let you?”

I shook my head. “No, he was asleep, too.”

Poppy threw her head back and laughed. “Asleep?” she asked, through her giggles. “There is no way a gargoyle warrior of Dax’s caliber would sleep through you even breathing on him much less using his back as a pillow. If he stayed where he was, it was because he let you.”

Um…what?

I didn’t say it out loud, but Poppy must have seen the question in my face.

“What was he doing when you woke up?” she asked.

“He was sleeping. His breathing was slow and steady, and he wasn’t moving. He was completely relaxed,” I explained. “I’m pretty sure he wasn’t awake. And he didn’t wake up when I moved off him and went into the bathroom to shower either.”

Poppy started giggling again. “Oh, this is great. Dax let you use him as your teddy bear all night and then pretended to sleep through it. It’s priceless.”

---