Page 29 of Dragon Unleashed
He frowns. “Sarcasm again?”
I sigh. “Come on.”
“Wait.”
His sudden urgency stops me.
“What is it?” I ask, facing him again.
He looks at me expectantly. As though I should already know just what it is he’s going to say. “I’ll require a weapon.”
“A what?”
“Should we encounter a threat, I’ll need to neutralize it. And for this, I’ll need a weapon. I came through without any of my own—”
“Whoa there, killer. No weapons tonight. Our mission is to complete the objective without any encounters. Do you understand?”
“I need to be able to protect you,” he says, and for some reason, I’m touched. It’s ridiculous because no way can I condone violence, but some part of me—lady parts, mostly—find his intention endearing.
“I appreciate that,” I say, “But the best way to protect me is to not let anyone see you. No matter what. Understand?”
He scowls.
“Tell me you understand the mission, Aries.”
Irritation burns brightly in his eyes. “I understand the mission.”
I turn for the door but not before he adds, “Unless your life is threatened, in which case, the mission will be to protect you at all costs.”
I sigh. “It’s going to be a long night.”
The hallway outside my apartment leads straight to the elevator, but I bypass it and instead opt for the stairs. Part of me wants to take him for an elevator ride if only to introduce him to modern technology he may never experience again. But I can’t risk us being spotted when we step off on the main floor, so stairs it is.
At the bottom, I pause, cracking open the stairwell door to peer out into the stacks. It opens to the shifter section, which is usually pretty quiet unless it’s a full moon, which, thankfully, it’s not. If it were, Bingo would be awake and prowling, and his nose wouldn’t miss a damned dragon, either.
Behind me, Aries presses in close to peer over my head, and I suck in a sharp breath as I feel his hip bump mine.
Heat spreads through my body before I can focus on something—anything—else. Shit, I want to bump so much more than hips with this guy. Ugh.
“Coast is clear,” I say and slip out into the dimly lit stacks.
With any luck, I’m right, and the coast is actually clear, but either way, at least I’m not about to back dat ass up. When this is over, I really need to work on self-control.
Maybe go on a non-fiction-only binge session. I think I saw a book about Manifesting your HEA in the non-fiction section. Yeah. Maybe I should give that a try. No sex books for at least a month as punishment for releasing and nearly mounting a dragon-god.
With Aries at my heels, I slip through the library, sticking to shadowed corners and remote routes. We pass an aisle producing overly loud snores from its shadows, and as we creep past, I spot Bingo curled up and sound asleep.
I move quickly past.
“What was that beast?” Aries whispers when we’re clear.
“Bingo.”
“And he’s a...?”
“Hellhound.”
Aries stops walking. I double back, impatient and terrified we’ll be spotted.
