Page 33 of D'Vaire or Nothing
But Chander couldn’t say he was surprised that Baxter and Benton Daray had rushed to Alaric the moment the pair set foot in the casino.
“Oh, there you are,” Baxter said, not bothering to feign nonchalance as he plucked Pizza from the floor and handed him to Alaric.
Pizza chirped a protest. Rogue tugged a tiny poisoned dagger from his hip and promptly stabbed through one of Baxter’s thick boots.
“Hey, you barely missed my toe,” Baxter yelled.
“Damn, we were so close to finally understanding how their poison works and its strength,” Chander remarked.
“Your sense of humor sucks,” Benton grumbled as he patted Baxter in an attempt to soothe the outraged Daemon Lord.
“Who said I was kidding?”
“Take your damn dagger out of my boot,” Baxter demanded of the glowering goblin, who had grabbed his other weapon. Chander feared he wouldn’t miss on his second attempt. Thankfully, Baxter was a sentinel, and with the exception of two black poisons, nothing could penetrate his skin.
Even though the goblins refused to allow their blades to be tested, their glow was a pale orange. Chander’s personal theory was that it lacked any real strength and was more for show than anything, but he’d been wrong before.
“Stop shouting,” Chander instructed the sentinels as Alaric offered both the goblins hugs.
“I was nearly stabbed,” Baxter protested.
“Keep it up and I’ll use Ben’s dagger to stab you myself,” Chander retorted.
Benton narrowed his light blue gaze. “I’d never let you use one of my weapons to harm my mate.”
“Fine,” Chander replied with a nonchalant shrug. “There are plenty of other people in this room with weapons. Want me to go borrow something, or are you two going to act with some level of maturity?”
“Hey, we weren’t the ones who had to be peeled off the wall,” Baxter exclaimed. “I kid you not, Rogue climbed about three feet up the wall. He used his daggers as makeshift handholds and stabbed them into the wall. Ben had to stand in front of the fucked-up paint when security walked by.”
“There are cameras everywhere in here; someone saw it anyway. I’m sure they’ll fix it.”
“So, you think that kind of behavior is fine?” Benton asked.
“No, but have you ever tried to stop a goblin? Clearly not or we wouldn’t be discussing this right now. You’re the one who volunteered to watch Rogue and Pizza while Alaric and I had dinner.”
“I can’t believe you’re blaming us for this,” Baxter said.
The lone two people on the planet who could get the goblins to behave were Alaric and the Imperian, but Chander couldn’t resist the temptation of teasing the frazzled sentinels.
“You’re adults; you should be able to handle watching two little goblins,” Chander replied in a flat monotone voice that gave away no clue about what he was thinking. It was too bad the Daemon Lords had known him for centuries.
Benton crossed his arms over his charcoal T-shirt. “No, you know they’re both hellions. We love them, but they don’t honor rules unless they’ve made them up.”
“I know,” Chander replied. It was shocking, but somehow Chander hadn’t noticed that at some point during his squabble with the Daemon Lords, Alaric had disappeared with his goblins. “Where is the Lich Sentinel?”
“Behind you,” Baxter responded.
Chander turned on his heel and saw his sexy dark-haired man with glowing green eyes stalking toward them. There was no caution in his stride, and something about his confident strut had always heated Chander’s blood. He licked his lips as Alaric grew closer. Then his brain slowly ground back into action.
“Where are Rogue and Pizza?” Chander asked.
“With the Imperian.”
“Please tell me you didn’t dump your goblins on Paszra,” Chander replied. “He may have wanted to enjoy his evening without two extra goblins climbing the walls.”
Baxter snickered, finally finding the humor in the situation now that he was no longer responsible for Pizza and Rogue. “Literally.”
“I am sure Paszra does not mind watching them,” Alaric stated.
