Page 12 of Bewitching the Dragon
Ketu accepted the next board Rahu handed him. “Yeah, but she’s not just a witch. She’s also half gargoyle. Which complicates things. Something I’d think you, out of all of us, would understand.”
Rahu winced. Ketu was the only person outside of his mom, of course, who knew he wasn’t a full-blooded dragon. He’d spent his entire life working twice as hard as the other members of his colony to prove that he was just as much of a dragon as any of them.
So yeah, he supposed he could understand taking extreme steps to protect one’s identity.
“I still think letting her believe she’s human was a dumb move. She can’t protect herself when she doesn’t even know that she’s in danger.” Rahu took the marked board Ketu offered him and set it up on two sawhorses so he could cut it. “Which is exactly why I’m going to do it for her.”
Ketu paused with the pencil suspended in the air. “Rahu, don’t get involved.”
“I’m already involved.”
“No, you aren’t. This isn’t your business. You came down here to help me build this deck. That’s it. Gabe expects you home in two weeks so you can get to work turning his bedroom into a suite with an attached nursery, remember?”
Rahu rolled his eyes. “Talia isn’t even pregnant yet. He’s not in a hurry. He just wanted me to give him an estimated return time, that’s all.”
“I’m serious, Rahu. Stay the hell away from Rebecca. Let Argyle handle this.”
“I created this mess. I need to fix it. Or at least protect her until those warlocks are found and destroyed.”
That was another point Argyle had been vague on. When Rahu had asked how to eliminate the warlocks threatening Becca, the gargoyle had hemmed and hawed and ultimately not given a real answer. “It’s complicated” was movie, not a solution.
Ketu continued to try to change his mind while they spent the rest of the afternoon framing the deck, but Rahu ignored his pleading, demands, arguments. When it was time to quit so they could clean up before dinner, Rahu went upstairs to his bedroom and took a shower, but instead of going down to the dining room after he dressed, he headed out the front door.
He’d checked up on Becca this morning because yeah, he’d needed to give her debit card back, but he also wanted to see how she was doing. Had she figured out she possessed magic? Did she realize he was a dragon and those guys in the band were warlocks?
Had she thought of him at all since they’d parted ways?
Not that he needed to know the answer to that last question. In fact, it was best if he didn’t. Ketu was right that he didn’t need to get involved—at least, not with Becca. Not in the way his dragon wanted him to.
Conveniently, she’d also given him her plans for the day. He knew, from Argyle, that so long as she remained inside her house or her aunt’s plantation home, she was safe thanks to a plethora of protection charms, not to mention the herd of gargoyles gathered in the courtyard and on the porches. No doubt Argyle or one of his cronies would keep an eye on her as she drove to work.
And once she arrived, her aunt would protect her, since, according to Argyle, Pacey was fully aware and onboard with the plan to keep Becca in the dark about her true nature.
Even after Pacey clocked out for the day, leaving Becca to work until closing, she was theoretically safe. She worked in a high-traffic pedestrian area, and supernatural beings, even those intent upon killing someone, tended to shy away from making scenes in places where lots of humans gathered.
Except those warlocks had formed a band and hung out in bars and concert halls packed to the gills with humans. And they hadn’t hesitated to start a fight with Rahu despite the crowd of humans hovering around them.
Which meant Becca needed Rahu’s protection after her aunt left the store.
He even had a plan. He hung out in the shop across the street, watching through the window while Pacey and Becca had what looked like a hell of an animated conversation. Pacey finally flung up her arms and disappeared through a door in the back of the store, which he knew from scoping it out earlier led to a back alley where both Pacey and Becca parked. He gave it ten minutes, and when Pacey did not return, he headed across the street and stepped into the children’s clothing store.
Rahu hadn’t been in a place like this since, well, since he was a kid himself. There were bright, primary colors on the walls and tables and bookcases laden with stuff packed so tightly he wondered how a mother pushing a stroller could even get down the aisles.
And where the hellthatthought came from? Mothers and babies had never in his life been first and foremost in his mind.
Becca glanced up from where she had been folding pastel-colored blankets and placing them into perfectly symmetrical piles on a shelf. He took in her widening eyes, the way her lips parted on a soundless gasp, and he allowed himself a moment to soak up the rest of her: the curly hair she’d twisted into a loose braid so that ringlets had formed around her face, the swell of her breasts above the sweetheart neckline of her top, the cinched waist and the ruffle along the above-the-knee hemline of what was probably not intended to be a sexy dress. But holy gods, his dragon was doing this ridiculously seductive dance in his head, and Rahu kind of wanted to join the beast.
No, he wanted Becca to jointhem.
“What are you doing here?”
The faint accusation in her tone shook him out of the fantasy. He plastered what he hoped was a bland smile on his face and said, “Hi there. How’s it going?”
Smooth. Real smooth.
His dragon snorted.
“Fine.” Now her tone was clipped.
