Page 92 of Heartsong
Heart racing, Anna rested her forehead on Frey’s stone chest, groaning.
She was now both freaked outandhorny. And worried. And confused. And achy for him.
I’m spiraling.
Lifting her face to look at him, she kissed the point of his chin, as high as she could reach on her tiptoes. “Wake up soon, okay? I’m freaking out.”
When he remained stone, Anna sighed and retreated from the room. She sank onto the couch, dejected, and pulled Captain in for a hug when he jumped in her lap.
“We’ll hold down the fort,” she whispered to him.
By now, Anna wasn’t so startled being woken by the sensation of two big arms lifting her. Eyes not even opening from her doze, she turned her head, nose seeking that warm hollow at his throat, where his scent and pulse were strong.
His customary, “Good evening,fynghân,” buzzed in her ear, and she couldn’t help a smile.
“Hi, big guy.” She really needed to think of a better pet name for him; his were all so beautiful. Maybe she really did need to learn Welsh.
“How was your day?”
Anna stiffened in his arms involuntarily. She made her muscles unlock, but Frey felt the change nevertheless.
“What is it?” His voice dropped to that low, threatening pitch he had, the one that made her lizard brain shiver and take notice of the big predator looming nearby.
Groaning, Anna rubbed the last of the sleep from her eyes and stood. She brought over the box to show him, explaining how the SUV had seemingly been wherever she was today and her suspicions about the package.
“I know it’s crazy, but itfeelswrong.”
Frowning down at the box like it’d personally insulted him, Frey remained silent. Then, with a horrid rip, he tore the package into shreds with his claws. Cardboard pieces burst everywhere, raining down onto the carpet.
He stalked toward the window, tail lashing. Anna hurried to follow, ready to jump on him if he tried to climb out again. To her relief, he only flicked the blinds open to glare down at the street.
“I’m tired of their lurking and their threats. True warriors would face me.”
“They aren’t warriors. They’re a police surveillance team.” At least, she hoped it was the police. The ramifications of it being some other entity watching them was more than her brain could compute right now.Who else would even be interested? Nobody knows about the “thefts.”
“It doesn’t matter. They unsettle you. They have no right to hunt you so.”
Anna tugged on his arm, and after another moment of stone-cold glaring, Frey let himself be led into the kitchen. She plated dinner for them, though her excitement over showing him gyros had long since popped like soap bubbles.
“They do this sometimes, to see if a suspect is doing anything suspicious. We just have to keep being not suspicious.”
Frey’s lip curled back, revealing those wicked fangs.
The sight made Anna shudder—with lust and with residual fear. It was hard to forget just how much damage fangs like that might do.
A grumbling noise echoed in Frey’s chest, and his expression became troubled. Pulling her by the hip, he placed her in front of him.
“I need you to understand something, my Anna.” He caged her in with his arms on either side of her, his head leaned down to align his gaze with hers. “For you, I will play and tease. I will never harm you. But my kind were made to protect. To kill. I don’t care who those people are. If they threaten you, they are dead.”
“We can’t just go around killing people.”
“I’ve never sought death and don’t intend to start. But I will defend what’s mine. Do you understand?”
The weight of his words, the truth of his power and potential for violence, settled on her shoulders. The flannel shirt she filled her hands with may be human and modern, but beneath, he was still all medieval gargoyle. Knowing such a being would protect her, wouldkillfor her, was both terrifying and arousing.
Her heart fluttered with lust and trepidation both. Knowing she could point him at someone and have that person eliminated…a rush of power heated her blood. There was a responsibility that came with it, to ensure that Frey was safe in the modern world but that it was safe from him, too.
And it wasn’t just his threat to the cops outside, either. She knew what he was truly saying—was truly asking.
