Page 34 of The Dragon With A Girl Tattoo
“I wish to see you sing,” was all he said before he followed her into the castle.He realized that although he would prefer to keep Becket away from the vampires—solely for her protection, of course—their domicile would be likely to have some form of security, and since he had to split his time between protecting her, finding the wrath demons that threatened her, and figuring out what Kashi was up to, it was better that she stay in the castle.
Accordingly, he said to Christian, “I have changed my mind.I will accept the succor you offer to Becket and me.I may have to follow the wrath demons, and it would ease my mind to know she is safe here.”
“We’re going to have a little chat about you being Mr.Bossy Boots, but right now, I need to get changed and get my behind down to the practice stage.Am I in the same room, Allie?”
“You are, minus my children, who have been forbidden to bother you.”She slid a glance toward Yrian.“And Yrian, of course.Let me show you to your room.It’s just down the hall from Becket.”
He shook his head.“I will stay with her.I can’t protect her if I am not present.”
“You are so not going to make decisions for me,” Becket said in a voice that seemed to be made up of sharp, stabby bits.“The First Dragon said that you guys would take care of Candy and Andy for me, not that you would become the Dictator of Becketsville.”
“And if the wrath demons made it into your room in deep night, would you be able to defeat them while I was asleep in another room?”he asked, wondering that such a intelligent woman wouldn’t see how necessary it was that she remain at his side.
“I doubt if a wrath demon could make it inside,” Allie said as her mate, with a roll of his eyes, headed off in answer to a call.“Christian has the castle protected every week by a professional mage service, in addition to which a Guardian comes out every ten days to refresh the wards.”
“These wrath demons are not like others,” Yrian told her.“They could get past your protections.Becket?Would you be able to protect yourself?”
Her jaw worked a couple of times before she said, “Not as well as I could with you there.All right, I admit that you being in the room is going to be safer, but I really dislike being told what to do.”
Allie looked worried.“Is there something else we should do to protect the children?”
“Yes.Place guards at all the entrances,” he answered.“Where is our room?I wish to ascertain how easy it will be to defend should an attack come tonight.”
It was obvious that neither Becket nor Allie liked what he said, but they duly showed him to a pleasant, well-lit room dominated by a large bed.He ignored it to check the window protections, seeing three different wards on it to guard against beings of dark magic.The door was also protected, although not as heavily.Given that they were two floors up, he judged the windows safe, but pointed out the door could use more protection.
“I’ll have our Guardian friend add in extra wards tonight,” Allie assured them, pulling out her phone as she hurried out of the room.
Becket looked at him.
He looked at Becket.
They both turned to look at the bed.
“I’d like to point out that this is my room, and you’re just a guest in it, but since I’m also a guest, and you’ll be protecting me from Andy and Candy, I guess you can have the bed,” she said with a half smile.“I’ll sleep on the window seat.”
A little kernel of warmth blossomed in his chest at the gesture.Absently, he rubbed the spot as he answered.“I will be standing guard, so you will use the bed.When do you need to go out?”
“Probably now,” she said on a sigh as she glanced at her phone.“I just need to change.The others are asking for me, since our rehearsal time is in twenty minutes.”
“I will accompany you there,” Yrian said, wishing again he had his phone device so that he might contact his youngest brother.He needed to speak to Baltic about not only extra guards for Becket but also information about Kashi.He made a swift decision and turned to exit the room, saying over his shoulder, “I will meet you downstairs in five minutes.”
“OK, but you can knock off the bossy crap anytime now,” she called after him, closing the door with a bit more force than was polite.
That fact made another one of those laughter bubbles rise within him.He wondered at that for the time it took him to go to the ground floor, locate the Dark One Christian, and make a few arrangements with him before meeting Becket at the front door.
He wasn’t interested in a woman, he told himself as he walked her down to the music-festival area.Especially not a mate.He’d had a mate once, and look how that ended.
Death.It ended in death.
And more than a millennium paying penance for his sins.
“This is Yrian.”Becket ran through introductions to three mortal women, all of whom studied him with curious eyes.“He’s ...uh ...”
“You have a boyfriend?”one of the women said, the one with two pink blobs of hair on the top of her head.“You didn’t tell us you had a boyfriend!”
“No, we’re not together,” Becket said hurriedly, giving him an odd sidelong glance.“Not in that way.Not romantically.He’s ...er ...”
Yrian remembered a movie he had watched on his much-lamented phone.“I am your bodyguard.”
