Page 38 of The Dragon With A Girl Tattoo
“You will, will you?”I asked, suddenly feeling cranky as hell.
“Yes,” he said.Annaliese sized him up for a few seconds, then nodded and headed toward the door.
“Why?”The word popped out before I could stop it.“Do you fancy her?”
“Fancy?”
“Want her.Do you want her?”I asked, my voice taking on a hint of the Hashmallim’s rock-grinding-on-rock tone.
“Yes.”
I fought the urge to punch him in the nose, curling my fingers into fists to stop myself.
“She looks ruthless,” Yrian continued, his expression pleased.“She will have no mercy on the others.”
“Is that the only reason you want her on your team?”I hated that I had to ask the question, but it came out nonetheless.In the back of my head, my inner narrator was having a field day with why I cared, but I ignored her as I was frequently wont to do.
She was way too snarky for my comfort.
“Of course,” he said, his gaze on the others present.“She may not wish to attack Christian, but I will take care of him.”
Christian must have heard, because he paused in a comment to Baltic, who evidently was his partner, and shot Yrian a fulminating glare.
Yrian smiled.
My heart felt like it leaped and did a somersault at the sight of it.Dear goddess, the more I was around him, the more I noticed just how sexy he was.
“It’s a good thing we sent Jim home to Paris, or it would be demanding we film the shindig,” Aisling commented as we all traipsed out of the castle to a small side garden surrounded by high hedges.
“I feel the same about having Brom and Pixie go off for date time rather than attend thesárkány.They’d just want to fight, too, and I know everyone would have to be careful not to hurt Pixie.And just so you know, I’m absolutely going to film, but it’s for those times when Baltic has to go away, and I feel the need to see him beat the tar out of Drake and Gabriel,” Ysolde said with a bright smile at everyone.
The two men in question looked martyred for a few seconds; then everyone broke into pairs and spread around the garden in a rough circle.
A row of chairs had been set out, along with a table with several glasses, a collection of appetizers, a few bottles of assorted alcohol, and even champagne on ice.I recognized two familiar bottles, and wondered if anyone would think it rude if I asked for a hit of the dragon’s blood wine now, but decided I could get through the confusing mess of emotions that Yrian seemed to stir inside me without it.
“I believe ten minutes is the usual time allowed?”Allie said, glancing at the ladies, who had all moved over to the table and were loading up tiny plates with the snacks.
“We try to keep it to that time, since any longer and they lose all the benefit of working out their frustrations,” Ysolde said around a mouthful of food.“Good lord, these baked feta crostini are delicious.Allie, Pavel and I are going to want the recipe so we can serve this for the nextsárkány.”
“I’ll text it to you,” Allie promised, then turned back to where everyone was waiting.“Right, ten minutes.No fire, no fangs, no ...er ...”
“Human form only,” Aisling called, moaning softly when she bit into a salmon cake.“Also, please send me the recipe for this.Does it have lemon and sriracha?May, you have to try this.”
“Oooh, that sounds divine,” she answered, quickly picking up two of the salmon cakes.“I’ll save one for Gabriel.We love sriracha.”
“That’s right, human form only, not that vamps have any other form, but still,” Allie said, turning back to the circle, pulling out a whistle.
“We could change form if we wanted to do so,” one of the guards said, glaring at Drake, who glared right back at him.I had a feeling they wouldn’t be the best team, and instead considered Yrian.Annaliese was speaking to him, her hands dancing in the air as she gestured across the circle, obviously making plans.He nodded, but his gaze was on me.
I felt alternately hot and cold, my emotions going into overtime with speculation, curiosity, and what felt like a whole lot of sexual interest.
“May I suggest that we also remind Yrian that no godlike powers be used?”Ysolde asked, scooping some chicken larb onto her plate.“Baltic knows he can’t use any magic, so it’s best that Yrian adhere to that policy, as well.”
“That makes sense,” Allie agreed, lifting the whistle to her lips.“No magic, no powers.Everyone ready?And ...go!”
The entire circle imploded on itself, all the participants rushing forward until there was basically a massive pig pile of people flailing, thrashing, kicking, and subsequently grunting with pain.
I stared in horror for a few minutes at the sight of it all, turning back to the women.“This is barbaric!”I told them.
