Page 36 of Red and Her Dragons (Dirty Paranormal Fairytale Haremlan 4)

“Hey Marcus,” he said and settled his suspicious eyes on me.

“Kai, this is Emily,” Marcus said.

“Nice to meet you,” I said and stuck out my hand.

His gaze fell to my hand and then he met my eyes with a nod. I put my hand back to my side. I figured he wasn’t the trusting type. Or a man who liked to shake hands.

“I’m Cassie,” the woman said and approached me with her hand out.

I smiled and took it. “It’s a pleasure to meet you.”

“Likewise,” she said.

The last one was big and burly with short blond hair and blue eyes. They were kind and smiled with his lips as he took Marcus's hand and gave it a firm shake. “To what do we owe the pleasure of this visit?”

“Jasper, this is Emily,” he said. “And as far as the visit, I’m afraid it’s not for pleasure.”

“Oh?” he asked with his eyebrows forming high arches on his forehead.

“I’m thrilled to meet all of you,” I said. “I wished it was on different terms.”

Jasper nodded at me and looked at Marcus. “What’s going on?”

As Marcus spoke to the men regarding the new developments in the hunters seeking Kai, Cassie pulled me to the side. “I’m so glad there’s finally another woman around.”

I laughed. “It does get lonely being surrounded by so much constant testosterone, doesn’t it?”

She shrugged. “A little.”

I could already tell that Cassie and I were going to be the best of friends. She seemed to feel the same connection I had with her instant charm and warmth, of which I found exceptionally refreshing. I had longed to have a woman in my life that I could befriend and hang out with. I hoped that this was the beginning of a beautiful, long relationship.

“She’s a what?” Kai snapped, pulling my attention to him.

“Careful, Kai,” Marcus said, holding up his hand to stop him from doing something he might live to regret.

“Relax, man,” Jasper added.

“She’s one of the good ones,” Marcus finished.

“Yeah. Sure,” Kai said taking a couple of steps farther away from us. He settled his glare on me as a pinch formed in the center of my forehead. I didn’t do a damn thing to him, but apparently, he had some negative experiences with witches in the past. At least, I assumed that was the thing that set him off with me.

Cassie wrapped her hand around my arm and guided me to the couch. “You’ll have to forgive him.”

“It’s fine,” I said.

She settled her glare on Kai. “Not all witches are evil and vindictive.”

“Thank you,” I said and smiled warmly at her.

“Cassie’s right,” Marcus agreed. “We have bigger problems to solve right now anyway. But to do that, we all need to have cooler tempers.”

Kai huffed in the way that made me believe it didn’t matter who vouched for me, his prejudice against witches was deeply seated and it would take much more than votes of confidence to sway him.

“No, it’s okay,” I said to Marcus. To Kai, I added, “I don’t care if you believe me or not. The only thing you need to do is sit back and watch.”

He glared at me. Marcus held up a hand to stop me.

Standing my ground, I added, “No, he needs to understand that I’m here to help. I don’t have some twisted, hidden agenda.”

---