Page 38 of Red and Her Dragons (Dirty Paranormal Fairytale Haremlan 4)

I ignored him.

“I’ll give you a few minutes and then join you?” Cassie asked.

“I would love that,” I said.

Her eyes brightened and her smile widened even more.

I joined Marcus at the door and walked out with him. Once we were about twenty feet from the cabin, he turned around and faced me. As he stared deeply into my eyes, he cupped my cheek. I smiled up at him. The urge to kiss him filled me. It was just like before. When things made sense. The days back then were much happier and less complicated. Not to mention much, much freer.

“Please be careful,” he said.

“You too,” I said.

“I’ll only be gone a couple of hours,” he added. “If there is any trouble, shoot magic into the sky. I’ll see it and come back as fast as I can.”

I nodded. “Don’t worry about me. I can handle things here while you’re out. Take your time. Come back in one piece.”

He pulled me close and left a gentle kiss on the center of my forehead. I looked up at him and smiled right before I lifted up on my tiptoes and placed a kiss on his cheek. Seconds later, he pulled away from me and disappeared into the trees. A few minutes following that, his red dragon soared into the sky.

I smiled and then got to work. The first thing I wanted to do was set up wards. As I focused on my intention, Cassie rejoined me.

“Are you sure I’m not interrupting?” she asked.

I smiled. “Not at all.”

“What are you doing exactly?” she asked.

“Setting up an invisible barrier around the property,” I said. I felt the ward click into place and faced Cassie. “Now for the fun part.”

“What’s that?”

“Traps,” I said.

Kai stomped onto the porch and grumbled loudly to himself. I settled my gaze on him and shook my head. “He’s a fun one, isn’t he?”

Cassie chuckled. “Don’t worry. He’s like this with everyone new.”

“Oh, I’m not worried. I appreciate you letting me know it isn’t just me though. Besides, if he steps out of line, I’ll flick him with a bolt of lightning.” I winked at her.

She laughed.

I knew beyond a shadow of a doubt we were going to get along perfectly fine.

14

MARCUS

I stuck around, flying low to the trees, long enough to make sure Emily didn’t run into any trouble. I wasn’t worried about the groups of humans heading for the cabin. I was more concerned with Kai. He had never struck me as the unreasonable type, but I knew less about him than any of the other men who lived in the cabin.

And as I had suspected, he stepped out onto the porch and was keeping a close eye on things as Emily went to work with setting up the wards and traps around the property. I didn’t much care for the way he glared at Emily. Or how closely he watched her. Though I was sure it had something to do with Cassie, I wasn’t willing to take off just yet.

If he had kept killing his girlfriend a secret, there was no telling what else he was hiding, and that didn’t sit right with me. Still, I wasn’t going to withdraw Emily from helping. Besides, she was the happiest I had ever seen her. But that didn’t mean I wasn’t going to keep a close eye on Kai. At least, until I was certain he was going to behave himself.

It didn’t take her very long before she had the traps and wards set. Once she was done, she and Cassie headed toward the cabin, and I was set to continue on my rounds knowing she would have Chase and Jasper to help keep her safe. Just as I was flying overhead, she looked up and met my gaze. There was a glint in her eyes… an emotion that made me want to stay. I almost faltered in my flight.

There was a time when it only took something as small as her gentle expression in her eyes and I would crater. Though that was the case as now, I couldn’t leave the fate of all the shifters in this region to a war they had no idea was coming for them. Though I wanted to make sure they never knew what dangers were coming from, by stopping them before they got started, I couldn’t do my job if I gave in to Emily. Even though that was exactly all I wanted to do.

I flew higher, leaving the cabin and Emily behind. If only for a short while. But even as I searched the trees, looking for signs of the camps Jax had found, Emily didn’t leave my mind for long. Her persistence to stay in my thoughts made my job more difficult.

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