Protect: Protect Book 4

by Ryann, Olivia

  He’s been talking and I haven’t been listening. I cock my head and bite my bottom lip, refusing to let my suddenly emotional state show.

  “—so, what do you say?” he asks, dropping his spoon in his bowl with a clatter.

  Caught out, my face turns bright red. “About what?”

  His eyes narrow just a little. “I want to go to Montenegro. I want you to go with me. We can explore.”

  “Of course,” I agree, my heart in my throat. “I’ll go anywhere with you.”

  His brows rise, making me blush even harder. It’s so hard to play it cool, but I have to do better than that.

  “I mean… I don’t have anywhere to go,” I blurt out. “Nowhere that would like, prevent me from going to Montenegro.”

  He gives me an odd look. “Okay. So, we will go. Are you done with that?”

  He gestures to the bowl before me. I shovel a couple more spoonfuls of yogurt into my mouth and try to give him an appreciative smile. With my mouth brimming with yogurt, I am certain that it didn’t come off as me playing it cool.

  Dryas takes the bowl from me and sets the bowls in the sink. “Do you think I should ask Damen to come to Montenegro with us?”

  That is something to consider. Pursing my lips, I try to imagine what he would do while we are there.

  “Doesn’t he have like… someone to get back to? Or a business to run?”

  Dryas shrugs. “He can say no if that is the case, but I do not think it is.”

  I scrunch my face up. I’ll admit to thinking of Dryas’s proposal as a sort of vacation. In my mind, Dryas would be just as relaxed as he is here. We would be trying to find out more about my origins, but that would be secondary to having fun.

  It is obvious that Dryas has something entirely different in mind. Dryas starts rambling, mostly to himself.

  “We would need to have protection, of course. And ammunition… that will be important. Especially if we encounter… what is the name of the young ruler?”

  My heart skips a beat. After what I learned this morning, he isn’t exactly the first person I want to see. “Prince Henrick?”

  “Yes. And I imagine you will want to check in on that horrible sister of yours.” He scratches his cheek.

  “I... that hadn’t occurred to me. But yes, I suppose I will want to catch a peek of her. Maybe arrange a meeting or something.”

  Dryas shrugs. “As long as you are safe about it, I do not care if you want to abduct her and steal her away.”

  I sigh. “If only I thought that Ama wanted that, I would be all over it. But I think my sister has picked whose corner she’s in.”

  He frowns. “You look awfully resigned to that. Let it sit with you a while longer, then we will see if you want to abduct her.”

  He means it kindly, but I can’t help but roll my eyes at his words. There is no way that I would abduct or force anyone else to do anything against their will, ever. It just goes against the grain for me, especially given my life experiences.

  “I’ll think about it,” I mumble.

  “You do that.” He stretches and looks toward the bedroom. “I should probably decide what to do with Father Derrik. You said you did not want him killed or enslaved…”

  It feels foolish, but the fact that he remembered my words makes me lightheaded with happiness. “I did say that, yes.”

  Dryas looks thoughtful. “Maybe we should send him to Russia. Let him rot in one of their gulags. Or perhaps he would be of service to someone as a lowly servant. I am thinking of somewhere hot and foreign. Do you know if they have silent monasteries in the Congo?”

  “That’s a hard one. While I don’t want him to suffer like I did, I don’t want him to be able to infect anyone else with his way of thinking, either.”

  He looks thoughtful. “Do you want to talk to him before I ship him off somewhere?”

  I try not to give him that deer in headlights look, but he frowns at my facial expression. “What?”

  “I kind of… might have talked to him this morning.” I cringe a little as Dryas’s expression shifts to disbelief.

  He grows tense. “You did what?”

  “I… well, Damen thought—”

  He prowls closer to me, his hand reaching out to grab me by the waist. He pulls me up against the hardness of his body, looking down at me with a terrifying expression. I swear I can see a vein pulsing in his forehead and murder in his eyes.

  My mouth goes dry as I stare up at him. I forgot for a brief moment that I am talking to Dryas, the possessive and demanding madman. It didn’t take much to set him off, to make the specter of this version of him rise again.

  My question is, what will he do with his angry energy? I feel like I have just healed from the last time he decided to lash out at me.

  “You do not take orders from anyone but me,” he growls down at me, giving me a little shake. “Especially not my fucking brother.” His yellow-green eyes are hard upon mine, filled with a million nameless emotions. He grips my chin with a shaking hand and caresses me roughly, touching my jaw and the line of my neck. “You are mine. You belong to me and no one else.”

  All the air in my lungs is forced out when his hand slides around my neck. He leans down and kisses me hard, his hot lips moving against mine forcefully. I’m at his mercy, under his control.

  And I love him for it. Reaching my hands up to interlace behind his neck, I kiss him back, pouring all the passion and love that I feel into it. He picks me up with two hands on my ass and carries me toward the bedroom.

  If I had any protests, they are soon forgotten, turned to moans and sighs of pleasure.

  13

  Dryas

  The next morning, I leave Rue sleeping in the bed and slip out to the kitchen. Damen is already there, glancing up at me as if I am late for a meeting with him.

  “Finally,” he says, stretching in his chair. “You two do nothing but fuck. Do you know how boring things have been for me this week?”

  I look to see if there is coffee. Finding none, I scowl. “I have had better things to do than worry about your feelings, brother. And now, I am more concerned with the fact that you did not make coffee.”

  Now it is Damen’s turn to scowl. “I was waiting for your girl to get up and make it for me.”

  I give him a look. “Fuck you. If you want coffee, make it for yourself.”

  He grins. “It is always so easy to rile you up, Dryas.”

  “Shut up.” Rolling my eyes and shaking my head, I start grinding the beans and filling up the tank of the coffee maker.

  While it brews, I lean against the counter and level a look at my brother. He starts chuckling.

  “I know that look. You need something.”

  Rubbing the back of my neck, I grimace. “No. Not need. But Rue and I are going to Podgorica—”

  Damen releases a sharp bark of laughter, his teeth flashing white. “Where?”

  “It is the capital of Montenegro,” I sigh. “We thought that we should ask you to come along.”

  His brow hunches. “I do not know. Will it be as boring as things are here? I am always looking for an adventure.”

  God, I hope it is boring. Boring and safe.

  Keeping my thoughts to myself, I shrug. “I do not know. But I will be hiring a team for security because Rue intends to try to find out more about her origins. And I do not want to be in enemy territory, as it were, poking around blindly.”

  Damen drums his fingertips on the countertop. “I think it is a good idea, going to Montenegro. But I believe that Prince Henrick will take the entry of his half-sister very badly if he finds out that Rue is in his homeland.”

  I narrow my eyes. “What do you mean, his half-sister?”

  Damen grins again. I can feel my heart rate rise as I look at his smug expression. I am already ready to be angry before he even speaks.

  “Rue did not tell you? She is likely the only rival for Henrick’s throne. Derrik told her quite an interesting story yesterday.”


  My gaze darts back to the bedroom. “No, she did not mention that part.”

  He smirks. “No, I thought not.”

  My jaw clenches. I will talk to Rue, clear the air. Find out what other interesting bits of the conversation she did not mention. But right now, I am talking to Damen.

  Crossing my arms, I give him a long-suffering expression. “Do you want to come with us or not?”

  Damen’s smile falters just a bit. My refusal to let him create chaos between us seems to sit poorly with him. “I suppose.”

  I repress a smile. “Great. Do you want to oversee finding us a security team?”

  He shrugs. “I could do that.”

  “It is settled, then. The sooner we leave, the better.”

  He shifts in place. “We could leave tomorrow night, assuming that you have everything else ready to go.”

  I narrow my eyes, thinking. “I am still not sure how we are getting to Podgorica. We will have to be stealthy.”

  Damen taps his fingers on his chin. “I actually think I might know a captain that will sail us there. Let me make some calls and try to figure out where all the pieces of the puzzle are.”

  My brows rise. “Alright…”

  He gets his phone out of his pocket and starts scrolling through it while he gets up. As I watch, he walks to the front door, disappearing outside. My forehead wrinkles.

  Damen cannot do any harm, I guess. The worst thing that can happen is that he does nothing, and Rue and I are set back a couple of days. Shrugging to myself, I start making breakfast for when Rue gets up.

  14

  Rue

  I’m just so tired. Tired enough that it feels good to lie in bed for hours after Dryas gets up, drowsing in the sunlight.

  I wake late to find that Dryas and Damen have both been pretty busy while I was asleep. When I finally get dressed and drag myself out to the kitchen, it’s early afternoon. Damen and Dryas are in the kitchen, Damen by the sink and Dryas sitting behind the counter. They both give me the same skeptical look as I sit down on one of the stools.

  That makes me irritable.

  “Stop looking at me like that, both of you,” I mumble, yawning. “I have a lot of sleep to catch up on if you hadn’t noticed. While you two were sleeping in nice beds, I was chained up and given a pallet, okay? I don’t want to hear it from you.”

  My tone is sharper than usual. Damen’s eyes slide off to the side, avoidant. Dryas looks guilty.

  “Of course,” he says. He comes over and kisses my temple. I lean into the contact. Damen lets out a derisive snort, which sets my teeth on edge.

  I lean away from Dryas, eyeing Damen with a glare. Lucky for him, Dryas is already talking, filling up the air between us.

  “Do you want coffee? I can make some.” He stands up and moves toward the coffee maker.

  “No,” I say, shaking my head. The thought of coffee makes the spit in my mouth taste sour. “My stomach is upset. I think I must have eaten something that didn’t agree with me.”

  Dryas looks a little surprised, but he shrugs. “Okay. Well, Damen and I were busy while you were asleep. He got a ship’s captain to agree to take us to Podgorica. And I have solved our Derrik problem.”

  I shift in my seat, eyeing the fruit sitting in a bowl near the sink. The thought of fresh fruit, especially a banana, makes my mouth water in a weird way. Leaning over, I fish a banana out and start peeling it. “Yeah?”

  “Yes. I have arranged for him to go to Bhutan. He will live there with an order of monks that took a vow of silence.” He cocks his head. The corner of his mouth turns up. “Does that meet with your approval?”

  I’m busy stuffing the banana in my mouth, so I just nod. It tastes exactly how I expected, creamy and fruity. Closing my eyes for just a second, I let the banana’s goodness fill my consciousness.

  “I am going out to check on our prisoner.”

  I open my eyes to see Damen heading to the door. Unconcerned, I turn my attention back to Dryas. He leans on the kitchen island, his yellow-green eyes narrowing on me.

  Swallowing the last of my banana, I give him a confused look. “What?”

  He folds his arms across his chest. “Do you want to tell me why my brother had to break the news to me about your relationship to Prince Henrick?”

  My cheeks color a little. “Oh. Father Derrik probably doesn’t know what he is talking about. I wasn’t trying to hide it or anything. It just... I don’t know, slipped my mind?”

  He growls a little, prowling over to where I’m sitting. I turn and look up at him as he presses against me, all big and hot and pure male energy. His head comes down to nuzzle against my ear.

  When he speaks, I feel his words as they are exhaled against my ear. “Is there anything else you forgot to tell me?”

  I give a little shudder. “No.”

  He grips my hips. “Are you sure?”

  I try to think about it, but that’s hard when I can feel his rapidly hardening cock pressing against me.

  “Yes,” I say, aware of how breathy I sound.

  “Mmm.” He pushes back the fiery copper curtain of hair laying on my neck, kissing a spot just where my neck meets my shoulder. I gasp as he sucks on my flesh, his mouth so hot I swear I’m about to melt.

  He’s leaving a bruise, no question about it. But I don’t care; I’m extremely horny all of the sudden, aware of not just my neck but every single inch of skin on my body.

  He releases me with an audible pop. He presses his cock into me again and then leans down to whisper in my ear.

  “Who do you belong to? Hmm?”

  He brings his fingers up to skim the bare flesh of my collarbone, then buries his hand in my hair. I shiver, goosebumps breaking out all over my body. He takes a fistful of my hair, jerking my head back.

  “You,” I murmur, my eyes closing. “I belong to you.”

  That only makes him redouble his grip on my hair, pulling my head back further. My body protests as it bows, but I can feel my nipples pebbling. The dampness between my thighs grows more and more.

  “Say it again,” he grits out, nuzzling the tender place between my breasts. “Say you are mine.”

  “I’m yours, Dryas,” I gasp. “Only yours, for as long as you want me.”

  He eases his grip of my hair, letting my head come back up. His lips leave my cleavage, coming up to kiss me hard. He tastes so good, like mint and coffee and salt from my skin. Our tongues dance and clash, my hands creeping up to knot in his hair.

  At that moment, I am lost in him, set adrift on a sea with nothing else to hold onto but the places where our bodies touch. He parts my thighs and lifts me up onto his body, moving us both toward the bedroom again.

  I can’t wait for him to be naked, to move inside of me once more, to come with an agonized shout as he thrusts down into me repeatedly. I’m greedy for him, for every single second I get to spend with him.

  Because I love him, not that I say it.

  Now is not the time. But soon…

  It will be soon.

  15

  Dryas

  “What the fuck am I looking at, exactly?” I ask, turning away from the shore to look at Damen. Rue is right beside me, her head cocked as she looks at the big gray ship in the near distance.

  It’s stacked high with huge multicolored shipping containers, at least twenty wide and ten deep. Damen looks at the ship and shrugs.

  “It is not a big deal. I am friendly with the captain. He has agreed to take you to Podgorica. You will be in one of the containers for only two days. Three days tops, if things go wrong.”

  I level a look at him. “I would be more comfortable, brother, if you were coming along too.”

  He rolls his eyes. “One, I am not trying to sneak into Montenegro. I have the luxury of flying in. And two, someone has to make sure that Derrik goes with the monks. Besides, it’s not like you have to stay in the container the whole time. You can come and go as you wish while the ship is at sea.”

  Rue pulls
on my hand. “I think that is for us.” She points to a little inflatable speedboat that is racing towards the shore.

  I grimace. I have never liked to sail, especially not on something as disposable as that. Damen claps me on the shoulder with a grin.

  “Your girl can carry a plastic bag in case you vomit,” he assures me. I glare at him, but he starts pushing me down to the shoreline. “It is going to be fine. I will contact you via email when I arrive.”

  Frowning at him for a final time, I take Rue’s hand and walk down to the shore. We are each carrying a small messenger bag that is filled with necessities: a change of clothes, toothbrush, toothpaste, and miscellaneous personal items.

  In a couple of minutes, we are climbing into the little dinghy, wobbling as our feet probe the spongy texture of the boat’s bottom. At least there is a solid frame, especially where we are to sit.

  The pilot tells us to have a seat in broken English, so we comply and sit in the middle of the boat. Gripping Rue’s hand, I close my eyes as he cranks the engine and drives us out on the water.

  To Rue’s credit, she does not say anything as we motor out to the ship. For my part, I try not to worry about how choppy the water is or how this boat is basically a little speck in the greatness that is the ocean. I definitely try to steer my thoughts away from what kind of creatures might be right beneath the boat.

  God, Rue is so tiny and fragile. If this boat tips, I can only keep the sharks off of her for so long…

  The pilot just drives the boat right up to the side of the ship, seemingly unconcerned about how dangerous this exchange is about to be. Two giant hooks are already dangling from long ropes. It only takes a minute for the pilot to attach us to the ship and start dragging the little boat up.

  Before I know it, we are being hustled out of our seats and onto the deck of the ship. I breathe a huge sigh of relief as I look up at the huge stack of shipping crates, then out at the ocean. Thinking better of it, I turn away from the ocean.