“Take me home, Trevor,” she breathed out.
Home. She’d asked me to take her home, and despite all the stress of the day, that one word made me breathe a sigh of relief because it meant my home was becoming our home.
Chapter Fifty-Four
Trevor
It had been a rough night, so I’d quietly slipped out of bed and gone down the hall to shower, hoping I wouldn’t wake Melina. Since she had a meeting at eleven, I figured I’d wake her in an hour to make sure she ate before she left. I hadn’t heard back about the bodyguard, or even mentioned it to Melina yet, and I couldn’t reschedule my own meeting this morning, which meant Melina would be alone. She’d already made me promise not to ask Demetrius or Ralph to go with her, but I was seriously tempted.
Julia had spent the night since it had been so late when we’d gotten back. I’d just finished dressing when I heard Julia yelling at someone near the front of the house. Cursing under my breath, I hurried toward the foyer to see what was going on.
I found my sister standing toe to toe with a mountain of a man. Julia wasn’t short, standing at five-foot-ten, but this guy had about eight inches on her. His blond hair was pulled back and secured with a leather tie, and he had a neatly trimmed beard.
“Listen up, girlie,” the giant began, and I saw my sister’s fists clench in reaction to his tone. “I’m not in the mood to play twenty questions.”
“What the hell is going on?” I demanded, drawing everyone’s attention. The giant turned to face me, and I met his almost yellow eyes. When I noticed the way his sleeve hung empty on the left side, my gaze dropped, recognizing who this was. I decided I’d have to kick Dylan’s ass later for not warning me he was sending a half-crazed werewolf to help protect my witch. Gryphon was one of Allie’s pet projects, and to the best of my knowledge, he hadn’t left the trailer he lived in for years.
“I’m not going to lose my shit if you look me in the eyes,” Gryphon stated, and I heard the amusement in the werewolf’s voice. When I looked up, Gryph’s eyes were no longer yellow; they were a pale shade of green, meaning he’d gotten his temper under control.
“Something tells me Allie’s puny little warlock didn’t tell you I was coming,” Gryph remarked.
“Must have slipped his mind,” I responded dryly.
Julia wasn’t looking any less pissed than she had when I’d walked in, which made me wonder what Gryph had said to set her off. Julia tended to be the most even-tempered of my sisters.
“Julia, this is Gryphon,” I began the introductions. “Gryph, this is my sister, Julia.”
“Can you explain to me why Goliath was pounding on your door? Or perhaps, you could help him remove his head from his ass so he can explain it to me. Apparently, the question was too difficult to answer when he arrived.”
Gryph’s eyes flashed with anger when he spun on Julia. “Someone needs to teach you some manners, little girl,” he growled.
“What would you know about manners?” she demanded, getting in Gryph’s face again, or the middle of his chest more accurately. He’d have to bend over for her to get in his face.
“Enough!” I shouted, which had them both glaring at me. I figured it was better if they were pissed at me rather than arguing with each other. I needed to fix Melina breakfast before a conference call, so I didn’t have time for this. “Gryph is going to help guard Melina.”
“Did you plan to ask me what I think about that?” Melina asked, stepping into the foyer.
“I’d planned to discuss it with you after you woke up,” I assured her, and turned, expecting to see an angry scowl. Instead, Melina gave me a sweet smile.
“That was a very thoughtful idea,” she began.
“Are you about to tell me you don’t need a bodyguard?” I asked.
She shook her head. “Actually, I was going to look into it today. I’m still annoyed that you did it behind my back, but I’d likely do the same thing in your position.”
Damn, I loved this witch!
“I talked to Dylan last night and asked if he could help me find someone, and he sent Gryph,” I explained.
“How you doin’, Miss Melina?” Gryph asked with a grin that made him look somewhat less formidable.
“I’ve been better,” she admitted. “I’m surprised to see you here.”
“To tell the truth, I’m surprised myself,” he admitted. “When Allie said she needed me to do some bodyguard work, I told her to contact someone with the pack since they do that sort of thing. Who the hell wants a damaged werewolf to look after their safety?”
Julia snorted. “Someone break out the violin for Gryphon’s tragic tale.”
My gaze snapped to my sister, unable to believe she was being that rude. Even more shocking was that she didn’t look the least bit apologetic.
Gryph laughed, which was not what I’d expected. While this was the first time I’d met the notorious werewolf, I knew quite a bit about him. He’d been his pack’s top enforcer until about five years ago when there’d been a brutal pack war. From what I’d heard, that wasn’t as uncommon as most would think. In this case, Gryph had lost his arm in the battle. Had they managed to save the arm, it could have been reattached. Werewolves needed little in the way of medical intervention to reattach a limb. Unfortunately for Gryph, the enemies of their pack had destroyed his severed arm. Werewolves weren’t very accepting of those they perceived as weak, and Gryph had been forced to leave the pack. Allie had met him when he’d been considering killing himself, and she’d adopted him. Allie had a tendency to do that sort of thing. The reason I was surprised with Gryph’s reaction to my sister’s nasty comment was that his missing arm had been enough to make him contemplate suicide. It had ended his life as he knew it, and it was considered a weakness among the werewolves. Yet, here Gryph was, laughing at her accusation that he was wallowing in self-pity.
I was about to say something to my sister, when Gryph spoke. “You got a man to warm your ass until you learn some manners? Or, would you like me to take care of that for you? I only need one hand, and it would be my pleasure to handle that task.”
Julia’s mouth dropped open.
When Gryph inhaled deeply, a shudder ran through his body. “Yeah, I like the sound of it just as much as you do, girlie. Say one more sassy thing, and we can both have what we want.”
As Julia’s older brother, I was torn on how I should react. On the one hand, I didn’t like seeing Gryph coming on to my sister. On the other hand, I was pretty sure he wasn’t really coming on to her, but merely trying to prove her bitchy attitude didn’t bother him. At least, I assumed that was the case. Still, I had no interest in finding out if he’d follow through with his threat.
“I’d recommend keeping your mouth shut, Julia,” I warned.
Julia let out an annoyed huff. “Fine! You deal with the mangy wolf. Do you still need me back tonight to watch Mr. Whiskers?”
“Possibly,” Melina replied. “I guess we’ll need to discuss Gryph’s schedule first.”
“Why don’t you come by for dinner?” I suggested.
“Okay, I’ll be back at five,” Julia replied. “I’ll bring Oliver in case you need me to stay again. He had a blast playing with Mr. Whiskers last night, so I’m sure he’d be okay with another play date.”
“Where are the familiars?” I asked, surprised they weren’t in here sniffing Gryph. Julia’s familiar, Oliver, was a beagle who tended to lose it whenever a werewolf was around.
“They were chasing after a pair of bunny slippers,” Julia explained.
“Bunny slippers?” Gryph asked with a snort of laughter.
“Yes,” Julia told him with a sweet smile. “Try to fight your natural instinct to chase after them.”
“I’m working hard to fight my natural instincts,” he assured her, and this time my sister laughed.
“Sorry for being a bitch,” she told him. “I’m not much of a morning person. If you want to avoid my sassy mouth, as you put it, you should probably st
ay away from me in the mornings.”
“Damn,” Gryph muttered as my little sister made her way out of the room.
I did not like the way he was eyeing Julia, and there was no denying I acted like an idiot at times, which was the only explanation for what I said next. “My sister likes women.”
Gryph raised an eyebrow, waiting for clarification.
“She dates women,” I told him.
“You’re an idiot,” Melina stated.
I couldn’t argue that point. “Can we pretend I didn’t just act like an ass?”
“You mean, can we not tell Julia what you said?” Melina asked with a grin.
“Yeah, that,” I told them.
Chapter Fifty-Five
Melina
I had to admit that I found Trevor’s behavior regarding Julia endearing, rather than annoying. If he hadn’t realized he was acting like an ass, I might not feel that way, but Trevor recognized he was being ridiculous, and that’s why he didn’t want me to tell Julia. Of course, I had no intention of mentioning it to her, but I wasn’t ready to admit that to Trevor.
“I won’t say anything,” Gryph assured him.
“You want me to lie to your sister?” I asked, pretending to be shocked.
“I could make it worth your while,” Trevor offered.
I gave him a sweet smile. “Don’t you have a conference call?”
He cursed under his breath when he looked at the time. “I’m not going to have time to make your breakfast or even make coffee for myself,” he grumbled.
“I’ll bring you a cup,” I offered.
Trevor leaned in to brush his lips against mine. “You really aren’t mad about me arranging for a bodyguard?”
“Under normal circumstances, I might be upset with you for not discussing it with me first, but there wasn’t time, so you get a pass.”
Trevor grinned. “You are sexy as hell when you’re agreeable.”
“You’re still going to have to convince me to keep your secret about embarrassing yourself trying to protect Julia,” I reminded him, which made him grin.
“I’m looking forward to it,” he murmured close to my ear.
“Get to work. I’ll make coffee while I talk to Gryph, and then I have a meeting.”
Trevor’s eyes clouded with concern, and Gryph must have noticed because he jumped in. “I’ll go with Ms. Melina.”
“Great!” Trevor exclaimed, clearly relieved.
Trevor hurried toward his office, cell phone in hand, to take his call.
Julia raced into the room after Oliver, who was chasing one of the bunny slippers. I had no idea where the other bunny slipper was hiding.
“Oliver!” Julia screeched. “We have to go. I’m meeting with a client this morning!”
Oliver dodged back and forth before growling at the bunny slipper.
“Oliver,” Julia said in a more stern tone, which her familiar continued to ignore.
Gryph laughed as the bunny slipper ducked behind his legs, growling and hissing. I was amazed by how irritable those slippers could be. Then again, I might be even more irritable if I was being chased around by familiars all day.
“I thought you were joking about the bunny slippers,” Gryph said, trying to catch his breath and get his laughter under control.
Oliver raced around Gryph. “I said, stop, Oliver!” Julia screeched.
“Oliver!” Gryph barked out, and the beagle immediately stopped and dropped onto the ground.
Julia gave Gryph a shy smile as she scooped up her familiar. “Thank you for stopping him. I’m surprised he listened to you. Oliver’s not fond of werewolves.”
“He knows who the alpha male is,” Gryph told her.
“I should go or I’ll be late.” On those words, Julia scurried out of the house as if she were being chased by a werewolf.
One look at the werewolf in the room told me he’d like to chase her. In fact, based on the way his fist was clenched, I’d guess he was struggling with his instinct to pursue her. I suspected things between Julia and Gryph were going to get very interesting. I was predicting many more incidents of Trevor making an ass of himself while acting like the overprotective big brother. With a sigh, I decided I should probably have a talk with Gryph about Julia.
“So, Gryph,” I began, not sure how to approach the subject of Julia. “When was the last time you were with a woman?”
This might be too personal a topic to bring up with a warlock I barely knew, but werewolves didn’t mind talking about sex.
Gryph thought before answering. “About three years. At first, some of the females from the pack came by to see me. I think it’s because I had a reputation for being kinkier than many of the other wolves when I was in the pack, and there were females who wanted to take a walk on the wild side. At least, that’s what I told myself on days I wasn’t feeling sorry for myself. Sometimes, I’d think they were being sent over because the pack leader felt obligated to take care of me after I lost my arm saving his ass. Either way, a new leader took over and cracked down on intermingling with wolves outside the pack, so the females stopped coming by.”
“Three years is a long time,” I began. “Maybe you should take care of things.”
“What’s the deal with the witch with the sassy mouth?” he asked, confirming what I’d suspected about his attraction to Julia.
“Her name is Julia,” I reminded him.
He shrugged. “Does her brother actually think she’s only into women? Or, was he trying to scare me off?”
“He knows she likes men and women,” I replied. “Trevor also knows you’d be able to tell if his sister was turned on by you, so I don’t think he’d lie to warn you off. Trevor’s recently realized that his sister is a grown woman who’s had sex, and he’s still trying to come to terms with that realization.”
“I guess that makes sense,” Gryph said thoughtfully. “I’ll wait to fuck her until after I’m done protecting you. That should give her brother time to get used to the idea.”
I couldn’t help it; I laughed at Gryph’s assumption that it was going to be that easy. It’s not that I hadn’t noticed how Julia reacted to him. I’d also noticed she wasn’t happy about her reaction to Gryph. If I had to guess, I’d say Julia was going to be more resistant to his advances than Gryph expected. For werewolves, sex was much simpler than it was for witches. If two unmated werewolves found each other attractive, they hooked up. This might be a little out of Gryph’s realm of expertise.
“Have you ever been with a woman who wasn’t a werewolf?” I asked.
“Nope,” he replied. “I guess I might have to be gentler with her.”
“You also need to understand that witches are different than werewolves when it comes to sex,” I began, feeling like I was talking to a child—a very large child who could turn into a two-hundred and fifty pound wolf. “Julia finding you attractive does not mean she’s going to have sex with you. You’d have to do more to convince her than you’re used to.”
Gryph’s lips curled into a predatory grin. “Now, I like the sound of that, Ms. Melina. Pursuing Sassy and luring her to me sounds a lot better than simply fucking her. Don’t get me wrong, I like the idea of fucking her, but the convincing part sounds fun.”
“Trevor is going to have a heart attack,” I grumbled. “Let’s get coffee, and we can grab food on the way to my meeting. We should also talk about how much you charge.”
Gryph snorted. “You don’t need to pay me, Ms. Melina. I’m glad to be doing something useful again. The pack pays me a nice retirement pension since I was injured fighting for them. Even the new leadership can’t change that.”
“First, I will definitely pay you,” I insisted. “Before you even consider arguing, remember that you may be stronger physically, but you don’t want to get on my bad side.”
Gryph chuckled. “You are right about that, Ms. Melina. What’s the second thing you want to bring up?”
“You have a pension?” I asked because, for what
ever reason, I’d never pictured werewolves having any sort of retirement or disability plan.
“I worked for the pack,” he reminded me. “The pack has a good retirement plan, and it pays in full if you’re unable to continue working due to an on the job injury. Like I said, you don’t need to pay me.”
“I’m paying you,” I insisted. “Let’s get moving.”
“You can tell me more about Sassy on the way to your meeting,” he suggested.
It would appear that when Gryph decided to rejoin the world, he jumped in with both feet.
Chapter Fifty-Six
Trevor
When we hit the thirty day mark, I half-expected Melina to refuse to follow through with the affinity test. I knew she still wasn’t convinced I wouldn’t grow tired of her. I also knew she wasn’t sure how the Council of Witches, my father in particular, would react to her power. From what I’d gathered, she’d done a lot to keep the council oblivious to her demon magic. They all knew she was a powerful witch, but few knew that it was what she’d inherited from her father that made her truly dangerous.
All in all, I thought she was handling things well. That is, I’d thought that until I found her pacing the bedroom, muttering vile threats against my favorite body part. I didn’t think she’d follow through with any of those threats since she seemed fond of that body part.
“What’s wrong, honey?” I asked, approaching her with caution.
Her glare would have been scary if it didn’t turn me on so much. “Did you have to tell Dylan about our affinity test tonight?” she asked in a deceptively calm voice.
I shrugged. “He’s my closest friend, and you had to know he was going to push me for details after he found out you were staying here.” Her attitude about Dylan knowing was pissing me off. “Besides, I wasn’t aware it was some huge secret. Your whole family knows about it, so who cares if Dylan knows? I can’t tell my friends? Are you ashamed of me?”
Shamelessly Spellbound (Spells That Bind Book 2) Page 21