Page 8 of Guardians for the Vamp
“You think I’m handsome?”
She startles at my deep voice, her phone flipping out of her hands, but her quick vampire reflexes catch it before it hits the table. A smile tugs at my lips.
“Goddamn it, Thorne. Warn a girl the next time you’re going to ear fuck me with that sexy velvety baritone.”
She goes on mumbling something about narrating spicy audiobooks, and I don’t ask how I could have warned her without speaking first. I also don’t point out that she called me—well, my voice—sexy after just saying I’m handsome.
“Yeah, um, so, tomorrow we should meet to discuss my protection detail. Right now, my guards are solely vampires, but COVE would like me to hire other supernaturals to join my security team.”
“Really?”
Supernatural beings are selfish. We don’t work well with each other. I mean, we fuck each other sometimes, but actually being civil with each other? Most would never voluntarily work on another supe’s security team. The former vampire queen is the only one that I know of with two griffin bodyguards.
“Yep.” She pops the ‘p.’ “It’s part of this unification plan, apparently. Remember I mentioned being amicable?”
I nod.
“That includes working together... becoming allies.”
She blows a piece of hair that’s fallen in her face, and I almost reach up to tuck it behind her ear.
Almost.
“So, tomorrow we’ll go over profiles of candidates I was sent. You’d know more about their credentials than I would. We also need to decide which of the vampires currently on my team you’d like to keep. I have twenty guards now, at least five of those are humans who patrol my building during the day when I’m at rest.”
I silently curse. She needs better daytime protection. Humans are no match for a supe who wants to harm Layla when she’s most vulnerable. I'm going to double her detail. She’ll need supes who can withstand the sun keeping guard.
I’m already eager to go through profiles with her, even though the thought of being alone with her makes my stupid heart race again. I can’t explain it. All I know is I keep thinking about all the dirty things I want to do to this woman if I had her alone. Things I shouldn’t be thinking of as her new head of security.
“I hope I didn’t offend you,” I say.
She raises a brow. “Wow, you’ve now spoken two coherent sentences. Congratulations.”
I ignore the sass and continue.
“I seem to have annoyed you somehow. If it was the greeting, I apologize—”
“It wasn’t,” she interrupts, her eyes down and refusing to look at me again. “I’m sorry, I’m just…”
I lift my hand to clutch her chin but stop, remembering I have no right to comfort her… to touch her.
I’mdyingto touch her.
It’s as if her beauty… her defiance and power… is awakening my body from a decades-old slumber. I inhale deeply, attempting to calm myself down but instead, Layla’s scent overwhelms me. Not just her perfume… but her cunt.
Herwetcunt.
Is that for me? Her pleasure? Is she dripping with want for me?
Layla stiffens beside me, and I realize I growled—again—the sound rumbling deep in my chest. It would have been too low for a human across the room to hear it but, of course, everyone in the room is a supernatural being who are all now staring at the vampire queen and her new gargoyle guard.
How many times have I growled now for no reason?
She is the reason.
The door to the room opens, thankfully diverting our attention. Layla gasps, and I follow her eyes to the golden creature who just entered.
Vara.
