As his dragon curled up to go back to sleep—inner dragons had little patience for trivial human things like email or typing out reports—Brad lost track of time. However, the doorbell rang and he wondered who it could be.
He stood and motioned for Tasha to stay put. “I don’t think anything dangerous could just walk up to my front door but let me make sure.”
She nodded. “Although for the future, we need to get me a baseball bat to grab if needed. Just in case you need some help.”
The fact his human wanted to be by his side to take on an enemy caused approval to flood his body. “We will. Maybe even later today. However, for now, wait here.”
Since Brad didn’t have a fancy security system—something he’d fix soon enough—he went to the door and looked through the peephole. On the other side stood the tall, dark-haired form of Ashley Swift. “What is she doing here?” he muttered as he opened the door.
He didn’t get to ask a word before the ADDA employee smiled at him and said, “Nice to see you, too, Brad. Where’s Tasha?”
He frowned. “Is something wrong?”
“Not technically. But I need to have a little private chat with Tasha about some of the finer details of her staying here.”
He studied the human, annoyed that she could be smiling so easily when she clearly had some secrets concerning his mate. “That sounds like something is wrong.”
Ashley raised an eyebrow. “You do remember that I’m mated to a dragon clan leader, right? So trying to be all scary and intimidating isn’t going to really work, Brad.”
He sighed and motioned toward the living room. “She’s in there.”
“Thank you,” Ashley said as she strode right past him.
Apparently, mating a dragon-shifter hadn’t changed Ashley’s methods at all—stubborn and bold, as always.
His dragon said, It’s good she’s acting the same as ever. If she wasn’t, then I’d actually be worried.
After shutting the door, he went to the living room. However, Ashley turned toward him and raised her brows. “I need to talk to her alone. I swear on my unborn child that I’m not going to kidnap her and take her away, Brad. Just let me try to help Tasha.”
Okay, that sounded less encouraging than before.
Tasha met his gaze. “It’s okay. You mentioned you had some things to do at the Protector building anyway. And I’m sure Ashley can promise to stay with me until you get back.”
Ashley nodded. “Of course. I convinced Wes to let me stay all day, so no problem.”
His dragon murmured, She’ll be fine. We need to check in with Jon anyway and see if anything has turned up about League activities.
Brad took one last long look at his mate. “Okay, I’ll go. But promise me you’ll call my cell phone if you need me.”
Tasha smiled. “I will, I promise.”
And even though he wanted to stay and protect his mate, Brad knew this was a sort of test. Tasha would sometimes need her own space, and this was his way to prove it to her.
But he couldn’t resist going over to brush her cheek and murmur, “I’ll see you tonight then.”
She placed her hand over his and gently squeezed it. “I look forward to it.”
Heat flashed in her eyes and Brad barely suppressed a groan. Resisting his mate was one of the toughest things he’d ever done.
However, after one last caress of her skin, he grunted and exited his own house and headed toward the Protector building. Time to find out if there were any more threats to his mate or not so he could plan for every contingency.
Tasha was both relieved and anxious at Ashley’s arrival. Even though a friendly face was welcome, the ADDA employee hadn’t mentioned she was coming to visit, which probably meant something was up.
So as soon as Brad left, Tasha asked, “What’s going on? Just tell me and don’t sugarcoat it.”
Ashley snorted. “Like I would with you. After all, if you piss off the bartender, who knows what will end up in your drink later. Maybe even a side of spit and coffee grounds?”
In normal times, Tasha would tease Ashley back and maybe banter for a few minutes. But right now, there were more important things to focus on, so she frowned and said, “If I still have a bar to run, after all of this.”