Page 24 of Fated to the Gargoyle

“I feared you would reject me,” he says instead, and the gold of his eyes dims down to embers.

“Well, you were wrong, and I wish you would’ve given me the chance.”

He spreads his hands. “It has only been one day.”

“Okay, fine.” I wave him off. “You have a point there.”

I must be looking some kind of way. This enormous creature melts. His wings loosen and his shoulders come down with them, and the glow of his gold eyes banks down warm. My smile stretches wide.

“Okay, so what now?” I ask him. “Am I expected to go live in a cave or something? Because I’m telling you now, that is not happening.”

His wings twitch, a little offended. “Of course not. My brother Sable⁠⁠—”

“Hold on.” I put a hand up. “There’s TWO of you?”

He nods. “My brother Sable has been my companion since the humans came with the hammers and destroyed our clan. The others who survived scattered across the world. It has been the two of us for centuries.”

My face falls. “Ohhh. I’m so sorry.”

“I am not alone now,” he says, and he steps forward, and I don’t step back. “I will provide a good home for you. I believe my brother and I have land here now. But I will have to learn to assimilate.”

While he’s talking his big talk, I lean sideways and steal a look behind him, because that loincloth does not cover much back there and a woman deserves the full report. His eyes track me the whole way, and I give him a shrug with no shame anywhere in it, because it’s nice back there and he’s the one who broke into my apartment, so I’ve got looking rights. What did he think was gonna happen, I’d play damsel and run for the hills? No, baby, Soren should be running from me.

“I know how to sew,” I tell him. “If you let me get your measurements, I can make you some pants. Your brother too, whenever you let me meet him.”

The smile he gives me could warm this whole drafty apartment. “I must go.”

He reaches out and brushes one big claw over my cheek, and my eyes drift shut. All that worry about whether I’m crazy goes quiet under it.

“Where will you rest tonight?” I ask.

“There is danger in Shadow Wolf Creek.” A growl comes in under the words, low and rolling, and not one bit of it is aimed at me. “I will rest where I can guard you.”

He pulls his hand back and walks to the balcony, and when he opens the door I see how he got in, the little latch flipped open without a scratch on it.

He steps out into the night, and I follow as far as the doorway. “If I find you in stone form, can I still talk to you? Can you hear me?”

“Every word.” He smiles at me.

I run back through everything I said to that statue outside the diner, the flirting included, and decide that’s a problem for future Treasure.

“Okay, next question. When I catch you in a new spot, am I supposed to act like you’ve always been sitting there? Because Lamar looked me dead in my face and swore up and down nothing was ever on that roof.”

His wings snap open at the name. I smirk. Ohhh, he does not like Lamar, and I am absolutely keeping that in my back pocket.

“No. That was the Settling. I use it as a protective measure in new places, in case humans seek to harm me while I rest. It doesn’t last.” His jaw sets. “That messy dragon made sure of it.”

“I’m sorry about that,” I say, smiling because I’m really not.

“It is no matter. There is nothing left for me to worry about.”

“Shadow Wolf Creek is a safe place,” I tell him. “And if I’m close by, I’ll protect you.”

His mouth opens, and nothing comes out. All that talk about guarding the treasure of kings, and I’d put money on it that no one once offered to guard him back. “Then I will not use my Settling at sunrise.”

I beam at him. His wings spread wide, and a creature that big has no business leaving the ground that quiet, but he rises off my little balcony without one rattle of the rail. I step out into the cold to watch him go, my head tipped all the way back.

“Rest,” he calls down. “You will see me again.”