Page 50 of Fated to the Gargoyle

I flick the end of his ear. “Nuh-uh. You don’t get to ‘let’ me do anything. You were already there.”

He holds my eyes a moment longer. Then he puts me down.

I hug myself against the night air. “So who is this witch, and what does she want with your Settling?”

His wings drop low behind him. “I do not know the answer to either question.”

I look up at him. “Well? Don’t you think we should find out? Because I’m not gonna live scared of my own light switch.”

“I will,” he says. “But I want you safe.”

I pat at this sad bun. “And I want to do something with this hair, which you sweated right out after hours of work, by the way.”

That gets a grin out of him, fangs and all.

I throw my hands up. “Alright, fine. Apparently I’m the treasure this witch is after. So you can go get my stuff. I’m not worried about the car, but I want my purse, my phone, clothes, toiletries…”

He stares at me hard, filing every single item away.

It makes me snort, so I speed up to test him. “My hair products, my good shampoo, my pillow, my pajamas, my slippers, and let’s not forget about the chest.”

He bows his head to me. “I will make sure you have everything.”

I blow out a breath. “And here I am, right back where I woke up this morning. And what am I supposed to do while you’re gone? Who’s to say I’m safe all the way out here?”

He draws himself up to his full height. “We are on wolf territory. A witch is not getting on this land.”

I put my hands on my hips. Okay, that was kind of hard.

He guides me up the steps with a claw at my back and ducks in behind me.

I spin on him in the middle of the front room. “So what now? I’m just some princess trapped up in a castle?”

He walks right past me into the kitchen. He opens the fridge, then goes through the cabinets one after the next while I stand there wondering what on earth this inventory check is about.

“You are not a princess, Treasure. You are a queen.” He shuts the last cabinet. “And this is a cabin, not a castle.”

I make a face at the correction.

He turns around. “I will build you a castle if that is what you prefer.”

I go quiet at that.

“There is food. There is the television.” He nods at it on its stand. “I will come back with your things.”

He steps out of the kitchen and stops in front of me.

I point a finger up at him. “Don’t you dare leave me without a kiss.”

He smiles and picks me up. I cup his face in both hands and kiss his cheek, taking my time about it.

“I want this to be over,” he says against my temple, “so I can spend forever with you.”

“Then hurry up,” I say against his cheek.

He carries me to the sofa. He picks the remote up without crushing it and holds it out to me.

“I’d rather have my books, but this’ll do.” I take it from his claw and grab the blanket off the back of the sofa. “Ooh, it’s freshly washed. They really cleaned this place up nice.”