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“Do come in,” I said, opening the door and waving them in.
My initial surprise at seeing Keran remaining a couple of steps behind gave way to embarrassment when his guard named Tagar walked in ahead of us. Of course, they would want to secure the premises before they let in their future ruler. The second guard, Nowik, exchanged a brief glance with Keran, who blinked his assent in a silent communication. Nowik followed his colleague inside, tapping some instructions on the fancy bracer wrapped around his forearm.
“There are no cameras, traps, or alarms to be triggered inside the buildings,” I called out to the men. “You can explore freely.”
Tagar glanced at me over his shoulder and gave me a stiff nod. He looked particularly ferocious with the long scar running over his eyebrow and down his cheek. He’d been lucky not to lose an eye with that injury. Knowing Braxians, he undoubtedly took great pride in that battle scar.
Although Keran followed me inside, we stood near the entrance while the guards walked farther down the hall. The silent and fluid way they moved genuinely impressed me. For males so massive, I expected them to be lumbering about, not look like they were almost gliding. The way their bulging muscles rolled under their skin-tight black shirts with each of their movements was almost hypnotic.
“Like what you see?” Keran asked, his voice startling me.
Heat crept up my cheeks to have been caught ogling his guards, even though there had been nothing sexual about my fascination with them.
“Your men are remarkable,” I admitted, forcing myself to look nonchalant. “I’d never met purebloods before. You guys are truly impressive.”
“Never?” he repeated in a slightly dubious tone, his gaze boring into mine.
Although stunned that he seemed to doubt my words, I held his gaze unwaveringly. “Never.”
He studied my features for a few seconds before appearing to come to a decision. What thoughts were running through his mind?
“And yet, you’re not intimidated by us,” he said at last, once more factually, but this time with a hint of curiosity in his voice.
I shrugged. “Why would I be?”
His left brow shot up, his air of curiosity cranking up another notch, but this time laced with a sliver of amusement.
“Is that a challenge?”
“Of course not,” I said teasingly. “But logic dictates that a crown prince wouldn’t embark on a three-day journey through space only so that he could bully a random woman he has never met before.”
He snorted. A flurry of emotions flitted over his rough features, all of them impossible to define. “I think I like you, Dawn Merrick. But where I’m concerned, it would be wise never to make any assumptions. You can’t begin to imagine the things Iwoulddo.”
It was my turn to raise an inquisitive eyebrow. “Now you have me curious. Should I give you a dare?”
Keran burst out laughing. Although brief, the deep, powerful, and throaty sound affected me in the strangest way. My stomach fluttered as I studied his features. He leaned over me, his face a few inches from mine. My breath caught in my throat as a slow, almost malicious smile stretched his thick lips. In that instant, Keran looked truly terrifying. Had my brain been functioning rationally, I would have taken a step back, if only out of self-preservation. Instead, I remained right there, the butterflies in my stomach going into overdrive.
“Careful what you wish for, little girl. You arenotready for the games I play,” he whispered in a rumbling voice filled with promises and an undeniable underlying threat.
Did my stupid brain finally get the memo and trigger my fight or flight instincts? Hell no. In a very rational response, my brain decided to make my toes curl, my skin erupt in goosebumps, and for a totally inappropriate flame to spark low in my belly. To my horror, Keran’s nostrils flared as my physiological reaction wafted to him, and his gray eyes took on the dark shades of a stormy sky.
A slow, predatory smile stretched his lips as I remained transfixed before him. The little voice at the back of my head was shouting for me to run for my life. Whatever “games” this man was into, they would rock my world and leave me a complete wreck. As much as I loved a challenge, I could recognize when I was way out of my depth.
“All clear!” Tagar called out from a few meters away.
I yelped and pressed a palm to my chest as I jerked my head right to look at the guard. Too busy drowning in Keran’s dark gaze, I never heard the guards returning. My cheeks felt on the verge of bursting into flames, my embarrassment cranking up another notch at the discreet but smug chuckle that tumbled out of the prince’s throat. I doubted his guards had heard it from where they stood. Still, despite the neutral impression on their faces, they knew their prince had just majorly affected me.
“Well, this way then,” I said, proud that my voice came out firm and confident.
I led them to my office located near the entrance, across from the reception desk. The familiar sting of nostalgia struck my heart. It felt like only yesterday when two secretaries worked at the large, semi-circular desk to assist all the people that would come in and out at every hour of the day. Many of those visitors would make use of the wide benches and chairs of the waiting room to the left. I had them specifically laid out to give the guests a perfect view of the peaceful garden outside and of Haven’s stunning landscape through the large wall-to-ceiling window framing the patio door.
In a way, I should rejoice that the new laws on Braxia had made the services we offered obsolete. The ultimate goal had always been for hybrids to be accepted by their people and to be able to thrive without constant abuse and fearing for their lives. But I had expected a different, more decisive outcome. Some momentous event that would have marked the turn of the tide, with a hero—or heroine—to be celebrated on an anniversary day for radically changing the lives of so many innocents.
Instead, Magnar Ravik had passed new laws that clans begrudgingly observed. Over time, the hybrids’ constant state of fear had simply faded, and they’d settled into their new routine.
Womp, womp.
As I opened the door to my office for Keran, another wave of self-consciousness surged through me as his gaze roamed over the space. Of respectable size, my office had large windows on two sides, giving me a great view of the entrance and of the side of the building—including part of the landing pad. You couldn’t sneak in without me seeing you first.
