5. Chapter Four

Chapter Four

Garrick

H oly. Shit.

He was going to help me.

He hadn't said it yet, but I could see it in his pretty silver eyes. Tanyl Helegolor was going to help me.

Which meant… the little pretty would be in my condo, in my personal space.

It meant that maybe, just maybe, I could get to know him. Which was something my magic had been wanting me to do since the moment I'd met him.

It was something my dragon wanted more than anything else.

Not that I could let him get too close.

There was no way I'd put him in danger that way.

Asking him to help me like this was bad enough.

But if my enemies found out just who Tanyl Helegolor was to me, the danger he'd be in… I just couldn't, wouldn't, do that to him.

As much as it pained me, I needed to keep the little pretty at arm's length for his own good.

Trying to keep myself on target, I said, "I would consider this a huge personal favor. I'd owe you."

He looked decidedly unimpressed by that and even waved me away with a roll of his eyes.

That was one thing I appreciated about Tanyl— Tan , dammit. He never seemed to care about my status. He didn't care that I was a king. In fact, I was pretty sure he considered it a mark against me. I truly believed he didn't want to use me for his own gain, and I honestly hadn't met very many people like that in my long life.

Too bad I couldn't get close to him.

"I don't need you to owe me anything." The way he said it, it was clear he meant I don't need or want anything at all from the likes of you . I supposed I couldn't blame him, especially after what I'd done the first time we met.

I didn't know what I'd been thinking when I'd let my smoke out in front of him. It'd been instinctual, and I hadn't been able to stop myself.

Shaking off the thoughts, I said, "I know, but I will anyway."

He opened his mouth to respond, but suddenly tensed and faced the door.

The door in question swung open without a knock, and I knew it could be only one person—Roman. No one else would be brave enough to barge in on me in that manner.

Tan reacted faster than I could blink, and my eyes widened when I saw the silvery see-through shield surrounding the both of us. Holy moly, the witch had protected me without a second thought. He hadn't hesitated to throw a shield over, not only himself, but me as well… and he didn't even like me, nor had he agreed to this hare-brained plan of Roman's yet.

"Hey, Gar? Did you talk to your witch yet? I need to know if—" The idiot cut himself off when he finally looked up from the papers in his hand and saw Tan sitting in a chair in front of my desk with a shield around us. "Oh. Hey! You must be Tanyl. I've heard so much about you. Thanks for coming." He glanced at me with a huge smile, as if he hadn't just burst into my office saying your witch and scaring said witch enough that he shielded us. What an ass.

"I assume it's safe to drop my shield?" Tan asked me quietly.

I nodded. "You can trust him."

Tan dropped his shield and spoke to Roman. "Hello, you can call me Tan. And you are…?"

Roman's smile grew as he came to stand beside me behind my desk. "Sorry for startling you. Roman Trevil, at your service." He bowed his head, and I sort of wanted to smack him. I couldn't even remember the last time he'd bowed to me… if he ever had.

Not that I actually wanted him to.

"Nice to meet you, Roman," Tan said, offering a smile that looked much friendlier than any expression he'd given me today… or any time in the past year.

I sighed and rubbed the bridge of my nose. "You weren't supposed to come back until one o'clock, Rome."

He glanced at his phone. "It's quarter of."

My eyes widened. I hadn't realized Tan had been here that long. The two of us must've been staring at one another a lot longer than I'd realized. I glanced at the witch in question, and he was staring at me with an expression of surprise as well. Apparently, neither of us had realized just how long we'd been caught in a stare-off of sorts.

Not knowing how… strange I was feeling, Roman asked Tan, "So does this mean you're on board? I've been asking Garrick to get some help for weeks."

Tan bit his lip, and I glared because that shouldn't look as appealing as it did. The little pretty glared right back, then turned to my best friend with a bright smile. It made me growl a little under my breath because he should be smiling at me, not Roman. Instead, I was getting his glares. I scowled.

Rome sent me a quick look but focused on Tan when the witch spoke. "I can help you, yes. But I need both of you to remember that I have a full-time job already that I'm not willing to give up or slack off on. I've been helping Remi build the business since we were stuck in one tiny shared office space twenty years ago. I won't let this interfere."

Roman grinned. "Great. And don't worry, we'll figure it out. Can you work remotely?"

Tan nodded. "Most of the time, yes."

"Would you mind doing that for the next four months or so?"

"Is that how long you'll need me?"

Roman turned to me and lifted a brow in question, so I turned back to my witch with a nod. "About that long, yes."

He tilted his head to the side. "How do you know you'll only need extra help for four months? Do you think the assassins will simply stop coming for you?"

I grimaced. "Not exactly."

He waited a few seconds, and when I said nothing else, his nostrils flared in obvious annoyance. "You're gonna have to give me more than that, Gar-Bear. If I'm helping you, if you're taking me away from my home and my work, then you're going to have to be honest with me. And if you want me to install more security than you already have, it'd be nice to know exactly what we're dealing with so I can ensure your safety."

Roman and I shared a look—I could tell he was amused by Tan's Gar-Bear nickname—and he nodded at me in encouragement. I blew out a breath, annoyed even though, deep down, I maybe knew he was right—Tan was the only one we could bring into this, and he needed to know… some things. I just… didn't want Tan involved in this. The little pretty didn't need the trouble.

But… he truly was the only other person I trusted enough to help me, and we really did need the help and his expertise.

So, with a huff, I said, "There's a… magical artifact here that becomes active once every five years. It's nearly to that point now. In fact, in about a month or so, it should become active for a few months, which is the perfect time for my… enemies to come for it. Once it's no longer active, the assassins will slow down."

Tan lifted a brow. "But not stop entirely?"

I didn't know how to answer that, but luckily, Roman spoke for me. "Unfortunately, Garrick seems to be ripe for the pickings all the time, but he's right in that they always slow down in between the artifact's active periods."

Tan's eyes never left mine, but when he spoke, I knew it was to Roman. "I don't suppose you two will tell me what it is you're protecting?"

"Not at the moment, no."

"Or who you're protecting it from?"

I tried to hide my grimace, but it came anyway. Luckily, Roman answered again, repeating, "Not at the moment, no."

Since I was staring right back at the little pretty, I saw his eyes narrow at Roman's words. He was not happy with us, and I couldn't say I blamed him. I wouldn't be happy with the little information we were giving him if I were him, but… that didn't mean I'd tell him anything more either. It wasn't safe.

Tan sighed and rubbed his forehead. "I need to talk to Remi—"

"You can't tell him anything," I growled out, my dragon adding menace to the words.

Instead of being scared like everyone else was when I growled, all Tan did was lift a brow at me and slowly pull out his phone. "I have to tell him why I won't be at work tomorrow." I opened my mouth to argue, but he held up his hand, cutting me off before I even started. "I won't and will never reveal your secrets, Garrick. Not without your permission. I wouldn't do that to you. But I do need to let my boss know why the hell I'm not coming into the office for the next four months or however long. Not to mention why we can't carpool to work every morning like we usually do."

I opened my mouth to… say what? I didn't know. To complain, surely, because that damn wolf shifter didn't need to know anything about me. Or Tan. Definitely not about Tan. In fact, the wolf should move far, far, far away from my witch. There was no reason for him to—

Roman grabbed my forearm, cutting me off, and he shook his head, stopping me before I could get a word out. He murmured, "Stop while you're ahead, Your Majesty."

I snarled under my breath at him because he only called me that when he thought I was acting like a royal asshole. My nostrils flared with my anger and frustration. It wasn't my fault there was a damn wolf shifter around Tan all the time. They were together enough I could smell wolf on him every time I saw him. It made my dragon grumbly.

It made my dragon—it made me —want to wrap Tan in my arms and blanket him in my scent. I wanted him to roll around in it. I wanted him to—no. I couldn't keep going down that path. Not if I wanted to keep him safe.

Tan stared at me for a long moment before sliding his phone back into his pocket. "I'll talk to him tonight after I get home."

"Does that mean you'll help us?" Roman asked since I was still trying to hold in the smoke that wanted to escape my mouth.

Tan let out a long sigh. "Yes, I'll help you."

Roman's entire body sagged, and the relief coming from him was palpable. "Thank you so much, Tan. You have no idea how grateful I am for your help."

Tan was staring at him with a funny expression on his face, one I couldn't read, but all he said was, "You're welcome. Wanna show me the condo so I can see what I'm working with? I might have to grab some supplies from the office in the morning, but I should be able to add my magic to your wards once you let me in."

I sucked in a harsh breath. Tan wanted to add his magic to my wards? Add his magic to… my magic?

The thought of it was as thrilling as it was terrifying.

I shouldn't have been surprised. Of course he'd want to add his magic in. Of course he would.

But the last time I let someone do that, I…

I shook away those thoughts because that way lay to nothing but promises of pain.

Still, I felt my entire body tense at the thought of letting Tanyl into my space and letting him mess with my wards. The same wards that'd been keeping me safe for decades.

I just… I didn't know if I could handle that right now.

Of course I didn't believe that Tan would do anything to hurt me; otherwise, I never would've asked him to help us in the first place. But the scars of the past were trying to slither their way into my head, and I wasn't sure I'd be able to keep them at bay if Tan messed with my magic.

Roman took one look at me, and I knew he could read everything on my face because he turned to Tan and said, "How about we get started in the morning? I'll stay with Garrick tonight, and we can go through everything tomorrow when you get here. If you need to run out for supplies tomorrow, we'll figure it out."

Tan stared at him for a beat, then turned to me before looking back at Rome. "That's fine." To my surprise, his gaze found mine again. "I know you don't know me, Garrick, so this will probably sound like nothing but an empty promise. But I promise you that I'll be respectful of your wards, and I'll do everything in my power to keep you safe. Not only because keeping people safe is my job, but because I'd like to think that we're on our way to becoming friends."

He sent me a soft smile that was a little bit sad, then he gave me a nod and stood.

Roman seemed as shocked by Tan's statement as I was, but he shook it off faster than me and straightened, saying, "Thank you for this. We both truly appreciate it."

The witch glanced between us and pursed his lips, making a face that looked a little bit like disgust, but when he spoke, it was soft. "Keep him safe tonight. I'll see you both in the morning. Sweet dreams, Gar-Bear."

And then he was out of the room before I could get a word out.

Roman shut and locked the door behind him, then walked over to sit with me. I had a chair off to the side of my desk for Rome whenever he needed to sit and look at something with me on my laptop or just when we were talking and didn't want to shout at each other from across the room.

After a full minute of silence, he said, "I like him."

I couldn't stop the growl that escaped that time. I was too keyed up from being in the witch's presence for over an hour straight.

Luckily, all Roman did was laugh at me and punch my shoulder. "Chill out. You know I don't mean it like that."

I grumbled, and a little bit of smoke escaped my mouth and nose. Seeing it, Roman laughed at me, then stood, shaking his head.

"This is sure gonna be interesting, my friend," he said with a grin.

I grumbled a bit more, which only made him laugh harder, the ass.