Sawyer
Eduard turned to face them. “You okay?”
“Can you help me up?”
“It’s early, my friend. Go back to sleep.”
“I will after I pee.”
Eduard chuckled and walked over to the bed. He leaned down and somehow managed to lift Sawyer out of the pile of bodies without jostling anyone else too much. They stood close together, pressed chest to chest until Sawyer stepped back nervously.
“How did you do that?”
“Super strength.”
Sawyer didn’t need to see Eduard’s face to know he was smirking. “Where’s the bathroom?”
Eduard took his hand and led him across the dark room. He flipped a switch and a strip of under-cabinet lights came on, giving the bathroom a soft glow.
“Thank you.”
Eduard nodded, then closed the door behind him as he left.
Sawyer did his business, then washed his hands and went back into the bedroom. He’d miscounted earlier. There’d been four men on the bed, with Andvari curled up on the other side of Henry, who was now in a Draco and Andvari sandwich. And damn was that hot.
“Like what you see?” Eduard whispered from behind him.
Sawyer held back a shriek, just barely, and whirled around to face him. Eduard was really close. Like, right there close. “And what if I say yes?”
“Then I say you have excellent taste. Our friends are incredibly handsome.”
“No kidding.”
“You should rejoin them,” Eduard said softly. “You need rest.”
“What about you?” Sawyer asked.
“I’m keeping watch.”
“Then I’ll keep watch with you.”
He followed Eduard back to the window and sat down on the window seat. It didn’t have a bunch of pillows or anything, but Sawyer could imagine that it would someday. “Oh my God. Where’s Pearl?”
Eduard smiled and gestured to the foot of the bed. His girl was laying across Henry’s feet and probably had been on his as well before he got up. She raised her head at the sound of her name.
“It’s okay, girl. Lay down.” She sighed and lowered her head again.
Sawyer looked out the window and down the hill to his house.
It seemed even smaller from up here. He hadn’t turned any lights off before they left earlier.
It was still lit up like he was home, sitting at the kitchen table.
Maybe his foster parents hadn’t really passed away, but were down there, making dinner and laughing over something or other that happened at their jobs that day.
Maybe his foster brothers hadn’t really moved away to start their own lives, but were home from college, bragging over their sports achievements and even over the girls they’d managed to charm.
“You okay?” Eduard asked.
“Just thinking,” Sawyer said. “A lot changed today, you know?”
“I can’t begin to imagine.”
“So, is it rude if I ask what you are? I mean, Henry is a seer and I heard Draco say that Andvari is a vampire. I’m wondering what you are.”
Eduard lifted Sawyer’s legs and sat down on the window seat before lowering Sawyer’s feet into his lap. “It’s not rude. Unusual, yes, but not rude. That question is usually answered once we reveal our clan name. You have much to learn about our world if you care to take part in it.”
“Yeah. I do.” Sawyer glanced over at the bed where Draco lay, then turned his attention back to Eduard.
“I am a griffin,” Eduard said.
Sawyer blinked, then blinked again. “Isn’t that like…. Eagle head and lion body, right?”
Eduard nodded.
“Whoa. I would never have thought griffins were real. I mean… I never thought any of this was real, but at least when you’re talking vampires and werewolves and guys who see the future or whatever… I’ve got pop culture references for them.”
Eduard smiled and laid his hand over Sawyer’s bare foot. “We are a quiet group and our primary talents lie in the protection of wealth.”
“Right, the money man. Isn’t that what Draco called you?”
“Yes. For many centuries, my clan has provided protection over the treasures of the wealthy, their gold and jewels, important documents. We were their bank vaults, to put it in modern terms.”
Sawyer nodded. “That’s cool. Sounds a bit like dragon lore, though. Don’t they protect their hoard up in their dark and gloomy cave while breathing fire at the poor villagers who dare to disturb them?”
Eduard smirked and began to rub his thumb along Sawyer’s ankle. He tried to hide his body’s instant reaction to the touch, but he couldn’t stop the shiver that ran through him. Eduard didn’t comment, simply continued the soft movement against his skin.
“Dragons do have their treasure but it is a bit more mercurial. Don’t tell Draco I told you this, as he would likely remove my head from my neck, but they are a bit of a magpie group.
You never know what will catch their eye, but once they have seen what they want, they claim it as theirs and guard it fiercely. ”
There was weight behind Eduard’s words and half of Sawyer hoped it meant that Draco had claimed him, that Draco treasured him.
But he knew better. Draco had kept a very firm line between them, and at least now Sawyer understood why.
The most he could hope for was for the guards to wait here for this mysterious Chosen One to arrive.
And since Henry had seen the house here, had gone to all the trouble of actually having it built…
maybe he wouldn’t lose Draco at all. He’d still be right next door.
“So you just… what… keep the Chosen One’s money?”
Eduard smiled. “Something like that. Each clan provides an offering each year to the Chosen One. A tithe, if you will. My clan has been responsible for growing that investment over the centuries. Our goal has always been the same. Provide for the needs and protection of the Chosen One and his guardians. Financial needs fall under that equation, especially as a griffin has always been called as one of the guardians.”
“Makes sense,” Sawyer said. “So this Chosen One, he or she is some kind of… what? I mean, chimera is the word that pops to mind, but I’ve probably read way too many fantasy novels and have it all wrong. Some sort of magical combination of all of you or something?”
“That is one question I cannot answer. All the prophecy told was of a very powerful person who would come at a time of need to unite the clans.”
“Hmm. How many clans are there exactly?” Sawyer asked.
“There are many clans, but generally we are broken down into eight.”
Sawyer glanced back over toward the bed and the sleeping men. “So, Henry’s pack is part of a clan?”
“Yes and no. The Jerrick pack is well known and respected, but they aren’t considered shifter…
I hesitate to use the word royalty, but it is close.
As I’m sure you can imagine, clan size has grown considerably since the original prophecy.
The Chosen One and their guardians can come from anywhere, and have, on occasion as witnessed by our Henry, but the majority have come from the descendants of the original guardians. ”
“Sorry to bug you with so many questions,” Sawyer said. “I can shut up if you want.”
“It’s fine. I find myself intrigued by you and by your role in our future.
A null, one who can assist Henry through his visions.
I had worried. They are very draining for him, and extremely painful.
But you helped him tonight, and that gives me hope.
You were where you were meant to be, young Sawyer. ”
Sawyer snorted and pulled his leg out of Eduard’s grip. “Right.”
“I’m sorry. Have I said something wrong?”
“No, not at all.” Just another case of him being treated like a child.
He was even being petted soothingly like he was a toddler who needed comforting.
“I’m going to go downstairs and see if I can find something to eat.
I rushed through dinner because I wanted to come over here and meet the new neighbors and now I’m really hungry. ”
“We…actually, we have little food in the house,” Eduard said softly. “Perhaps I can order—”
“Yeah, no one’s going to deliver at this time of night.
I’ll just head home. It’s fine.” He made it down the stairs and to the front door before Eduard appeared again.
His hand pressed against the wood, preventing Sawyer from opening it.
Before he could snarl out a demand to move, Eduard had stepped closer and cupped his hand around Sawyer’s cheek.
“I didn’t mean to upset you. Please tell me what I did.”
Sawyer looked up at him, unable to see a hint of anything but regret in Eduard’s gaze. “I hate being treated like a child. I’m a grown man, weeks away from having a master’s degree, and yet you and Draco both treat me like I can’t even take care of myself.”
“I see. When I called you young Sawyer, yes?”
Sawyer scowled. “Yeah. That. And you were petting me like I was a toddler needing to be soothed back to sleep. I mean, for a minute there… but yeah, I’m not a child. Let’s just leave it at that.”
Eduard’s thumb moved in that slow rhythmic way again, this time against Sawyer’s cheek. “I don’t think you’re a child, Sawyer. But you are young. Much younger than me.”
“Yeah? Really. What are you? Thirty, maybe?”
Eduard grinned and moved his hand slightly. He ran his thumb gently over Sawyer’s lower lip. “Closer to a hundred and thirty, if I’m honest.”
Sawyer blinked. Then gasped. His mouth fell open and Eduard’s thumb slipped inside.
Eduard instantly reacted, a quick indrawn breath that Sawyer recognized.
Oh no, Eduard wasn’t thinking of him as a child at all.
He teased the tip of the digit with his tongue, then closed his lips around it.
Eduard gasped again, then stepped closer, his other hand moving from the door to Sawyer’s back.
“I take it my age doesn’t bother you? Much like yours doesn’t bother me. I find you fascinating. Delightful. Beautiful. Your eyes are the most stunning thing I’ve ever seen. I want to see how many colors I can find in them. Greens and blues and grays.”
Sawyer stepped closer, let Eduard’s thumb slip from his mouth.
He was drawn to Eduard as well. Had been from the moment he’d appeared earlier in front of them with his daggers ready to guard and protect.
It had caused something in Sawyer to light up then, and it hadn’t hurt that it had triggered a protective response in Draco as well.
No, Sawyer didn’t consider himself a damsel in distress, but there was something about being safe and secure that always tripped a few triggers for him.
It probably had to do with his past, with a childhood spent alone until he’d been placed with his foster parents. They’d helped him become the man he was now, but there’d been a few bumps along the way.
“I can’t believe you’re over a century old,” Sawyer said. “I bet you have a lot of experience, huh?” He inched closer until he was pressed against Eduard from chest to hip.
“I do.” The words were whispered against Sawyer’s, barely there.
“Why am I so drawn to you? This is… not what I thought would happen.”
Eduard sighed and stepped back. “And that is why I need to step away now. Your dragon will not be pleased that I have taken such liberties with you.”
Sawyer frowned again. “I’m not some shy maiden in a regency novel, you know, and my dragon as you put it doesn’t give consent for me. I make decisions for myself.”
“I know. But you also don’t understand the world you’re stepping into or the significance of some of your actions. If I were to… challenge Draco’s hold on you, it would cause conflict among us. So I need to speak to him before I touch you further. It is the honorable thing to do.”
It really was. Sawyer knew that in the part of his head that wasn’t so into this moment.
But he’d never do anything to hurt Draco, so he took a step back and breathed deeply.
Then he leaned in and quickly pressed a kiss to Eduard’s cheek before turning back to the door.
“Turn the oven on for me. I’m bringing food from my house, okay? ”
Eduard nodded and opened the door for him. “Hurry back, Sawyer.”