Chapter 7
Rayna
“I’m fine,” Rayna said for the hundredth time as Ash inspected her neck, while Victor stood beside her, glaring and shaking like he was moments away from shooting off the walls.
George, Monty, Victor, Ash, and River had come in after Dominic agreed to stay, and Rayna had barely been able to finish their introductions before Victor tugged her to the opposite corner of the room, instructing Ash to follow.
“Rayna, you promised to give me the signal,” he snarled again like a stuck record.
“There’s only very minor bruising,” Ash said, releasing her chin from the grasp of his fingers. “And considering she can speak and swallow, I wouldn’t say there was any serious damage.”
“See,” Rayna wanted to say, but knowing Victor was already standing on a fraying tightrope of parental wrath, she didn’t want to aggravate him further. He was rightfully worried and angry, even if she didn’t want to admit it. She really did test his patience sometimes.
“Your throat might feel sore tomorrow,” Ash explained. “But otherwise it should heal quickly. If it doesn’t, that’s when you tell me.”
Rayna nodded with an appreciative smile. “Thank you, Ash.”
Victor scrubbed a hand over his mouth and exhaled roughly. “Thank you.”
“Stop raising his blood pressure,” Ash said with a playful little smile.
“Stop telling him it’s because of me,” she grumbled as he walked towards the others where Monty was talking to Dominic.
“It is because of you,” Victor said. “It’s always because of you.”
She smiled sheepishly, guilt nipping at her ribs. “I’m sorry, V. I am, really.” She snaked her arms around his waist, and he squeezed her tightly to him. “I should have given the signal, but I wanted to give him a chance to let go first. If he hadn’t let go, I would have. I planned to.”
“Don’t ever do that again. Do you understand?”
“I won’t. I promise.”
Victor released a slow exhale, then pressed a long-second kiss to her hair. “Come on. If I keep thinking about what happened, my head’s going to explode.”
His head might’ve exploded, but if she thought about what he’d seen, her cheeks were going to fry off her bones. So, with one last cuddle, she headed with Victor to join the others.
“I heard my name,” she said when Monty mentioned something about her and George.
Monty looked across George, River, and Ash to her. “I was just telling Lord Norland that you and George recently stayed at the farmhouse with two other Studies.”
Rayna glanced at Dominic, ready to agree with Monty, but the moment she was captured by the marquess’s stare, the words vanished from the tip of her tongue.
There was a blaze of raw emotion coursing through his piercing irises that made the hairs on the back of her neck stand on end as if she were staring into the eyes of a raging predator.
His gaze snapped to Victor next to her and narrowed just a touch before latching on to her again with an irritated accusation that she couldn’t quite decipher.
Her brows dipped in question, but he swiftly moved his attention to Monty.
“The house sounds to be a decent residence,” he said coolly.
“Except there is one problem.” River became the subject of his murderous stare.
“My guardianship being in the hands of my kidnapper. For the sake of us both, I require someone else to be my Guardian.”
Rayna had had a feeling Dominic wasn’t going to like the idea of River as his Guardian, and while she didn’t exactly blame him, the threatening tone was unnecessary.
River shifted on his feet with a wince as Monty cleared his throat. “If you’d rather not have River as your Guardian,” the older man said, “then I’m sure we could arrange for George to stay with you instead.”
Dominic grunted. “Doesn’t the puppy need his own guardian?”
Rayna instantly bristled as that one nerve that so easily sent her anger spiking was pulled.
Oh, fuck no.
There was one thing she really couldn’t stand for. Never had, never would. And that was her family being insulted.
Why was he suddenly being so rude anyway?
“I’m not a puppy,” George bit out, his cheeks flushed red.
“If not George, then Zack,” Monty said calmly. “He’ll be back in a few days, so—”
“You will not keep me in here a day longer,” Dominic stated with a tone of unquestionable authority.
Then his eyes settled on her, glinting under the cool lighting.
Ah. So that’s what he wants.
His refusal to take either River, George, or Zack as his Guardian quickly made a lot of sense.
It was because he wanted her to be his Guardian.
Victor made his answer clear when he pulled her half behind him. “River, George, or Zack. Or we return you to your time today.”
Rayna stepped out from behind him, refusing to be shielded. In fact, she wanted to glare Dominic down. It was vexing how he was living up to his entitled, arrogant image when only minutes ago she’d thought his curiosity was cute. Asshole.
“I choose neither of the three, nor will I return.” His stubborn stare never left her, but his words were undoubtedly directed towards Victor.
“River, prepare for the marquess’ return this evening.”
Dominic’s eyes shot to Victor. “River will do no such thing.”
Victor jerked a step forward. “My word goes here, and River will do what I say.”
Dominic stood from the edge of the bed, his objective clear from his blown-up shoulders and tight fists. But Rayna was done with his shit-arse attitude and quickly pushed her way in front of Victor, bringing Dominic to a stop in front of her.
“That’s enough,” she snapped, icy irritation biting at her skin.
“You don’t get a bloody say in what goes on around here, and you sure as fuck don’t get to threaten anyone just to have your way.
” His eyes darkened, but she raised her chin undeterred.
“Instead of being a rude prick, if there’s something you want, ask for it. Clearly.”
The corner of his mouth lifted the slightest bit as he bent towards her, so damn smug that she was giving him an opening. “You will be my Guardian.”
That wasn’t a question.
Victor lurched to answer, but she beat him to it. “No.”
Dominic’s brows dropped in confusion as if he’d never heard the word before. “No?”
“No.”
A snort came from her left, but she didn’t need to follow Dominic’s furious scowl to know it had come from George.
“For what reason are you refusing?” Dominic growled.
She gave him a dismissive shrug. “Because I can.”
His jaw rolled slowly, and Rayna fought the tickling urge to smirk.
There was nothing he could say to counter that, and his dumb silence was music to her ears.
She cocked her head in a taunt. “I also don’t like your attitude, so maybe if you fix that up and apologise to these men, I’ll reconsider.”
“I have done nothing that requires an apology.”
She pointed to each man as she listed his transgressions. “You were dismissive of Monty, you threatened River, you insulted George, and you’re being unnecessarily aggressive towards Victor. But nothing they’ve said or done justifies the way you’re treating them. So apologise. Now.”
Dominic scrubbed a bandaged hand over his whiskered jaw and shuffled closer to her. “What link is there between my apology and your refusal to be my Guardian?”
She scrunched her face at his stupid question.
“You’re being rude to the people I work with and care about, and I can’t stand that.
So why would I agree to live with you and take care of you for possibly four months?
But, if you have the decency to apologise, then I’ll consider being your Guardian. ”
“No,” he declared after a few seconds. “There will be no pointless consideration. If I apologise, you will be my Guardian.”
“No,” Victor said.
“And no one will contend otherwise.”
“I already said no,” Victor said low and slow.
The two men had a stare-off, and Dominic might have had the taller, bulkier build, but Victor’s ice-blue eyes were deadly laser beams that burned like liquid nitrogen.
Rayna turned her back to Dominic. “V—”
“No, Rayna,” he said sternly.
“V.”
She wasn’t particularly eager about the idea of being Dominic’s Guardian, but if it saved everyone else from his unjust insolence, she’d take the job.
It was less about self-sacrifice and more about her stubbornness and determination to take on difficult cases.
Plus, she had said she wanted to work with the marquess when Victor had first told her and George about him.
Be careful what you wish for, Rayna.
Panic flickered through Victor’s eyes as he shook his head. “No, Rayna. Dammit, no.” He sounded more pleading than unbending. “You promised me!”
She smiled softly. “I didn’t promise you anything about this.”
His face twisted like he wanted to scream and pull his own hair out. “I won’t—no. You can’t. No, no. No.”
“I can do this.”
He shook his head rapidly, a stifled sound of frustration slipping out.
“Every time I think I might have changed my mind, she reminds me why I never want kids,” George muttered in the background.
Rayna threw him a glare. “Fuck off.”
He smirked and nodded his chin at Victor. “Look at how the vein in V’s forehead is ticking.”
Ash opened his mouth, and she immediately put up a finger in warning. “If you say ‘blood pressure,’ Ash, I’m going to knock you to the floor.”
Ash’s ruby-red eyes danced as he curled his smiling lips into his mouth.
“V,” Rayna said in his silence.
With a huff, Victor turned his head away. “Ask Monty,” he grumbled.
She raised her brows at the older man. “Monty, are you okay with this?”
Monty twiddled with his salt-and-pepper moustache before sighing. “Yes. I suppose I am.”
Satisfied with his response, she fortified her shoulders and swivelled to face Dominic.
“River, can you come here please?” she called.
The slim, awkward man slunk to her side in silent steps.
“You will apologise to everyone,” she then said to Dominic, “and I will be your Guardian. On the condition that River will work with us as an additional part-time Guardian, and if you so much as even speak badly about him let alone to him, you will be sent back to your time immediately. Do I make myself clear?”
He smiled at River, and it was anything but kind. “That shouldn’t be a problem as long as River is not under the same roof as us.”
River cleared his throat and looked between them. “Yeah, that—that’s fine.”
Hardly missing a beat, Dominic faced the others and bowed his head. “I sincerely apologise for my offensive actions,” he uttered before lifting his glimmering gaze to her. “Is that sufficient enough for you?”
A growl bubbled in her throat at his easy-going tone, but she gritted her teeth and gave him a single nod.
He spread his shoulders wide as his mouth quirked in a satisfied smirk. I won, he was declaring, and, fuck, did it piss her off.
She reacted to her ire and jabbed a finger into his chest. “Let’s get one thing straight, shall we, Dominic?
From here on out, you’re under my care, which means you will do what I say, when I say it, exactly as I tell you to.
And seeing as you wanted me to be your Guardian, you’ll do so without complaint. ”
His smirk widened into a toothy grin as he bent into her. “I have never taken orders from the King of Khaas himself, sweetheart. But there is a first time for everything, is there not?”
Outside the room
“Are you sure this is a good idea?” George asked once he, Victor, River, and Monty had stepped back out of Lord Norland’s quarantine room.
All four men watched through the observation screen as the marquess sat upon his bed with Rayna by his side while Ash prepared to sedate him one final time.
“He, uh…I think he likes her,” River added.
Victor sighed and pulled off his glasses to press his thumb and forefinger over his eyes.
“Think?” George echoed, throwing a hand out to the glass.
“It’s damn obvious that’s the only reason he wants her as his Guardian.
And I’m not saying he’s a threat to her, but he’s determined and bloody stubborn.
Even if Rayna stands her ground, it doesn’t seem clever to let them live together. Alone. For four months.”
There was a minute or two of silence as they all watched the marquess’s body fall limp as the sedative did its job.
“There’s no rule that says a Study can’t make advances on their Guardian.”
Victor, George, and River glanced at Monty when he spoke.
“We all saw that she wasn’t the instigator, so no rules were broken,” the older man added. “And no matter what happens, he will return when the project is complete.”
At that point, the clack of the metal door sounded, and River and George moved away to meet Ash and Rayna as they exited the room.
Victor held Monty’s concerned frown, knowing it reflected his own thoughts.
“There’s no certainty history won’t repeat itself,” Monty murmured.
Somewhere in his gut, Victor felt the weight of those words.
Knowing what it possibly meant for them all, he should have been keeping Lord Norland and Rayna apart…
So why wasn’t he?