“I was warned there was a hit out on you. I started for the Market and then I heard you screaming…” He stopped for a moment and Bobbi saw his jaw clench and big hands curl into fists. “Those bastards…did they hurt you, Bobbi? Please, you have to tell me,” he begged hoarsely.
“Not as much as you hurt them,” she whispered, and wondered again if she ought to talk about the thing in the alley. The thing which seemed to speak from his mouth sometimes, when he was feeling especially possessive of her.
“Just tell me,” he repeated and his bronze eyes were anguished. “I heard some of what they were talking about. They didn’t—”
“No, they didn’t,” Bobbi assured him quickly. “But that’s the second time in two weeks I was nearly…” She cleared her throat. “Nearly raped and/or killed. Dragon, did it ever occur to you that you’re living in a society that’s toxic for women?”
“I can’t help where I live,” he said roughly. “But I can swear to protect you from now on.” He cupped her cheek in one palm and looked earnestly into her eyes. “I vow to you here and now, Bobbi, I’m going to take steps to be damn sure no male other than me ever comes near you again.”
She shook her head, bewildered.
“I don’t understand—how?”
“You’ll see.” There was a grim look on his face as he pulled his hand away. “Are you all right in the tub? I need to take a shower.” He looked down at the green Saurian blood splattering the front of his tattered clothes with obvious disgust.
“I’m fine,” Bobbi assured him. “I love taking hot baths—especially when it’s so chilly.”
He frowned.
“I need to give you more of my blood again. You’re chilled to the bone from being outside the compound. Well, don’t worry—you aren’t going out again.”
“What?” But, Dragon, I liked going out!” Bobbi protested. “I mean, until I was attacked. But up until then, I was learning so much! All about bartering and making deals and—”
“And wandering out of the Market where you were fair game for any bastard who happened by,” he growled.
“But they didn’t just ‘happen by’—they were out to get me because someone sent them,” Bobbi protested. “One of them said that someone wanted me ‘disappeared’ specifically because I’m with you.” She looked at him more closely. “Did you really say that someone put a ‘hit’ out on me?”
“Yes, they did and I think I know who,” Dragon growled.
“It had to be Zerlix, right?” Bobbi asked. “He’s decided that if he can’t have me, neither can you.”
Dragon looked like he was going to agree, then a look of doubt passed through his bronze eyes.
“That’s my first thought,” he admitted. “And he’s probably the culprit.”
“Only probably?” Bobbi asked anxiously. “Who else could it be?”
But the big Kindred only shook his head. He had been crouched by the soaking tub, talking to her, but now he rose to his full height so that he towered over her.
“Gonna take that shower now,” he told her as he began stripping. Bobbi noticed he took a flat packet out of his shredded shirt and laid it carefully on the bathroom countertop before balling the ruined garment up and tossing it away. “I want both of us to be clean and fresh when I do what I have to do,” he said.
“What?” Bobbi asked him. “What are you talking about? What do you have to do, Dragon?”
But the big Kindred only shook his head and stepped into the shower stall.
It appeared that she would have to wait to find out the meaning of his cryptic statement.
48
“You need to what?” Bobbi asked, as she looked up at the big Kindred.
“I need to Mark you.” His deep, rumbling voice was patient but firm—as though he was determined not to be put off. “That way other males will know to leave you alone—they won’t come anywhere near you, in fact.”
“Mark me how, though?” Bobbi asked.
Both of them were clean, with no more Saurian blood anywhere. Dragon had gotten her out of the tub and wrapped her in drying sheets after wrapping a sheet around his own trim waist. Then he had carried her to the couch—which was much softer now, since he had added actual cushions at Bobbi’s request. Now he was sitting across from her, looking seriously into her eyes and telling her that he had to “Mark” her somehow to keep other men away, but she had no idea what he was talking about.
“I need to rub my scent all over you,” Dragon explained. “Saurians might not have much in the way of noses, but they have a keen sense of smell.” His voice dropped to a low, possessive growl. “I want to make it undeniably clear that you’re mine and any male who dares to lay a finger on you is dead.”