Page 20 of The Protective Gryphen

Scotland

Ravensmire

Four P.M.

The dream that was plaguing Gryphen was something that he would never forget. The whole time that he was trapped in it, he was searching for Ian. Somehow, he’d managed to lose the man, and for the few hours that he was asleep, he was on the hunt.

A few times, he woke up, opened his eyes, and looked over just to make sure that he was still there.

Thankfully, he was.

Had he not been then someone would have been in trouble. After all, he had warned him to make sure he stayed close until Gryphen had the chance to do some recon.

This time, when he rolled to his back and stretched, his hand touched absolute nothingness.

And his body shot upright in bed.

Scanning the room, it was his worst-case scenario.

Ian was gone.

His side of the bed was empty, and instead of listening to him, the man had left his side.

Immediately, Gryphen’s heart began pounding in his chest as a million fears rocked through him.

It was when he heard the door creaking open that he saw that his dreams hadn’t come true.

He wasn’t gone.

Gryphen almost wanted to weep in gratitude.

“God. This place is huge,” Ian said, walking into the room with two cups of coffee on a tray. “The kitchen has so much food in it. I hope you’re hungry. Someone’s going to be cooking for us.”

Gryphen tracked him across the room, and when he put the tray down right next to Gryphen’s side of the bed, the man reached out and took what was his.

He grabbed Ian, pulling him back into the bed, making the man gasp.

Because of his speed and strength, Ian found himself pinned beneath the Marine in bed.

Then, Gryphen warned him.

“I don’t like waking up and not knowing where you are,” Gryphen muttered, his body trapping Ian so he couldn’t get lost.

So he couldn’t lose what he’d just been given.

LOVE.

At that moment, Ian’s heart began pounding in his chest.

“I only went for coffee,” he said, trying to soothe the savage beast. “You told me not to go outside. I found us caffeine.”

It wasn’t lost on Ian that this man was a beast that got him wild. There was something about his possessiveness and protectiveness that Ian hoped never went away.

God.

It was sexy.

Gryphen relaxed his hold on the man, and he was able to think again.

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