Page 219 of The Protective Gryphen

The whole time, Ian faked sleep, muttering that he loved him, and then rolled over to wait and bide his time.

As soon as the door was closed, and he was sure Gryphen wasn’t coming back in, he was up.

Ian headed into the bathroom, grabbed a quick shower, and got dressed.

It wasn’t long before he heard the soft tapping on his door, signaling someone was there.

When he opened it, there stood Graham and a stranger.

“Here’s Neils. He’s Molly’s boyfriend, and he’s going to do your tattoo. You guys have to be quiet because Gryphen will be in the kitchen washing dishes in a few minutes.”

Oh, he could do that.

Honestly, he was grateful.

“Thank you so much,” he said to both men. “I appreciate you doing this last minute for me.”

The stranger shrugged.

“Aye, not a problem.”

Graham gave him the heads-up.

“I’ll go keep him busy until I can get him outside to do some wood. When you’re done, come find us, and I’ll know it’s safe to sneak Neils out of here.”

Oh, he would.

“Did we get much snow?” Ian asked before he could head away. He was curious if they’d be able to make it into the town to talk to people at the pub.

“No, it’s not bad. We’ll be plowed out this afternoon, and it will be business as usual.”

That was good because he wanted to hit that pub to ask some questions about Ceit, the ghost.

They could hear the echo of Gryphen whistling in the kitchen.

“Hurry,” Graham warned, and then closed the door to go keep a Marine busy.

When the man came in, he had a tablet, and he was ready to go.

“Graham said you want a name.”

He clarified.

“I kind of want a sentence.”

The man sat.

“Aye, that’s cool. Font?”

Ian had been thinking about this all night while he watched Gryphen sleep beside him. The whole time, the man had been holding his hand possessively.

It was another perfect moment.

“I want it to be something specific,” he said, showing him on his phone. He’d found a similar tattoo online, and he’d been researching when Gryphen slept.

“Is this possible?” he asked.

Neils checked it out.

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