Page 27 of Purple Protector

And sleeping with him in his nest. Aaron was eating his meals with Birch. He was watching TV with him. He spent time talking to him.

He was falling in love with him.

He wanted to stay with Birch. He knew it wasn’t reasonable and that, eventually, Birch would want his privacy back, but he wished it didn’t have to happen. He enjoyed staying with Birch, even beyond his feelings for the dragon. It made him feel safer and less lonely.

He forced himself to smile at Hedley. “I am, and he’s treating me well. I’m sure he, Marlin, and the others will find out what happened soon, though.”

Just not too soon.

BIRCH RESISTED THE urge to punch the wall. It would hurt because it was made of stone, and it would give the wrong impression. The king’s bodyguards didn’t lose control, and they didn’t punch walls, even though they wanted to because they were tempted to punch one of the guards working with them.

“What do you mean, no?” he asked through gritted teeth.

The guard exchanged a glance with the one standing next to them. “No one saw the dragon land, so no, we still can’t identify them.”

Birch pinched the bridge of his nose. He could feel Marlin standing next to him, but thankfully, his friend didn’t say anything and allowed Birch to take a deep breath.

The guard was still as nervous as before, but Birch felt slightly calmer. “So we’re sure the dragon belongs to our clan.”

Marlin cleared his throat. “We checked the video feeds for all entrances. No unknown dragon was seen or recorded entering the palace. That means it’s an inside job.”

It was what they’d suspected, but Birch supposed it was a good thing to have it confirmed. He just wished they had more.

They didn’t know who the dragon was. Marlin hadn’t gotten a good look at them, and Aaron had been unable to describe them. He’d even been terrified talking about what had happened when he’d been attacked, so Birch didn’t hold it against him.

They knew from what window the dragon had jumped, but not where they’d landed. No one had seen anything. No one had boasted about attacking Aaron. Whoever had done it wasn’t stupid, which meant that Birch couldn’t find them, which was annoying and terrifying. Birch was worried about Aaron. He needed to keep him safe, but how could he do that when he didn’t know who was trying to hurt him?

“All right,” Marlin said as he looked at the guards with a hard expression. “Everyone, you know what to do.”

“What good is it for us to talk to people again if no one’s seen anything?” one of the guards asked.

Birch glared at them. Did they really want him to start screaming? Because that was what was about to happen.

The guard next to the one who’d just spoken elbowed them in the ribs. The mouthy guard seemed to understand they’d done something wrong, but thankfully, Marlin intervened before Birch could explode. “You’ll talk to people until we find answers,” Marlin snapped. “Or do you not take our clan’s safety seriously?”

“The guy’s human.”

That was it. Birch was going to punch the asshole.

He took a step forward, but Marlin stopped him by moving faster. He loomed into the guard’s space, and Birch was smugly satisfied when the guard swallowed thickly.

“It doesn’t matter what species Aaron is. He’s a clan member, no matter what you think of that. He was welcomed in by our king and his consort. You’ll take Aaron’s safety seriously and treat him like you would treat any other clan member, or you won’t like the consequences. Understood?”

The guard quickly nodded and stepped back. When Marlin barked at all of them to leave, that guard was the first out the door. Birch watched them go, waiting until they were all gone to slump against the wall. He rubbed his forehead, wondering what else he could possibly do to protect Aaron.

“I know it’s pointless to tell you this, but you need to calm down,” Marlin said.

Birch glared at him. “How am I supposed to do that?”

“I don’t know, and I don’t think you’ll be able to. You want to protect Aaron.”

“We all do.” Well, except that one guard.

“We do, but not all of us are in love with him.”

Birch didn’t tell him to fuck off, even though he was tempted. What good would it do for him to deny his feelings when they were obvious to everyone? Yes, he was in love with Aaron, and it hadn’t gotten any better since Aaron had moved in with him. He wanted Aaron there all the time. He wanted them to share a nest for the rest of their lives. He wanted to come home to him at night and tell him about whatever stupid thing Killian had done. He wanted them to build a life, but it wouldn’t be possible if Aaron was in danger.

“I just don’t understand why he’d want to stay,” Birch admitted. “I mean, he was attacked. He’d never met dragons before, and even though he’s fascinated by us, he was put in danger by one of us.”

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