Wyvern Protection Unit - Chapter 99: Chapter 99

“You look good, Jenn,” he said. “I mean it. Um, yeah, sorry to bother you. I should be going.”
“Wait. Um, I have to go to the office tomorrow morning and well, I was wondering if you wanted to take a ride with me?”
What the hell kind of invite was that? Come with me to the office? She cringed at the idiocy, but then Zircon nodded, his grin having gone all crooked as he said yes.
“Sure, I can drive the new truck,” he told her, and she agreed.
“Great. I told the ladies I’d bring back more fries, so I appreciate the extra room,” she teased.
“I see you, baby, using me for my ride. Smooth, Dylluan, real smooth.”
He started to walk away, but before he left, Jennifer called his name one more time. He froze in his tracks, those wide shoulders tensed as he turned only his head to meet her steady stare. Fuck, but he had the most amazing body. All Shifters were fit, but no one filled out a t-shirt quite like Zircon. Muscles curved around every inch of his tall frame, but he managed to look friendly and nonthreatening somehow.
He was always the one she sent on assignments involving families or children simply because he was the least scary motherfucker of them all. But that did not make him any less threatening. She knew firsthand just how deadly he could be. Hadn’t he laid waste to all those who dared come after his brothers and their mates, and Jennifer too, during the battle with Cass Viper?
Heck yes, he had. Trained in several forms of martial arts and weaponry coupled with his Wyvern instincts and strength, to say he was lethal was a gross understatement. But what really made all the Wessex boys stand out from the others she worked with was one thing above all. Their moral code.
No one could force their ideals on this group of Shifters. They could not be bought or swayed, and anyone thinking of using force better think again because you fucked with one, you fucked with all. Some found that out the hard way. Bicker as they may amongst themselves, the WPU was united in the bonds of brotherhood. Their loyalty was what made her want to work with them to begin with.
An image of her friends and their mates flashed in her mind, and for a second, she imagined what it would be like if she’d let things run their course with Zircon. Jennifer suspected she might have made the worst mistake of her life pushing him away. But there was no way to change the past. Maybe, if she was lucky, he would want to be friends with her again.
She missed him so much. Tomorrow, he said he would go with her to the office, so maybe he missed her too. Olive branches were deceptive things. They looked weak and fragile, but they were strong and had the power to change whole lives.
Please give me a chance, she prayed.
“Thanks, Conny. I-I really appreciate it.”
“Anytime, Jenn. Anytime at all.”
By the time he broke eye contact, the hallway seemed about a tenth of its normal size. How did he even do that? Her heart thundered inside her chest till Jennifer thought she might be having an attack of some kind. She closed her eyes and tried to slow her breathing, but the air still scented of him, fresh, clean, and natural and she drank it in getting a natural high just from the second-hand contact.
“Are you watching that TV show with the others?” she asked his retreating back.
Once again, she must have shocked him cause he froze in his tracks.
“Uh, yeah. Jas is doing a Game Of Thrones marathon, only the horrific episodes.”
“Oh my gods, you mean like the episodes where that sadist George RR Martin kills everyone we love?”
“Yep, but it’s only cause Caro requested it. Being pregnant makes her bloodthirsty as fuck,” he said, and they both laughed.
“Cool,” she said, wondering how to finagle an invitation.
“Well, you coming?”
“Um, yeah, I’d like that.”
“Great. I have to grab the peanut M&Ms from the kitchen first, though.”
“Sweet. Those are my favorite,” she replied with a smile she couldn’t hide if she tried.
“I know.”
Zircon started walking once she caught up with him, but it was that whispered I know that had her tripping over her own feet. He reached out lightning quick with firm hands that steadied her, the grin on his face falling away. Every time he touched her, he lit fires where their skin met.
Sizzle. He makes my skin sizzle.
“Easy now, baby,” he murmured, those gorgeous eyes of his trained on her.
How was a girl supposed to think when a man looked at her with eyes like blue sea glass? Jennifer righted herself, cleared her throat, and tried to smile. Judging by the confused expression on Conny’s face, she doubted she’d succeeded.
Oh well.
“Thanks,” she murmured.
By the time they made it to the theater room, every nerve in her body was standing at attention. For some reason, he’d brushed past her a dozen times or more when he’d been gathering snacks from the kitchen. She was so frazzled she thought she might take off like a rocket if he so much as breathed her way again.
“Raise your hand if you want a snack pack,” Zircon yelled, and everyone clamored for him to toss them a goody bag.
He made good ones, too. Peanut M&Ms, pretzels, popcorn, gummy bears, and a half dozen other movie time favorites. He laughed and teased and tossed out bags of candy till he ran out, and she frowned. She forgot to ask for one.
“Here,” he murmured, pulling a yellow bag of her favorites from his pocket before snagging the seat next to her.
It was silly, she knew, but she couldn’t help but warm at knowing he’d saved that bag just for her. Jennifer opened it, all smiles, and offered him some before popping one into her mouth.
“What’s your favorite color?” she asked, smiling as she offered him more.
“I never really look,” he confessed, and she noted how beautiful his smile really was.
He had straight, white teeth, with full, even sized lips. They were soft and tender, she knew, and damn, but she wished she had the right to reach over and kiss them now. Wrong time, wrong place. Too many eyes were on them, and it wouldn’t be fair for her to do that.
She looked around, smiling at Aliza and Luna before turning back to her snack. Jasper was warning Ox and Xabat about interrupting the show with their incessant snarling and growls, and the others were getting comfy in their lounge chairs.
“Wow. You never look, huh? I like the blue ones,” she muttered.
“I know,” he said, and she felt her cheeks flame.
He was observant, she knew, but that he paid attention to something as small as her preferred M&M color did something funny inside Jennifer. Zircon handed her a soft drink, and she took it, popping the top and taking a sip. She hardly ever drank the stuff. But she did whenever she had popcorn and candy. He probably knew that, too.
Someone darkened the lights, and Jennifer sat back as the infamous Red Wedding episode began. But her mind wasn’t on the bloody, incestuous drama about to unfold before her. Oh, don’t get her wrong, She loved Game of Thrones and all its complicated plot twists and the detailed dirty gore.
But even the genius of the Jersey born author was no match for her own tempestuous thoughts. Her mind was firmly fixed on the one man in the world she should not be thinking about.
Zircon Wessex.
Truth was, he was a topic she’d avoided for so long, it was like second nature. But she couldn’t get away from it now. Not with his delicious crisp cool scent wafting into her nostrils, and the sound of his deep chuckle reaching her ears as he traded shots with one of his brothers.
Boys will be boys, and the brothers Wessex were no different from any other group of males she’d ever met. How incredible that they’d readily taken Medjed into their fold. Why the Egyptian Warrior Demigod Demon—whatever—fit into the fold just as comfortably as if he’d been born into it.
It was different when he was just Conny. The youngest of the four Wyvern Shifter brothers she handled for the DPCA. But he was Zircon, Prince of the Flamebound now, and boy, did that warp her perspective. He deserved better than a nobody like Jennifer. Especially someone with as many hangups as she had. But that didn’t mean she could just turn off the tide of emotions churning inside her.
It started the first time she saw him, but she’d managed to stave off the truth of her feelings for years. Jennifer hid behind her work and her role as their handler, using that excuse to ward him off. She never allowed herself to focus on him before, but now that she noticed him, she simply could not stop.
Images of the one night of passion they’d shared haunted her. He was so much better than she’d ever imagined. A talented, thorough, and completely selfless lover, Zircon had taken her to heights untold. But he was more than good in bed.
He was her best friend. Conny was in every one of her favorite memories. He’d always been there for her. Strong and silent, taking care of her, watching over her, even when she’d raged against it. He was there to offer counsel, to listen, to pick up the slack, and she never gave him any credit.
Zircon Wessex was the best man she knew. He took better care of her over the years that she knew him than anybody else ever had. And he’d loved her. Fuck, he really loved her. But she threw it away. Now he was offering her friendship, tentative at that, but what if she wanted more? Was it too late?