Page 36 of Blood Red Rage

Viking’s eyes sharpened at the words, it wasn’t jealousy, but something colder, something calculating. And when he spoke again, the warmth slipped just enough to reveal the predator underneath.

“Tomorrow,” he said, “you won’t be alone.”

I stilled. “What does that mean?”

“It means I’m putting protection on you.”

I frowned, pushing up slightly on his chest. “Protection?”

“Yes.”

That single word came out like a locked door. My temper sparked. “I don’t need bodyguards.”

Viking didn’t blink. “You do.”

“No, I don’t.”

His fingers tightened around my waist, not painful, but warning. “Bryn.”

I sat up fully now, pulling the sheet with me, feeling exposed even though he’d already seen every inch of me in ways my brain still hadn’t caught up to.

“I’m not some helpless little girl,” I snapped. “I have lived in London my entire life without…”

“Without a target on your back,” he cut in, voice like stone and I froze.

Viking sat up as well, the sheet doing absolutely nothing to disguise the kind of body that belonged in battle and myth. His tattoos looked darker in the low light, like they weren’t just ink, but something woven into him.

He dragged a hand through his hair, jaw grinding like he was trying to stay patient.

“For the last time,” he said tightly, “you don’t understand what you are in my world.”

“I’m not in your world,” I shot back. “I’m in mine, and in mine, men don’t just assign… babysitters.”

His eyes flashed, fangs weren’t visible, but I felt them anyway, like he was holding them back with sheer will.

“They’re not babysitters.”

“Then what are they?” I demanded.

Viking leaned forward, forearms on his knees, staring at me like he was trying to carve the truth into my bones. “Changelings,” he said. “Two of them. They’ll guard you during the day.”

I blinked, processing. “Changelings? Like… fairytales?”

His mouth twitched once, not quite in amusement. More like disbelief that I was still arguing. “They’re real,” he said. “They can alter their scent, their voice. They can blend into crowds and become invisible to human eyes if they want. They are not Vampires, but they have our traits as they are created from us.”

My throat tightened. “That’s horrifying.”

“It’s effective.”

“And you’re just… casually assigning them to follow me around?”

“Yes.”

I stared at him, stunned, then snapped, “Absolutely not.”

Viking’s gaze hardened. “And at night,” he continued, tone turning more lethal, “if I’m away, you’ll have a vampire outside your door.”

My heart lurched. “No. No way. That is insane. I won’t be around any of them, what if they hurt me?”