Blood Vow (Black Dagger Legacy #2)(30)

“After my discussions with Abalone, the First Advisor, I have come to that perhaps unmistakable, although uncomfortable, conclusion.”

Great. She had missed on the whole thing. But chances were good that none of whatever he’d said worked in her favor.

“Well, I don’t think I need to be sehcluded.” Elise crossed her arms over her chest. “I think that is a backward way of handling—”

“Which is why I believe a bodyguard is necessary if you’re going to continue to pursue your studies.”

Cue the screeching tires.

As she recoiled, her father nodded at Axwelle. “He is here applying for the position. He is a trainee in the Black Dagger Brotherhood’s program, and comes highly recommended by the King himself. There is another candidate coming in in an hour. A Novo, I believe the name was. He also comes with the very highest of accolades.”

Bodyguard?

As in this male would be guarding … her body?

Elise swiveled her head in Axwelle’s direction as the implications started to her occur to her—but then she snapped her attention back to her father.

“Wait … so if he’s with me, you’ll let me attend classes on campus and do my teacher’s assistant job? You’ll allow me to complete my degree?”

Her father cleared his throat. “That is correct.”

“You … I … we …” She stammered some more. “Father … what has changed your mind?”

Felixe closed his eyes and took a deep breath. “The First Advisor is a male of worth whom I respect greatly. He made me realize … if he can allow his blooded daughter into the training center program? I can most certainly permit you to—”

Elise burst up out of the chair and was around the desk in a heartbeat. In her family, physical displays of affection were eschewed in favor of formal interactions such as bows, curtsies, and the very infrequent air kiss on both cheeks. But it was impossible for her not to express herself.

As she threw her arms around her father, he stiffened even more than usual, although after a moment, he did reach up awkwardly and pat her on the arm. “That’s fine,” he said in a rough voice. “Yes. Fine. Indeed.”

He wasn’t dismissing her. On the contrary, she had the sense he was equally emotional—it was just they didn’t come from people who had any ability to handle intimacy. For the pair of them, this was the equivalent of embracing, holding on, and sobbing as she apologized for lying and violating his trust and he vowed to try to be the father she needed and deserved, as opposed to the repressive force she was coming to resent.

Straightening, Elise pulled her cashmere sweater down and glanced at Axwelle.

His yellow eyes were on her, his lids low, his expression remote. From her father’s perspective, he no doubt appeared to be intense in a professional way. But she knew better. There was fire in that stare, fire that would consume her.

If she let it.

“I think this is great idea,” she heard herself say. “The bodyguard thing.”

As Elise spoke, Axe shifted his eyes back to the female’s father. One guaranteed way to lose the job before he even got it? Undress the daughter in your mind right in front of the guy.

Even a poor kid like him knew that was “tacky.”

Plus, the truly odd thing, considering the way he typically related to members of the opposite sex, was that he felt as though pulling a leer was just plain wrong. The world was a dangerous place, and this female was extraordinary. Males, human or vampire, coveted things like her. And then there were the slayers.

She needed protection. Deserved it.

He was here in a professional capacity, and there was nothing professional about being the very thing he could be hired to keep her safe from.

“Okay, dear,” her father said as he shifted in his chair. Like he preferred her to go back around and be at an arm’s length. “All is well.”

And that was kind of sad—then again, he’d gotten his fill of parental rejection, hadn’t he. At least she didn’t seem to mind, though, as she returned to the chair beside him.

“Now, is there anything you should wish to ask of him, Elise?”

Axe felt her glance over, and damn it, he liked it. He wanted her eyes all over his face, his throat, his naked body. He wanted to be sprawled out in front of her on some bed … maybe the floor … fuck it, he’d lie flat on hot coals for her if that turned her on … and he wanted to have his hand on his cock as he looked in her eyes and begged her to ride him.

The submission fantasy, with him as the sub, was a new one for him, but what the hell.

It wasn’t like it was actually going to happen.

“Yes?” Axe prompted her.

“Um … so I go to SUNY Caldie. I attend class at night and I work with one of my professors as his assistant. Will you be able to … blend in?”

Axe could tell she thought the answer was no, but he wasn’t sure she exactly cared. Then again, she had narrowly missed being all but shut indoors for the rest of her life if a sehclusion petition had been filed.

If he were her, he’d take a hall pass to the university in any form it came: Santa Claus … asshole in a Batman suit … him.

“I will do whatever is necessary,” Axe said—and he directed the response to her sire. “I will be as visible or fade-to-black as required. I will not hesitate to use force, but I will not provoke the humans. And yes, I am prepared to take a bullet for her if I have to. Nothing scares me and I do not run—from anything. Even my own death.”