“Yes.”
“You probably need to find a fresh hiding place for it.”
“I will. Thank you for coming out, Sheriff.”
“Call my home number if you get scared and I’ll come out.”
“I could stay here with her,” JJ offered.
Another growl came from Viper. Was he okay? She didn’t want to ask in front of the others, but she noticed he made that sound a lot. Maybe he had a sore throat.
“I’ll be fine. If anything happens, I’ll call the sheriff’s office.”
“Good night, Callie, and make sure these men board everything up right.” With that, the sheriff and JJ left out of the balcony doors.
“I’ll bring my men up.”
“Thanks, Viper. I don’t know what I would have done if you hadn’t been here.”
Chapter 6
Viper was furious. A rogue Drakonian had come into Callie’s apartment touched her personal things and tried to mark his territory. Oh, he knew that was exactly what the asshole was doing. Evidently, the rogue did not know whose territory he was in, but he was about to find out.
After stomping down the stairs, he opened the door to find his three fellow enforcers Thorn, Markus, and Tidas waiting for him. “Did you bring everything with you?”
“Yes, even the security system equipment for tomorrow’s installation. King Reichardt already made an appointment with the security company for ten in the morning.”
“It’s a rogue Drakonian. I scented only one, but there could be more. We should not leave Callie alone. I’ll stay outside and watch over her until morning,” Viper told them.
Thorn growled a low tone. He used to be the general of the Drakonian army and helped train Viper to be the warrior he was. “Shouldn’t that be my decision?”
Viper stared him down, didn’t back away from the challenge. “This is my decision and if you have a problem with it, you can take it up with the king.”
An uncomfortable quietness settled in the room. Then Thorn nodded his agreement. “I’ll relieve you in the morning. We need to get his scent.”
“Upstairs, you won’t miss it. I don’t recognize it, so I don’t think it’s someone from this region.” Viper turned to head back upstairs.
Callie paced the living room nervously. She was more scared than she let on. The shotgun was lying on the coffee table.
“Callie, these are some of my people from the ranch. You know Markus but I’m not sure if you met the other two.”
She turned and gave a tentative smile. “Hi, Markus.”
“Callie, are you okay? Valorie wanted to come check on you, but I told her to stay home until we have your place secure. She plans on calling you later.”
“I’m fine. Viper took care of me.” She turned to the other two males. “I’m sorry I don’t remember meeting either of you before. I’m Caroline Aline Sinclair, call me Callie.” She reached out to shake their hands.
Viper growled at other males touching her. She was his. Again, his inner dragon was trying to claim Callie as his own.
Callie turned to him. “Are you okay? Does your throat hurt? You keep making strange growly sounds.”
Viper straightened his shoulders, feeling the others watching him. Tidas wore a damn smirk on his face. “I’m fine. This is Thorn, he’s the head of security at the ranch.”
“Nice to meet you, Thorn.” She shook his hand.
“And this is Tidas. He’s part of our security team at the ranch,” Viper told her.
“Why so many of you?” Callie asked.
“King R Ranch is enormous.”
“I suppose so,” Callie said, but she still looked unconvinced.
He needed to get things going. “If you’ll stay here, we’ll take care of the broken window first, then we’ll board up the balcony.”
“Okay. I really appreciate you all coming out here on short notice.”
“It’s our pleasure, ma’am,” Tidas said, daring to put his hand on her shoulder.
He had to fight the growl caught in his throat. “This way,” he gruffly said, shoving Tidas forward.
Thorn was already in the bedroom sniffing the air. “Definitely Drakonian and he was putting a claim on her.”
“He will not be claiming her,” Viper said with harsh tones that made all three men looked at him strangely.
“I don’t recognize the scent. He could be from another clan,” Tidas commented.
“All other clans know this territory is King Reichardt’s. Only Dyson or his rogues would dare poach,” Thorn said.
Tidas opened a drawer that had Callie’s panties and bra in it. He lifted a red lace pair, then dropped it back. “He’s touched her things.”
“I know and you need not do the same. He released his seed on the bed sheets. The sheriff is sending it to a lab for testing.”
Thorn snorted. “There won’t be a match. None of our people are in the human legal system.”
“Unless they’ve been stupid enough to get caught by the human authorities,” Tidas said.
“They wouldn’t have fingerprints to match,” Thorn reminded them.
“Regardless, Callie needs our protection.”
It took only a few minutes to clean up all the glass from the hardwood floor. The window was accessible from both the back balcony and from inside, so they boarded both sides. Satisfied with the temporary fix to the window, they left the bedroom and headed to the kitchen where the balcony doors were located.
Thorn inspected the handle. “Definitely a Drakonian. A human wouldn’t be able to break the lock without using something like a crowbar. There’s no damage to the outer casing of the door.”
“Yeah, he just gripped the handle and yanked it until it opened,” Viper agreed.
They quickly boarded up both sides, Tidas remaining outside to see if he could pick up the rogue’s scent trail.
“Why her? Why would a rogue risk coming after a human female?” Thorn asked.
“It could be part of Dyson’s breeding program.”
“But why come to Reichardt’s territory? Dyson
