Christmas Griffin - Zoe Chant Page 0,60

keep an eye on your brothers,” he murmured back, closing his hand over hers reassuringly.

His comfort gave her the strength to stride into the room and greet the people she walked past. To her relief, the seats closest to the head of the table were already filled. She nodded to a couple of spare seats further down, sitting opposite her brothers. Far enough from the head of the table that they wouldn’t have to be part of any conversations up there, but not so far that her grandmother would peer down and demand to know what they were doing so far away. Her brothers waved her over.

Before they could sit down, however, her grandfather’s voice cut through the hum of conversation.

“Is that Delphine? Come down here and tell me what you’ve been doing with yourself, girl.”

Chapter Twenty-Six

Hardwick

Hardwick sensed rather than saw Delphine’s shoulders go up. Because they didn’t move. Because she’d been dealing with these people all her life, and must have learned long ago not to let her true feeling show.

He had braced himself as they entered the breakfast room, but there was no need. He felt stronger than he had the night before. Stronger than he had in months. Something Delphine had said—

Her words came back to him, wrapping around him like her embrace.

I want to protect you.

Nobody had ever wanted to protect him. Not since his parents passed. His gift, and the pain it brought with it, had been his alone to bear. He had thought that if he ever found his mate, it would be his job to be the sole provider, the protector, the one who defended her against every danger the world had to offer. The thought that she would want to protect him, too, had never occurred to him. And now the knowledge that Delphine wanted to look after him, to care for him, formed a shield around his heart. His griffin was content, despite the conversation around them.

Because the Belgraves were sure as hell playing the same social bullshit games they’d been on the night before.

Everyone had slept terribly or had some complaint or other about the hotel’s heating, cooling, the service of their staff, the noise from the street outside. It was all lies, and it all washed off his shield like water off a duck’s back. His griffin pecked half-heartedly at a few of them, and there was a dull ache in his head like something was getting through, but it was nowhere near the agony that had spiked through his skull the previous evening.

He remembered their conversation about his griffin’s sign language. She’d said it must make it harder to lie, but wasn’t that what she was doing right now? It didn’t make his head hurt, but it—

His griffin narrowed its eyes at him.

Of course. This wasn’t lying. It was self-defense.

Delphine gave him the strength to be here. In return, he would do whatever he could to get them through this day without her being hurt.

By anyone. Including her brothers.

Hardwick eyed each of Delphine’s relatives as they made their way to the head of the table. He nodded, and smiled, and muttered ‘Good morning’ and ‘Merry Christmas’ whenever anyone met his deceptively mild gaze.

Her aunts and uncles wouldn’t be out of place at a country club, he thought. At least not the sort he’d encountered while he was on the job. Wealthy, well-groomed, and completely assured of their own importance. Did they have country clubs in England? he wondered.

The younger generation looked to be going the same way. All polished, military-grade self-esteem. But…

His gaze lingered on one of Delphine’s cousins and her mate. Pebbles, he wanted to say her name was, though what the hell sort of Flintstones name was that? And her mate—something else beginning with P. The bird of paradise shifter.

Something niggled at the back of his mind. If he’d been at work, he would have followed it to its source, figured out what connection his subconscious was trying to make while his conscious mind was dreaming of painkillers and icepacks.

But he wasn’t at work. It was Christmas morning, he was on holiday, and right now his top priority was looking after his mate.

He stuck close to Delphine as she made her way to the head of the table. Anders and Vance tried to tag along behind them, but their grandmother waved the two of them away with an “I’ve seen enough of you two already. Go sit with your cousins.”

She waved Grizelda and Michael away, too