Vacation || Beau + Adrian
bloodbound-bodyguard·:
He knew Rayne wasn’t a woman filled with reckless desires. She’d been alive for centuries, she’d made the world her bitch more times that Beau could count. That did not mean that he had to trust that she had not suddenly lost her mind and gone off the deep end. It also did not mean that he had to let her take his husband with her. He’d nearly lost him once before and he had vowed centuries ago to make sure that never happened. Beau would not live a life without his mate and thus his mate also had to remain living as well. So Beau’s faith in Rayne was minimal, not because he did not trust her or because he didn’t think she was capable, but because he had already had one scare when it came to his husband and did not want to experience again. He did not think he’d get so lucky this time.
Beau was a creature easily distracted when it came to his husband. There was a control the man had over him that no one else did. A simple touch and Beau’s mind could be put to ease. It was rare that it didn’t work but the moment he said something about a thrall everything else faded away. Beau froze in the others arms and his mind locked on to the single word. Thrall. Rayne was working with a thrall. “Is she mad?” he asked pulling away from the other man in order to turn and look at him. Beau had to have heard that wrong. They didn’t work with or create thralls. That wasn’t how they operated. Never, in all his centuries had any of them used a thrall. Perhaps Rayne had finally let old age rot her brain. “That’s not how we do things! We don’t use thralls to do our work. And in New Orleans of all places? This is suicide. You know it is.”
He’d expected this response. He thought thralls were annoying, a hindrance, a cheat. For Beau, though, they were against his moral code. He didn’t have many hard and fast rules, after this long of a life, but those he did had he didn’t break. “It’s not hers. She... inherited him, it seems. Or more accurately he sought out a new owner after his previous one perished. It’s... mercy. And opportunism. Apparently he’s not as useless as most of his kind and has some sort of plan or insight....” he shrugged. “She said she’d explain more once we were on the ground.” He hadn’t pressed as much as he should have. He’d always have a soft spot for Rayne.
He stepped close to his husband, sliding his hands along his hips. “Yes. In New Orleans. A place that should be under supernatural control. And beyond that, a true challenge. When was the last time we faced something that wasn’t an easy win?” It was hard to find new things to divert himself with, when he’d already done most everything. He craved this sort of distraction. It was a game to him, and one he excelled at. The danger just added flavor—there wasn’t much that could truly threaten him, not when he had Beau always at his side. “It will be exciting. A delightful change of pace. I’m not going to let Rayne have all the fun.” Nor was he going to let her go into this herself, in case it was as dangerous as Beau thought it might be.
