Taking a sitting position, Nathaniel let himself get mauled by his two very excited pets. Andy was licking Nathaniel's nose and was trying to jump into him while Jaydon who was the most reserved of the two even let Nathaniel pet her before keeping her distance and was attacking his feets as a game. Laughing out loud, Nathaniel kept moving his feets to give her a moving target to attack while petting his crossbreed. He was gone only for a week and he was certain that Andy had gone bigger and taller.
"You got even more handsome good boy." He said, passing his hand in his fur.
Andy was looking more healthy than he was previously and Jaydon too, proof that the food he was giving them was working. He had followed the consign given by the veterinary consciously and while he was away, he had hired someone who was working with the veterinary often to feed others animals from the neighborhood while their owners were away. Feeling claws on his leg, Nathaniel laughed even more.
���Yes, you too got even more pretty, don't need to be jealous Jaydon."
"Well, that's a surprising sight for sure." Nathaniel heard a feminine voice behind him.
Nathaniel stops petting Andy and slowly turns around. Even if he was having fun, he always monitored his surroundings and someone who could sneak on him had some serious skills. The fact that he didn't realize that someone was so close to him was impressive and concerning at the same time. Seeing who it was, Nathaniel looked at the woman before looking at two persons a little away behind her.
Standing up, Andy and Jaydon realized that they were some people they didn't know and took a more prudent posture, watching the strangers with attention. The woman in question was wearing a short black dress with grey long heels. She was positively stunning and her attire was emphasizing that fact very clearly.
"Duchess, what are you doing here?" Nathaniel asked.
"Oh, not even saying hello? That's not very gentlemanly of you." She said, wrinkling her nose.
"I literally just came back home and I'm still jet lagged."
"Yes, from Miami right? You know it's strange, from the duration of your stay in that city, you almost seem to disappear from the surface of the Earth. From someone as recognizable as you, it's quite impressive." She made a cocky smile.
"I don't take kindly to be stalked, Duchess." Nathaniel said coldly, he was done being nice.
"Stalked is such an ugly word, you should see that as an interest. You can't imagine the numbers of people in my life who think or try to be interesting and fail. That's a compliment, really." She answers with a pacifying smile.
"I don't care, I'm going to ask you to leave my property now."
"What!?" She asked, looking rattled.
"I don't know what game you are playing or what your end plan is but I want nothing to do with it. Now leave, I'm done with you." Nathaniel said before turning his back on her.
"Stop right there! You don't get to talk to the Duchess like that!" One of her protectors shouted.
Nathaniel stopped. He didn't do it because he was told to but because he heard the distinct sound of a gun leaving it's holster. Since he didn't recognize the voice of the man who shouted at him, it wasn't the protector he talked to previously and drove him to the airport. He wasn't the only one who recognized the escalation of force as Andy started growling and moved slowly in the direction of the man who was aiming at Nathaniel.
Not being left out, Jaydon starts doing the same on the other side of him, showing him that these two were used to hunting together. It wasn't clear what triggered Andy's aggression, the fact that he recognized the movement as being aggressive or just the smell the man was emitting fuel by his anger but Andy clearly identified him as a threat.
"Get your wolf back right now!" Nathaniel heard.
"No. Andy here identified you as a threat against his family and that's going to end in one of these two ways. If you don't lower your gun right now, he's going to tear your throat apart. At that time, your only hope of survival will be to shoot him. If you choose that path, you will all die before you can fire a second shot."
Nathaniel's voice was poised, calm. There was no anger or rage that could be found in his voice or tone but everyone here could feel a danger they rarely felt in their life. The fact that he was still turning his back on them did not diminish the impending danger that they were feeling, at contrary, it was exacerbating it. Brunhilde in particular was looking at Nathaniel posture with attention and could notice that he looked like a predator ready to strike. The way that his hands were positioned, the contraction of his muscle, all were signs that he was seconds away from attacking and a trained fighter like her was good to notice those signs.
There was something inside her that was craving to see him act and show what he was really capable of. Was it worth it though? She was really confident in herself and even she wasn't sure that she could survive it, nothing to say about her two protectors. Was she willing to risk the lives of the two people that care for her since the time that she was born? The answer was clearly no and this is the main reason that made her move her arm in an indication to her protector to holster his gun.
"Good choice." Nathaniel nodded. "You have two minutes to exit the property before I call the cops. Andy, Jaydon, inside now."
Following his order, the two of them stop paying attention to the intruders and hurry to catch back to Nathaniel who had already opened the door using his key and pushing his travel back inside with his feet. Once Andy and Jaydon were inside, Nathaniel closed the door and swiftly typed the security code to the panel beside it. Flopping on the couch, Nathaniel lied down on it before closing his eyes. What he said earlier was true, he was still jet lagged and that wasn't surprising considering the amount of miles he ran in the last week.
The truth was that he was feeling tired and just needed his own bed for a while to feel at ease. Even if he had passed the last three days in a nice suite on top of a cruise ship, that wasn't without worry as they couldn't leave their reserve deck and had to take some precaution. He needed some off time just with his family to recharge his battery for a while. That fact that there was no security around the house was proof that his grandparents were back to the Hamptons and his mothers were still in the city working.
"Ouch! Andy!" Nathaniel shouted.
Andy wasn't satisfied to sit on the floor, had just jumped on Nathaniel's stomach and decided that it was more comfortable on top of him. Jaydon, not one to be left out, just jumped on top of the couch and found a good spot for her to be close enough to them while still keeping a safe distance. Ruffling Andy's fur, Nathaniel closed his eyes again.
"You did good to both of you, maybe I should start training you to bring you in the field…" Nathaniel said absentmindedly.
He was thinking about it and trying to figure out a way to train them when he fell asleep. He never noticed that the moment he fell asleep, Andy lifted his head from his chest and looked at Jaydon. Seemingly to understand what it meant, the sand cat changed position to have the front door in her line of sight, her eyes never closing completely, her posture alert ready to pounce at the first moment notice.
*****
"We are leaving." Brunhilde said to her protectors.
Not responding, her protectors just let her pass before following her to the car that was parked on the other side of the street. After they got in, the car started rolling without anything needed to be said.
"Do you think he would have really called the cops Duchess?" Herman asked while he was driving, throwing a quick look in his mirror.
"Yes. I can recognize someone trying to bluff and he wasn't doing it."
"What do you want us to do now?" He asked.
"Dig deeper, find where he was in the last three days. Something obviously upset him about it when I asked and I want to know what it is. Jorgen." Brunhild said before calling her second protector.
"Yes, Duchess?"
"This is the last time ever you will draw your gun without my tacit approval." She said in a light voice but there was no mistaking the steel hidden in her words.
"But Duchess, he was insulting and was being disrespectful toward you."
"That's for me to decide, not for you. This will be the last time that we talk about this or someone else will take your position."
"Understood Duchess, this will not happen again." He said quickly, his voice quivering at the end.
"Good." She nodded, satisfied.
The rest of the car ride passed in complete silence.