Page 1 of Helsing: Demon Slayer (The Dragon’s Paladins #1)

D ianne Markham halted as familiar raucous laughter bounced off the wide windows along the corridor around her.

Jasmyn and Tessa . For a moment she froze, her grip on the plastic cup filled with frozen rosé wine slipping a little.

What were they doing walking this way? The quickest path to their cabin was behind the bar area to the elevators next to the cafeteria.

Did they know she’d lied about going to the bathroom?

Dianne took a steadying breath. No. They hadn’t seen her circle around behind the bar and sneak among the rows of tables burgeoning with swimsuit-clad people eating deep-fried buffet food and drinking cocktails with lots of ice and cheap liquor.

She was sure of it. Not that it was hard to slip past the periphery of the crowded pool deck.

The cruise was almost over. Today was a sailing day, and the pool the most popular spot on the ship.

A shriek of merriment pierced her eardrum. Jasmyn’s hot-pink reflection swam across the window in front of her. The woman’s clothing was as loud as she was.

Dianne looked around frantically. What should she do? She’d never make it to the mid-ship elevators in time. Could she make it to the stairs?

Her gaze passed over the word library embossed on a plaque that she must have passed dozens of times over the past eight days.

Almost without thinking, she tugged the door next to the plaque open and slipped inside.

None of the handful of people scattered around the quiet room, reading or playing board games, looked her way.

Not even the massively muscular male sitting in the sunny corner wedged between the window and bookcase.

The paperback he held looked tiny in his paws.

Paws .

Yikes. What the hell was wrong with her?

He was just a guy. A guy that she kept noticing, over and over, on this cruise from the underworld.

A cruise with almost four thousand other passengers and crew members.

And yet he kept inserting himself into her line of sight.

He’d even brushed against her at check-in.

Then again, he towered over almost everyone with a vague sense of menace and an intensity that would have drawn her gaze regardless.

Dianne shook herself. She didn’t have to imagine that he had some demonic hold over her awareness. What she did or didn’t think of this beast of a man was on her, not him. It wasn’t his fault that she’d dashed into the library looking for sanctuary.

A muffled peal of laughter filtered through the glass door behind her, sending Dianne’s heart racing and her feet scurrying to the farthest corner. Where The Beast squeezed in at the too-small table like a linebacker trying to attend tea with dolls.

Pulling out a chair, she dropped into it and bent over her tote bag to tug out the large silky wrap that she’d just bought at the souvenir table set up on the pool deck.

None of her friends had seen it. It looked like something her mom would wear, with its large red-and-white hibiscus petals nestled against a royal-blue background.

Across from her, the clean scent of the sea mixed with something warmer seemed to cocoon the hulking male figure, who now stared at her.

Even though her heart raced at being so close to The Beast, she ignored it and his smell to wrap the fabric around her shoulders, the frosé still held in one hand.

A moment later, Jasmyn’s voice sliced through the serene air. “I could have sworn I saw her come in here.”

“Isn’t that her in the corner?” asked Tessa, whose quieter voice nevertheless carried in the small room bordered by a floor-to-ceiling window.

Dianne’s eyes widened before her gaze caught The Beast’s. Holy damn, he was attractive. She didn’t really take in individual features, simply fell into his hazel eyes under dark, straight brows. Her breath caught in her throat as inspiration hit her.

The Beast’s eyes narrowed a second before Dianne placed her free hand over his holding the book and leaned forward to kiss him.

He stiffened.

“Just go with it,” she murmured against his lips, although now her heart beat double time.

Was she scared of him—or of how he’d respond? No man had ever reacted like that when she made the first move. The Beast’s scent embraced Dianne, making her thoughts swoon and sending them into dizzying disarray.

And then he kissed her back, one hand skillfully threading its way through her hair to palm the back of her head as he deepened the kiss.

“Are you kidding?” scoffed Jasmyn’s voice across the room. “She swore off men, remember? Especially gym bros. Besides, she wouldn’t be caught dead in that wrap.”

Forgive me flashed Dianne silently to the other patrons. She sensed movement and heard a few annoyed murmurs.

Jasmyn, oblivious to the growing ill will at her disruption, continued. “C’mon. Let’s go back to the cabin. I’ve been saving some really potent shit. Gummies. You’ll love them. No Dianne means more for us.”

The library grew quiet moments later. Dianne continued to kiss The Beast, his soft beard brushing against her cheek.

He disengaged from her, however. She felt the disconnection from him as a loss even as his gaze mesmerized her. Flecks of gold danced against a green background rimmed in dark brown.

Dianne expelled a soft breath. Damn. That was the best kiss she’d had in years. Maybe ever ….

His hand holding her head slipped to the table between them. He pulled back. “They’re gone, you know. You don’t need to kiss this ‘gym bro’ any longer.”

“Thank you for playing along,” she said. A pang passed through her at her words. She ruthlessly squashed it.

He shrugged. “You expected me to, didn’t you? Wouldn’t want to disappoint.” Sarcasm sharpened the edge of his words. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’d like to read in peace. Don’t spill your drink as you leave. They frown on that in libraries.”

Shocked and strangely hurt, Dianne nodded. “Of course.” Gripping the handle of her tote, she stood before glancing at his book. She smiled, her sweetest, brightest smile. “But you might want to turn it around first. Then again, maybe you’re used to reading your spy thrillers upside down.”

With that, she spun on her heel and walked as gracefully as she could toward the door where she exited without a backward glance.

She felt The Beast’s frowning gaze on her the entire time.

Ryan Helsing watched the breathtakingly beautiful blonde glide away from him.

Damn! She caught him pretending to read.

What would she make of it? And why, oh why, had he kissed her?

She didn’t need him to participate to sell her little act, no matter how his weasel-self wanted to justify it.

He hadn’t needed to devour her like a beast, though Lord knew that Dianne Markham qualified as the Beauty.

Ryan compartmentalized his interaction with Dianne Markham. He knew that he needed to get his head in the game. Olivia Kastrioti had entrusted him with this mission. And he had never failed before. He had no intention of doing so now, no matter how her sister affected him.

He looked down at the book he held. It was the first thing he’d grabbed after ducking into the library to keep from being spotted. He’d never imagined that Dianne would have the same idea.

Ryan ran a hand down his face and slid the book back on the shelf next to him.

Clearly, he hadn’t been out among ordinary people in too long if the laughter, swimsuit-clad women, and freely flowing liquor lured him.

He’d willingly left that life behind when he accepted the Kastriotis’ job offer as head of their security team.

He hadn’t regretted it until now on this mission. With this particular package.

Sighing, he shoved back from his seat and stood.

He’d taken the seat in the farthest corner facing the door as his training had ingrained in him.

As if there was a real threat from the grannies playing poker at the next table or the drunken middle-aged couples lounging by the pool.

No wonder he wasn’t taking this assignment seriously.

Whatever had prompted Olivia to send him to shadow Dianne, it couldn’t merit the time of a former Army Ranger who now battled daemons and possessed humans called bogomili .

The kind of threat that never showed up on recon—until it already had its claws in someone.

Ryan left the library and headed for his cabin.

As much as he needed to relocate Dianne Markham and keep eyes on her, he also needed to keep his distance from her for a few hours.

She’d made him, even if she didn’t know it yet.

He had a slim hope that she’d chalk it up to the size of the ship, which after all, was smaller than her alma mater, the University of Massachusetts.

But if Markham had inherited even half the instincts and smarts that her older sister Olivia had, he knew she’d suspect him of something.

That was a big if in his book.

Olivia had become a badass covert operative. Her little sister? She didn’t look like someone who’d ever faced down real danger. But that kiss? That was another story.

As the elevator to his deck slid to a stop, Ryan called up details from the file on Markham that Miles Baxter, the operations chief for Kastrioti Security, had provided him.

Twenty-nine. Never married. Social-media-marketing consultant.

Entrepreneur. Inveterate party girl at night, girl boss by day.

Large, boisterous group of college friends, with whom she often spent weekends, whether at clubs or dining out.

String of boyfriends and casual hookups, though she’d recently gotten rid of her dating apps and scrubbed her social-media profile in a vain attempt to cleanse her image.

Nothing really disappears on the Internet.