He dug his phone from his pocket and called Wyatt’s mate. He didn’t know what else to do. His options were running low, and he needed an outsider’s view.
Kennedy’s voice was husky when she answered. Griffin tried not to think too hard about what might have caused it.
“What do women like?” He asked, launching right into the conversation.
“Well, it changes from woman to woman. We aren’t a collective hive mind always preaching about self-care and high-heels.”
He growled, impatient.
On the other end, Kennedy groaned. “If it was me, I would like a cozy night in with lots of ice-cream and popcorn. I’m not sure what she likes, but you need to feed the woman, because the last time I saw her, she was wasting away.”
Griffin had noticed the same. He would hear Lilah’s stomach ferociously demand food, but she barely nibbled at her meals. Her waist was shrinking, and her face was becoming shadowed in ways that he hated. He wanted to help her, to ease her suffering, but he didn’t know where to start.
“Isn’t she your girlfriend?” Kennedy pushed. “Shouldn’t you already know these things?”
Griffin didn’t answer but hung up and jammed the phone back into his pocket. He stormed out the door, walking past the shade that was Lilah, and went straight for his truck.
He was going to do his damnedest to cheer Lilah up.
***
Lilah didn’t know what had gotten under Griffin’s skin, but she stepped back when he swept past her. Heat radiated off him and singed her sensitive skin. She reached for her own throat, pondering if she could create flame the same way before shutting down the thought.
She would never shift. It wasn’t going to happen. Her body would remain as it always had been, human and unchanging. Though, she’d already noticed the way her pants slipped off her hips. Her shirts hung a little looser, too. When she approached the mirror, she had to brighten the deep contours of her face with makeup to keep her reflection from looking too dead.
The curse would never let her go. It would work its way through Lilah until it ended her. She was convinced. One event after the other led her further and further into disaster. She often felt like she was walking through the different circles of hell.
Except when Griffin was around. It was strange to blame him for her condition and yet love his presence. He was a distraction that kept her from thinking about her pain. She often wished she had something to say to him, but embarrassment over what happened in the field would rise and she would scurry away.
It happened more than once. Lilah thought that she would eventually get over it, but her beast would growl at her every time she saw Griffin and she would be reminded of that day all over again.
While he was gone, she drifted around the house. Bumble watched her from his perch on the back of Griffin’s couch. She didn’t dare go near her cat for fear that the curse would take him away from her, too. She wouldn’t be able to recover from a pain like that.
An hour and a half later, the front door burst open. Griffin, face bent in determination, pushed through with his arms laden with grocery bags. Lilah watched him tote it all into the kitchen as if it weighed nothing. Compelled by curiosity, she followed him to watch him unpack pint after pint of ice-cream.
Another bag held nothing but cat toys. Another was filled with movies, from action to romantic. There was a bag filled with all sorts of plush blankets in shades of green and violet, and a bag of pillows to match. The last bag was different than the others and filled the air with the smell of spicy chicken.
Her stomach clenched and roared. Griffin’s head came up and he saw her standing in the door. Her instinct to run hit, but she managed to stay where she was if only by her grip on the door frame.
He pointed at her, face still holding that same look of determination. “We’re going to have a good night.”
He reached back and grabbed the bag that smelled of chicken and put it in her hands. “And you’re going to eat for once.”
She opened her mouth to argue, but her stomach answered for her. He gave her a knowing look that she tried to avoid by looking at the floor.
“Take it into the living room and put it on the coffee table. Make yourself comfortable and I’ll bring everything else out.”
Lilah gave Griffin a dubious look, but did as he told her, marching into the living room with three containers of chicken wings. Her heightened senses could pick up hints of honey, mustard, molasses, and hot peppers. Her beast greedily anticipated the meal, but Lilah wanted to push it all away.
Once upon a time, she’d been the kind of person to devour a pint of ice-cream in the blink of an eye. She enjoyed large stacks of pancakes all at once. This sudden change in appetite was in rebellion, but the longer she thought about it, the more she realized she was being foolish. It wasn’t like her hunger had actually changed. She’d always been hungry.
To blame the creature now living inside her for her hunger had been a foolish response. The beast agreed with a haughty hemp, feeling a victory on the way. But it never came because Lilah’s train of thought was derailed by the pulsing vibration of her phone. It danced over the coffee table as the screen flashed for attention.
Lilah snatched it, wondering who would possibly reach out to her. The curse had severed Lilah from the outside world time and time again. She didn’t have any real friends. All she had was…
Vivi.
The text message wasn’t text, but a photo. It showed Vivi standing outside Lilah’s last apartment with a confused look on her face. Moments later, a message appeared beneath the photo.
Where did you disappear to?
Vivi was back in town. That hadn’t taken long. Her baby sister must have flown through the little bit of money Lilah had saved. The photo showed heavy bags under Vivi’s eyes and nearly had Lilah texting her new address to her lost sister. Before she could compromise herself, Griffin appeared laden with blankets and movies.
Lilah laughed at him and tucked her phone into her pocket. She ignored the vibrations, got up and claimed some of the DVDs from Griffin, and set them on the coffee table.
“What is all this?”
“This is healing time,” Griffin declared. “I think.”
She raised a brow. “You think you can force healing in a single night? Just because my physical healing is overnight doesn’t mean my emotional healing will be just as quick.”
His shoulders dropped and a look of hopelessness overcame him, making him look very much like a puppy. Lilah rolled her eyes and took the blankets from him, too. Griffin was making an effort to help her. At every turn, he was there. She could at least let him go on with his wild ideas.
She needed a night away from her troubles. The nest of blankets was inviting, begging her to get lost in it’s fleece folds. No troubles, no curse, could find her inside all that plushness. The smell of food on the air convinced her. This night would be dedicated to forgetting about her new condition. She would spend the night not thinking about it at all.
So, she settled down into the blankets and beckoned Griffin to join her. His smile was wan, as if he was still thinking about her pain and how he couldn’t fix it, but he joined her, nonetheless. He took a moment to lay a blanket over her lap so she could see the cactus and llama print that decorated it.
“That proves you pay attention,” she said.
He beamed with pride. Lilah wanted to reach for him and pull him close. She wanted to know how those lips felt against her own, wanted to know how he might hold her. The beast agreed, rising with every ounce of pent up energy Lilah had been holding back. She dug her fingers into the blanket and fought back the urge.
Griffin watched her for a long moment. His eyes were unreadable. She couldn’t decipher what she saw in them and chose to turn away instead.
“So, what do you want to do first? This is your prescription. You tell me what to do.”
Griffin made a sound in the back of his thr
oat. It dragged her attention back to him and made her face warm. The look in his eyes had become heated. He held her gaze. The fire grew hotter and hotter. She thought she could see the same urges mirrored in his face that she’d felt only a moment ago.
As quickly as it rose, he shook his head and it was gone. He reached for two movies on the table. “We could watch an action movie or, uh, this.”
The second option featured a man and a woman leaning against each other, snarky grins on their faces. It was clearly a romantic kind of movie and it clearly made Griffin uncomfortable. As much as she would have liked to watch him squirm, Lilah picked the action movie. She preferred high stakes and lots of shirtless men, anyway. Griffin loaded the movie into the DVD player and returned to the couch to crack open the boxes of chicken wings.
“What? No whiskey to go with it?” Lilah teased, even though she craved alcohol to make this easier.
Each time Griffin moved, she was acutely aware of it. She was aware of the way his elbow rubbed hers. She could feel his gaze on her skin, even if she was looking away. Her body felt alive in his presence. She did her best to push it all away. This was no time for feelings, for urges, or for any kind of desire. It would only make her life muddier than it had been in the first place.
It would only open her to the curse once more.
Just as the movie menu appeared, the front door burst open. Lilah jumped, startled. Griffin leaned into her and slung his arm over her shoulder. For a moment, she stared at him in confusion, then she remembered she was still pretending to be his girlfriend.
Lilah expected Ashton to stroll into the room, but the scent that preceded the invader was completely unexpected. Jasper burst into the living room…and kept going. He paid them no attention as he made his way past them and into the hall.
She expected Griffin to get up and follow his king, but he stayed where he was with his arm around her. He tilted his head and met her questioning gaze.
“Don’t ask me,” he replied.
She thought he’d turn his attention back to Jasper, but his eyes dropped to her lips. Lilah realized just how close they were. All Griffin had to do was drop his head a little further. She could already feel his warm breath on her cheek. It cascaded down her neck and filled her with shivers. Her fingers curled into the blankets once more. Need flooded her core with molten heat.
Then, Jasper reappeared. He snarled and knocked over a bookshelf. Lilah jumped, heart racing. Her beast snarled fiercely. The creature didn’t care who Jasper was to them. All it knew was that he’d interrupted them and then threatened them.
Griffin squeezed her shoulder, and Lilah realized she was growling out loud. She swallowed back the sound, realizing that Jasper had narrowed his eyes at her. The molten gold gaze flicked to Griffin, and Jasper’s lips peeled back in a sneer.
“Where. Is. It?”
Griffin hugged her tighter. Lilah wasn’t sure if he was protecting her or keeping her from pouncing Jasper. Either way, she was grateful. Their king looked monstrous and fierce. His anger had eclipsed his humanity and brought the beast to the surface. All he needed to do was shift right then and there, and the whole house would come crumbling down on their heads.
Lilah would be defenseless. She couldn’t shift. Wouldn’t shift. She’d be trapped under the rubble. The curse would be one step closer to claiming her.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Griffin said. “Can you see yourself? Do you realize what kind of monster you look like?”
Jasper stormed forward. It looked like he was about to flip the coffee table at them, but before he could even reach for it, Griffin was there. Griffin grasped his cousin’s arms and pulled him off his feet, throwing him toward the door he’d entered.
“Get out,” Griffin growled. He placed himself between Lilah and Jasper. “It is not my turn to baby sit your useless ass. If you want to terrorize someone, how about you go look in a mirror?”
Jasper launched himself from the floor. He flew toward Griffin. Lilah thought they would fall back onto the coffee table and quickly reached to yank it out of the way. They collapsed onto empty floor, only clipping the corner of the table. When she pulled back, her hands were shaking. The beast inside her fought to break free, but Lilah knew she didn’t even have enough energy to shift, let alone fight.
She’d starved herself to the point of breaking and it rendered her useless. A small and pathetic whimper crawled up her throat. The dull sounds of flesh hitting flesh, of male grunts, filled the air. She felt helpless. Useless.
“Give me my whiskey!” Jasper roared.
Everyone else paused.
“I didn’t take your damn whiskey,” Griffin spat.
Atop him, Jasper paused. “Don’t lie to me. I need my whiskey.”
Griffin kicked Jasper off him. The king tumbled across the floor, landing on all fours like a cat. His gaze was hot. Not in the way Griffin’s had been before Jasper entered, but in a way that threatened to burn everything to the ground.
“I can’t stand this anymore,” Jasper said, low and guttural as if it pained him. “I can smell her everywhere. She’s on everything. But I. Can’t. Have. Her.”
His last words were howls. Lilah sank back into her blankets, pulling them up over her chin. She recalled what Griffin had told her after she’d been changed. The war that caused the attack the other day was all over Jasper and the mate who refused him. Now, she was seeing first hand how it was affecting their king.
“This is not the time to take my whiskey. I am doing my damn best to keep myself under control. Whoever thinks they’re doing me a service is digging themselves a grave.”
Griffin groaned. She could see his exhaustion in the flat expression on his face, the one that hid every ounce of joy he’d shown her. This was the life Griffin lived, the one he wanted to escape.
“Go ask Ashton,” Griffin told his king. “He and Makenna probably took it to the new house when they moved.”
Jasper’s eyes widened. He spun on his heel and raced toward the door, a man on a mission. Or, a monster on the hunt.
The only way to explain the look on Griffin’s face once they were alone was defeat. He dropped to his knees. She watched his clenched fists tremble and suspected he wanted to punch something. He could probably put a hole through the floor with ease.
It didn’t frighten Lilah. His anger wouldn’t turn toward her. The kind of man who bought ice-cream, blankets, and rom-coms wasn’t the kind of man to hit a woman. An idiotic cousin, yes, but never a woman.
Lilah gently pushed the coffee table, intending to put it back even though Griffin was still in the way. She prodded him in the shoulder with the table. His head snapped up. She laughed at him and pushed again. He narrowed his eyes at her. She raised a brow in challenge.
“I’d shove it and see if I could knock you over, but I don’t want the food to fall on the floor.”
“Is that the only reason you saved the table earlier?” he asked, a smirk taking over the corners of his mouth.
Lilah wanted that mouth. She wanted it on her, wanted to see it smile. Her stomach swooped in and saved her from her errant thoughts with a loud growl.
“Yes. I need food. I’m done starving myself.” To punctuate her point, she ripped away the plastic bag that surrounded the take-out containers and flicked the first one open.
The saucy, crispy wings released a cloud of mouth-watering scent that had her sliding onto the floor between the couch and table. She reached back, snatched a pillow, and tucked it behind her for support.
She patted the floor space beside her. “I’m going to eat these all by myself if you don’t join me.”
“Go ahead. They’re all yours.”
Griffin crawled on all fours around the table and into the narrow space between the table and couch. He filled every inch and more, making her breath catch in her throat. He watched her for a long moment, holding her gaze while he grinned. Lilah licked her lips.
&
nbsp; Then, he flopped onto the floor and reached to tear the lid off one of the take-out containers. He set it aside, for the wing remnants. They ate together, picking through the wings for their favorite shapes and the pockets where the sauce had pooled.
Her mind worked over the interaction. She replayed Jasper’s words while remembering the visceral devastation that overtook his face.
“Is that what it’s like?” She tossed down two bones from a flat wing. “To have a mate who doesn’t want you?”
Griffin felt her words like a punch. It hit harder than any blow Jasper could have dealt him. He stared at the door, where Jasper had gone, and did his best to organize his words.
“Jasper is…more dominant than most. His beast is stronger and a lot pushier. Everything he feels is dialed up to twenty.”
Beside him, Lilah kept working on the chicken wings. He was counting how many she’d gone through and eagerly pushing more in her direction. Her hands were still shaky, and he knew the gauntness of her cheeks wouldn’t go away immediately, but the desire to keep feeding her was still overwhelming.
“Ashton left his mate in Grove for years while he worked at Aurum headquarters. Neither of them realized what they were to each other at the time, but Ashton wasn’t drowning himself in liquor the whole time. I’m not….” He froze.
Lilah paused, casting a perplexed look in his direction. “I thought you said you’d never met your mate. Didn’t you once tell me you didn’t think there was one out there for you?”
“I was going to say I wouldn’t act that way if I were in his shoes. You didn’t let me finish.” Griffin was glad he could blame the beading sweat on his forehead on the hot wings. The lie had come quickly, but he wasn’t sure he’d delivered it with any kind of conviction.
Lilah seemed to take it at face value. She was more concerned with food at the moment. His arm laid across the couch cushions behind her. The urge to touch her hair made him tighten his hand into a fist, just to keep it still.
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