“Did you see a petite blonde come out?”
“No, man. Not in the last few minutes.”
What was wrong with me? Was I imagining things?
“What the fuck’s wrong with you, man? You’re turning gray.”
My skin felt tight. When I glanced at my hand, it had darkened to a smoky hue.
What the fuck?
My hand trembled and I shoved it behind my back.
Struggling to speak in a calm tone, I replied. “Nothing, dude.” My voice sounded deeper. Odd.
I looked at the moon. “It’s probably just an effect of moonlight and shadows.”
Who was I trying to convince-them or me?
I ran from them, searching the streets for her, not having a clue where to look. My chest tightened with a certainty she was in trouble. “Allana!” I shouted. “A-lla-naaaa!”
Not a soul stirred in the empty streets between the warehouses, so my shouts landed with an empty thud. No reply.
My skin had returned to its normal tone and the tightness had disappeared, but a tingling still rippled beneath the surface. Had I imagined the color change? No, the guy had pointed it out, too.
Shit.
Swooping shadows from the corner of my eye made me turn. Three gray creatures with enormous wings landed beside me.
I stepped back, heart hammering like speed metal. “Holy fuck!”
The air shimmered as the creatures transformed into men. Danton stood in front. One had hair as long as Danton’s, but raven black. The other had black hair as well, just past his shoulders. All three were naked with wings surrounding them, almost doubling their size.
My mouth dropped open. “How? What?”
“These are my brothers.” He pointed to the one on his right. “Lucan.” And on his left. “Mattias.”
They both nodded in greeting.
Questions swirled like a witch’s potion. “How did you get them out of there?”
“Gargoyle magic. I cloaked them in shadows. Their shells remain in the club.”
Shells? No time to ask for an explanation. “She’s in trouble, Danton. I can feel it.”
“We felt your distress, and then heard your call for help.”
Once again, my brain screamed how.
I spun in a circle. “How can I help her if I can’t find her?”
“You need to let the panic go.” Danton stepped forward. “It’s clouding your thoughts. Let all the thoughts go from your mind and then reach out to her.”
He was right. Freaking out wouldn’t help anything. “I’ll try.”
When they transformed back into the gray, monstrous shapes, it challenged my resolve to calm down. “What are you doing?”
“We’re heading to the skies to look for her. Clear your mind, Mike. We will try to communicate through our thoughts.”
The gargoyles ascended, flapping into the air and then disappearing in the distance in the blanket of night.
Clear my mind? How the fuck after what I’d just seen? Still, I had to try for Allana. Racing thoughts slithered of what she could be suffering. Rape. Torture. Murder.
With a violent shake of the head, I shoved the horrible images away.
I paced in front of the brick building. “Focus, damn it. Focus!”
The urgency rendered me tense and unable to concentrate. What could I do?
I pictured Allana’s sweet face. Her voice came back to me. Inhale through your nose, exhale from your mouth.
In her yoga class, she had us focus on the breath. Breathe deep into your belly.
I tried the slow rhythmic breathing, focusing on the breath.
No, this is stupid. You’re wasting time.
After I’d freaked out from witnessing Danton’s gargoyle form, she’d led me through deep breathing. It had helped, so I forced myself to try it. The ritualistic breathing and her voice in my head soothed me, letting the panic dissipate. When my racing systems had slowed their drag race, I closed my eyes, reaching out to her in my mind.
The vision coming to me was filled with racing colors, as if speeding through a tunnel with lights trailing by. The movement slowed as an image came into view. She was lying on sand near the water. A beach. A woman lay on top of her, her face buried into Allana’s neck. While I saw this image from above, the image jolted. It shifted to one from her point of view.
It was Nike.
Nike had lulled her into a daze that left Allana feeling euphoric, but she was afraid. All the blood she was taking would kill her.
My veins turned to ice. She was in danger.
I struggled to remain calm enough to communicate.
Where are you?
Water.
The beach past the graveyard?
She didn’t respond. If she was at the beach nearby, she wasn’t far. I ran, but it was much faster than normal. Was this adrenaline or gargoyle blood?
The gargoyles. I had to tell them.
As I raced through the buildings down to the graveyard, I tried to connect to Danton, the same as I’d done with Allana. Check the beach past the graveyard.
The scent of the ocean intensified the closer I approached. When I reached the beach area, a freaking fence stopped me. Further down, there was a break to enter, but there was no time.
I ran up and leapt onto the fence, pulling myself up and over like I was some kind of superhero. No time to question it. I landed, scattering the sand with a whoosh. I scanned the shore for signs of movement.
Several hundred feet away, near the water’s edge was a silhouette. Focusing my vision, my eyes sharpened to distinguish the shape of figures lying down.
I sprinted at them, shouting, “Get off her!”
The auburn-haired woman, Nike, reared her head back and hissed. Her face appeared pale under the moonlight, and eyes shined far too brightly. Blood dripped from her fangs and down her chin.
She jumped up into a defensive position with claws raised as a threat. I lunged onto her to knock her down and away from Allana. We rolled down the beach, and she clawed me.
Sharp fangs bit into my shoulder and I bellowed from pain, throwing her off me with the strength of a lion. My voice sounded nothing like my own.
I scanned for where she’d landed, focusing on her crouched form. My vision sharpened, pinpointing her as a threat. My body vibrated with electric-like tingles and my muscles seemed to swell under my tightening skin. As I stormed my way over to her, fear flickered in her furious eyes. Yet, she still lunged at me.
I grabbed her by the arm, but the hand was not my own. It was massive and gray. And my grip was as hard as stone.
Chapter 17
Ally
With Nike finally off me, I tried to break through the cobwebs in my mind. Combined with the blood loss, it took all my strength to pull myself to a sitting position on the sand. My vision was still blurry.
Sounds of fighting surrounded me. Hissing, growling, roaring sounds, and blows being exchanged.
After blinking several times, my eyes finally focused on the scene there on the shore—something I never thought I’d see. Nike faced a beast, a massive gray creature.
A living gargoyle.
My pulse skyrocketed. I heaved in a breath, squeezing oxygen into my labored lungs.
“Allana,” the creature said in a deep voice that sounded more like a growl.
Oh my God, it was Mike! His voice was lower, but it was his. And his features. Yes, they were his. Distorted, but still recognizable.
Had he heard me when I called to him?
With him focused on me, Nike crept up on him.
“Look out!” I screamed.
He turned just before she reached him. He picked her up and hurled her at least thirty feet into the ocean.
I gasped. Holy freaking shit!
He stared at his arm as if he was amazed as I was?
“Mike. Is it really you?” I asked.
“Yes.” His gaze scanned his gray leathery body. “I don’t know how it happened, but it’s me.”
<
br /> When he glanced up, he fixed on something behind me. His wide eyes narrowed and nostrils flared.
“Hold on.” Mike took a defensive stance and raised massive fists that would probably break through concrete.
I turned over my shoulder. A four-legged animal bounded through the darkness of the beach toward us. Its teeth were bared and it appeared poised for attack. A strangled sound escaped me. I raised my arm to cover my neck.
Wait. It was a mountain lion. One I recognized—as strange as that sounded.
No, it wasn’t a threat. It was Lily!
I scrambled to force the pieces together in my foggy brain. She likely thought Mike was the threat and was coming to my aid. He thought she was a dangerous animal coming in to attack.
They were going to tear each other apart, thinking they were protecting me
Although I was woozy from the loss of blood, I summoned all my energy to stand.
On unsteady feet, I spread my arms wide. “No, Lily. Stop!”
Her legs slowed and she halted. She paced, keeping her gaze pinned on Mike.
“I know you’ve lost blood, Allana,” Mike said in a tone appropriate to calm someone freaking out, “But, that’s not Lily.” He kept his clawed fists raised as he eyed her. “It’s a damn mountain lion. I don’t know what the fuck it’s doing here on the New England coast, but it’s here.”
“It’s Lily,” I said. “She’s a shifter!”
Hearing me state those words could have convinced me I’d lost my damn mind. I still couldn’t believe what I’d seen, but if I forced myself to ignore her other side, I could lose her.
I faced Lily. Not the version I knew, but the four-legged, furry mountain lion that had made me question my grip on reality.
“Don’t attack him. It’s Mike. He’s protecting me from her.” In the near catastrophic altercation between Mike and Lily, I almost forgot about Nike. But, when I discerned her movement in the water, she was swimming to shore.
Probably pissed. And still dangerous.
Mike pulled his deadly gray stare from Lily to Nike. Lily turned her head in that direction as well. A shared enemy.
“Leave her be,” a French-accented man’s voice said from behind us, further on up the beach. “She’s not well.”
I turned to see an attractive man with sandy-brown hair whom I recognized from Vamps.
“Are you crazy?” Mike said. “She attacked my girl.” He gestured to me.
Warmth tingled inside me on hearing those words, even though they weren’t technically true.
Three creatures swooped in from above and I raised my arm, cowering. When I peeked out, they’d landed and stood beside the Frenchman.
Three gray creatures with enormous wings. They looked like Mike. I must have been hallucinating and fallen into one of Mike’s fantasy worlds, different than the one I thought I lived in, because what I witnessed was certainly not the one I knew.
The energy I’d expended had weakened me. Woozy from blood loss, I fell to my knees. Mike ran to my side and cradled me to his gray chest. It felt leathery.
“Allana.”
“They have wings,” I whispered. “You don’t?”
Through narrowing vision, I saw one of the gargoyles approach the man. “You must take her away from people, Michel. She’s becoming too dangerous.”
“We’ve searched the world for answers,” the Frenchman, Michel, shouted. “There are none.”
“Keep searching,” the gargoyle commanded. “Or bring her fully over.”
“Never!”
My eyes drooped closed while I listened. “She cannot continue to exist this way, trapped between two worlds.”
“I’ve been taking care of her, Danton,” Michel said in a defensive tone. “You know that to be true.”
“I do. And you’ve done more for her than anyone ever could. But, she no longer has control.”
I struggled to open my eyes. Nike had almost reached the shore. Pure venom spewed from her eyes, fixed on Mike.
I whispered, “Be careful. Then, darkness dragged me under.
* * *
When I awoke, I recognized the distinctive fantasy prints on the wall—Mike’s bedroom.
I tried to piece together the events to follow what happened. A madwoman attacked me to drink my blood, Mike had changed into a gargoyle, and Lily had transformed into a mountain lion. There were other gargoyles. Things like this didn’t happen to normal people. It was enough to make me want to close my eyes and sleep for a hundred years.
The urge to go to the bathroom forced me to deal with reality. When I caught sight of my face in the mirror, I stopped. Damn, I was pale. I examined the piercings on my neck, bracing myself for the gruesome wounds, but they were barely visible. The raised bumps were there, but most of the redness had faded.
What an insane night. More to process than I probably could in one morning.
When I returned to the bedroom, Mike stood by the bed.
“I heard you moving around. How are you feeling?”
“Like I’m having a hangover after binge drinking at a frat party,” I forced a smile. “Why am I here?”
Mike’s expression appeared sheepish. “I hope you’re not angry, but I insisted I bring you back here, so I could watch over you.”
“Of course not. Thanks for taking care of me.” I shook my head, remembering last night, if it even was only last night and not months ago. “Things are kind of blurry, but let me get this straight—that woman bit me and drank my blood?”
Mike’s face turned grim. “Yes,” he said through gritted teeth. “She’s been taken care of.”
I straightened. “Taken care of, how? Killed?”
“No. The gargoyles subdued her and locked her away after talking some sense into her boyfriend. He fought them at first, but eventually relented, and is with her. The gargoyles are making sure she doesn’t escape.”
I snorted. “How does her boyfriend feel about a deranged girlfriend who goes around biting people?”
Mike gave me a deadpan stare. “He’s a vampire, Allana. She is not, but was bitten by one and has had some complications.”
Having been bitten, I understood the danger that posed. “Wait.” I grabbed his arm. “Is Lily okay?” Anxiety welled inside me like someone inflating a balloon.
“She’s fine. Back home with Nico. She’d figured out something was wrong with you last night. Who knows—animal intuition or something?” He rubbed his beard. “I can’t believe she’s a shifter. Did you know?”
“Not ‘til recently.” I took a step forward and faltered.
Mike caught me around the waist. “You might feel better with some food in you.” He draped my arm across his back to hold me up. “Can I convince you to get back into bed, so you can rest? I’ll bring you something.”
Once I was under the blankets and propped up by pillows, I pictured the form he had changed into. “Did you really turn into a gargoyle?”
He rubbed his temple. “Ah, yeah. Surprised me, too.”
“How did that happen?” I adjusted on the bed, my muscles feeling as cramped as if I’d attempted a new, advanced yoga position.
“Danton thinks we are connected in some way, some sort of gargoyle thing about the need to protect humans.”
I blinked rapidly. “What?”
“Apparently, that’s what gargoyles do. They watch and protect humans. They have for centuries.”
I put my hands on my temples. “Bear with me. I’m just human,” I grinned. “It might take me longer to follow.”
Mike sat down on the bed and moved a strand of hair off my cheek. “I’m still learning myself. This is a new world for me, too.”
“They had wings. You didn’t. I wonder why.”
“You don’t have to rub it in.” He cocked a smile.
“Sorry, just an observation.”
“They can fly, too,” he added with a wistful tone. “My skin last night, I don’t even know how to describe it.” He raised his arm and stared at it.
“Danton explained it as a protective layer, far tougher than human skin. This whole thing blows my mind.”
“Okay, try to explain it to me. And I’ll try not to interrupt.”
Mike pursed his lips as he seemed to search for words. “The more time we’ve spent together and my feelings for you have grown, the more my need to protect you has grown as well. So powerful that we forged some sort of bond.”
He pinned me with his gaze.
“Each time I’ve felt compelled to protect you, the gargoyle side grew stronger,” he continued. “That night when I leaped off the stage to stop that guy from touching you flipped a switch. I’d never felt like that before. And last night when I thought Nike was trying to kill you, it pushed me over the edge into a full gargoyle form to better protect you.”
My mind swam with what he told me. “This is because of me?” I asked in a small voice.
He ran his fingers over my shoulder. “Us.”
“Are you okay with it, this change?”
“I am.” He sat up straighter. “A part of me is freaked out, the other part far more curious. It explains things about me that always made me different from others. It feels good to know there’s a reason why, and I’m not alone.”
My eyes searched his, those deep, hazel eyes with the dark lashes. While my brain fizzled with questions, my heart bloomed on knowing our bond. “No, you’re not alone.” I squeezed his hand. “We’re connected in some way?”
He nodded. “I feel it. Do you?”
“Yes. I felt it at Vamps, but I thought it was because I love—” I cut myself off. What the hell was I saying? All these emotions were overwhelming me, threatening to spill my deep confessions.
“You love me?” His face lit up. “Even after seeing what I turned into?”
For a moment, my heart hammered with panic. I should take what I’d said back. It would only lead to pain.
No. I didn’t want to. Calmness whisked away the panic, as if I’d just centered myself with a deep medication. I didn’t want to hide from my feelings anymore.
“Yes. Of course I do. You took on that form to save me. I owe you my life.” My lips twitched into a grin. “Actually, you looked kind of cute in that form. Reminded me of a dog. And I love dogs.”
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