Embrace (The Gryphon Series Book 2)

by Stacey Rourke

  She lifted one shoulder and let it fall. “Because you seem to need a dating intervention. And I’ve decided I want to be your wingman, or wing-gal.”

  “Fine,” I huffed. “But if it ends so badly that I run off and join a convent you have no one to blame but yourself.”

  “Yay!” she squealed, and clapped her hands. “This is going to be so fun! You won’t regret it, I promise!” Melissa set the toasted bagel and coffee on a tray next to me, where Sophia nodded at it. “Now, you better get that to table three quick. I spilled his first cup of coffee in his lap. He’s super cranky and totally your problem now!”

  “Thanks a lot.” I scooped up the tray and balanced it on the palm of my hand as I rounded the counter.

  The knot in my stomach disagreed with Sophia’s confidence that I wouldn’t regret this.

  CHAPTER 8

  The next night’s patrol up into the mountains was all kinds of awkward due to how incredibly peeved Gabe still was despite my attempts to make amends. As we walked, he intentionally allowed a branch to snap back at my face. I caught it a split second before it impaled my eyeball. Kendall, with her sweet nature, easily forgave me and we hugged it out. Gabe told me where I could shove my apology. Maybe I had been somewhat out of line with the things I said, but he had been lying to me for months. Therefore, I’d had about all of his nasty attitude I could tolerate.

  “Don’t worry about that branch, Gabe,” I snapped. “I got it. Thanks.”

  Gabe halted. He kept his broad back to me as he let out a low, menacing growl.

  I put my hand on my hip and shined my flashlight at him. “Oh, I don’t even think so! I don’t care how big and bad you think you are, you’re not gonna growl at me.”

  His head whipped around. The light from my flashlight reflected off of his yellow cat eyes. That sight wasn’t new to me, yet it still gave me chills.

  “Demon,” he rumbled, in a barely human tremor, then fell to the ground in a low crouch. His clawed hands dug into the dirt as his back arched in preparation for his change.

  A rush of air behind me and Keni’s wings were deployed. She and I scanned the landscape in front of us with our flashlights. Trees. Light fog. Rocks. The occasional critter, but no demon. Then—not twenty feet in front of us—the brush rustled. A black shadow darted past us.

  “Did you see that?” I followed it with the light, but it vanished before I could catch up.

  Before either of them could answer, a shrill cackle echoed through the night. The shapeless form flew by in another pass. We spun to follow it but again failed to get a glimpse.

  “Where’d it go?” Keni’s feathers tickled my shoulder as she curled her wing protectively around me. “I lost it.”

  Pebbles kicked up as the demon skidded to a stop in front of us. Like matching spotlights our flashlight beams captured the creature.

  Kendall giggled and put her wings away.

  Gabe paused in the early stages of his transformation, stood up, and reverted back to human.

  I screamed for all I was worth and dropped my flashlight.

  Before us stood a gruesome, two-foot tall hobgoblin with green wart covered skin that hung off its tiny frame. Long, wiry black hair draped down passed the snarling, spitting creature’s itty, bitty shoulders. With beady little eyes, a snout for a nose, and a mouth full of shark-like teeth, this thing was straight out of my worst nightmares.

  “Aww, it’s kinda cute!” Kendall gushed and bent down to extended her hand to it like it was a friendly pooch.

  Then it charged. Its tiny legs blurred as it sped toward us with snapping jaws. I flew onto Gabe’s shoulders like a cat up a tree. Kendall released her wings just in time to lob the hobgoblin back where it started. That didn’t slow it down. It hopped right back up and ran at us again.

  “Get off me!” Gabe ordered, but couldn’t shake my death grip from around his neck.

  “NO! Not until you get rid of it!” I screamed. “Turn into a lion and eat it! Or shred it! I don’t care, just make it go away!”

  Once again, Kendall hit it like a well-served tennis ball and sent it careening through the air.

  “What do you need my help for?” Gabe asked, in what I considered to be an overly mocking tone, as he grappled to pry my arms and legs off of him. “You’re the “Chosen One” and I’m just your sidekick. Seems to me you should be able to handle this all on your own, oh-mighty one.”

  “Gabe! Now is not the time to get into this!” I pleaded as I clung to him like a frightened koala bear. “Just kill it!”

  “No.” While I couldn’t see his face, I could hear the smirk in his voice. “I think now is the perfect time to talk about this. You need to admit that you need both of us.”

  The demon whizzed past Keni. I squealed and squeezed my eyes shut as Gabe casually punted it away from us. “I need you! I need you! Please! Get rid of that thing!”

  “Now apologize for calling me your sidekick. That was very offensive.”

  “You’re not my sidekick!” I whimpered. “You’re my sentry! Which is mythical, and heroic. Please make that horrible thing go away!”

  “And you’ll never take us for granted again, right?”

  “Oh, for the love of all that’s good and pure! Yes! I’m an awful person that took you for granted. It’ll never happen again!”

  “Good,” Gabe relented. “Now climb down, and I’ll take care of the toddler-sized demon for you.”

  Just as I attempted to scale my way down my building-sized brother, the mini-goblin zipped at us again. I screeched, lost my hold, and thudded to the ground. Right into the path of the incoming two-foot terror.

  Yelling, “Celeste look out,” was all Gabe and Keni had time to do.

  In utter panic, I brought one arm up to shield my face and held the other out to block the attack. With my eyes clamped shut I tensed for the moment when those gruesome teeth would shred me to the bone.

  No shredding, biting, or nipping of any sort came. Nothing did.

  “Uh, Celeste?” Keni’s tone was a question mark.

  “What?” I squeaked my response through a locked jaw, but didn’t dare open my eyes.

  “I think you got a new power.”

  That was the last thing I expected to hear. Hesitantly, I pried one eye open. The hobgoblin hovered over the ground, suspended in midair. Its teeth gnashed angrily. It kicked its hooved feet at nothing. But it remained suspended. I relaxed enough to open my other eye. When I lowered my hand slightly, the goblin went down. Hand up, goblin up.

  I gave a giddy little laugh, then turned to gauge Gabe and Kendall’s reactions. In the process I dropped my hand without thinking. Hearing teeny feet scurry in my direction, I whirled back around. With a girlie yelp, I waved my hand and the miniature demon went sailing through the air. It slammed into a tree trunk with a sound like a watermelon being cracked in half. This time it fell to the ground in a heap, and stayed there.

  Kendall crinkled her nose and turned Yoda green.

  Gabe held his hand up for us to hold our positions—as if we had any desire to see—while he crept over to investigate. “It’s nothing but black ooze now.” His eyebrows disappeared into his hairline as he glanced up at me in surprise. “You killed it.”

  “Yay?”

  His face folded into a frown as he left the dissipating remnants of the demon and rejoined us. “Ya know the caliber of demon the Army is sending after us just isn’t what it used to be. Whatever happened to panthers and dragons?”

  “Totally,” Keni agreed with a sympathetic pout. “I feel bad for that little guy.”

  “What?” I screeched as I brushed pine needles off my backside. “That was without a doubt the scariest thing I’ve ever seen!”

  Gabe gave me a playful shove. “Then I guess it’s a good thing you got that new power when you did. Otherwise, it would’ve devoured you one eensy, weensy bite at a time.”

  My eyes bulged.

  “Look on the bright side, Cee.” Gabe laughed at my terror. “
The tiny little demon helped us work through our issues. You should thank him.”

  Thank him for making me apologize to my jerk of a brother who had been deliberately deceiving me about his icky relationship with our feathered guide? Nope. The tree thunking was the correct response.

  CHAPTER 9

  “This is you.” A paper was shoved in my face as I squatted behind the counter refilling the container of plastic coffee stirrers. Unbeknownst to those around me I was using my new telekinesis to put back any stray straws that fell. That came to an immediate stop with the arrival of the paper waver.

  I gave the flier a cursory glance. It was a black and white picture of a cute girl about my age, but that was where the similarities ended. “No, it’s not. She looks nothing like me. For one thing, her hair’s doing that cool flippty-doo. I could never get mine to do that.”

  “I don’t mean it’s actually you.” Sophia groaned as if my idiocy weighed heavily on her. “I mean it could be you.”

  I peered at the picture a second time, trying to figure out where she was going with this. “Soph, that’s a missing person poster. You threatening me?”

  “No, silly!” She leaned over the counter to talk to me. Her long braid dangled down like a rope between us. “I’m just trying to show you that stuff like this,” she nodded to the paper, “can happen at any time. You never know what the next moment of life is going to hold. You could walk out of here tonight, step off the curb, and get hit by a bus.”

  “Is there a point to this uplifting tale?”

  “My point is that you have to embrace life!” Her hands curled in the air like she was gripping an invisible basketball. “Before you end up a cautionary tale like that poor girl.”

  I stared down at the flier. The girl was pretty in the wholesome, girl-next-door kind of way. Not overly made up, or trying too hard, just a natural beauty. I scanned the details typed below her picture. Her name was Katherine Miller, she’d been missing for a month. Fear curled its way into my veins. It was illogical to worry that every crime or tragic event that happened anywhere close by was somehow connected to my calling, but I couldn’t help it.

  “What happened to her?” Trepidation of the answer dropped my voice to a whisper.

  “No one knows.” Sophia shrugged. Her eyes reflected the sadness of the situation. “She went to NCC, but still lived with her parents. The night she went missing she met her regular study group in the library but left early when she got some mysterious phone call. No one’s seen her since.” In a flash, the weight of the tragic story vanished and her normal exuberance returned. “But, that is exactly why you have to learn to live a little, before it’s too late. Like by having your first lesson in talking to boys!”

  “My first what? Ah, crap.” The deal I’d made with her came back to me like a punch in the gut. I stared into the cabinet like a plausible excuse to get me out of this was going to magically materialize in the back of it. “That’s what all this was about? Soph, I really don’t think this is a good idea. I’m at a point in my life where dating is more hazardous than helpful.”

  She held her hand up and made it move like a chattering puppet. “Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. Say what you want. We had a deal. I picked a guy for you to talk to. Now you’re gonna sashay your fanny over there and be the very definition of charming and beguiling.”

  “Shows what you know,” I grumbled under my breath. “I don’t even know what beguiling means.”

  “You finally picked one?” Becca asked, as she rang up an order. “Where?”

  I flopped down on the floor cross-legged. It may have looked to others like I was pouting because I didn’t want to do this. I saw it as staging a one gal sit-in against the flawed idea society forces on us that all women should seek to be part of a couple. “Geez, Soph, you told our boss? Was there a press release, too? Maybe a blurb in the campus newspaper?”

  Sophia rolled her expertly shadowed eyes, then slid backward off the counter. She must have pointed her “target” out to Becca, because our manager’s mouth fell open. “Uh…isn’t that kind of like throwing her to the lions?”

  I glanced over to the swinging door about six feet away that led to the breakroom. If I was really stealthy I could crab-crawl the distance to it, then with a boost of superspeed make it out the backdoor before either of them knew I was gone.

  “What?” Sophia’s voice rose as she justified her pick. “He seems perfect! All broody and sensitive. Not to mention incomprehensively hot.”

  Melissa’s sensible shoes squeaked across the wood floor as she leaned over the counter to grab some napkins. “He looks like a player to me,” she commented offhandedly and sauntered away.

  I gaped in the direction she’d gone. Had Sophia told everybody?!

  “Well, I think he’s a perfect first lesson. And since Celeste agreed to let me teach her, my opinion is the one that matters.” Sophia rounded the counter, grabbed my forearm and tugged me up off the floor. I purposely turned my back to the seating area to avoid catching a glimpse of the guy I was going to embarrass myself in front of momentarily.

  “Doesn’t Celeste’s opinion matter?” I was well aware my voice had climbed to a high-pitched whine. To be honest, I didn’t care. “’Cause she really doesn’t want to do this.”

  “Nope! Don’t care!” Sophia’s white teeth gleamed as she flashed me an infuriatingly perky smile. “Now, first things first. Lose the ponytail and shake your hair out.”

  “Health code violation.,” Becca interjected without looking up from the register.

  “Shoot.” Sophia scowled, but quickly rebounded. “Okay fine, we’re gonna have to work around you looking like a prepubescent twelve-year-old.”

  “Hey!” I crossed my arms over my chest. “If you’re trying to bolster my confidence, you’re doing a lousy job.”

  “Sorry. You’re beautiful, wonderful, and intelligent. Any guy would be lucky to have you.” She smoothed down stray strands of my hair, then gave my shoulders a quick squeeze.

  I quirked an eyebrow at her. “Well, now I know you’re full of crap.”

  Becca hid a snicker behind her hand. A visibly annoyed Sophia grabbed me by the shoulders and spun me directly at table four. “Just smile, make eye contact, and take his order.”

  An appreciative gasp escaped my parted lips. I stared at the most painfully beautiful specimen of the male form I’d ever seen. Hair the glossy bluish-black hue of a raven’s feathers, hung long enough for a rogue strand to have fallen forward to tickle the tips of his lashes. His bone structure and complexion were so chiseled and flawless he looked like a carved masterpiece. The only imperfection I could see was a slight crook in his nose, which seemed to give character to an otherwise untouchably perfect face. As he read through our menu—unaware of my ogling—I let my gaze wander over him. His snug tan sweater gave a hint of the muscular torso and taut abs it selfishly hid from view. Under the table his long legs clad in well-worn jeans stretched out and crossed at the ankle. I cocked my head to the side and fought the desire to whistle through my teeth. This guy was amazing. There was no possible way I could talk to him.

  I whipped my head toward Sophia. “Please, don’t make me do this.” My tone was quiet, yet unmistakably urgent.

  “You promised. Now go!” Without any further ado she shoved me in his direction.

  With the hesitant, lead-filled feet of someone forced to walk the plank over shark infested waters, (hmmm, maybe Rowan’s fake pirate crap was contagious) I approached the alluring stranger’s table. He was a gorgeous testament to the male gender, and I was an average looking gal that could bench press a Volkswagen. Nothing good could come of this.

  “WelcometoNeighborhoodCafewhatcanIgetforyou?” Nerves made my voice alternately squeaky and hoarse as I rambled at top speed. Oh, to sound normal…

  With an easy grin he peered up at me. It took every ounce of self-control I had not to stare slack-jawed into his eyes. They gleamed like freshly polished emeralds, speckled with tiny
flecks of gold. They were so pretty. Almost hypnotic…

  That’s right about the time when I realized he had said something. I missed it because I was too busy gawking at him. Oh, crap! Did he order? Introduce himself? Ask me to marry him? Request a restraining order? I have no idea! How do I fix this and not come off sounding like a loser?

  “Huh?” Yeah, no. That wasn’t it.

  With a soft chuckle he leaned forward to rest his elbows on the table. “I said it’s good tah see ya. Ya disappeared from class right around the time ole Nosehair did.”

  My knees almost buckled at his Irish brogue. Until that very moment I had no idea that particular trait would appeal to me. It did. Big time. This guy was in one of my classes?! How the heck had I missed him? “You were in my Art History class?”

  He grimaced and sucked air in through his teeth. “Didn’t even notice me? Ouch! And here I was wonderin’ what became of ya.”

  I glanced down at my order pad as heat rose in my cheeks. “Don’t take offense or anything. I don’t…look…around…much.” Internally I marveled at what a blathering idiot I’d become.

  Despite the smile I heard in his voice I kept my eyes cast down. “I’ll just hold firm tah the idea that ya’r so taken with art history ya couldn’t be bothered by those around ya, even if they were hopin’ for a moment or two of ya’r attention.”

  Was he flirting with me? No, couldn’t be. I decided to ignore that crazy idea altogether. “Did they replace Professor Nazleer?”

  He paused before answering, probably confused by my rapid topic lane change without signaling. “Ah—yes. Dreadful woman. Wears too much perfume and not nearly enough deodorant.”

  I erupted in a surprised—way too loud—guffaw. My sweaty hand fluttered up to cover my mouth. “Sorry. That was loud.” Could a person blush so much that their head actually exploded? I was becoming increasingly concerned I was going to find out.

  Deep dimples dipped into his cheeks as he smiled at me with perfect Chiclet teeth. “Don’t apologize. Ya have a wonderful laugh.”