by Tami Lund
“We should talk before we see Oliver.”
“Yeah,” Griffin said with a nod. “We really should.”
Griffin’s attitude had changed quite dramatically in the last forty-eight hours, but he could still use a bit of advice.
And Argyle was just the man to provide it.
Chapter Eighteen
Sofia was exhausted. Physically from battling with warlocks—but mostly emotionally.
First, there had been the stress of fearing for her daughter’s safety. Darius kidnapping her, the warlocks discovering her, and her ability to send herself twenty feet in the air with no way down.
And what the hell had that declaration of love been? Seriously, Griffin thought making an announcement like that was a good idea? It wasn’t even the timing—although he had been right that it sucked. It was the fact that he’d said it at all.
Because it didn’t freaking matter. So what if they had a connection? So what if he loved her? So what if she loved him back?
It. Didn’t. Matter.
Since he was a gargoyle, part of Oliver’s brethren, he couldn’t have a relationship with her.
So basically, he’d announced his love just so she could be aware. So that it was even harder to let him go.
The guy really needed some lessons on this whole happily ever after concept.
Ketu drove them back to the reeve’s house in his Escalade. Argyle sat in the front seat while Sofia, Penelope, and Griffin sat in the middle seats and Rahu, Becca, and Maria sat in the far back seat.
“Hurry,” Becca said. “This pregnancy makes me nauseous when I ride in the back seat.”
“Why didn’t you say something?” Argyle demanded. “I would have let you sit up here.”
“You are way too tall to sit back here,” Becca replied. “And it’s okay so long as it’s a short trip.”
“We’re almost there,” Ketu said.
As they pulled into the carport, Argyle turned around in his seat. “Oliver does not know,” he said to Griffin.
“About what?” Sofia asked.
“That Becca is my child.”
Sofia waited for Griffin to say something, but he remained silent, so she finally asked, “Why not?”
“The obvious answer is because it is strictly forbidden for anyone from our brethren to sire children. But there are several more layers that make it even more complicated. As she is a Daughter of Light, her destiny is to seek out and defeat the warlocks. But as she is half gargoyle as well, there is a chance that if Oliver knew, he would demand she carry out her duties as a gargoyle. At the time, we believed she was the only Daughter of Light in existence, so we did not want to take that chance.”
He paused. “There is also the possibility that he would disavow me and not let me continue to do my job as part of his brethren. I have been with him for more than a century. I know nothing else. And gargoyles do not handle great shame well.”
Speaking of great shame, Sofia felt some of that washing over her.
She couldn’t hate Griffin, not after what Argyle just said. He hadn’t asked to go work for Oliver; he had been chosen because he was one of the best of the best, whether he believed it or not.
And he would, someday. One day he would realize his own worth, and then he might even push Argyle out of that “Oliver’s favorite” spot.
Sofia could not hate him for choosing Oliver’s brethren over her. Not when what he did, what he would do, was so important. Protecting those who needed and deserved it was necessary in this sometimes cruel world. Sofia knew that better than most. She sure could have used a gargoyle when she was growing up and Darius was tormenting her and convincing her that she wasn’t worthy of being Trennon Redd’s daughter.
Argyle climbed out of the vehicle, and Sofia grabbed Griffin’s arm, beseeching him to look at her. “I respect your decision,” she whispered.
She turned away from his confused look and stepped out onto the cement.
Oliver greeted them at the door. Henri darted around his legs and rushed into Ketu’s arms.
Argyle reported to his boss, “The warlocks have been destroyed.”
Oliver nodded at him and then to Becca. “Excellent work, Daughter of Light.”
She smirked and pointed at the door. “I have to pee.” She hurried past as Rahu stepped up with his hand wrapped around Maria’s bicep. Given the fact that she’d duped Antoinette and Ketu for nearly a year now, that was probably a wise decision on his part.
Oliver turned his focus to Penelope, who sat on Sofia’s hip with her arms anchored around Sofia’s neck. “So this is our youngest Daughter.”
Sofia cleared her throat and nodded.
Oliver glanced at Griffin. “You were successful at your first assignment. Which inadvertently turned into two rather impressive tasks. Well done.”
Griffin raised his hand like he was in school. “Can I ask you something?”
“Certainly.” Oliver inclined his head once.
“Why me?”
Oliver tilted his head, confusion on his face.
“Why did you ask me to join your brethren?”
“Are you questioning my choice?”
Griffin shook his head. “No. I think I’m worthy. I think I belong here. But…how did you know? I mean, when you asked me, I didn’t have any faith in myself.”
“Many have the ability to do good but lack the confidence to reach full capacity. It is my job to see through all that self-doubt. Tell me again how you discovered the child.”
Griffin raked his hand through his hair. “Four years ago, her father asked me to protect his family. I didn’t realize his mate was a Daughter of Light when I took the assignment.” He winced.
“And what happened?”
“I wasn’t successful. They were attacked by warlocks. I managed to save Penelope but not her parents.”
“And where was this?”
“In New Brunswick, where I used to live.”
Oliver nodded. “There is not a large gargoyle contingency up there. I don’t think they are organized at all, truth be told.”
Griffin shook his head. “They aren’t. I was a freelancer. And…and I don’t know if you are aware, but I was not raised as a gargoyle.”
Oliver arched one brow and silently waited for Griffin to continue. He darted a glance at Sofia before doing so.
“I grew up in the human foster care system. I was a problem child, to say the least, since I didn’t even know what was going on the first time I realized I had magical abilities.”
I would imagine,” Oliver said.
“I didn’t have any sort of formal training, and everything I learned was sort of trial and error. I didn’t even learn about Daughters of Light until well after that assignment.”
“And yet you felt the need to protect this one,” Oliver pointed out.
Griffin glanced at Penelope, then cupped the back of his neck. “Honestly, I just didn’t want her to end up in the human foster care system, like I did. I assumed she was a basic witch, so she needed to be with other magical people. I brought her here to give her over to you, actually.”
Oliver’s brow shot up again. “If that is the case, how did she end up in the care of this dragon here?”
“Um, I panicked the night I arrived in town. I was afraid you would pass her off to the humans too. Like I said, I didn’t know she was a Daughter of Light at the time. When I met Sofia, I could tell immediately that she was a good soul, so we started talking and…and I left Penelope with her and went home.”
He’d certainly left out a whole lot of key information, although it was, of course, for the best.
“But not before Sofia and I connected.”
Sofia flung around to stare at him. “What? Why are you telling him that?”
“Because I want him to know,” Griffin said, shifting his attention back to Oliver. “You should know that I’m in love with Sofia.”
Rahu slapped his hand to his forehead. Oliver furrowed his brow. “Why do yo
u react that way?” he asked.
Becca returned and slid her arm around Rahu’s waist while he said, “Because he’s not supposed to tell you that. You have these strict rules about your brethren having any sort of emotional attachments, so they’re all afraid to tell you when they fall in love or sire children. Except this one, apparently.” He waved at Griffin.
“To be fair, I haven’t been working for him for very long. Just a couple of days, actually,” Griffin said.
Rahu nodded. “Makes sense. But you should know that you’re probably going to get fired now.”
“Why would you say that?” Oliver asked.
Rahu stabbed his thumb in Argyle’s direction. “That’s what this one says.”
Oliver looked up at Argyle. “And why would you say that?”
“We cannot be fired, Rahu,” Argyle muttered, before, more loudly, saying, “I simply warned Griffin when we were on our way back here.”
“Why?” Oliver asked.
Argyle rubbed his hand across his bald head.
Delilah, who had been in a separate vehicle, stepped into the conversation. “What are we talking about?”
Rahu said, “Oliver wants to know why Argyle warned Griffin that he isn’t supposed to fall in love.”
“He should talk. He won’t admit to himself that he’s in love with Pacey,” Delilah said.
Argyle’s jaw dropped so low it was practically dragging on the ground.
“You’re in love with…Pacey?” Oliver said, drawing out the sentence.
“I…”
“He hasn’t done anything about it,” Delilah supplied. “You haven’t even slept with her, have you?”
Argyle shook his head.
“Is that why you hooked up with her sister and got her pregnant? Were you imagining it was Pacey?”
Oliver lifted his hand, palm facing out. “Pardon me, but did you just say Argyle impregnated a woman?”
“Oops,” Delilah said, covering her mouth with her hand.
Oliver’s gaze landed on Argyle, then slid to Becca. She offered up a fake innocent smile and gave him a finger wave.
Oliver closed his eyes and pressed his fingers to his temples. “Argyle, explain.”
Griffin stepped forward. “This is my fault, sir.”
Oliver lowered his fingers so that he could glance over them at Griffin. “It’s your fault that Argyle is in love with a woman named Pacey and apparently got her sister pregnant?”
Griffin shook his head. “You would never have learned about Argyle if I hadn’t fallen in love with Sofia and wanted to tell you because I don’t want to keep walking out on her. I want to stay with her. I want to mate with her. Her dragon thinks we’re fated, which I personally think is really cool. And, honestly, I want to give her a couple more kids. As many as she wants.”
Sofia could feel her own eyes growing wider and wider, but then she had to blink them rapidly against the tears filling them.
“I don’t even know what to say,” Oliver mused.
Delilah piped up. “You could say that you’ll relax your rules and let these two gargoyles stay in your brethren. I’m not remotely an expert on good people, but even I can tell that they both are the sort you’d want on your team.”
“Indeed they are,” Oliver said.
“I think we can still do our duty while having relationships outside the brethren,” Griffin said. “I’d at least like you to give us the opportunity to try.”
“Do you now?” Oliver asked, his brow arched again.
Griffin cleared his throat and nodded.
“So you’re going to let them stay on?” Delilah asked into the ensuing silence.
“I think it best if Argyle and Griffin and I have this conversation privately. Gentlemen?” Without waiting for confirmation, Oliver strode across the porch and down the steps to the driveway, disappearing around the house.
Argyle’s gaze swept over the group and then he turned and followed. Griffin paused. Sofia placed Penelope on her own two feet and wrapped her arms around his neck.
“I love you.” She kissed him and then released him. He pressed his fingers to his lips and didn’t move until she prodded him, nodding at the corner of the house where Argyle and Oliver had both disappeared.
After he left, Delilah asked, “Does your dragon really believe he’s your fated mate?”
Sofia sighed. “Yes.”
“Well, that’s sad.” Delilah flounced into the house.
Sofia looked around at the remaining dragons and Becca. “Where’s Trennon?” She wondered if she’d ever call him Dad. Would he want her to? Was it weird to have these thoughts as an adult?
Ketu said, “He went with Antoinette to lock up Darius. There is a special prison warded by witches and guarded by dragons. It’s south of town, in the swamps. They probably won’t be back for a few hours.”
“What happens next?” Sofia sked.
“We’ll try to rehabilitate Darius. If he isn’t receptive, he’ll spend the rest of his life in prison.”
If the man could be rehabilitated, it would surely be a long, drawn out process. Sofia didn’t know if she wanted that for him or if she preferred that he rot in jail. She had a lot of emotional scars of her own thanks to her brother.
“Come on,” Becca said, holding out her hand to Penelope. “Let’s go inside and find something to eat, and I’ll tell you all about being a Daughter of Light.”
“Cool,” Penelope said and she grasped Becca’s hand and let her lead her into the house.
Rahu stood there for a moment, watching them. “She’s going to be an amazing mom.” Shaking his head and with a small smile on his lips, he headed in after them.
Ketu patted Sofia’s shoulder. “For what it’s worth, I hope Oliver makes the right decision.” He followed Rahu into the house.
“Me too,” Sofia whispered.
Chapter Nineteen
It was well after dark by the time Griffin returned to the reeve’s mansion. He flew, because he was eager to get there, to see Sofia again. It felt like they’ve been separated for weeks instead of hours.
He summoned the magic, commanding his body to shift to his human form moments before he reached the house. He landed with a quiet thud on the wooden deck outside Sofia’s bedroom. A security guard positioned at the corner saw him, and Griffin waved. The guy nodded and leaned against the railing, returned to focusing on his phone.
Calling on his magic again, Griffin commanded the lock to twist free, and then he opened the French door and slipped inside.
Sofia sat on the bed, wrapped in a robe, wide awake.
“Um, hi,” Griffin said, pausing just inside the door.
“Took you long enough,” she said, affecting an awfully cute pout.
“It took a while to hash everything out with Oliver.”
“This long?”
No, actually, but once they’d worked out all the details, Oliver had insisted the three men share a drink, which led to two and then three and four. Good thing Griffin wasn’t a lightweight like Argyle, who was currently snoring on the couch in Oliver’s apartment.
Turned out, Oliver’s brethren didn’t actually spend all their time living as stone statues and hanging out in the City of the Dead.
Griffin motioned at the door behind him. “I was wondering if you’d like to go flying together?”
She canted her head, her fingers curling into the bedcover. “Y-you want to fly together?”
He nodded.
“Does this mean…?”
“That I want to mate with you? Yes.”
She stood. “But what about Oliver? Your job?”
Since she was apparently too stunned to come to him, he strode across the room and wrapped his arms around her, pulling her flush against his body and burying his face in her hair, breathing deeply of her scent. He was going to be able to do that every single day for all of eternity.
Oh, he should probably let her know that he was going to use his magic to make her immortal, too.
He took this mating business seriously, which meant he wanted it to truly be forever.
Leaning back so he could look her in the face, he said, “Oliver admitted that the reason for his rules was because when he was younger—like two thousand years ago younger—he fell in love and mated and had a child. And then they were killed, a direct result of an assignment he’d been working on. He was devastated. So when he became manager of his own brethren, he decided to ensure none of the gargoyles in his charge ever went through something so terrible, hence his rules.”
“Oh my gosh, that’s awful.”
Griffin shrugged. “Actually, it’s considerate. He didn’t want anyone else to be hurt like he was.”
“But you’ve changed his mind?”
“He wasn’t keen on it at first. But Argyle confirmed that Becca is his daughter and pointed out that she is mated to a dragon and they go into battle with warlocks nearly every single day. Argyle said siring her was the best thing he’s ever done in his long life. And then I said that if you and I mated, we could raise Penelope in both worlds—with her adopted mother and me, which will ensure she gets the training she needs to someday help out Becca.
“Oh, by the way, Becca said she’d be happy to start Penelope’s training any time you are ready. She has plenty of time on her hands for the next seven months or so.”
Sofia smiled. Cupping her face, he said, “I love you. I think I fell in love with you four years ago. I’m sorry it took me so long to realize it.”
She blinked rapidly. “I love you too. Thank you for helping me become brave enough to stand up to Darius and get my life back.”
He kissed her, softly, gently, and full of promise.
“As I understand it, if we fly together, it will bind us as mates.”
“Good,” he said with conviction.
She laughed. “It’s also, so I’m told, incredibly erotic. Like, we may not be able to control ourselves when we land and return to our human forms.”
He chuckled. “Good to know. So, are you ready?” He lifted his hand, palm up.