by Leela Ash
In a flash of horror, a terrible doubt sprang into her mind.
Is Griffin not a Shifter?
Shifters were born from the union of a human and a spirit from the Other Side. Normally only five kinds of spirits did this – creating the five Kinds of Shifter society. Surely there could be more spirits, though? Maddie had just assumed that Chimeras were simply a rare spirit.
What if they weren’t? What if they came from some other, darker spiritual realm? Something like Nemagorix’s lair?
For Shifters, love was sacred. Human love had summoned those first spirits, enchanted by the passions they saw in mortal beings. Only the most depraved Shifters abandoned their Mates. And a True Mate? Never! Not once in legend or history.
Yet here Griffin sat, chatting about this atrocity as if it was a perfectly logical option.
Something no Shifter would ever do.
Was that why he feared her people? Because he was, in fact, born of their enemies?
Maddie glanced towards the hills – and found her Hare staring at her. Belligerent. Fur puffed up with anger. Almost nothing riled a Hare like this.
What’s wrong?
You! it snapped back, clicking its teeth together. You’re thinking about running away from our Mate!
With a flash of shame, she realized it was right. She was getting ready to give up.
Bite me if I do, she begged her spirit.
It hopped close, snuggling against her leg. Its nose nuzzled her hand. Cute… sweet… and ready to nip the ever-living hell out of her pinky if she screwed up!
Griffin’s Chimera lay, unmoving. Only its golden eyes, clouded with misery, revealed that it was alive.
His spirit understands how important Mates are, even if his human half is confused.
The silence had grown long and uncomfortable. Griffin cleared his throat. “So shall we do that? The Rite of Parting?”
Tiny little Hare teeth brushed against her finger, almost making Maddie smile. “No. I’m not willing to give up the moment I find a Mate.”
“Does that mean that you’ll come with me?” A glimmer of hope lit his face – and it was pure agony to squash it.
“No. It means we need to figure out a compromise.”
“There isn’t any compromise!” He bounded to his feet as another deep groan rumbled up from his ‘dead’ Chimera. “If you want to be my Mate, you have to come with me!”
“Or you could trust me and the people I know.”
He rounded on her, furious. “If you loved me, you’d choose me. You say you want to be my Mate – and yet you abandon me!”
That stung! Maddie scrambled to her feet, too. “That is not fair! You’re the one who insists on leaving. Then you demand I come along. Mates don’t do that. They don’t give each other orders! They talk. They compromise. They don’t expect obedience!”
Disgusted, he shook his head. “You don’t understand.”
Without warning, his Chimera rose. Great golden wings beat the air, lifting it off the ground. Its maned head tilted back and it wailed. A long, despairing keen that split the air.
“You should listen to your spirit,” Maddie murmured. “It’s wise.”
Fury twisted Griffin’s handsome features. “It’s an idiot. Both of you are. You just won’t face reality.”
With a jerk of its wings, the Chimera sailing off. Even after it disappeared into the distance, she could hear its mournful cries echoing off the sands. Again, Griffin ignored it. As if he routinely alienated his spirit like this!
From his belt, he drew a knife. Yesterday that would have terrified her. Now, Maddie knew him well enough to be sure he meant her no harm. “What are you doing?”
“What needs to be done. I’m setting you free.”
“Griffin!”
“If you’re not strong enough to do what’s necessary, I will.” With one swift, brutal slash, he drew the blade along the heel of his hand. Blood poured out, pooling in his palm. As she gasped in horror he spun. Drops spattered along the ground, painting a red circle around him.
When the circle closed, he raised his head defiantly. “Maddie Hunter, once Claimed, once Mate, I now set you free. You may choose your own future. The chains that bound us I cast aside. Do as you will.”
He held the bloody knife out to her, hilt first. Maddie folded her hands behind her back. “Nope. Not doing this.”
“You don’t have to.” Griffin wiped the blade against his pants and slipped it back into its sheathe. “It’s done. I’m strong enough to do this for both of us.”
And stubborn enough for a dozen people!
Well, she was stubborn too – and she wasn’t giving up!
Griffin Davis might think they were over, but Maddie had other plans.
Chapter 10.
One phone call and twelve hours later, the tiny hamlet of Stillwater became a major military outpost. Almost forty Wolves ranged through the wilderness on motorbikes and ATVs, alert for any enemy. There were Rats out there too. How many, Maddie had no idea. They didn’t like being counted or looked at, but their keen eyes and devious minds were probably the best protection for this place.
Half of the Sedona Warren was up at the Cauldron. Five Bears stuck close to them, protection from any assaults that might come through the gate. Initial investigations confirmed her fears. Some strange energy surrounded this place. Its touch, caustic and corrosive, had eaten through the original wards that sealed the path to Nmeagorix’s realm. No one knew what caused it – or how to counter it.
What impressed Maddie the most, though, were the Dragons. Two of them. One, a great, white, scarred warrior, drifted overhead in the thermals. Finn Donnelly, she remembered. His Mate Bree was lending a hand up at the Cauldron. The second, a horned black Dragon from the Flight of the Snows, had appointed himself the liaison to the locals. He spoke to Mrs. Grey now, making sure the people here had everything they needed.
Maddie sat on a rickety chair in the shadow cast by the old woman’s house. A small speck of idleness and silence in all the hustle. Around her, Shifters rushed here and there, intent on their chores. Only she waited, thinking, wrapped in her own worries.
Where was Griffin? Had he truly left – or was he lurking nearby, unwilling to abandon his home? What if one of the Rats spotted him? The Wolves were too busy impressing each other by doing wheelies and stunts. She doubted any would notice a ‘wild animal’ that seemed freakishly calm around humans. But a Rat wouldn’t make that mistake. If they sounded an alarm, what would she do? Would they hunt him down like a fox? Could she stop them before they hurt him?
These and dozens of other worries ate at her. Beneath them lay the worst: the fear that Griffin truly had given up on her. On them. That his terrible Rite of Parting had destroyed the bond passion had woven between them.
Lost in her fears, she never noticed the big man who approached her – until he crouched down beside her chair and asked, “Are you okay Ms. Hunter?”
“Oh! Sorry, I didn’t see you.”
“That’s a new one,” he chuckled. “Us Bears aren’t particularly stealthy.”
Maddie knew him, vaguely. A developer… the guy who discovered the Aegis… he was… “You’re Rex Fairburn, right?”
“Yup. Just checking to see if you need anything. You’ve had a rough couple of days.”
That was a Bear for you. Huge, hulking, muscle-bound men… and the sweetest, most attentive Mates any woman could hope to find. When a Bear protected someone, nothing their ward felt escaped their notice.
“I’m fine. I’m just worried about Griffin. Promise me that no one will hurt him.”
Rex bit his lip – something that didn’t reassure her at all. “I can’t really predict how a bunch of wound-up Wolves will behave, but…”
A smooth, deep voice finished his sentence. Casey Briggs, the horned Dragon. “But Donnelly watches the Wolves and I am certain he will not allow them to seriously injure your Mate. Ex-Mate,” he corrected himself. Both Shifter men winced at that dist
asteful, foreign idea.
The Flight of the Snows’ knowledge of Native history was unparalleled. Greater even than Sedona’s. “Have you ever heard of a Rite of Parting?” she asked the Dragon.
Casey shook his head. “No. Never. The very idea sickens me. To give such affront to love… Though it may be for the best.”
“Why?” Love was never wrong, was it? Well, true love, anyways.
The Dragon shifted from one foot to the other, choosing his words carefully. “I am familiar with Griffin Davis’ Kind. Among the people of this land, they are called Skin Walkers.”
Skin Walkers. Maddie had heard the folktales. Until today, she’d thought them nothing more than myths. “What do you know about these creatures?” She wanted to add, ‘And why didn’t you tell other Shifters about them?’, but that didn’t seem tactful.
“They are monsters. People who have committed the most appalling sins to gain power.”
That didn’t sound anything like Griffin! “What kind of ‘sins’ are we talking about?”
“I am not at liberty to say.” The Dragon ducked his head as her face lit up with indignation. “Forgive me, but what the Diné told us was shared in confidence. I will not break their trust.”
Diné… another name for the Navajo? “The people of Stillwater are Navajo and they seem to adore Griffin.”
“I have noticed that,” Casey admitted, “and it puzzles me. When I asked them to explain, they insist he is not a Skin Walker. Yet I do not believe the rest of their people would agree.”
“Sorry,” she growled, “but I’m with them. They know him and you don’t. Plus they’re Navajo and you’re not. I’m sure they know their own lore better than any of us Anglos.”
“I am certain they do – which is why I withhold judgment on this man. If I truly believed he was a Skin Walker, I would not be sitting here, letting him escape.”
The threat lurking behind those words sent a bolt of ice-cold fear shooting down Maddie’s spine. “What would you be doing instead?”
Casey met her gaze with unflinching resolve. “I would warn my Flight that another Skin Walker existed. Then I would hunt him down.”
“And do what?” Her lips grew dry and she swallowed hard.
The Dragon’s eyes never left hers. “Kill him. My Flight has destroyed six of these creatures over the years.”
Griffin was right.
Sparkles of light danced before her eyes as a wave of dizziness washed over her.
Up until now Rex Fairburn had sat quietly. Now the Bear leaned forward, frowning. “Uh, that seems pretty harsh, buddy. Killing somebody because you don’t like their Kind? Seriously?”
“Not because of their Kind. Because of their sins.”
“What kind of ‘sin’ would condemn a man to death?” Maddie cried.
“Cannibalism. Rape. Murder. Torturing family members to death. Skinning people alive.”
Each accusation set her head spinning. “Griffin wouldn’t do that. I’m sure he wouldn’t.”
“He kidnapped you.”
“He was desperate and trying to save these people! He made sure he didn’t hurt me.”
No anger broke the Dragon’s calm demeanor. To him, this was an unpleasant duty, nothing more. “That gives me hope. As does the fact that he has won the trust of the Diné of the Place Where the Unmoving Water Grows Polluted.”
‘The Place Where’… Oh! Stillwater.
Casey crouched before her and rested his hands on his knees. “You are his Mate so it is natural that you would defend him. I cannot make broad promises, but I will swear this: I shall not raise a claw against your Mate unless I know, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that he has committed a monstrous crime. One for which any court would declare his life forfeit.”
“Thank you,” she whispered.
Yet his oath did nothing to settle the confusion in her heart.
Griffin was right. Shifters did hunt his Kind.
Though if his Kind is truly that vile, they deserve it.
No. Kinds weren’t vile. People were. Individuals. Condemning an entire Shifter Kind – whether that was all Rats or all Chimeras – was prejudice, pure and simple.
Unless he’s not a Shifter. Unless I’m right and the spirit joined to him is unclean…
No! She thought of his Chimera, so noble, so handsome. The way it grieved when he sent her away.
That creature was a loving, glorious spirit and Maddie could not doubt it. So the man tied to it must be every bit as honorable. Who cared if people told horror stories about his Kind? Werewolves had a pretty bad rep, too. Even Dragons kidnapped princesses and ate them – if you believed the fairy tales.
Which she didn’t. In her book, Griffin Davis was innocent until proven guilty.
And if any Shifter disagreed, she’d prove they were wrong.
Chapter 11.
Once again, Griffin was alone.
By now, that should have been natural. Like Dragons, Chimeras were immortal – and Griffin Davis had been alone a long time. Dumped on the doorstep of a soup kitchen, he could barely remember his parents. His father murdered. His mother abandoning him in a fit of despair. A couple of times he’d managed to cobble together a ‘family’ of sorts. The little band of child thieves he joined when he ran away from the orphanage. Maurie and Queenie, the two Chimeras who taught him what he was – and whose deaths convinced him to abandon the cities of the East Coast and lose himself in the West.
Yet no ‘family’ survived. They were destroyed. By the police who arrested his thieving friends. At the claws of a Dragon, one of the First Flight, who discovered their crimes.
White Dragon, come to think of it. Could very well be that Finn Donnelly that’s hanging about Sedona.
Not that Griffin would seek vengeance. Queenie and Maurie protected their own Kind and treated him like a son. But if you weren’t a Chimera, you had no value to them. There was nothing too evil, too cruel for them to do. At the end, he’d learned that they had sick, twisted tastes. A depravity that would appall even the Fangs of Apophis.
I left them, and they got what they deserved.
He’d joined the sea of tramps and hobos flowing West to California, all hoping that the Golden State would offer them a job in the depths of the Great Depression. Even there, in the midst of an ocean of lonely souls, Griffin found no one. No friend, no lover. Nothing to break his isolation.
Until he hitched a ride with Mrs. Grey’s husband and landed in Stillwater. There, in the most remote corner of the Arizona desert, he found a home. He could never stay there long; homes were too strange, too alien to him. They felt like traps. Delicious, intoxicating, exciting traps. Every couple years he returned and spent a few months easing the pain in his soul. Stillwater was his refuge, his shelter.
Now it was gone. Lost, forever. Along with his Mate.
To a casual observer, his Chimera looked dead. As soon as he checked into this ratty little strip hotel, it collapsed in the nearly empty parking lot. Didn’t even move when some cowboy parked his pickup truck on top of its ghostly head. Just lay there, mourning. Radiating a despair so deep it threatened to drag him down too.
She’s the one who dumped us, remember? If she cared about us, she’d be here now.
No answer from his Shifter soul, not even a reproach. Yet Griffin knew that it blamed him.
Screw you. The only thing I did wrong was to hope.
Yeah, for one night, he’d let himself get swept away by the saccharine nonsense of fairy tales. Stories of true love and Mates who stood by you through thick and thin. Tales of a passion that could survive the ages.
Right. ‘Ages’. Mine lasted all of one night.
A hard lesson – but did Life ever give easy ones? Not in his experience. No sense pining, then. Time to suck it up, pull himself together, and move on.
Good advice. So why was he sitting here, outside a dingy room that stank of stale cigarettes, staring gloomily into the wastelands?
This is your fault, he told his Chi
mera.
He couldn’t see its expression because its head was still underneath that stupid truck. But the big cat’s tail thumped once, hard, on the pavement.
Good. Anger was better than grief. Angry men did things.
Griffin, however, didn’t. He stayed in his seat, brooding. Remembering Maddie’s courage and resourcefulness. The beauty of her body and the sharp, hungry cries she made in the throes of love.
And how he’d abandoned her. He remembered that, too.
Lost in grief and regret, he and his Chimera lingered. When at last the sun set, he staggered into his foul room and threw himself on the bed, surrendering to sleep.
Sorrow wrapped Maddie in its grey, tattered folds too. Alone in her camper, robbed of her Mate, she fell asleep with no company except sadness and anger.
Then awoke, standing on a dock.
Wood, heated by the sun’s kiss, warmed her bare feet. Before her lay a small mountain pond, its dark blue waters sparkling in the sunlight. The scent of pine filled the air. A mallard and his mate paddled past and from the woods around her, jays and squirrels chattered. She wore a white bikini of soft cotton. Cool and welcoming, the lake offered her refuge from the sun’s fierce attention.
Before she could dive into its sheltering waters, however, a plank creaked behind her. Two strong arms, bronzed by the desert sun, corded with lean muscles, wrapped around her.
Griffin. Only one night together and already she recognized his touch.
Maddie surrendered to him as he pulled her gently back to lean against his chest. His bare chest. Soft tufts of hair whispered against her skin, proof that he wore no more than her. The heat of his body, the faint, male musk of his skin, enfolded her too. Enclosing her in a cocoon of touch and scent. Claiming her once more.
It failed! Even your damned Rite of Parting couldn’t tear us apart!
He leaned close, burying his face in her long red hair. “Thank you,” he whispered, his words tickling across her skin. “This gift, this dream, will give me the strength to continue.”
What an odd thing to say! “Um, you’re welcome? I mean, I don’t think I had anything to do with this, but…”