by Karen Lynch
The griffin let out a small squawk, and I realized Sara had stopped talking.
“I know it’s scary being away from home,” she said in a crooning voice. “I don’t know if you can understand me, but I promise you’re safe here with us until we find your family.”
It took all of my strength not to move when the griffin began to walk toward Sara. It stood over her for several long seconds before it lowered its head and rubbed its face against Sara’s. It was a gesture of affection shared only among griffins of the same flock. Then it turned away and marched into the cage across from where Sara sat.
Sara stood and walked over to quietly shut the cage door. Her face glowed when she turned and smiled at us.
Chris found his voice first. “I thought I’d seen it all when I met the troll, but this…”
“Sara, do you realize what just happened?” Sahir croaked.
She frowned and shook her head.
“She marked you with her scent. To her you are one of her flock now. I-I have never seen anything like it.”
Grinning, she started toward us. “So, I’m like an honorary griffin? Cool.”
She gave me a smug look. “See, piece of cake.”
I heard a scratching sound, and it took me several seconds to realize it was coming from the wyvern. My eyes flew back to Sara, and my gut wrenched sickly when I saw how close she was to its cage.
I dropped my sword and ran as flames spewed from between the bars of the cage. A second later, I reached her and spun her away. I wasn’t fast enough to prevent the flames from touching her, and I held her against me with one arm while I smothered the fire on her sleeve with my free hand. The smell of seared flesh filled my nose as Sara cried out in pain.
Blood pounded in my ears, and I fought to control the fear simmering below my skin. If I had been one second slower…
Sahir ran toward us. “Sara, are you okay?”
“Goddamnit, Sahir, I told you it wasn’t safe in here for her,” I roared at the warrior, who came up short. “That thing could have killed her.”
“It’s not his fault,” Sara rasped in a pain-filled voice. “I was careless. I got too close.”
“The hell it’s not,” I bit out. “He should never have allowed you in here.”
Chris moved toward us. “Nikolas.”
I looked at him and saw the warning in his eyes, the same one he’d given me when I almost lost it the night Sara was hurt by the crocotta.
Sanity returned and I loosened my hold on her, but I kept an arm around her waist. Touching her was the only thing calming my Mori right now.
Sara tried to pull away. “D-don’t blame Sahir for this. I’m old enough to make my own decisions.” She glared up at me. “Let me go.”
I ignored her demand. All I could think about was how close she had come to being engulfed in flames. “You can’t keep taking risks like this.”
“Would you just get the hell over yourself?” she yelled, pulling hard.
I released her so she didn’t injure herself further.
She whirled to face me, her eyes flashing with pain and fury. “You don’t get to say where I can go or how I spend my time. And I’m not some weakling you need to jump in and save all the time.”
I gave her a disbelieving look. I wasn’t trying to control her life. I just couldn’t stand to see her put herself in danger. Like just now.
“Okay, you just did and I’m grateful, but that doesn’t give you the right to yell at everyone or treat me like I’m useless. If that’s all you think of me, I wish you’d just stayed away.”
The hurt in her voice cooled my own anger. I took a step toward her.
“I didn’t say you were –”
“Just forget it.” She put up her good arm and let out a whimper of pain.
“We need to get you to the medical ward,” I said, taking another step toward her.
She turned away from me. “I don’t need your help. I can get there on my own.”
I followed her. “I’m coming with you.”
“No, you’re not. Just leave me alone.” She walked stiffly to the door and pushed it open, the set of her shoulders matching the anger in her eyes.
I stayed behind her as she ran to the main building, and I followed her into the medical ward where she was immediately whisked away by one of the healers. I paced the ward for almost thirty minutes before the healer came out of the room and assured me Sara was no longer in pain.
“You can go in now, if you want to,” she said.
I thanked her and went to Sara’s room. I knew she didn’t want to see me, but I needed to clear up a few things between us. And I needed to see for myself that she was okay.
Sara was lying on the exam table with her arm resting beside her, wrapped in gauze. Her face was paler than usual, but she didn’t appear to be in pain.
She saw it was me and turned her face away to look at the ceiling.
“I’m really not up to arguing with you again, Nikolas.”
I stayed by the door, not wanting to upset her, but unable to leave. “I wanted to make sure you were okay.”
“I’m fine. I’ve had worse injuries, remember?”
“I remember,” I said, my voice rough as I recalled her standing at the edge of a cliff with a knife in her chest.
She sat up, her legs hanging over the edge of the table, and held up her arm. “Look, all taken care of. I’ll be as good as new in no time.”
Her words were light, but I could sense her discomfort, and I cursed myself for being the cause of it. I’d come home, looking forward to seeing her, and all I’d done was upset her.
“You don’t have to stay with me,” she said quietly. “The healer said I’m fine.”
“I’m sorry for yelling at you.” My gaze held her surprised one. “I never meant to make you feel useless. It just angers me to see you taking risks like that.”
Her nostrils flared slightly. “What do you expect me to do – hide out in my room so I don’t get hurt? I can’t be safe all the time. You have to realize that I will get hurt sometimes, especially if I become a warrior.”
The thought of her being hurt again made my jaw clench. “I thought you didn’t want to be a warrior.”
“What am I training for, if not to become one? Isn’t that what we do?”
Her agitation pulled at me through our bond, and I walked toward her. “I’m teaching you to defend yourself if you ever need it, not to go out looking for trouble.”
“I’m not looking for trouble, and that thing with Alex was a freak accident. It could have happened to anyone.” She looked away, her voice cracking. “Why is it so hard for you to believe I can take care of myself? I’m not a child, you know.”
I stopped in front of her. She lifted her head, her face flushed, and her beautiful green eyes pulling the air from my lungs.
“No, you are not a child,” I said gruffly.
A voice in my head told me to stop, but the need to be close to her, to touch her, was too strong. She didn’t move when I lifted my hand. Her breath hitched, but her eyes never left mine as I brushed the pad of my thumb gently over her jaw. I imagined my mouth moving along her skin to finally taste her soft lips. Need tightened my gut, and my body almost trembled from the strain of denying myself what I had craved for so long.
“Sara,” I whispered hoarsely. I closed my eyes and rested my forehead against hers, fighting my excited Mori and my own desire. I didn’t have the strength to pull away, not unless she asked me to.
“Yell at me. Tell me to go,” I said, even as I silently begged her to ask me to stay.
She pulled back slightly and laid her palms against my chest. I waited for her to push me away.
“Nikolas, I…” she breathed, and in those two words I heard confusion and doubt.
But no withdrawal.
I cupped her chin and lifted her face to mine. The innocent desire in her eyes punched me square in the chest, and my Mori came roaring to life.
Mine, it growl
ed, reaching for its mate.
Her Mori answered, and she leaned in. Her lips parted, and her fingers curled in the front of my sweater.
Placing a hand on either side of her face, I gently tugged her to me until my lips grazed hers. Her bottom lip trembled when I kissed it softly, and I slanted my mouth to claim hers at last. Her lips parted slightly in silent invitation, and I pulled her closer as I coaxed her mouth open and deepened the kiss.
When her tongue shyly touched mine, a fire began low in my belly and I had to suppress a groan. Her timid eagerness told me this was her first kiss, and I reveled in the knowledge that no other man had tasted her mouth. She was mine, just as I was hers. My heart knew it, our Mori knew it, and one day soon, she would know it too.
It took most of my willpower to break the kiss. I pulled back just far enough to look into her eyes, and close enough to feel her warm breath mingling with mine. One kiss from her would never be enough, and already I craved her lips. But first, I needed to make sure she was okay. I didn’t want to rush her into anything she wasn’t ready for.
She wore a bewildered expression, which quickly turned to shock as her eyes widened and she gasped softly.
Her reaction was like cold water dousing my desire. I’d sworn to myself and Tristan I would take things slowly with Sara, to spend time with her and let her get to know me better before I took the next step. She’d been injured and emotional, and I’d taken advantage, even if I hadn’t meant to. She deserved better than that.
Releasing her, I stepped back. “I’m sorry. I did not mean to…”
She flinched and looked down, her cheeks rosy with embarrassment.
My chest ached as self-loathing filled me. It killed me to see her in distress and to know I had caused it.
“Sara –”
“No.” She whispered the word, but I could hear the tears in her voice.
Every part of me wanted to reach out to her, but it felt like a chasm stretched between us. I stood there for a long moment, waiting for her to meet my eyes again. But she refused to look at me.
“I’m sorry,” I said softly before I turned and walked away from her.
It was the hardest thing I had ever done.
Chapter 21
I pulled my sword from the dead vampire and stepped over him to the large winding staircase. Halfway up the stairs, I heard a muted scream from somewhere on the first floor, but I resumed my silent climb to the second floor. The others would handle whatever was happening down here. I had a more important mission to tend to.
The vampire came at me as soon as my foot touched the landing. He was fast, but not as fast as I was, and I sliced him across the midsection before he could reach me.
He cried out and grabbed at his stomach as he stumbled backward. Hate blazed in his eyes as I advanced on him. He turned to run, and I decapitated him before he took a step. His body crumpled to the floor as his head rolled down the stairs.
I looked both ways at the row of closed doors on the second floor. Standing still, I let my Mori hearing search for movement.
To my left, I picked up a muffled cry. With grim determination, I moved down the hallway and came to a stop in front of one of the doors. I listened again. From inside the room, I heard a child’s frightened sob.
I stared at the door, planning my next move. There would be at least one vampire in the room, if not more, but if I waited for the others to reach me, it might be too late for the children.
A sound behind me alerted me to the arrival of another vampire. I spun to face him and saw the shock on his face as my sword went through his chest.
He let out a gurgling cry as I withdrew my blade. Instead of plunging it in him again to finish him off, I grabbed him by the shoulders and hurled him through the closed door.
The door crashed inward and slammed against the wall as the vampire landed in a heap at the feet of a female vampire crouched in the middle of the room. The blonde vampire showed me her bloody fangs and held her clawed hands defensively in front of her. Blood dripped from her chin, and I feared I was too late.
A whimper to my right had me glancing at the two young children huddled in the middle of the large bed. We’d gotten word two days ago from Salt Lake City that a pair of orphans had been found. But before the team could retrieve them, vampires had gotten to them. No one, especially not me, had expected to find them alive.
The boy had his arms wrapped protectively around his twin sister, whose face was buried against his neck. The shoulder of her top was blood-soaked, and her body shook from her sobs. Long dark hair spilled down her back, looking so much like Sara’s that I almost shook from the fury boiling inside me.
I gave the vampire my full attention.
She licked blood from the corner of her mouth and sneered at me. “You interrupted my meal. Such a delicacy, young Mohiri blood. So sweet and rich.”
“Consider it your last supper,” I answered coldly, not rising to the bait.
Her brows drew together slightly when she realized she wasn’t going to goad me into making a rash move. She began to walk around me in a wide circle. Her slow, practiced movements told me she was more deadly than the others I’d killed in the house. She wouldn’t die as easily, but she was going to die today.
I watched her eyes, and I saw them flick to my left a split second before she blurred.
A burst of speed from my Mori saved me from her attack, although her claws managed to score my upper arms. She didn’t escape unscathed either, screaming when my blade cut a deep furrow in her chest.
Most vampires would need a few seconds to recover from such a strike. This one whirled almost instantly and flew at me again.
There was no time to bring up my sword, so I caught her and flung her across the room. She slammed into the wall so hard the plaster crumbled.
She was back on her feet in less than a second, but her smile was less confident. “You’re a strong one, but I’m no fledgling. Once I’m done with you, I’m going to drain those two little morsels.”
My gaze flicked to the two children, and I found the boy watching me with fear-glazed eyes. No child should have to endure what these two had suffered. Their mother had been slaughtered before their eyes, and they’d spent the last two days being terrorized by her killer. It was a wonder they were still alive.
I smiled at the vampire’s false bravado. She might be old and as strong as me, but I’d spent my life hunting her kind. “Let’s get this over with then.”
Her grin faltered, and I saw it in her eyes the moment she shifted from fight to flight mode. The only reason vampires like her lived this long was because they ran when faced with a real threat.
When she feinted toward the door, I was ready for her, and I was at the window a second before she reached it. My sword came up as she flew over my head and crashed through the glass. She screamed as she fell, and I looked through the broken pane to see her writhing on the lawn as two warriors sped around the corner.
“Take care of that for me, and send Paulette up,” I said before I turned and stepped over the pair of severed legs on the floor.
I turned from the window as Chris ran into the room. He stared with wonder at the boy and girl on the bed. I understood his disbelief. It was rare that we recovered an orphan once they’d been taken by a vampire. That both twins had survived was nothing short of a miracle.
“They’re injured but alive,” I told Chris. “Do we have a healer on the team?”
“Paulette will know what to do.”
The blonde warrior ran into the room, followed by another female warrior I didn’t know. Paulette approached the bed slowly and crouched beside it. She smiled at the boy, who watched her with wary eyes. The girl still had her face hidden in her brother’s shirt.
“Hey there,” she said gently. “I’m Paulette. You’re Colin, right?”
The boy nodded, and I knew he and his sister were in good hands. I walked out of the room with Chris trailing me.
He didn’t speak until we
were back on the first floor.
“You were supposed to wait for the team.” He waved at the four vampires I’d dispatched a little while ago. “You couldn’t save one for me?”
“If I’d waited, those children would be dead.”
He had no argument for that.
I wiped my blade on the nearest vampire’s pants and walked outside. Taking a deep breath of cool night air, I waited for the satisfaction that always filled me after a successful job. My Mori was quiet, sated from our seven vampire kills, but I felt none of the usual gratification. If anything, I was more wound up than when I’d arrived.
I’d come here desperately needing an outlet for my frustration and to put some distance between Sara and me. Not because I didn’t want to be near her, but because I wanted it too much. Kissing her and feeling her respond to me had only intensified my need to be with her. Since the moment I left her in the medical ward, her absence was a physical ache in my chest, and my body felt like a wire strung too taut.
“You two must have had a hell of a falling out.”
I looked sideways at Chris, who had come out to stand beside me. “Who?”
He rolled his eyes. “Oh, I don’t know. Maybe the only person who can put you in a mood like the one you’ve been in since we left home. What happened after you left the menagerie that night?”
“Nothing happened.” Chris was my best friend, but there was no way I was sharing something so private with him.
“Okay,” he drawled. “Then I guess we’ll be heading home now that the job is done. The Council will be so delighted you saved the children they’ll probably forget to scold you for ignoring their orders.”
I scowled and started walking to my bike, which I’d left at the end of the street. “Maybe the Council should get out of their offices every now and then, and remember what it’s like in the real world.”
He snorted softly. “You should tell them that.”
“Maybe I will.”
We reached my bike, and I stowed away my sword before I straddled the seat. “I’m going to spend another day or two here. I’ll catch up with you later.”
Chris gave me an understanding smile. “I’ll see you at home.”