“Damn that man.” He was forever ruining a good thing. She scurried to the bedroom to dress.
Within ten minutes, a tired Tony walked in their door. The circles below his bloodshot eyes were as dark as bruises, and the lines in his face were deep-set. Though, his hair, per his usual, didn’t have a lock out of place and his clothes looked pressed. He withdrew a gun, a silver .357 Ruger, from the back of his belt and sat at the table, throwing a folder down in front of him. Olivia stood at the bedroom door, just finished dressing, having decided on a speed shower first. Brian was still dressed as he had been: jeans, no shirt, no shoes. Tony leaned his chair back onto two legs and crossed his feet on the table. Though she was sure both men knew she was there, Tony spoke to Brian without acknowledging her presence. “I beat the hell out of him, and he still wouldn’t talk. The rest of my sources dried up too. Everybody just disappeared.”
She frowned. Beat who? One of the bears? Obviously, someone they’d spoken privately about, probably during the trip here, after she’d fallen asleep.
Brian said, “Something scared them.”
Tony nodded, clearly enjoying the melodrama. “Finally, I cornered that little rat down near the veterans’ hospital. He rambled and said a lot of stuff, but one word caught my attention: Griffin.”
Brian tucked his chin as if in surprise. “Griffin?”
“Yep. Fierce and brutal. Blindingly loyal. High moral compass. Often stereotyped as evil by those unfortunate enough to cross them.”
“Extinct.” Brian glanced up at her, presumably to make sure she followed the conversation. She nodded and came farther into the room, sitting at the table opposite Tony, who now leaned forward, picked up his folder, flipped it open, and rocked his chair back on two legs again.
“Bellerophon came through. Good idea, Brian.” His attention focused on the folder, Tony began. “Olivia, who are your parents?”
She shook her head, unsure of where Tony was going with this. But, wherever it was, it scared her. “I don’t know who they are—I’m an orphan. Is that about me?” She stood and reached across the table for the folder he held, but before her fingers could close on it, Tony jerked it out of her reach.
“Tony, she can’t be a griffin. The last two, a mated pair, were killed over two hundred years ago.” Brian paced the length of the table, rubbing his mouth and chin with his hand, his frown as deep as hers.
She couldn’t believe what she was hearing. “I’m only twenty-three. It’s physically impossible for me to have parents who died over two hundred years ago. Tony, what are you saying?” The uncomfortable feeling grew inside her. She stepped back from the table.
“You were raised at Miss Atwood’s orphanage, right? It has long been known as a safe haven for shifter orphans.”
Brian stopped and glanced from his friend to Olivia and back, his eyes wide and alarmed. He slowly turned to fully face her. She could almost see the possibilities clicking through his mind. Behind him, the last of the sunset colors disappeared outside and dusk took over.
Her voice rose, and now it was her turn to look from one person present to the other. “I don't know anything about shapeshifters hiding at the orphanage. I’m not one of them, and I’m no damn griffin! I would know. I would have changed by now. Doesn’t it usually happen at puberty?” Brian’s panic unnerved her, and that bad feeling just grew and grew. This couldn’t be happening. She stared at him, silently begging him to find a way out of this predicament for her, to find a reason it wasn’t true.
Instead, he slowly said, “Well, not necessarily. It usually happens at puberty, but not always. Sometimes it takes a long time. There have been documented cases of onset at four and five centuries, even.” He looked at her now as if she were a complete stranger.
His sudden acceptance of Tony’s stupid idea cut through her like a lance, and tears stung her eyes. “For God’s sake, I’m only twenty-three!” Her voice thickened with distress, and she sounded like a petulant child.
Tony asked, “Did Miss Atwood ever take you on a field trip? Did you ever leave her compound while you were there?”
Now that just confused her. “No, I…Why?” What would field trips have to do with anything? Unless he meant to find out if she’d had contact with anyone else in the outside world in Miss Atwood’s orphanage. Why couldn’t he just ask a question straight on?
“So you had no way of knowing the true passing of time while you were there.”
Again, she looked from one man to the other. They were both staring at her like she was some kind of monster. “This is preposterous! I think I would have noticed 200 years going past. I’m not evil! I’m only twenty-three! I’m not a griffin!”
Chapter 29
Olivia turned her back on Brian and Tony. She ran, half-blind from her tears, for the sanctuary of the bedroom, reasoning that if she tried to leave the cabin, they’d stop or track her. Fear did one of two things to her: it either really pissed her off, or, as in this case, when it was coupled with betrayal, it sent her into tears. And she’d be damned if she’d break down in front of either of them. She reached to close the door, but Brian was right on her heels, already closing them both in and turning on the light. She said, “Go away. I don’t want to talk to anyone.”
He didn’t budge. He just looked down on her with those brown eyes of his filled with concern. She went around to the far side of the bed and sat, sniffing and choking back sobs. What a nightmare. How could either Brian or Tony consider this to be true? There was no way she could be a griffin. Her backlit reflection in the window stared back at her while she worked to get her emotions under control again. Brian followed and settled in beside her, waiting.
After what seemed like forever, he said in his always gentle voice, “Tell me about Miss Atwood. Was she kind?”
Olivia nodded, sniffing and wiping the final dregs of tears from her face. She had no tissues, so she wiped her nose with her hand, hoping this wasn’t too unmannerly for him. “She was the best. Always patient with us and ready to tell stories. When someone adopted one of the kids, she made a cake and we all celebrated. We also had a party for any outstanding event or sometimes because we hadn’t had fun like that in a while.” She smiled in spite of her tears, but sobered quickly.
“How long were you with her?”
“All my childhood. I never found a home with anyone else. Truthfully, I don’t think she tried to find me one too hard. She said I was her special favorite. One day, she told me to leave. She said I’d turned eighteen and couldn’t stay. It can’t be true. How could I not notice two hundred years going past? The length of the year I know now doesn’t seem any shorter.”
He nodded and picked up her hand, her unsnotted one, rubbing it back and forth with his thumb. “There are herbs, like Belladonna and Dong quai, that can help people not notice the passage of time. I want you to think really hard. Did it seem like you were there longer than most of the others?”
She didn’t like this at all. Each word, each sentence seemed to point to Tony’s conclusion. “I guess. Not as long as some, though. But longer than most. You don’t think too clearly about things like that when you’re young. It never bothered me because I had Miss Atwood.”
They sat silent for a long time, Brian patiently beside her. Whether he was waiting or trying to figure out something to say, she couldn’t tell. For her part, she couldn’t wrap her head around this new twist in her life. It couldn’t be true. Could it? Was she really a griffin? And over two hundred years old? She turned to him. “Tony’s good at what he does, isn’t he? Is he ever wrong about these things?”
Brian shrugged, his dark gaze locked with hers. “He’s wrong, but not very often.”
“But, how can I be this evil thing? I’m not that way.”
He pulled her against him and said, “No one says you have to be evil.” She heard his voice echo in his chest. It sounded safe. Comforting. Honest.
Olivia spoke to the echo, “But, if Tony’s right, then I am this griffin. Won’
t evil be in my nature? Isn’t that what he said?”
“Not necessarily. True evil is very rare. Usually, people are branded with that stigma because of ignorance and fear. Take me for example. Because I didn’t know how to live with the wolf, I did some bad things. I’m not evil, though I’ve been called that. In fact, most of my clan are considered evil, but rarely are.”
She turned her head and stared at her reflection in the window. She had nothing left to say. All her arguments had an answer. Could it be true? That sinking feeling inside her certainly seemed to think so. She felt betrayed. A bit by Brian, though she had no trouble forgiving him. He’d seen the possibilities and had been trying to help her accept them. And she could forgive Tony too, even if that ground against her because she was still looking for a way to get out from under his enormous ego.
Brian pulled away and stood, reaching for the denim shirt she’d discarded earlier. He didn’t take his gaze off her, and she squirmed under the scrutiny. What must he think of her now? She was supposed to be an evil monster. How could he want someone like that?
It occurred to her that Miss Atwood was also a shifter. No matter what creature she was, Olivia couldn’t forgive her for her transgressions. She had loved the older woman as a mother. And Miss Atwood had loved her too. She was sure of it. Yet, she’d betrayed her. Anger blossomed within her. She wondered what manner of animal the other woman was inside. Something sneaky. Rat? Snake? The trickster crow? Even if all this was wrong, and Olivia fervently prayed it was, she wanted to talk to that woman. With extreme prejudice.
“Why now? Why didn’t they come to kill me when I was young?”
“They most probably didn’t know.” He buttoned the shirt and slid his feet into socks and sneakers.
She let him see her skepticism. “You think anyone could keep that a secret…for two hundred years?”
“I don’t know. If anyone could, Miss Atwood would be at the top of the list. She’s been around longer than anyone can remember. She would know all the tricks. We’ll find out for sure. I think Tony has plans to visit the orphanage.”
She certainly wanted to be along for that ride. She said, not asked, “So, you think it’s true, then.”
Brian wrapped his arm around her shoulders, pulling her against him again. He lifted her chin so he could look in her eyes. “I don’t know. Time will tell, but we’ll deal with it together. Now, let’s go see what Tony wants to do.”
Together sounded good, but who knew how his emotions would change if she became this evil thing.
They walked out of the bedroom, hand in hand, Brian in the lead. She was trying to clean her snotty hand on her jeans and didn’t notice he had stopped until she actually bumped into him. Peering around him to spot what had caused the traffic jam, she saw that Tony, too, was standing at stiff attention, staring toward the front of the cabin, his weariness no longer visible. Then, as one, they both snapped their heads to the right, their attention on something she couldn’t hear.
“Eight,” her Brian said.
“Yep,” was Tony’s response.
The bears must have found them. She stood behind Brian at the bedroom door, thinking about how that might have happened. She whispered to Tony standing beside the dining table, knowing that a normal man wouldn’t hear it, but he would. “They followed you.”
He glanced at her with a wry smile, his bright blue eyes wincing. Score the big one for her. She was out from under Tony Silver’s huge ego, finally. And, judging by the wince, he knew it. Olivia could have danced a jig right there, except Brian was busy pulling her to hide with him behind the pine kitchen island.
Tony joined them. “What do you want to do?” This he asked of Brian. Not her. This time it didn’t really bother her. She was still basking in the glow of her victory.
Brian tipped his head. “Fight until we can make a hole big enough to get her out?”
Tony acknowledged her presence with tight lips and a glance. He nodded. They both edged toward the end of the island.
“Wait,” she said. “If you two are going to the party in costume, then leave me the .357.”
They both stared at her.
“Do you two really think I have no skills whatsoever? You already know I can swim. I can shoot too. Miss Atwood taught all of us orphans. I was grand champion every year.” She held out her hand. Tony hesitated, so she snapped my fingers. “C’mon. We don’t have much time.”
He was slow about it, but he forked over his pistol and three speed loaders. She thought she saw a glimmer of satisfaction in Brian’s eyes. Or was it amusement? And with that, they rounded the corner. She rose enough above the counter to watch them leave, but they were too quick, changing as they moved, and all she saw were tatters of clothing on the floor. She glanced at the door and saw Tony’s white, striped tail whisk out of the cabin.
Chapter 30
Brian stepped out of the cabin and into the fading light, Tony at his heels. He chose to stay in the half-wolf, half-human form, the man-beast. He was stronger there, and he had a feeling strength would win this fight. He was the legend now, the monster. He was werewolf.
Tony, on the other hand, was always best as full tiger and never stopped at the halfway point, the Paladin.
Unnatural silence surrounded the clearing. The air was crisp and heavily scented with pine and the wood smoke from the cabin’s chimney. It carried another scent too. He smelled shifted bears; their odor was different than natural bears. Specifically, he scented Carl Hall and at least two others from his family. Humans carried varied scents, so it was hard to identify shifters in that form. But now, in animal form, he could smell the human all over them.
There was another jackal and a couple of wolves. Somewhere, there was a solitary stag. Of all the shifters, the one that worried him most was that big buck deer. They were quick and deadly with both their antlers and their hooves.
Tony peeled off to the right, circling the house. He had his mouth open, tasting the scent of his prey, his long tail twitching with excitement.
Brian forged straight ahead into the darkness beneath the surrounding trees. The musk of his enemy was strong here, caught by the heavy boughs of the towering Ponderosas. Snow crunched under a heavy foot on his left, and a lupus shadow on his right lunged at him. Brian knew this one. He was part of Cujo’s pack. Brian had been invited to join them when he’d first moved into the Boulder area, but he’d declined, wanting his solitude. The offer had remained open. This one had been one of the pups at the time. A reactionary, if he remembered right. No surprise he’d shown up here. His inexperience showed in that he chose to fight a werewolf with a full wolf. He was destined to lose.
Brian met him head-on. Behind him, the other shadow materialized into a black bear. It didn’t join the attack, however. Instead, it loped into the clearing, headed toward the cabin.
The young wolf wouldn’t let go. Twisting, Brian swung his foe against the nearest Ponderosa with a solid thump. The wolf grunted, but hung on.
Again, Brian wheeled his adversary against the tree, putting every bit of strength he had into the move. This time, the stunned wolf loosed its hold and dropped to the snow and pine floor of the forest, unconscious. He wasn’t dead, but certainly out of the fight; Brian grunted with satisfaction.
His sharp ears picked up the sounds of more breaking branches, hisses, and snarls from the other side of the cabin. Tony was hard at work too.
The clearing was a slight incline toward the center building, and the black bear was only gaining speed, its shorter forearms better suited to that incline. Brian would never catch him as he was. He shifted fully into the wolf and sprinted after the bear, catching it twenty feet from the giant picture window that covered the front of the cabin. No way would he let anyone hurt Olivia.
He launched into the air and landed on the animal’s wide back and rolling shoulders. He couldn’t get a purchase through the thick, coarse hair. The bear stopped and slung its hind end, pivoting on its front, with surprising speed.
With no grip, Brian tumbled off, mouth full of fur. The black bear reared up to its hind legs, mouth agape, mawing loudly.
Brian jumped to his feet and darted around the beast. He growled and worried the other shifter’s hindquarters. Without turning, the bear swung his nearest arm straight back, clocking Brian on the head.
He yelped and fell back, dazed. Shaking his head didn’t seem to help dispel his dizziness or the ringing in his ears.
The bear fell forward to all four feet and lumbered toward the cabin. Brian charged after him.
Chapter 31
Olivia was almost relieved to hear animal growling, snarling, and crying. Silence had filled the cabin and surrounding area. It had stayed way too long. She had to admit that it had unnerved her. A mighty crash sent a black bear through the big front window. He got up groggy and stood in uncertainty for a moment. That’s all she needed. She took careful aim and squeezed off a bullet. He dropped like a stone. Brian’s elongated wolf face peered around the corner of the broken window and then disappeared. She thought he was just checking on her until he drove another bear, a grizzly this time, through the window and into the front room. This one rose to his feet still swinging. She’d shot moving targets, but they were somewhat predictable, not wildly erratic like this animal. The one thing she did know was to not rush the shot, so she waited until she got the hang of the action.
Brian kept the bear occupied from the front. She knew he’d be listening for her, so she said in a soft voice, but loud enough for him to hear, “Drop.” He did exactly that, throwing himself to the floor amid the glass shards. She fired. She misjudged the bear’s turn a little and didn’t hit him. Brian was up and at him again. She came out from behind the kitchen counter and walked right down to the bear, aiming. She wondered if he’d been one of the men in the apartment or the woods. Anger flooded her. This man was trying to kill her. A step out of paw range, she fired. This time, she hit her mark.
The Last Griffin Page 11