Descent (Gryphon Series Book 5)

by Rourke,Stacey

  With those as her parting words, the queen arced out of the water and plunged to the depths with swan-like elegance.

  Still reeling from Malise’s declaration, I reclaimed the classification of corporeal in a utility closet down the hall from Celeste’s dorm room. Running my fingers through my hair, I puffed my cheeks and longed for the days when I could take troubling matters of the paranormal nature to the Chosen One and her band of do-gooders. They would have found a way to humanely dispose of the homicidal canine before nightfall. Left to my own devices, I saw no choice but to check in and make sure Celeste hadn’t been made into kibble or bits, then hit the streets and hope I stumbled onto a soul-munching monster pooch. It wasn’t the most efficient plan, but was the best I could come up with stone sober.

  Opening the closet door, I poked my head out. After a quick glance in either direction, I stepped out and immediately slammed into two co-eds exiting the showers.

  “Mid-terms be damned, we have to go to O’Malley’s tonight!”

  “Uh, yeah! How can my future honey finally see me and start falling love with me if I’m not at every show? Oof!”

  Their girlish rambling cut off at the moment of our awkward impact—for good reason. Their lack of apparel made the collision downright intimate. The more petite of the two was clad only in a towel. Her curvaceous friend wore what would have qualified as a bath robe, if it was three inches longer and considerably less see-through. Side-note: her nipple to breast ratio tipped significantly in favor of the later.

  Wet hair clinging to their shoulders, they both glanced from the closet, to me, and back again with furrowed brows. At a loss for a plausible excuse, I opted for the obvious. Swaying on my feet, I raised my eyebrows and pantomimed struggling to focus.

  “Thought that was the bathroom,” I whispered a few octaves too loud. “I wouldn’t go in there if I were you.”

  “Tsk-uh.” Towel-girl cringed her disgust and twitched her way past me.

  “Pity, he’s hot.” Following her friend, the other lass’s leer wandered straight to third base as she passed.

  “I’ll remember you fondly and think of you often!” I called after them.

  Turning on my heel with an amused smirk, I strode the remaining distance to Celeste’s door.

  Hand raised, I rapped softly with two knuckles.

  Through the door came a shrill shout. “How dare you use a Draw Four on me! I am carrying your child! What kind of monster are you?”

  The door swung the open. Celeste wore the impassive expression of someone struggling not to go on a rampage. Behind her, Alaina heaved herself off the ground and stomped into the bathroom, slamming the door behind her.

  “I’m the worst kind of monster.” Tossing his cards down on the floor, Gabe slouched back against the bed. “The kind that got married, impregnated my wife, and learned life is bigger than my own stupid emotions. You might want to look into that last part.”

  “Are you insane?” Grams hissed through her teeth, scrambling off the floor. “You can’t say that to a pregnant woman! If I don’t go pry her out of the bathroom now, she’ll roost there!”

  Kendall seconded the sentiment by swatting at her brother.

  Slowly, Celeste wet her lips. “So, how’s your night going?”

  Sucking air through my teeth, I tried to think of an acceptable lie that would make her hate me an iota less. Short of claiming I stormed into a burning building to save a family of kittens, I had nothing. “Not much better,” I began, shoving my hands in my pockets. “I didn’t get done what I needed to. I’m going to have to—”

  “If you say you’re leaving again, I’m going with you.” Crossing her arms over her chest, her tone left no room for argument or discussion.

  “I don’t know if …” I trailed off as the bathroom door opened once more.

  With an arm around her shoulders, Grams ushered Alaina back into the room.

  “Look who’s baaaack!” Grams announced with a singsong chirp.

  “Gabe,” Alaina sniffled, “Grams pointed out to me that my outburst may have been my emotions talking. And that, I apologize for. Then, she went on to tell me that if I didn’t do Kegel exercises, after the baby comes I will pee on myself a little every time I sneeze. That made me cry for a whole new reason.”

  “I either come with you or will be sentenced to talking about the strength of my uterine wall with my grandmother.” Celeste glared daggers at me, daring me to argue. “What’s it going to be, Rowan? Keep in mind there is a wrong answer here, one that you will be punished mercilessly for.”

  “Well,” I shrugged, mouth curling into a smirk, “the uterine wall thing could benefit me—”

  “Finish that sentence and we’re breaking up.”

  “Don’t you start the next hand without me!” Kendall giggled. In slipper-clad feet, she stepped over the Uno game and made the three strides to us. All traces of her smile vanished the second she edged up beside her sister. “For the love of all that is good and pure, take me with you.”

  “What makes you think we’re going anywhere?” Celeste asked, her voice betraying her by raising a guilty octave. The lass had many talents, being an effective liar wasn’t one of them.

  Kendall ticked the evidence off on her fingers. “You haven’t committed to the evening by taking your shoes off since Rowan left the first time. You’ve checked your phone no less than five times a minute—which seems excessive even to me, and my phone is my life. And the second he knocked, you rocketed off the floor at a speed that defied all laws of physics and gravity. Look, if you two wanna go cozy up somewhere and get freaky, that’s all you. No judgments here. I just beg you to have mercy and drop me off at the nearest coffee shop with Wi-Fi first. I am willing to negotiate terms to make this happen. What’s it gonna take? Do your laundry for a month?”

  Celeste’s almond-shaped eyes narrowed. I could almost hear her mind ticking in search of the perfect bargaining chip. “That, and over Christmas break you have to be the one to go down into Gram’s creepy-ass basement to bring up all the decorations.”

  Kendall’s face crumbled with a blend of terror and revulsion. “Even those little elf statues with the pointy hats? Those things creep me out.”

  “Even the elves.”

  “Fine,” Kendall relented, and offered her sister her hand. The two shook on it, then turned to me with matching expectant stares.

  “So, where are we going?” they chorused in perfect Garrett unison.

  “Really, I hadn’t planned—”

  “You’re going?” Alaina inquired, interrupting my protest to the contrary. A bit of her former eagle essence showed through in the avian twitch of her head. “Where to?”

  “Is it a club?” Grams perked up, her drawn on eyebrows rocketing into her hairline. “I’ve been practicing twerking, and I want to try it out on some hotties!”

  Every soul in the room recoiled as Grams’ joints creaked into prime twerking position.

  “You can’t go!” Alaina whined, rubbing her belly. “You have to teach me those exercises! You can’t make a pants wetting claim like that and then just leave. That’s cruel!”

  Tangerine glossed lips sagging into a deep frown of defeat, Grams righted her posture. “You’re right. I’ll stay in with you tonight. But tomorrow? I’m gonna twerk enough to make Miley blush!”

  Flopping down on the bed beside her husband, Alaina gave Gabe’s shoulder a gentle shove. “I’m sorry the nasty pregnancy monster reared its ugly head again. Why don’t you go out with them, sweets? Have some fun!”

  Gabe’s head lolled in her direction, his long legs stretched out and crossed at the ankles. “Because I look like I’m up for a party? Babe, I’m just waiting for a long enough lull in the conversation for it to be considered acceptable for me to start snoring and drooling on myself again.”

  Leaning into him, Alaina rested her chin on his shoulder. “You work so hard and take such good care of me. Plus, fun nights out are going to be in short supply once
the baby comes. Then our time will be filled with midnight feedings and diaper explosions.”

  “What’s a diaper explosion?” Keni whispered to her sister.

  “Picture a piñata full of your favorite things,” Celeste explained. “It’s the exact opposite of that in the worst way imaginable.”

  “I’m past the point of needing crazy nights out.” Reaching around her head, Gabe lovingly combed his fingers through his bride’s hair. “I have proudly entered the phase where ‘Netflix and chill’ means exactly that, and it sounds like a heavenly evening.”

  “Ugh!” Sitting up, Alaina shoved his shoulder. Gabe, the fortress of testosterone he was, didn’t budge. “If you acted any more like a grumpy old man, you’d be on Grams’ front porch yelling at neighbor kids to stay off the grass.”

  “They leave divots!” he countered.

  “Okay, now I’m insisting you go.” Grams scowled, swatting him off the bed.

  Grumbling, Gabe obliged.

  “Fine,” he begrudgingly relented. “Where exactly is the night taking us?”

  All eyes turned to me, a mild inconvenience since my mind had suddenly gone blank. I needed to find a Hellbeast, not a new favorite lager! Still, the right destination could help distract them enough for me to continue my search. “Uh … I heard the band at a pub called O’Malley’s is killer.”

  Chapter 5

  Karma was a sadistic strumpet that thoroughly enjoyed socking me in the danglers when I least expected it. Running my tongue over my top teeth, I marveled at how lackadaisical I had become that I hadn’t seen this coming. Or, to be more accurate, I hadn’t seen him coming.

  Caleb.

  On stage at O’Malley’s he strummed his guitar and caterwauled into the mic, much to the crowd’s delight.

  When we were thrust into this new life a few months ago, I took painstaking measures to keep Celeste and myself away from the raven-haired pain in my ass. I memorized his schedule and routine, and whenever the need arose, I would usher my trusting lass along paths that would purposely avoid any accidental meetings. With time, I grew a little lazy. On more than one occasion, we would be lounging somewhere on campus and that infuriating Irishman would stroll right past. Never once did he look her way. Never once did she bat an eye in his direction. It seemed in this alternate reality the two were invisible to each other. Taking comfort in that, I settled in to an existence blissfully, euphorically Caleb-free.

  Until that moment.

  There was no avoiding him. Screaming Irish rock into the mic with a vigor that made the veins along his neck bulge, every lass on the dance floor screeched and whistled their appreciation of his efforts. Hair clung to his sweat-streaked forehead. The black T-shirt he wore was practically soaked straight through. Thralls of females swarmed the stage, each dancing a little raunchier than the next in hopes the green-eyed crowd-pleaser would notice them.

  Beside me, Celeste sipped her beer and gazed his way over the frothy rim.

  “This place is loud,” I shouted over the music. “Doesn’t it seem a bit loud? I don’t know about the rest of you, but a quiet coffee shop would be bliss about now.”

  “Oh!” Kendall spun on her barstool, swatting at the air with frantic jazz-hands. If she heard me, her own enthusiasm trumped my suggestion. “I forgot to tell you! I auditioned for Peter Pan, and I was offered the part of Peter! Which is amazing, but they want to put me in a harness and fly me around the room. That’s terrifying! You know I don’t like heights. Maybe I could ask the director to consider me for Wendy instead? Or Tinkerbell … no, she would probably have to fly, too. Does it make me sound like too much of a diva actress if I ask to be recast?”

  “Yes, absolutely,” Celeste mumbled, her stare not wavering from Caleb. If her indifferent tone was any indication, she hadn’t heard one word her sister said.

  A chestnut-haired lad swaggered up to Kendall, flipping his hair from his smoldering eyes.

  Gabe halted him with one threatening hand slapped to the kid’s narrow chest. Even perched on his barstool the beastly Garrett was eye to eye with the would-be suitor.

  “Notice the bracelet, Abercrombie,” he growled, jerking his chin in the direction of Kendall’s accessory. “She’s underage. Seventeen, to be exact. Keep walking.”

  Lover boy altered his course without breaking stride. Wise choice.

  Oblivious to all of this, Kendall sagged in defeat.

  “I don’t want to offend the director. I guess I have to … fly,” she gulped.

  “That’ll be great,” Celeste half-heartedly agreed. No, not even half her heart. Maybe like a tenth of it.

  “I didn’t fancy you a fan of Celtic punk,” I muttered against her ear, my hand brushing the small of her back.

  Spinning to face me, guilt white-washed her face. “What? Who? Him? No!”

  “That was a very convincing long-winded ramble. Did you practice that for maximum eloquence?” Dropping my chin, I grinned up at her from under my brow.

  Tucking her hair behind her ear, she shrugged off my claim.

  “Sure, he’s hot in an obvious kind of way, but you’re more …” The ever witty Conduit trailed off, her eyes widening as if every possible adjective she had even known suddenly leaked out her ear.

  Eyebrows raised, I rolled my head in a half-circle in hopes it would spur along the much anticipated end of her sentence. “The longer this hesitation drags on the more insulting it becomes.”

  Her delectable lips twisted into the you’re an idiot smirk she frequently cast my way. Sliding from her seat, she hooked her index finger into my belt loop and tugged me body-skimming close. Tipping her face to mine, she gazed up at me with an open acceptance that took my breath away. “Closing in on a year together, and he still gets jealous. I kinda love that.”

  “You’re trying to distract me from your very effective feminine wiles, but still have to deny the appeal of the Irish stallion,” I murmured against her lips, bathing in the hypnotic pull of her tender touch.

  “He’s not the only hot guy here,” she stated in place of an answer. “Do you have any idea how many girls have checked you out since we walked in? Enough to give the sweaty guitar hero a run for his money. Each lovely lady that leered your way has taken one look at me and wondered how on earth we ended up together.”

  “Because—” My protest was silenced by the tips of her fingers pressing to my lips.

  “I’m sorry, insecure, crazy time is over. Now we’re heading back to reality. On the planet I live on—despite eye candy galore—your eyes haven’t wandered once nor have you left my side.”

  The truth in that sentiment struck me with enough force to make my heart stutter in my chest. She was right. Other than keeping vigil for threatening Hellhounds, not once had I scanned the room for possible talent. Gun to my head, I couldn’t describe one female in the room that wasn’t my hoodie clad date with her messy bun, or her little sis. Admiring the female form was a favorite past time of mine, yet I hadn’t even been tempted. Why?

  The answer shuddered through me.

  Because what started as a simple taste testing of a fantasy I thought I could never claim, morphed into something far deeper. All I could ever want, or need, lived within the little brunette morsel before me.

  “Hot is easy to achieve,” Celeste continued, clueless to my life changing insight. “Sexy is a matter of opinion. You’re something far better. You’re … mine.”

  Rising on tiptoe, she brushed her lips to mine.

  Heart hammering in my chest, I realized the magnitude of my crushing need for her.

  “I …” The words couldn’t form in my Mohave parched mouth.

  At a loss for usual linguistic talents, I pressed my forehead to hers.

  With the side of one knuckle, Celeste traced my jawline. “There’s a word people use in moments like this. It starts with an L and ends with—”

  “Bitter resentment,” I finished for her. “It’s a completely inadequate word.”

  “Hmm,” she
murmured, the tip of her nose brushing mine in an intimate caress. “Sounds like a cursed word. We should find another.”

  Catching her face in the cradle of my hands, I lifted her gaze to mine. “How about, you’re my habit … my addiction I’d sooner die than quit.”

  Our lips met with fevered urgency. Weaving my fingers into her hair, I pulled her to me, molding her body to mine. Was it my imagination, wishful thinking, or could I feel the heat from Caleb’s emerald gaze burning into me?

  Let the sodding Irishman watch.

  Whatever happened before, whatever got us where we were, she was mine now. I celebrated that victory by tracing my hands down her spine and nibbling on her lower lip in a way that earned a throaty moan from mo chroi.

  “Ugh,” Kendall groaned, pantomiming a dry heave. “Gabe, our sister’s voyeuristic tendencies are making me heave. You may need to take me home.”

  “That’s probably for the best.” Sliding from his barstool, Gabe rose to full, menacing height. “Otherwise I’m gonna kill the next douche bag that comes sniffing around you, and drape him over my shoulders as a warning to all the others.”

  “Dude, that was dark.” Keni cringed, lacing the strap of her cross-body bag around her neck. “You need a nap … or a hug.”

  Grunting his agreement, Gabe snatched his Carhart jacket off the stool beside him and stalked toward the door.

  “As for you two,” Kendall warned, her eyes twinkling mischievously, “I’m going to tell you the same thing I told Grams the night of the Senior Center Luau: you’re still in public and have to keep your clothes on.”

  Snorting at what I thought was a joke, I glanced down in time to see Celeste’s face fall into a frown. “Yeah, that was a looooong night.”

  The youngest Garrett gave her sis a shoulder bump of solidarity. “You might want to think about taking off, too. The next act is warming up, and their vibe is very hipster meets glee club. Nothing but mash-ups of eighties rock and indie albums will follow.”