Before she could process them, the group fell silent. Griffin stiffened behind her. His grip on her tightened as he twisted to cover her. She craned her neck to see what bothered them and found a stricken dragon staring at them all.
At first, Lilah thought it was just another relative come to party. She knew the dragons would sometimes fly because it was easier than driving. The growls that rumbled through the party chased away any thoughts of familiarity. She watched the dragon pull its lips back in a threatening snarl and realized this would not end well.
Griffin shoved her away. “Head back to the truck. Drive back to the manor if you have to.”
She stumbled. More dragons entered the skies. They surfaced from every direction and circled the picnic like crows waiting to pick at roadkill. Her heart thundered. Fear like she’d never felt before made her quake. She couldn’t get her legs to work. She couldn’t run, couldn’t do what Griffin asked.
He didn’t leave her, though. Seeing her frozen, he wrapped his arms around her and tugged her away from the fight. She dug her fingers into his arm while her mind reeled.
This had not been in the agreement. There’d been nothing about enemy dragons, no mention of possible fights, of this kind of danger. It was the curse in action, she thought. Before she’d entered Griffin’s life, there probably hadn’t been enemy dragons. The curse had dragged them out.
She bit back tears.
This was all her fault.
Griffin released her. Startled, her eyes snapped open. The truck was just ahead, only twenty feet away. She could make it.
A dragon dropped between her and the truck. She nearly crashed into the beast, it was that close. Lilah fumbled back, trying to turn and run. Distantly, she heard Griffin’s howl. Teeth closed around her shoulder.
It felt nothing like the bite from the night before. This one burned with electric fire, zinging through every muscle from head to toe. She thought she heard a scream, but the pain filling her body was too great for her to make sense of what was going on. It wasn’t until the teeth slid out of her flesh that she realized she was the one screaming.
Lilah dropped to her knees. She curled in on herself, grateful to be alive but cursing the hex that destroyed her life. She struggled to hold on to the present, but her vision wavered. Darkness swam over her vision as she swayed. She gritted her teeth and fought, but the pain was too great.
Finally, Lilah collapsed.
Chapter Nine
Griffin wanted to tear something apart.
He started with Jasper’s fancy car. He ripped the door from the hinges and savored the sound of shattering glass as he threw it behind him. Then, he grasped the hood and ripped. The metal shredded in half like paper. It wasn’t enough. He kept destroying it until there was nothing left but bits and pieces.
It still wasn’t enough.
Jasper’s war had taken it’s first victim. Griffin’s lips curled at the thought. He spun to find his king standing in the doorway. Before Jasper could say anything, Griffin stormed away.
“She’s not dead!” Jasper called out to him.
His king was lucky he didn’t tear the house apart one piece at a time. Jasper deserved it for bringing this war down on all their heads. It was a battle none of them asked to fight. Griffin was tired of bending to the will of others, of serving. He’d made an attempt to have his own life, as strangely as it began, but he couldn’t even have that without Jasper ruining it.
Lilah was not dead.
But she would never be the same.
As much as Griffin wanted to blame Jasper, there was no ignoring the heavy weight of shame on Griffin’s shoulders. If he’d never invited her into his world, she wouldn’t have been at the picnic. If he’d let her get on with her life, she wouldn’t be suffering. Griffin would have called off the agreement, but he felt he owed her more than that.
She was a dragon now, just like him. The least he could do was teach her how to handle her new beast. The creature’s bite, in the dragon form, had cursed Lilah with her own beast. His claiming mark didn’t have the same effect. Only a bite in beastly form would change a person.
***
Lilah stared at the ceiling.
This was her curse’s fault. If she’d known this would happen, she would have stayed away from Griffin. Now, there was no way she could get away. She was one of them. It was the only way to explain the snarling voice in the back of her mind. It set her teeth on edge and made her fingers dig into the bedsheets.
Hunger gripped her. Her stomach growled ferociously. It seemed the change had taken a lot out of her, but she had no desire to feed herself. She wanted nothing to do with this new fate, this inhuman hunger. The thought of food made her frown. To eat would be to acknowledge the change, and Lilah wasn’t ready to do that. So, she curled in on herself and fought to push back the feeling pinching her stomach.
A sharp meow pierced the silence and Bumble leapt atop the bed. He paused, staring at Lilah. She thought he would turn and run once he saw the monster inside her. Bumble did no such thing. As if he’d never stopped, he continued forward and tucked himself into the crook of her arm, curling tight as if he were a kitten still.
“You insufferable fluff ball,” Lilah said through hot tears.
Griffin appeared in the doorway, chest shirtless and heaving, but silent. He had nothing to say, even if Lilah wanted to say everything to him. She blamed him for the change that had taken her. If he’d never asked her to be his fake girlfriend, if he’d waited another day to introduce her to his family, if he’d been better at protecting her…
Then this wouldn’t have happened.
But, it did and there was no going back for her. The curse had struck and altered the course of her life forever. Lilah could do nothing more than trudge forward, because there was nothing else to do.
“You look like you ran a marathon,” she mumbled at him since he wouldn’t say anything. She wanted to roll over and ignore him, but this was his house. Eventually, she would have to deal with him.
It wasn’t like she had a place she could retreat to. The eviction notice had seen to that.
“I was…exercising.”
“Do dragon shifters even need to exercise? Or, will I develop a six pack in a week?”
He laughed at her statement, but Lilah didn’t smile. Outwardly, it was as if nothing had changed. She was still the plump girl who would never compare to the beautiful mates of the other metallic dragons, let alone her own sister. Becoming a dragon shifter didn’t endow her with the natural glamour the others had been born with. It made her hate the situation all the more.
Especially when the beast inside her begged for Griffin’s attention. It filled Lilah with a desire so intense she couldn’t ignore it. The heat filled her core and pulsed in his presence. If the beast could have its way, Lilah would have spread her legs for him already.
She clenched her teeth and buried her face in the pillows. She didn’t know how to regain control of herself. The beast stole everything from her, invading even the privacy of her thoughts. There was no escape, no way she could drown out the voice that tormented her.
“I wish I could take it back,” he confessed. He was still standing in the doorway when she looked up. His hands were fisted at his sides and his eyes blazed with unchecked fury. “If I could go back, I would throw myself in the way of the attack a million times over.”
“Well, you can’t.”
He sighed.
Lilah knew she was being defeatist, coming very close to throwing a fit, but she couldn’t help herself. Her head was a mess, and the beast was making things worse, and she couldn’t escape the hunger still pinching her stomach. All she wanted was to be left alone, but that would never happen again. She would never be alone because the beast would always be inside her now.
“I’ll help you,” Griffin said. “I’ll help you figure out how to work with your dragon, how to shift, how to fly. I’ll teach you all those things. There’s no reason for you to flounder
about. We can do this. Together.”
Together.
She didn’t want together. She wanted alone. She wanted freedom from everything the universe slapped her with. Over and over again, the curse tried to crush her. It stole everything from her until she had nothing and had to start again. This time, Lilah worried she wouldn’t be able to start over. The voice in her head was too much. The hunger was overwhelming.
It threatened to break her.
Perhaps that was what the curse wanted all along. If she somehow overcame this, then the curse would strike again. And again. Until she was a blabbering mess.
“I’m afraid...” she began, choking on the words. She had to swallow and start over. “I’m afraid I won’t make it through this. I’m afraid that if I do, something worse will happen.”
Griffin stepped toward the bed. The scent of his musk wafted over her, turning the pulse in her core into an unbearable throb. The beast growled in her ears, drowning out the sound of Bumble purring in her arms. He touched the edge of the bed, but didn’t join her, keeping his distance.
“This isn’t the end of the world,” he said softly. “It might feel like it, but you’re still alive. You were barely even hurt. You won’t have to go through weeks of healing, just a bit of training.”
She made a face at him. He was trying, and she appreciated the effort, but he would never understand. He wasn’t a James. There was no curse on his head.
Before she could explain, they heard the front door swing open. It clattered against the wall just as footsteps boomed through the house. The scent of the visitor drifted through the halls, greeting her before she could see the shifter. Though she couldn’t tell scents apart yet, Griffin could, and he groaned.
“You ripped apart Jasper’s Jaguar!” The visitor howled.
Lilah looked back to Griffin. He’d been dripping with sweat when he arrived, breathing like he’d run miles and miles. She’d been so caught up in her own pain that she hadn’t considered what would have caused his state. He refused to meet her eyes now. Instead, he glowered at the doorway and said, “What do you want, Ashton?”
The youngest of the metallic dragons was attempting to grow a beard. The moustache was spotty, parts of it so light that it was almost the same color as his skin. “I saw the hood! You ripped it in half like it was a paper plate.”
Griffin growled. He took a menacing step forward. Ashton was unaffected by his cousin’s aggression and kept going.
“Did he catch you? I mean, you still have all your body parts, so I’m going to assume that Jasper doesn’t know. You tore it apart with your bare hands. That’s quite the feat, but was it worth it?”
Lilah studied Griffin’s profile. All this time, she thought he’d been avoiding her because he was annoyed with her despair. She never considered that he was working through his own emotions. It was, perhaps, the most male way to work through trauma. It also sent a message to Jasper.
Griffin blamed his cousin for all this. Why, Lilah didn’t know. She stared at Griffin as if all would reveal itself if she watched him long enough. His features didn’t reveal anything. He was a solid wall of fury aimed at Ashton, who appeared to feel nothing in the face of a man who’d dismantled a car by brute force.
Ashton passed his cousin and leapt to sit on the corner of the bed. “So, have you figured out what color your beast is yet? You’re a pretty woman, so I would think your beast would be just as pretty.”
Her cheeks warmed at the unexpected compliment. No one had ever openly called her pretty without wanting something in return. While she would have thought Ashton was looking for something, his features were far too honest. He didn’t seem to be hiding any ulterior motives, only enjoying time spent with his family.
“Well, I, ah…” Lilah didn’t know what to say.
“Ashton,” Griffin growled. “If you don’t get off my bed this instant, I will dismantle you. Starting with your dick. Do you hear me?”
Ashton perked up. “Someone is touchy today. Should I tell Kennedy to make you something to eat? Are you hangry?”
Griffin roared and reached for his cousin. Ashton bolted for the door. She thought Griffin would give chase and make his cousin pay for his annoying ways, but Griffin never left her side. He stopped at the door and turned back to her.
She offered a soft smile, still feeling a little queasy. Though, she had to admit that Ashton’s antics had lifted her mood. There was a nonchalant way in which he said everything. He made it seem like just another day. That’s all it was.
Just another day.
“Are you ready to go out? We can drive as far away from these idiots as we can get.”
Lilah nodded and let him take her hand to help her off the bed. Just when she thought the pulsing in her core would overtake her senses, her stomach let out the most offensive growl she’d ever heard.
“Alright, then. Food before training.”
Chapter Ten
When Ashton got too close to Lilah, a part of Griffin had lost control. The beast had nearly ripped its way out of him and bitten his cousin’s head off. Griffin stole a glance at Lilah, taking in her pixie-like nose and long lashes. He knew almost nothing about her, but now they’d become bound together.
At least, until she figured out how to manage her own beast. Once she could shift and fly on her own, he expected her to run away. The thought saddened his beast. It wanted to cling to her forever.
She was currently in the passenger seat of his truck, eating a sub they’d picked up on their way through town. The air smelled of herb-laden olive oil and tangy pickled peppers. At least she was eating, though. He’d worried that she would starve herself and lose control of her beast in the process.
He didn’t tell her, but she was in a precarious position. If she let her emotions run rampant and ignored the new beast inside her, then she could be overwhelmed by the beast. It would fight for dominance if it thought she would hurt herself. Once the beast won, it would be difficult to get her back.
Griffin didn’t know what would remind Lilah of her humanity if her beast overpowered her. He still knew so little about her. The way she spoke earlier, in the bedroom, had been riddled with holes. He suspected there was something she wasn’t saying, a secret she talked around without actually divulging.
Each time she came to it, she looked as though an arrow had pierced her heart. The pain was palpable, and Griffin ached with her. He wished he could take it from her. He wished he could bear all her pain, but he was just one man. A man who meant almost nothing to her.
He didn’t know if their agreement was still valid, but he would keep sending paychecks to her bank account. He wanted her to be able to stand on her own two feet if she decided to leave them. As much as he wanted to beg Lilah to stay, he knew he couldn’t stop her.
“You’re silent,” she said.
Griffin grunted. What did she want him to say? He’d already apologized for what happened to her. Each time he tried to say more, his throat threatened to close around the words. His mind went sideways, tilted by grief and fury. He couldn’t tell her that there was a dragon shifter on his territory that he was planning to kill.
Each time he closed his eyes, he saw the scaled beast sinking its teeth into her. He saw the wide-eyed fear that filled her face. He didn’t know if she remembered, but she’d reached out to him. He’d been helpless while she’d been in pain. If he pulled her away, he would have hurt her more. If he’d attacked the creature, it could have killed her.
All it would have taken was a spasm of the creature’s jaw, and Lilah would have been crushed.
“You’re going to bend the steering wheel if you clutch it any tighter,” Lilah said. “You hold it tighter than my grandmother held her pearls.”
He snorted.
Lilah picked at her sub, tossing fallen lettuce onto the wrapper spread out over her lap. “What if I said I don’t want to fly?”
He raised a brow. “Are you afraid of heights?”
“Maybe.”
“Well, then you have a built-in system to keep you from falling.”
She made a face at him, clearly unimpressed with his reasoning. “When was the last time you had to interact with someone other than your own sour mug in the mirror?”
Griffin jerked back, surprised at her words. They held no venom, but a tinge of humor. She was teasing him. If that was what helped her heal, then he would bear it with a grin.
Rubbing his hand over the scruff growing along his chin, he seriously considered her question. “Never.”
“That explains a whole lot.” She took another bite of her sub and spoke around it. “Seriously, though. I’m not going to fly. You couldn’t pay me enough to get me in the air.”
That sparked an idea. “Are you sure about that? I’m sure there’s a dollar sign I could tack on that would buy enough courage for you.”
She raised both brows, swallowed her food, and pointed her sub at him. “That number would need at least six zeros after it before I even think of going into the sky.”
“Before or after the decimal point?”
“I hate you,” she grumbled.
But, Griffin was partly serious. Aurum Bank had been paying him to be Jasper’s safety net for years. While the bank had been failing not long ago, Ashton and the king were working to breathe life back into it. And were succeeding. Living in Jasper’s guest house had also allowed Griffin to save more money than he would ever need.
When they found the right place to practice shifting, he would drop money into her account until they reached the number that would propel her off the ground. It was nothing to Griffin, but he knew it would mean the start of a new life to her. He’d seen the eviction notice in her purse.
If he could help her, in any way, he was going to try. He owed her that much.
***
Griffin Drake Page 7