“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.
***
She scowled at the field before them. The sky was grey, a blanket of clouds laying over the world and mirroring the way she felt inside. While her banter with Griffin had provided a distraction, she was now faced with the reality of her situation.
Soon, she would have to get out of the truck and attempt her first shift. The beast sang with excitement inside her, but Lilah only felt dread. The thought of her body tearing itself apart and reforming with scales and claws terrified her. She held onto her arms, as if she could hold herself together, could hold back the change.
There would come a day when she couldn’t put it off any longer. The beast would tear itself out of her. She either had to give in to it or let it destroy her. Those were her only two options.
Not for the first time, she bemoaned the curse. It was hellishly inconvenient. Just for once, she wanted to get a pleasant surprise rather than a life altering one. She wanted flowers in the mail, to win a sweepstakes, or fall in love with the perfect man.
Clearly, none of those things were going to happen.
Until she looked to Griffin. Her breath caught and her beast tried to claw its way toward him. Every time she saw him, it was like the first time all over again. She was reminded of his graceful beauty and the power of his body.
As much as she wanted to go back to the night that he’d bitten her, there was no way she could. Life didn’t have a rewind button. He was not only her very fake boyfriend, but now her teacher. Lilah saw lines drawn in the sand, lines that separated them further and further.
She reminded herself that he would one day find a mate.
“Holy shit,” she breathed. Her head snapped up as a thought rocketed to the forefront of her mind.
Griffin jumped, alert. He looked her up and down in a blind panic. “What is it?”
“Do I get a mate now? Is that fated, or something?”
The panic fled and was replaced by a momentary look of exhaustion. Then, he laughed. The sound filled the cab of the truck and brought a smile to her own lips. She hadn’t been joking, though.
“I don’t know how this works. Do changed shifters get mates? Or, are they screwed since they were born human and therefore not part of the magic whatever that makes shifters?”
He tapped his fingers along the steering wheel, taking time like he was gathering his thoughts. Lilah desperately wanted an answer, though she feared the family curse would steal away anything good that came into her life. All she wanted was a speck of hope.
“I can’t say for sure. No one really knows much about the magic that makes shifters. There’s some lore that’s passed down from family to family, but it differs from animal to animal. There is a belief that every shifter has a mate, changed or not. It’s like the weave of fate is expecting you and so it makes room.”
It wasn’t quite what Lilah needed to hear. She turned away from him to glare at the field again. “I guess we better get this started.”
Griffin made a sound. She suspected he want
ed to say more, but she was already pushing the door open. She jumped out and gulped down mouthfuls of fresh air. Spring was quickly approaching, and the gentle air whisked away some of her worries.
Until she looked up. Dragon shifters were expected to fly. They had wings.
But, Lilah had never been good at heights. She’d panicked at the water park when she climbed to the top of the big slides. Even going over bridges freaked her out. Even though Griffin was an ass for joking, he was right that dragons could catch themselves. They had wings for a reason.
“If it helps,” he said as he joined her, “Ryker’s mate has been knocked out of the sky twice since they met.”
“Which one is that?” Lilah couldn’t keep all the names and faces straight. The only ones she knew on sight were Jasper and Kennedy. And now Ashton since he seemed to let himself inside the guest house often enough.
“Tiny woman with dark hair. She looks like what a mouse might if it could shift into a human.”
Lilah slapped him in the chest. It was a mistake because his hand trapped hers and held it there. Her heart beat faster and faster. She didn’t dare look up at him for fear of what she might see. As much as her beast wanted Griffin, she needed to make sense of her life before she did anything so wild.
Hell, he probably didn’t even want her like that. She was now a burden on his life. He most likely saw her as such and dreaded every interaction with her. She’d crossed a line when she hit him.
He let her go.
Lilah stepped forward, further into the field. Hanging around his truck while he tried to teach her to shift probably wouldn’t end well. For her or the truck. She threw her hands in the air, giving in to the situation.
“Well, how do we do this?”
“Let it happen,” he responded.
She glared at him. His words didn’t help in the least. Her body was still human and would remain human until he told her how it actually worked.
Her skin crawled with the thought of what she was trying to do. It made her want to step back, want to run back to the truck. As much as she knew this needed to happen, she didn’t want it. The beast could complain all it wanted, but she didn’t want to be ripped apart.
“Why did you destroy Jasper’s car?” Lilah asked, trying to divert the conversation. “He’s your king. Right? Why would you risk angering him like that?”
Griffin stopped what he was doing. His gaze was glued to the grass at their feet. She caught the way his hands tightened into white-knuckled fists.
“The fight was Jasper’s fault,” he said, finally.
Confusion shook her. “That’s not how I remember it. Those dragons ambushed us. If anything, it’s their fault.”
When he pulled in a long breath, Lilah saw the way his shoulders shook. His head fell back, as if he were trying to compose himself. Lilah didn’t see how this was such a difficult conversation. Whatever was going on between him and Jasper needed to be put aside. This was about her.
Perhaps that was selfish of her, but it was Lilah’s life that had been changed forever.
“A few weeks ago, Jasper declared war with another group of dragons. All they wanted was to find a female shifter hiding on our territory, but Jasper was so greedy that he would rather keep the woman and endanger everyone else than stop a war. Because of that greed, you got hurt. That is why I destroyed his useless fucking car.”
Oh.
“I’m tired of him thinking only of himself. It’s going to destroy everything we have.”
Lilah’s lips twisted to the side as she thought. “What about the woman? The one both groups are fighting over. What does she think?”
“No one knows because she won’t show herself.” He gestured to the woods around them. “She’s hiding somewhere out here and won’t come out. Probably because her mate is a selfish prick and she doesn’t want him either.”
Lilah’s brows rose. “Wait. Are you trying to tell me that she’s Jasper’s mate and that’s why he’s fighting over her?”
In a weird way, it was kind of romantic. Though the hiding shifter woman didn’t want to be found, Jasper was still doing everything he could to protect her from those who were fighting to capture her again. At least, that was how Lilah saw it. She couldn’t imagine anyone wanting to go back to beasts who would openly attack a picnic.
Griffin narrowed his eyes at her. “You’re trying to put off shifting. Aren’t you?”
She shrugged, pretending at innocence. It brought a laugh out of him, but it didn’t last long. Seriousness returned.
“If you don’t learn to shift, your beast will take over and do it for you. Then we’ll never get Lilah back.”
Fear was like snow sliding down her spine. That was not the encouragement that she needed, and Griffin saw the adverse effect his words had on her. He approached, placing gentle hands on her shoulders.
“Let her out. Let the beast out. I promise you’ll be okay.”
The beast pushed to the surface of her thoughts. It filled her, overtaking everything Lilah thought she was in control of. Her skin was no longer her own. It tingled with whatever magic brought on the change. In a blind panic, she pulled it back. The beast growled at her, and her head throbbed, but she couldn’t do it.
She couldn’t give herself over so completely. Already, Lilah had lost nearly her entire life. If she let the beast take her body, too, then she would have nothing. She would be a speck adrift, completely out of control.
“Delilah,” Griffin said, a hint of warning in his voice.
She shook her head and jerked away from his touch. Spinning around, she buried her face in her hands. This wasn’t right. She couldn’t be asked to give up so much time and time again. It wasn’t fair.
“Just remember,” Griffin began, “you’re the one making me do this.”
She spun around in alarm, but he was taking his phone out of his pocket. Her brows knit together in confusion as he tapped at the screen. Lilah’s heart fluttered nervously. She took a tentative step forward as a grin swept over Griffin’s face. The sight of it stopped her. The bright happiness and spark of mischief in his eyes rendered him into not just a marble statue, but a god.
He closed the space between them and leaned so she could see his phone screen. Her full name sat over a dollar amount that stole her breath. Her head snapped up. She wanted to curse him out but couldn’t find words at all. Nothing came.
“You said it would take a seven-figure number to get you in the sky, but let’s start with five figures for the first step.” He winked like this was nothing to him at all. “Shift and I’ll deposit it into your account.”
Lilah swallowed. With that kind of money, she could actually start over. She might even be able to stave off the curse for a while. Hell, she could hunt down someone who could cleanse the curse from her blood once and for all. Money like that was a new life. Griffin threw it her way with only one request.
He asked her to do the thing she least wanted to do.
“You can do it,” he said softly. “I have every bit of faith in you.”
She turned away from him and steadied herself, trying to let the world come back to a standstill after seeing that life-changing number. “There’s a lot I haven’t talked about. I know you’ll say I haven’t talked about anything, but…”
Lilah tried to tell him about the curse. She did her best to spill it out, but the truth sat like a knot in her chest. It refused to move. Her skin started to tingle, and her toes went numb. At first, Lilah thought it was panic. Then, her vision started to change.
The world went fuzzy, then sharpened startlingly. She could see every new blade of grass, every subtle shade of green and brown that painted the world. Confusion made her slow, but the new voice in her head whispered to her. It explained what was happening, that it was helping her.
The beast brought her attention back to the money Griffin was offering before her body began to pull apart. Lilah screamed once she realized what
was happening. It was like being trapped in a nightmare she couldn’t wake from. The change paused mid-form. She pressed her eyes shut to keep from seeing what was happening.
Distantly, she was aware of Griffin’s shouts, but they meant nothing while panic reigned. Lilah could do nothing. She could barely breathe. Every breath hurt, sending fire through her wrecked body. The beast growled in her ear. It filled her with threats, but Lilah held onto control. She held on tight while the beast pulled. The struggle kept her in this form, though she couldn’t realize it while her mind was split.
Chapter Eleven
Griffin paced the floor, running a fine line into the carpet. He’d never seen anything like it before in his life. The vision…the sight of Lilah…he couldn’t describe it. While her body had not physically changed, he’d seen the form of the dragon trying to take shape. The magic had formed around her. It’d tugged at her very being and tried to implode around her stubborn desire to remain human.
Why he’d thought money would buy her compliance, he would never know. It was obvious that Lilah was terrified of what she’d become. Trying to buy her would never work. She needed to heal, to come to terms with her new life, before he could try cheap tricks like that.
He felt like a monster for what he’d put her through. The only person to blame was him. When she drifted through the halls and met his eyes before quickly darting away, he felt the weight of what he’d done. Lilah had gone from pained to completely ruined after the near-shift. Griffin didn’t know the first thing about helping her.
There weren’t many other changed shifters living in Grove, if any. Not that he knew of, at least. The shifters who lived in Grove were careful. They shifted away from humanity, controlled their beasts, and lived happy lives.
Lilah’s situation was unlike any other he’d come into contact with. He worried that he’d never be able to help her and that, eventually, she would lose her humanity to the beast now living inside her. The thought of it struck him. Her loss would be akin to losing his own arm. He wouldn’t know how to function without her, even though she was still so new to his life.
Aurum Court Dragons: Boxset Books 1-5 Page 48
