“This is far from a prison. You are well taken—”
“We are stock, bred and birthed, and kept bowing to the almighty Rose’s every whim.” The anger in my voice turned venomous. Years of bottled-up frustration continued to pour out. “I’m nothing but a tool for her, and apparently, I’m nothing more than a distraction for you. We have a connection. I’ve felt it every day for the last fifteen years. Every time we’ve touched…I saw more.”
He took a step forward and reached to touch my arm, but I jerked away and walked behind the loveseat. I didn’t want to touch him now. What if I’d ruined it? What if the vision changed, or was just gone?
This wasn’t how it was supposed to have gone. “You were my future, my hope, but Rose’s big bad sheriff won’t—”
He turned on his heel and walked out before I could finish. His shoulders slumped in defeat. Nothing. No words of anger. No argument. I didn’t set out to hurt him, but I had. My chest tightened, and my heart burned beneath my sternum. The giant Gryphon of Sanctuary had taken my pain and verbal lashes and left without a single solitary cry.
“I didn’t mean that. I’m sorry.” The words echoed through the empty library. I knew he’d heard me. He could hear as well or better than any other supernatural I’d encountered. They could all hear a whisper through a wall of stone if they wanted. No privacy. Ever. “Alek.” I dropped my face into my hands, and tears poured again, burning trails of regret down my cheeks. “Please come back.”
What had I done?
How could I fix it?
There had to be a way. I refused to believe that I was so integral to the world’s destiny that it would begrudge me actual love, a real life. Perhaps even a real family.
Chapter 10
ALEK
By the gods, why had I let myself continue kissing her? Because she tasted like heaven and sunshine wrapped into the most decadent of desserts. Her lips had stolen my breath. I’d pulled Gretchen closer, taking her mouth like we’d been lovers for centuries.
The scent of her arousal had been like an aphrodisiac, robbing me of my common sense. Her breasts, firm against my chest, had sent my mind into a place where I thought—just for a moment—that a life with her might be possible. Only for a second had I wanted to roll her on the floor, strip her of that thin linen shift, taste her sweetness, and make her mine.
Fuck.
Right there on the floor of the library.
Fuck.
She deserved better than that. I was better than that. I wasn’t some teenage, hormone-driven lunatic who couldn’t keep his pants on.
My body still vibrated with a desire that threatened my usually unwavering logic. My Gryphon struggled within me, desperate to get back to her. It didn’t make sense. She wasn’t my kind. She was a human, and a Sister. One of the women I’d sworn to protect from exactly what I was fantasizing of doing.
I couldn’t bond with her the way my parents had bonded. I didn’t know how. The rituals and ceremonies I’d watched others perform were vague memories from a childhood long past, wisps of shadows that teased and tested my patience. I was a man—a beast—without a people. Without any knowledge of my race except what my hormonal, teenage mind had retained from all those thousands of years ago.
I could shift. I could fight. I could scream a sound that made men tremble from miles away. Those were things I’d learned growing up with Jared, doing the best we could to survive in a strange world filled with people who would ostracize or kill us if they discovered our secrets.
Still, I knew there was more to being a Gryphon. That I had deduced through trial and error. Magick wound itself around my heart like coils of ivy, and every so often I’d feel it surge within me, driving me to fly, something I’d only done a few times over the millennia. Nowhere on Earth was safe for a winged monster. I wasn’t as big as a dragon. One well-placed rifle shot could knock me from the sky.
I stalked through the castle, away from her, away from her tears. It was better this way, easier for both of us. I refused to be the reason Rose’s precious prophecy was put on hold or, worse, destroyed. Even if I had moved past needing to get home, my friends had not.
The hallways passed in a blur, as did the staircase and the front door.
Sunlight beat down on my back. I crossed the street, headed for Avenue B, the street between the produce market and a row of townhouses where my home stood. Jared should still be at the office.
I needed a few minutes to myself before my nosy-neighbor-of-a-brother came stalking over to tell me what a mistake I’d made by seeing Gretchen again.
My feet pounded along the sidewalk, gaze glued to a fixed point across the street—the door to the Fire Station/Sheriff’s Office that Jared and I shared. We monitored the town, knew everyone. Nothing happened in our town without one or both of us finding out.
Just don’t come out.
My leg collided with a small person, and I leaned forward. A flash of iridescent blue hair filled my line of sight. I caught her before she fell into a pile of crates stacked in front of the market.
“Ouch!” a small female voice squeaked.
“I’m so sorry.” My voice sounded beaten and hopeless. There was no way Jared wouldn’t notice this mood. Getting over Gretchen was going to take centuries—if getting over her was possible at all.
I righted the tiny woman and took an apologetic step back, recognizing the pixie who ran the produce market, Bella. One of the only pixies who never changed her hair color. Since I’d met her over a hundred years ago, she’d always had the same silvery-blue-iridescent mane. Honestly, it still reminded me of those children’s pony toys, but it suited her—ethereal.
“I wasn’t paying attention. I didn’t see you.”
“Well, you’re what, like seven feet tall? I suppose someone so near the ground doesn’t register quickly.”
I shook my head. “I apologize.” I tried to step around Bella and continue down the sidewalk, but she put a hand on my chest and moved to block my way, cocking her head to the side and angling her gaze all the way up to meet mine.
Magick coursed from her hand, not physically stopping me, but it soothed my frayed nerves. Her bright, moss-green eyes flashed with interest, and her alabaster skin glowed a soft yellow like she was a night light plugged into a wall socket.
“Our big scary sheriff has given his heart to another. I wondered if someone would ever be able to reach through the armor you’d constructed around your heart and win over your loyalty.”
How the fuck?
She clucked her tongue. “Don’t be such a sour apple. I won’t tell anyone. Pixies are very good at keeping secrets.”
“I don’t need a secret kept or your discretion. Just leave me be and let me pass.” Not that she truly posed a problem. I could’ve easily removed her from my path, but manhandling a woman wasn’t on the approved action-list inside my brain. Bella was not one easily deterred, though, and I truly wished she would just drop it.
And she did.
Her hand fell from my chest. The magick coursing between us dissipated. The glow in her skin faded, and she stepped to the side, leaving the entire sidewalk open for me to continue. “Go then. Just remember, if you ever need help, I’m here.”
“There’s nothing anyone can do for me.” I gave her a curt nod and walked past.
“Love is always worth the fight. There’s nothing in the universe quite like finding the person you’re meant to be with. Don’t give up on that.”
I refused to look back. Refused to encourage her meddling. I didn’t need her or her pixie dust making a bigger mess than I’d already stirred up. Gretchen wasn’t for me. She could never be for me, her destiny—whether she liked it or not—was tied up with Rose’s crusade. Fate had already threaded that string, long before she’d been born.
Movement across the street caught my attention, and I focused.
“The Sisters must have more children,” Rose’s hushed words carried to my ears from where she stood next to the large pas
senger bus Harrison Bateman drove.
I didn’t stop walking, but I didn’t stop listening, either. It wasn’t often that Rose revealed details surrounding the House of Lamidae. Harrison was probably one of the only people who knew a little more about the needs surrounding their circumstances.
“Astrid is a new Oracle, unsure of herself, and the House numbers are down. She’s already told me they’ve had visions of another Protector, but that they are unclear and too vague to be of use. If just a few more could get with child, the collective power would be restored.”
“It’s not their fault. I’ve spoken with the pixies. Bella agrees that the humans are the ones with the fertility issues.”
“You have to go farther, more rural. Try to find men who haven’t participated in the vaccine programs that started right after the Riots and offer them more money, whatever it takes.”
“I’ve tried. It’s hard enough to find decent men who don’t have families already and then to agree to the contracts—even with gold payment as incentive. I’d have already tried Mexico and Canada, but that option disappeared years ago after—”
“I know, after the Republics dismantled the Federal government.” The Sentinel sighed—the tone of her voice heavy and hopeless. “I’m depending on you. Please keep looking. We’re so close. After all this time, we only need to find two more Protectors to be ready to complete the spell.”
“There are still a few pockets of people who avoided some of the mandatory vaccinations from 2060, before they realized how damaging they were. I’ll try there on my next run. The gold helped this last time, though I hate that aspect.”
“In the end, this is the only way we get home, Harrison. Your family can start fresh in the Veil, away from the hatred and prejudice. All of Sanctuary will be able to escape the madness Xerxes is ushering toward us. Many from around the globe will want to join the exodus.”
“I know.”
I turned the corner onto my street, my heart sinking into the frothing pit of my stomach. The very thing that would free Gretchen from her duty was the only thing I didn’t want her to do.
Imagining her with some other man, some stranger…
An alarm went off across town—a magical horn set up by the pixies, Sanctuary’s very own alarm system. Poles with alarm triggers had been set at every cross street.
I increased my pace from a slow walk to a full-on-devil-might-be-on-my-heels run. Doors slammed around me. Men and women alike poured from the houses up and down the streets, joining me on the run toward the sounding siren.
A blur with a streak of blond whooshed past—possibly Erick—followed by several other nearly invisible figures. Vampires were capable of moving so quickly they literally blended into the background.
A cry of anguish from down the street spurred me faster, and my beast came forth. Unlike the Lycan’s, my magick enabled me to shift without losing my clothing in the process. I lunged forward, allowing the Gryphon inside to take shape. My wings unfurled, and I propelled myself into the air within moments, my human form melting into the body of a lion, and my shoulders and head into that of an eagle.
The crying continued, and I circled over the street, crossing where a crowd had gathered. All six Protectors, along with dozens of Lycan’s and others, huddled around an unrecognizable bloodied body. I used my eagle’s vision to scan the surrounding roads and rooftops for any signs of intruders. Even the smallest movement of a leaf on the ground would trigger my enhanced sense of sight. Being seen wasn’t a concern for me at this moment. Fuck whoever might be watching from a distance. Or satellite. I was the only Gryphon on Earth. My actions would only expose myself.
Two streets over, I saw them. It could’ve been two Sanctuary citizens, but they were running away from the alarm horn when the entirety of the town was running toward it. The pixies had made sure the alarm would never be used against us. No one from inside the town could trigger it. Everyone had been programed in, so to speak, even the children.
I swooped lower, letting loose a cry that sent both men pitching forward, falling to the ground in pain. Diving faster, I almost had them, but I pounded into an empty street instead. I screamed again in frustration, shattering the glass in several nearby houses with the force of the decibels.
I folded my wings and shifted back into human form. “Fucking Djinn.”
“Alek,” Jared’s voice called from down the street.
I whirled to face my friend and shook my head.
His shoulders fell, and he nodded before turning to go back toward the scene of —whatever had happened. Murderers. Who had they killed?
I walked the street, following quickly behind Jared. He wove through the two blocks back to where everyone was standing. Rose was in the center of the group. Even though I couldn’t see her, I could feel the pulses from her magick radiating from within the crowd.
Eira, Sanctuary’s newest appointed sixth Protector, stood at the edge of the crowd with her mate, Killían North, rubbing her slightly rounded belly. The vampire-Elvin match had created a miracle between them. To my knowledge, no vampire had ever existed both alive and undead simultaneously. Eira’s heart beat yet she still needed blood to survive, but the baby within her demanded normal human food for sustenance.
I walked to their side and stood between them and Jared.
“I don’t suppose your super-sonic scream flattened anyone I can flay with my sword?” Killían asked, leaning closer to my arm. The Elvin was tall, but I still had a good six or seven inches on him.
“Nope, the spineless Lycan escaped with his Djinn.”
“Figures.” Killían’s voice edged with disappointment. “I haven’t had a chance to—”
“Killían,” Eira said, her tone firmly saying hold-your-tongue-or-else, a skill only a wife and mate could successfully master and wield. Still, her jewel-blue eyes held barely-contained fury. She was new to the town, but possessive as hell. She’d been recruited into the town—or manipulated—depending upon perspective, but she was family now and she considered every single person in the town somewhat her responsibility. A noble trait but an exhausting one. Her mate, though not a designated Protector, had taken up the same ownership of Sanctuary and its inhabitants that many of us—myself included—shared.
Jared nudged my other arm. “Did you recognize the Djinn?”
“It wasn’t her. They were both male.”
A despondent sigh slipped from his chest. “She’s still alive.”
I believed him. He said he hadn’t had long enough to form a connection link with her, but I knew he had something. Phoenix were telepathic and telekinetic. I’d seen him manipulate everything from the furniture in the room to snuffing out a house fire. He hadn’t given up hope, which meant he absolutely believed she was alive. Possibly even could feel that she was alive.
We were quite the pair. His soul desperately searching for a Djinn woman everyone in town wouldn’t hesitate to kill and me…emotionally flogging myself for even considering the possibility that Gretchen and I could to be together.
The crowd dissipated and I watched, sorrow twisting in my gut for those lost today. They wouldn’t be the last, no matter how hard we fought. Several Lycans lifted the mangled body from the asphalt. Finn held the man’s legs and Brogan the upper body.
“You said earlier one of the intruders was Lycan?” Erick turned to face me directly.
I nodded. “Two males. One Lycan. One Djinn.”
“It was quick thinking for you to shift and survey. We were all so surprised by the death inside our town borders we forgot to behave like the soldiers we are.”
“This is not the first time they’ve come into town, but it is the first time we didn’t know about it beforehand. Did the barrier fall?”
“No,” a familiar male voice rose above the quiet sobs and words of comfort being passed through the crowd. “They found a way to cut a hole right through it. The barrier is still at full strength. No one should’ve been able to blink or even walk through i
t. One of the Lycans in town offered to test it for us, and it tossed him flat on his back and singed most of the hair right off his body.”
“We just have to adjust the spell, Harrison. Come.” Rose gestured to the resident head witch of Sanctuary. He and his daughters used to live part-time in Ada and part-time in Sanctuary, but with all the threats and the Mason Pack’s lodge being destroyed, he’d moved them both down to Sanctuary permanently. Rose had quickly put them to work assembling a spell that would not only inhibit a Djinn from blinking through it, but also from crossing it at all. From what I’d heard, she’d infused her own magick into the spell to strengthen it.
Harrison followed her away from the crowd, and everyone else began breaking apart, returning to whatever duty was calling them next.
But the only place calling to me was the damn castle, where the woman I loved was trapped, not only by walls but by destiny itself.
Chapter 11
GRETCHEN
It was Friday again, and again I was hiding out in the library, as far away from the rest of the Sisters as I could get.
“Gretchen?” Astrid’s voice drifted through the ajar French door.
Apparently, it isn’t far enough. I held my breath and willed her to just keep walking. She couldn’t see me from the doorway. I was on my favorite couch in the farthest nook of the enormous room, the one that still held Alek’s scent. The one where he’d kissed me. Another week had passed and I wanted to run through the castle, screaming his name until he appeared. In my dreams, I’d gone to the parapet walk and waited for him near an open window. He’d come to me in his Gryphon form, and we’d flown away from the castle. Away from Sanctuary. Away from Rose’s oppression.
A tear rolled down my cheek. I wanted to lay all of this on Rose. She had protected us, and many people in this town had died to keep us safe. Here I was bitching instead. Alek was one who’d been with her for centuries—probably longer. I was asking him to be disloyal to someone he respected and held in high esteem.
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