Maddie stared at the newest beast, her heart pounding. How many of these creatures were there? How come they all seemed to want to either protect her or kill her? And what was this tower they kept talking about? Could it be the one from her dreams? But how? She had lots of questions but as they whirled around inside her head, she realized only one mattered at the moment. “Where is Alasdair?”
“Who?” asked Gregory, cocking a bushy brow.
She stepped from behind Doran’s protection. She was going to give this Gregory a piece of her mind. But before she could get very far, Doran jerked her to his side.
“Don’t go near him.”
Gregory laughed raucously. “Yeah, don’t go near me. I just want to kill you. No, stay with the beast that wants to use you, then kill you.”
She looked up at Doran’s black face. “What’s he talking about?” She took a step back as she remembered the race through the woods with Doran on her tail. Had that been a dream or reality? She palmed her head. What was happening? She didn’t know who to trust.
Gregory held out his hand. “If you come with me, I promise to make your death painless.”
Doran grabbed her arm and squeezed until she thought it would break. She gasped.
Another gruff voice spoke from behind them. “Maddie, are you okay?”
She shifted her gaze. A third gryphon, this one pale yet somehow glowing in the moonlight. “Alasdair?”
With one smooth shove, Doran pushed her into Alasdair’s arms. “Get her out of here.”
“But—”
Doran glanced back. His eyes glowed like flames within bronze lanterns. “Don’t argue with me. Get her out of here. Now!”
Alasdair hoisted her into his arms and took flight, wings pumping. She couldn’t see the fight that erupted below but sounds like thunder vibrated her body as they flew away.
Chapter 27
Dougal stroked the cold metal bars absently. While he’d attended school, Serena had purchased a zoo-quality cage and installed it in the cave. Chains securing Gregory’s hands and feet were fastened to the cage floor, which in turn was bolted into the rock. The craftsmanship was impeccable, and Dougal found himself mesmerized by what it promised: a prison as unbreakable as the tower itself.
With one hand twisted between the bars, Serena doctored Gregory’s wounds. “You know, you will heal faster when your brothers are freed,” she said casually as she blotted at a raw area.
Since Dougal had tethered the battered Gregory within the pen, Serena had chattered away about how much better things would be once the tower was opened. Her words poured like a flood, as if Gregory’s presence changed everything. But Dougal knew it didn’t and he hid his skepticism. If half of what she said was true, then all the world’s ills would vanish when the black gryphons were freed. He knew this could not be the case, but he went along with her plan — for one reason only. There was someone in the tower he yearned to meet.
“She’s lying!” yelled Gregory. Dougal’s heart jumped in his chest, but he didn’t look directly at either of them.
Serena hissed and bared her claws, scratching a line along Gregory’s already tender flesh.
Dougal swallowed his curiosity. “That’s no way to treat our guest.”
She hurled the ointment on the cage floor and slithered away. Crocodile tears coursed along her cheeks as she settled on her dresser stool. She threw a hairbrush at him, then a comb, and then everything she could get ahold of. “Don’t believe me, do you?” Clang went the hand mirror against the cage’s closest bar, then rattle and smash as it fell. “Believe an enemy over me!” A tube of hand lotion whirled between the bars, thudded against something soft, and Gregory yelped. “Both of you better sleep with your eyes open.”
Her tail beat the uneven stones, whipping from side to side as she slithered from the main room. In his human form, Dougal stared at Gregory. For an old-timer, he had put up quite a fight. Cuts ran the length of his arms from the beating Dougal had given him, and the bruises were visible through his blood-matted fur.
Not his business, not his job. Dougal sprawled on the chaise and covered his eyes with his arm. Neither Serena nor Gregory could be believed. For just as he knew Serena’s goal was to free the dark gryphons’ leader from the tower and so regain her beauty, he also knew Gregory’s goal was to keep the tower sealed forever.
And that was why Gregory had sought to kill Maddie. Again, and again, and again…
And that was Dougal’s business. “Were there others?” He pushed himself back up and stared at Gregory.
“Other what?”
“Others like Maddie?”
Gregory shrugged. “There aren’t any now.”
Dougal thought about it. “What of Draoi Casey-Brennan, her daughter, and Maddie’s mother? Did not all of them have the same power?”
“Aye, yes, Draoi. In direct line of the village witch! How could she be so lucky as to be in the line of Arin and a druid? The vixen hid herself, her daughter, and her granddaughter through trickery, at least until the great-granddaughter arrived. Then it was too much. Madelyn. The perfect name, don’t you think?” Dougal didn’t get his meaning, but he kept listening. “With her birth, Draoi again had to choose. If her grandson-in-law hadn’t believed she was an eccentric old fool, then perhaps he would be still alive. But alas, I had to kill them to get to the girl.”
“She’s seventeen. Did it take you that long to track her down?” Dougal crossed his arms over his chest. A shudder raced through his body as he remembered the smell of charred flesh when he’d rescued Maddie from the burning house. Gregory had done that. The… the beast.
Gregory narrowed his eyes and squared his shoulders, as if insulted. “Maybe it did, maybe it didn’t. The point is, she would’ve been dead and unable to free the dark ones if you had left her in the burning house!”
Exactly. Dougal grimaced. “I couldn’t.”
“Why not? Is it because of Serena?” Gregory huffed. “I hope you know she’s lying. Nothing will improve if the leader returns. He will pillage, plunder, and decimate every village in Ireland. Then he will move outward until all that’s left of the world is darkness. If any humans survive, they’ll be his slaves and nothing more.”
Finally Dougal looked at him fully. “Why do you care what happens to the humans?”
Gregory shifted nervously and glanced at the prison floor.
Dougal took a gamble. “You love one.”
Something in the cage shimmered, like frustrated magic. Gregory folded his wings against his back and squeezed his eyes tight. It was as if he tried to change, but couldn’t. It seemed cruel. Not that Dougal cared, he reminded himself.
With a sad tone, Gregory said, “I did love, once. But it was a long time ago.”
“Was it Arin?”
Gregory shook his head. “No, it wasn’t Arin.”
Like a lightbulb being turned on, the answer came to him. “It was Mairin, Arin’s sister.”
“Aye, my beloved.” The words sounded like a breathy sigh.
Anger rushed in behind the understanding. “You’re the one who caused Cahal’s imprisonment!” All Gregory’s fault. All of it.
“I guess you could say that.”
“If you’d left her alone or returned her when Arin asked, then Cian would never have imprisoned our brothers!”
“Aye, I know. Mairin begged for release, but I could not let her go. So beautiful, so…” Gregory swallowed. “I tried to make her understand my love for her. I explained how, if she loved me in return, I would morph into a handsome man, like none she’d ever seen! Yet she told me I was revolting. Can you imagine? All the females in our tribe vied for my attention. They sought my affections. I was known as Ailin Colin, handsome and virile. To have my child was considered the highest honor, but she thought I was revolting! I would’ve gladly exchanged my beast form to claim Mairin as my own, but without her...”
The words trailed off, and his shoulders drooped as he hunched over his gryphon feet. “
She begged me to retrieve her sister. Arin was blind and alone. I agreed, but only if she would remain with me. She said yes and I flew away. I found Arin and Cian in the field in each other’s arms. He had changed into a man! A man! How could that have happened so soon? The battle, it had just ended. He had betrayed Arin’s people, yet she had already fallen into his arms!”
Gregory’s voice rose to a crescendo. He jumped to his feet and leapt as far as the chains reached, grasping the bars and shaking them, rattling the cage and vibrating the cave walls. Then he deflated, fell onto the floor, and slowly crossed his legs beneath him. “Why should Cian be given happiness? Why was he allowed to change? Why did he have love when I did not? I returned to my lair without Arin. That was when I found her. Mairin had taken her own life rather than be with me.”
He laughed hysterically. “Cahal didn’t know I led the gryphons against the village. While Arin and Cian searched for her sister, I killed every Casey, every Clevenger, and anyone else that stood in my way. Cahal took the blame, of course, and afterward he vowed to kill me.”
Dougal shook himself, shook off the lingering anger and horror. After listening to Gregory, he felt like he needed a shower. Maybe two. “Ah, so it’s not your love of humans but your fear of Cahal that convinced you to hunt down Arin’s line.”
Gregory muttered. “I care nothing for the filthy humans. I have spent my time hiding in caves to just survive. If I thought Cahal would be of a forgiving nature, I would have freed him ages ago.”
“Have you seen any more of our kind?”
“What kind would that be? I am purely dark. Black in color and in heart. That Alasdair character, her defender, as it were, is purely of the gray nature. He holds the pure heart of Cian and no doubt descends from the village clans.” He scoffed. “But you, you are a nothing. You are merely the spawn of the dark that crossed over to mate.”
Dougal ached to break Gregory’s neck and clenched his hands until his claws extended and pierced his palms. “You know nothing of my history.”
“I know more than you think.” Gregory leaned his back against the bars and tucked his knees to his chest. “Otherwise, how would you change so easily without a true love?”
He turned his back on Gregory and left. Gregory laughed hysterically, the sound echoing within the tunnel, but he walked on without glancing back.
****
Alasdair dropped her in front of her grandma’s home, at the edge of the wood, not far from where he’d left her once before. He set her on her feet and she grabbed his biceps to steady herself. Everything felt shaky after their desperate escape and the night loomed too closely. “Thank you.”
He nodded.
“You always seem to be around just when I need you.” Her eyes involuntarily ran the length of his body. A dark spot stained the fur on his right side, visible in the bright moonlight. Her hand went to the area and crusted blood flecked off. “You’re hurt!”
“I’m fine.”
“No, you’re not! You need to come inside and let me look at it.”
“No.” He eased back, away from her.
“Alasdair, please, I need to make sure you’re okay.”
He removed her hand, turned his back, and started walking away. “I’m fine.”
Maddie swallowed. He seemed so strong, so sturdy, whether he faced her or turned away, whether he flew or walked. “Did I hurt your feelings?”
He rounded on her, anger oozing from every pore. “My wound has healed. Only the old blood remains. I’m fine. Don’t you need to check on your grandmother?”
“No, she’s in the hospital. But you know, what I do need to do is check on Chase. We had a tiny spat and I probably owe him an apology.”
Alasdair remained silent. For a moment longer he stared at her, burning bronze behind his eyes. Then he pumped his wings once and flew away. Maddie reached out for him. “Alasdair.”
Well, that wasn’t going to help. Maddie let her hand fall back to her side and watched his diminishing form as long as she could make out his dark speck against the moon. He always saved her. And then he always left as fast as he could.
Dejected, she exited the woods, slipped across the yard, and plopped down on the porch steps. Her fingers were caked with mud. All of her was dirty, after an ill-advised canoe ride, a rescue, an attack, another rescue, and so on. Boy, how she would love to just talk with Alasdair, but he was always in such a hurry.
On the porch beside her, wood, nails, a saw, and a hammer littered the area. Apparently Chase had been thinking along the same lines as her… the porch needed repair. Only instead of just thinking about it, he’d actually done something.
She sighed deeply. Where was Chase? Just as she was about to search for him, he opened the front door.
****
He’d left Maddie in the grove and flown to the open second-story window. Now that the immediate danger was over, it was simple enough to change back into his human form. He dressed quickly and headed downstairs, ready to accept the forthcoming apology, since he knew in advance it was coming.
In the spill from the porch light, Maddie rested on the steps. She looked terrible. Her hair was wet and clinging to her head. Twigs stuck from her clothes, mud stained half of her, and her hair stuck out at odd angles. Scratches and goose bumps dotted her exposed arms.
“Maddie? Is that you?” He walked onto the porch, trying to keep his anger in check.
“Yeah, it’s me.”
“You look terrible. Where have you been? I’ve been looking everywhere for you.”
“I went for a canoe ride.”
“Were you inside the canoe?” Did the tone sound teasing? Or was he giving it away that he knew exactly what had happened to her? Would biting his lip help him keep his secret? He doubted it.
“What?” Confusion drew her brows together.
He shrugged, as cool as he could manage. “Well, you look like you were pulled along behind the canoe.”
“Ha ha, very funny.”
She shivered and he almost broke and told her everything. Instead he swallowed. “Maddie, come inside and change into dry clothes.”
She rose and faced him, her body within inches of his. “I believe I owe you an apology.”
Chase cocked his eyebrow. Although he’d known it was coming, hearing it from her lips still surprised him and kicked his heart into overdrive.
“I shouldn’t have been so adamant that you share everything with me. I know if you could tell me, then you would.”
His hand shot forward and plucked a twig from her hair, flicking it away. He stared into her doe-shaped eyes, the jade color darkening. They both held many secrets. Unwittingly she had shared most of hers.
Her innocence attracted him, and he leaned forward and sealed their lips in a kiss. Her hands moved between them and rested against his chest. He tangled his fingers in her hair, drawing her closer. She trembled, and he wrapped her in an embrace, sharing his warmth. When at last they pulled apart, they were both breathing heavily and some of her mud had shifted to him.
“I think you need a hot shower,” he said gruffly. And I need a cold one.
“Why?” she whispered.
“You’re shivering.”
“Perhaps I’m not shivering because I’m cold.”
The implication made his stomach knot, and he laughed to cover his feelings. He twirled a strand of her wet hair around his finger. “Why don’t you clean up? I’ll do the same here, then we can enjoy a movie and some popcorn or something. It’s too early and I don’t feel like going to bed yet.”
“Okay,” she said, not moving.
In a bold move, she wrapped her arms around his neck and drew his lips back down to hers. When she pulled back, a ruddy color darkened her cheeks. She extracted herself from his hold and ran inside.
Chase stared at her retreating form. His blood pumped so loudly in his ears, he couldn’t hear. They needed to have a serious talk. His attraction continued to grow. In his beast form, he was her protector and
defender. In his human form, he wanted to be her mate and life partner. He knew they were young, but what would she say if he proposed? He pulled a small black box from his pocket and stared at it.
He didn’t open it, but replaced it in his pocket. He picked up the mess on the porch. Ways to propose raced through his mind, ranging from simple to extremely romantic. His hand stilled and he noticed a scratch along his forearm. Until she knew the truth, he couldn’t ask her. It wouldn’t be right. But learning the truth could change everything.
Chapter 28
Hot water cascaded over Maddie’s mud-tracked flesh. She laid her head against the shower wall and watched the rinse water swirl down the drain, slowly running clear. Finally she washed her hair and scrubbed down.
What was she going to do? The whole thing was a disaster. Flying beasts trying to kill her, flying beasts trying to protect her — and all she wanted was to have a regular boyfriend and do teenage stuff.
Fully rinsed and clean, she stepped from the shower, dried, and dressed. In her room she combed her hair, allowing the damp tendrils to surround her face. Purple bruises wound around her wrists and cuts ran the length of her arms. She grabbed a sweater from her closet, donned it, and tugged down the sleeves. Now at least the mirror reflected a normal girl. She exhaled loudly. Why couldn’t her life be simpler?
Plastering a smile on her face, she bounded downstairs. The aroma of popcorn filled the air.
Chase sprawled on the living room couch, his feet propped on the coffee table. A glass of iced tea rested in one hand, a handful of popcorn in the other. Several DVDs littered the table. He looked ridiculously comfortable, as if nothing had ever happened to her and the world was just peachy.
Fighting the urge to slam him with a handy pillow, Maddie sat beside him and tucked her feet beneath her. She shuffled through the movies. An old Western lay on top. “This is a good movie, but I’m not in the mood for horses and romance and riding off into the sunset.”
Second was a dancing movie. “Love it, but I don’t think I can do the musical scene tonight.” It felt far too cheerful for her current mood.
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