Taken for Granite

by Nancey Cummings

  “I am more curious to see who has made the trek,” he said. “There are friends I have not seen in many years.”

  “It’s going to be a good day,” she said. A long day. A tiring day, but good. Tas identified the best path—a valley just east of the old airport. The valley would bring them north of the mountain peak, but it would put them near a river, which they could follow south to get to the base of the mountain. If something proved impassable, Tas could carry them up and over. It was a bad plan on paper. She hoped it would work.

  Tas had explained that they would not need to climb to the summit, which sounded fantastic, because her butt was so not going up a mountain. They only needed to reach a certain elevation and the sigil would ping the ship, which would then transport them aboard.

  She would be literally beamed up to a starship today.

  Best. Day. Ever.

  Tas stood abruptly. The light from the sigil vanished. “Wake Chloe. Now,” he ordered.

  “What is it?”

  “I hear vehicles.”

  Juniper wasted no time trying to hear any approaching cars. His hearing was light-years better than hers. “How much time?”

  “A few minutes.”

  “Shit.”

  “Yes, good gracking morning to us. Hurry.”

  She shook Chloe awake. “Hey. We have to go.”

  For once, Chloe didn’t roll over and beg for more time or complain about the cold. She sat right up, fully awake and visibly pale. “It’s them, isn’t it?”

  “Tas hears some cars. Could be anyone. Maybe another gargoyle.” She tried to give a reassuring smile.

  “God, you’re creepy when you do that. Stop. Gah,” Chloe said.

  “Get dressed. Hurry.” She slept in her clothes, so she had only to pull on a sweater, coat, and her boots.

  “What about our stuff?” Chloe asked.

  “Take water and food. Dress for the cold. Leave everything else,” Tas said. He somehow found an iron crowbar and rested it over his shoulder.

  He turned to the door. “They are here. Quiet.”

  “They’ll know we’re here. Our car is outside,” Chloe said in a loud whisper.

  Juniper put her finger over her lips and shushed her. She edged closer to the window to peek out. Two black SUVs, the same make and model as the one she took from the Rose people, pulled up. Four people, all dressed in expensive black suits, climbed out.

  Not friends, then.

  Three of the agents stood in place, like they expected Tas to immediately surrender. The fourth, a woman with pale hair, took off behind a building.

  “The blonde is Rhododendron, isn’t she?” Juniper remembered Tas talking about his handler.

  “Yes. Remain hidden,” he said, hand on the door.

  “No!” Juniper tugged on his arm. “What is it with you and turning yourself into these people?”

  “I will fight. They are only three humans.” His tone implied that it wasn’t much of a fight.

  “They probably have weapons and you have a crowbar.”

  “Most likely they have tranquilizer darts. I can smell gun oil, so they must have pistols on them. I do not detect heavy artillery.”

  “Heavy artillery? What is wrong with you?” she whispered. These people hunted gargoyles. They had special anti-gargoyle guns and Tas thought he could duke it out with his fists?

  He gave her a grin, one filled with confidence about himself and his abilities, and at that moment, she believed he could beat an army with nothing more than a crowbar.

  With his hands on her upper arms, he pulled her to him. “Fear not,” he said, pressing his forehead to hers. “I will always return to you.”

  Heart in her throat, she nodded. “Okay.”

  He gave her arms a quick squeeze before bursting out the front door.

  “What odious weeds! I think I need to do a spot of gardening,” Tas announced.

  Chloe swallowed a snort at the cheesy line. Juniper silently agreed.

  Tas threw the crowbar at the nearest male, crashing into his knee, and launched himself in the air. The two standing agents aimed pistols at him and Juniper’s heart thumped wildly.

  She couldn’t watch. With her back to the wall, she slumped to the floor. She never believed herself to be the type of person who sat by helplessly, wringing her hands, but there she was, clutching her hands to her chest and too afraid to watch.

  When a pistol fired, she closed her eyes.

  Chloe dove into her, wrapping her arms around her like a lifeline.

  “Aren’t you just precious?”

  The blonde woman stood over her, pistol pointed at her.

  Fuck. She didn’t lock the door.

  Juniper jumped to her feet, pushing Chloe behind her. “Rhododendron,” she said.

  The woman wrinkled her nose. “Rhoda, please. Now, the door. Hurry, hurry.” Rhoda waved her pistol toward the open door.

  “What do you want?”

  “I’d like for my Christian name not to be Rhododendron, for a start, but that’s neither here nor there.”

  “Tas told me what you did—how you helped him.”

  Rhoda sighed. “And did he tell you how I warned him to disappear? To keep his head down because we would be looking for him? And did he?”

  “This is my fault,” Chloe whispered.

  “No, it’s not,” Juniper said instantly.

  Rhoda grabbed Juniper by the elbow and pushed her toward the door. “Surprisingly, you are correct. We’ve tracked a number of the gargoyles’ sigils. They seem to be converging in the area. We got a fresh signal this morning, but I wasn’t sure who’d we find until I saw the SUV.”

  Not Chloe’s fault, just bad luck. Juniper twisted to look back at Chloe, her face pale and streaked with tears. She gave her sister a smile. “It’ll be okay, Chloe.”

  She didn’t know how but she had to believe.

  Forced outside, Juniper blinked against the bright sunlight. A man lay bleeding on the ground, unconscious. Tas grappled with one agent, while another who wore sunglasses had a pistol trained on them. Clearly, Tas had the advantage with his height and weight, but he let the man land blows. Flesh hit a hardened stone skin. The man’s hands were busted and bloody.

  “He is a magnificent beast, isn’t it?” Rhoda asked.

  “He’s not a beast.”

  Rhoda gave Juniper a calculated look. “And why are so many of the creatures coming here? Is it a reunion? And why bring you along? What are they planning?”

  “Fuck you.”

  “Yeah, fuck you, ya arrogant, high-handed bitch,” Chloe echoed.

  Juniper was so proud of her baby sister.

  Rhoda turned back to the spectacle of Tas toying with her agents. “Enough!”

  Tas grabbed the man’s wrist and knocked the pistol from his grip. The man screamed, clutching a broken wrist to his chest.

  With a tired, put-upon sigh, Rhoda shot Tas.

  Juniper screamed a warning, too late. He jolted, turned to her, and roared. The lack of blood confused her, but then her sluggish mind reminded her that Tas had worried about tranquilizer.

  “Are we done with the dramatics?” Rhoda asked a very pissed off gargoyle.

  Tas plucked the dart out of his shoulder. He tossed it to the ground and stumbled.

  Rhoda dragged Juniper over to the agent on the ground. “Get up,” she said, kicking the man in the ribs. He moaned but slowly sat up. “You and you, restrain the creature before the tranq wears off.”

  “We have more,” the man in the sunglasses said.

  Rhoda’s top lip curled back. Clearly, she didn’t like her colleague. “Too much and he’s unconscious and shifts to stone. Please, be my guest and throw your back out trying to lift a solid stone gargoyle statue.”

  “Fine.” He snapped his fingers and the two other agents produced restraints. They moved in on the gargoyle, but he moved slowly, his tail dragging in the dirt.

  “Is this the woman?” the man with sunglasses asked Rhoda.<
br />
  “Yes.”

  “Get rid of the spare,” Sunglasses said, already turning his attention to the phone in his hand. The agent closest to Chloe raised his pistol.

  No. No, no, no. Time slowed, her heart pumping sluggishly and the sunlight gleaming on the barrel of a gun.

  “Wait! I’m pregnant!” Juniper shouted, summoning the first thing that came to mind.

  Chloe uttered, “No way,” and Tas roared, fighting against his restraints.

  “I will not let them harm you or our youngling!” Juniper felt a moment’s guilt at the desperation in Tas’ voice. She wasn't pregnant—probably—but he believed her lie.

  “Belay that order,” Rhoda snapped. The agent hesitated, looking toward Sunglasses for confirmation. “For crying out loud, you bleeding idiot. Don’t shoot the girl.” She took the pistol from the man and waved him away.

  “But we don’t need her and that’s my gun,” the man said, clearly baffled.

  “No, you daft bunny, this is my gun now. And if she,” pointing to Juniper, “is actually pregnant with a Khargal-human hybrid, she’s worth more to the Rose than all of our lives put together.”

  Sunglasses looked up from his phone. “What’s going on? Why aren’t people bleeding?”

  “Miss Bouvet claims to be with child,” Rhoda said to Sunglasses. She turned her attention back to the other man. “Stress can adversely impact the mother’s health and cause a miscarriage,” Rhoda said, tone sharp and irritable. “Don’t you think having her sister executed in front of her is slightly stressful?”

  “Um, yes?” the hapless agent said.

  “Deliver me from idiots,” Rhoda muttered. “So, we’re agreed that stress is bad for the creature’s baby?”

  Juniper flinched at the term creature. She hated it and hated that it rolled off Rhoda’s tongue so easily. The agent nodded, apparently mute.

  “Get them in the vehicle then,” Rhoda snapped.

  Just as rough hands shoved Juniper into the back of a black SUV, she heard Sunglasses ask Rhoda she thought the pregnancy was real or a ruse.

  “It doesn’t matter. As long as we have the woman, we have leverage over the creature, so let’s keep the girls happy and alive, shall we?”

  tas

  Tas blacked out. The gaps in his memory informed him of this but the pounding in his head confirmed it.

  Hands trussed in front of him and his wings bound, Tas lay in the backseat of a vehicle.

  Juniper was with child.

  His heart soared. At the start of their relationship, she told him it was impossible, at least immediately. How could she know so soon—or did she mean to create a distraction?

  It did not matter. He would fight to return to her with the same urgency, child or no child. She was his Hondassa, his mate.

  “There’s another signal, further down the pass,” a male said.

  “They’re really coming out of the woodwork today.”

  The male’s questioning tone led Tas to believe that the agents did not know about the Khargal rescue ship. If fate smiled kindly that day, the agents would wander into a unit of fully armed, highly trained Khargal warriors and would truly learn what it was to be hunted.

  “I still think we need to get this thing and the creature banger into custody, but Miss English won’t have it.”

  “Can you imagine how hot she’d be if she ever got that stick out of her ass?”

  “I bet she’s wild in the sheets.”

  “I wonder if Tulip’s ever hit that. You know you would. I would.”

  “I’m not interested in fraternization,” a male said in a high-pitched, terrible English accent. “I got something right here to fraternize.”

  While the males laughed, Tas focused energy to his wrists, increasing the density and pulled against the restraints. They held.

  Apparently, he had to do this the difficult way.

  Tas sat up behind the male in the passenger seat. He looped his arms over the male and pulled back, bringing his cuffed hands against the male’s throat. The male gurgled, one hand banging against the window and the other clawing at the cuffs. The male’s face turned red, then purple. His legs kicked.

  The driver shouted, swerving erratically to unbalance Tas. Unfortunately for the male, Tas had decades of experience dealing with bound wings and shackles. He was not so easily thrown off.

  The male beneath his cuffed hands managed to open the door. With a growl, Tas shoved him out. The male tumbled to the ground, forgotten.

  “Get back! I’ll shoot!” The driver twisted in his seat, one hand on the wheel and the other pointing the tranq gun at Tas.

  The vehicle dipped and swayed over the uneven ground. The pistol wavered and Tas used the opportunity to snatch the gun from the male and shot him once.

  The male slumped over the wheel. His foot must have depressed on the pedal because the vehicle increased in speed. A cliff base approached. If the vehicle did not alter course, it would slam into the rock.

  Tas reached for the gearbox between the seats and shifted the vehicle into neutral. He pulled the male from the driver’s seat, shoving him to one side and climbed into the front.

  He slipped the vehicle back into gear and swung it around, the tires digging into the grass and mud.

  The other black vehicle approached. He slammed on the brakes, throwing the male against the dashboard. Tas rifled through his unconscious passenger’s pockets for a key to the restraints and found what he needed. With the key in his mouth, he unlocked the cuffs on his wrist. The bands around his wings were plastic. Flexing his claws, he sliced through the restraints and freed his wings.

  He opened the glove box and found a gun. Judging from the weight, it was loaded with bullets designed to pierce a Khargal’s stone form. Nasty thing. He hated to the feel of it in his hand, but he needed every advantage.

  Time to rescue his mate.

  22

  Tas

  Tas launched himself at the approaching vehicle and landed on the hood with a thud. The talons on his feet dug into the fiberglass. The male behind the wheel opened his mouth to shout or scream—Tas wasn’t certain and only cared insomuch as the male sat in Tas’ spot.

  Roaring with fury, he smashed his fist through the windshield. The glass scratched but did not damage his skin. The vehicle swerved to shake him loose, but he remained in place.

  “Stop the car, you fool!” Rhododendron shouted from the passenger seat.

  Juniper and Chloe sat in the back. The youngling breathed heavily, as if trying not to cry in fright, and buried in her face against her elder sibling. Juniper watched him with her deep chocolate eyes, trust shining through.

  The male turned the wheel sharply to the left.

  Tas grabbed the male by his hair and pulled his head down into the steering wheel. A horn blared and the vehicle skidded to a halt. Wasting no time, Tas moved to the roof. A bullet pierced the top.

  Irritated, he leaned down and smashed the rear passenger windows. He wrenched the door open, the metal groaning. Juniper and Chloe spilled free.

  With his eye on a ledge halfway up the face of the cliff, he gathered Juniper and Chloe. “Hold on,” he said.

  Chloe wrapped her arms around him with a fierce grip.

  “Can you lift us both?” Juniper asked.

  “Yes.” They were not heavy, but the carrying two individuals proved an awkward hold. He pushed off the ground, wings working to gain altitude. He needed to reach the ledge, high above and out of range of the agent’s firearms.

  The male stumbled out of the vehicle and raised the gun.

  “No! Don’t shoot the specimens!” Rhododendron tackled the male. The tumbled to the ground and the gun sounded. Tas expected to feel the sting of a bullet piercing his back or his wing, but nothing came.

  He reached the ledge and carefully set his charges down before sinking to his knees. He had expelled a great deal of energy and still a long flight ahead of him.

  “I can carry one to the coordinates
and return for the other, but I cannot carry you both for long,” he said. “Perhaps if I was stronger or had not flown for so long—”

  “Nonsense,” Juniper said, kneeling next to him. “You were amazing. When you collapsed, I thought—” Her words caught in her throat.

  He smoothed back the hair from her forehead, the blue strands flowing through his charcoal gray fingers. “I will always return to you.”

  Her eyes watered. She turned her head to the side, blinking away tears.

  “Is it true?” he asked.

  “Is what true?”

  He placed a hand on her stomach.

  “Oh! No, I’m not. They were going to shoot Chloe and it’s the first thing that popped out.” A delightful pink blush rose to her cheeks. “Sorry. It was kind of a shitty thing to say.”

  Disappointment gnawed at him, but he shoved it aside. “No. It worked. I am grateful for my quick-thinking Hondassa, and one day, we will have younglings.”

  “Plural, huh?”

  “Many.”

  “Guys,” Chloe interrupted, “they’re leaving.” The young female crouched near the edge and peered down.

  Tas watched the agents leave in their black vehicles. He didn’t know what called off their pursuit and he didn’t particularly care.

  “Are they coming back with helicopters or something?” Chloe asked.

  “I do not hear any,” he said, after listening carefully. “Do you have the sigil?”

  Juniper nodded. “Right here.” She removed the device from her trouser pocket and handed it to him.

  He checked the countdown. “I will take you to the proper elevation, where you will be transported to the ship.” He had time for two trips. Barely. If he encountered no further complications.

  “Take Chloe first,” Juniper said.

  The wind gusted, bringing with it the cries of a human moaning in pain.

  Juniper peered over the edge. “It’s Rhoda. They left her.”