“Given time—”
She shook her head. “I know that it will never happen. It’s not that there’s something wrong with you or anything. You’re a good-looking guy … keythong.” She hoped keythong was the right word. “Very good-looking but you’re just not my type.”
The huge, very buff king of the griffins sighed heavily and sank down on a nearby chair. "I don't understand it." He shook his head, looking distraught. "The Feral are a strong species. The strongest of all the species, and yet not one female has shown even the slightest interest in mating with us. Not one would allow any of the males to mount her."
Was this guy for real? “You can’t go around kidnapping women and then expect them to allow you to have sex with them. That’s not how it works. You clearly have zero understanding of our species. I’m not sure how things work out here, but that is not how it happens in my world.”
“But keythongs and females are meant to be together. To mate and have young.” He shrugged. “That is the point isn’t it?”
“No, that is the result.” She didn’t think she was getting through to him. “Love is the point and having children is the result. Two people need to meet in a natural way. In a natural setting. They need to hit it off.”
“Hit it off? What would they hit, surely not one another? You are very strange beings.” He shook his head.
Edith had to chew on her lower lip to stop herself from laughing. Was this guy serious? “I don’t mean literally hit as in … never mind. What I meant was that they need to get along and be attracted to each other.” He still looked somewhat confused. “They need to be compatible.” She used his word in the end.
“Ah, I understand. What you are saying is that the mounting should be enjoyable.” His eyes glinted and he smiled.
“No … yes, but no, that’s not entirely correct.” She paused gathering her thoughts. “They should want to have sex … mount, but that is not the most important part of it. They should like each other and talk. They should spend time together. Do fun things not involving sex. It should not be forced in any way. Given time, they would become physical and expand their relationship. They might move in together. Live together and then yes, they would eventually marry … mate with each other and start a family. It takes time and two willing people. How do you guys go about things? Your womenfolk can’t be too impressed with your abducting of human women. Why would you want to replace them like that?”
He clenched his jaw, his eyes clouded. “There are only twelve remaining females.”
“Remaining?” Her voice was laced with shock. “What happened to them all?”
His Adam’s apple bobbed as he swallowed. “They all died from the clutch sickness.”
“There’s that word again. It’s familiar but I can’t place it. What is a clutch?”
"Our females do not give birth to live young, like the shifters and you humans. You do give birth to live young, do you not?" His brows raised, and he seemed to look at her for acknowledgment.
“Yes.” She nodded. “That is correct.”
“It is what we observed.” He shifted in the chair. “The Feral are part eagle. Not your normal run-of-the-mill eagle.” He made a face like the thought was obscene. “We are related to the now extinct phoenix. It’s a distant relation but still a relation nonetheless.”
She nodded, taking a seat on the edge of the bed.
“Our females give birth,” he sucked in a deep breath, “give birth to a clutch of eggs, normally two or three.”
“Oh, okay.” She nodded a bit too vigorously because hey, eggs. Come on! She was entitled to feeling a little shell-shocked. Shell! She stifled a giggle. This was all too much, and she was clearly losing her ever-loving mind.
“One after one, they all died,” he said. “We could find no cure. There was nothing we could do.”
“Stop having eggs.”
He shook his head. “We are born to procreate. To continue the species. We are driven to do so. The drive is almost beyond our control. Even though we all knew, including our females, that they would most likely die, they still chose to try.”
“Wow! That’s awful.” She couldn’t imagine. All of those griffin women, all becoming pregnant and then dying from a sickness.”
“It took years. Eight years and ten months to be exact, until every fertile female was gone, barring one. Valintina has chosen to be alone, she lives a life of solitude. That was years ago already. Our males have been without females for far too long.”
She could tell. “And the twelve who are left? How is it that they survived?”
“Nine of the females are elders, they can no longer bear a clutch. The other two are barren. The twelfth is Valintina.”
“So, the future of your kind is at stake here.” It was starting to make sense.
“Yes.” He nodded. “That is why we require willing females to take as mates. We need young.” His voice had once again become hard and steely. This time with determination. It shone in his amber-colored eyes.
“You do realize that you’re going about this the wrong way though, don’t you?”
“No. You are here. It is only a matter of time before you choose a male. There are many of us. I am hoping that you decide I am the right—”
“Stop right there.” She slumped her shoulders. Frustration ate at her. He hadn’t listened to a thing she had said. “I’m not going to agree. Not ever. It’s not going to happen. Kidnapping women is not the way to go about this.”
“What else should we do? There is no other way.”
“You will have to find another way. I don’t know. Figure something out. For a start, you need to understand humans better. Our ways, our culture. Here’s an idea, get Netflix. Study the programs.” She smiled at her own stupid joke.
“What is Netflix?”
“It’s television. A box that you watch …” She could see he had no idea. “Never mind that. Observe human women but not in a creepy way.”
“Not in a creepy way.” He sounded like he was thinking it through.
“Don’t spy on them. Spend time with them on their own turf, on their own terms. For a start, you can’t walk around naked. It’s not how we do things.”
Leukos looked down.
“Yeah, no, I’m afraid a piece of leather ain’t going to cut it. You need jeans and a t-shirt. You need actual human clothing.” Just then, her stomach grumbled. It had been forever since she had last eaten.
His head cocked to the side and his gaze moved to her belly.
“I’m sorry, I’m hungry. What do you guys eat? I’m sure it’s a lot.”
“Oh, how rude of me. You must go and take nourishment. I’ll have Soren bring you back once you have finished.”
She faked a big yawn. "Actually, I'm also really exhausted. It's been a long day." Truth was, she didn't want to come back. Not ever! "Unless of course Soren wants to take me home." Edith thought she'd try her luck.
“No!” Leukos’s eyes narrowed. “You have much to explain. It seems we have a lot to learn about humans if we are to mate them.”
“Okay, fine. I’ll answer some more of your questions and help you out by giving some information, but then I’m done and you let me go.” A win-win situation if she ever heard one. Edith held her breath.
Leukos, the great dickhead, shook his head, infuriating her. "We will talk but you are not leaving. You will stay. You will make a good mate."
Edith rolled her eyes preparing to argue.
“It’s no use, you will not be able to change my mind.” Then he rose to his feet. She watched as he walked to the opening. She quickly looked away when she realized his ass was bare. They really had to work on their dressing skills. They had a ton of things they needed to work on.
Leukos made a high-pitched whistling noise. It had that same melodic quality as his voice. There was an answering screech as her lift arrived. She had a feeling that the coming period was going to be taxing on her patience. It didn’t seem like he was going to force h
imself on her. Right now, at least. Then again, words from their conversation came back to her. It sounded like they had checked Meredith out, finding her too small in ways she didn’t want to think of. How had they checked to find this out? By trying to rape her? She would be next. Edith chewed on her lower lip. She definitely wasn’t out of the woods yet. Worry churned in her gut.
8
It was show time.
Gage gave the area a final check. All was quiet and had been for some time. That male who had brought him there earlier had returned with food. The male had refused to answer any questions. He'd essentially tossed a basket into the room and headed back out. Jumping from the ledge before Gage could get a paw on him. These beasts weren't interested in him. That much was clear. Gage had forced himself to eat it all, even though his stomach was tied in serious knots. Meat, charred on the outside, still raw on the inside. A flatbread and some berries.
He’d breathed a sigh of relief when the same male had brought Edith back some hours ago. She had seemed unharmed. There was no more screaming. He hoped she was okay. The male had brought her food as well.
Gage gazed from the window, it was dark out, except for a few of the towers that still had fires or candles lit. He could tell by the way the light danced at the openings. None of those fuckers had ventured out since dusk had fallen two hours ago. There was a part of him that knew he should probably wait until everyone was asleep, but they needed all the time they could get if they wanted to escape. Gage had a feeling these beasts would be after them the moment they knew the two of them were missing. He only hoped it would be morning before that happened.
Gage tested his leather rope one more time, giving it a hard yank. He’d tied it to the torch to the right of the window. It was made from solid gold and seemed sturdy enough. Next, he eased himself over the edge and walked down, slowly easing down the makeshift rope. Gage carefully climbed all the way down. He needed to be sure that its entire length was strong enough. That each and every knot would hold. It seemed that he’d done a good job.
All of his senses firing, he quickly climbed back up, using the rope to assist him. Gage clambered over the edge. It felt good to have solid footing again. Moving quickly, he pulled the whole length back up, rolling it around his arm in a wide circle. Then he untied it from the torch. Gage tied the shorter piece he had left on the bed around his waist. He hauled the looped rope over his shoulder.
On high alert, he reassessed that the perimeter was still clear and lowered himself over the rim. Now, he would have to tread very carefully. Painstakingly so, because dying was not fun. Regenerating was even worse. Hours of agony. Not fun at all!
The tower had been built from stones. It wasn't much, but there was a bit of an edge on each rough rock to hold onto. Gage partially shifted so that he could use his nails as well, wishing for the second time today that he had been born as a panther or a wolf instead of a bear. Curved, sharp nails would have worked so much better than long, thick ones. He would have to suck it up and make do.
Going much slower, he made his way down, one hand-hold and one foot-hold at a time. It was slow going. He was covered in a light sheen of sweat by the time he made it to the bottom. Gage shifted back into his human form and went down onto his haunches for a few minutes so that he could catch his breath. It was still completely quiet, except for the sound of his breathing. One or two more candles had been snuffed. It seemed that these creatures didn’t move around much at night.
Good!
Gage rose silently to his feet and made his way to the tower where the human was being held. After partially shifting, he began to climb. It was just as slow. He lost his footing more than once. By the time he made it to the ledge, his arms were shaking and sweat dripped off of him. He quickly pulled himself into the room and removed the ropes, placing them by the opening. Ready for their escape.
Edith was fast asleep. Curled up in a ball under one of the larger furs. He touched the side of her arm, quickly sealing a hand over her mouth when she tried to scream. Her eyes were wide. Her chest rose and fell as she sucked air through her nose.
“It’s me,” he whispered.
It took a few seconds for his words to register. Her eyes went from wide and fearful to reflecting pure relief. She huffed out a breath as he removed his hand. “Gage?”
“Shhhh. Yes,” he smiled, “it’s me.” He’d never been so happy to see someone. She looked fine. He couldn’t scent those males on her.
She made a sobbing noise and launched herself at him, her arms going around his neck. He instinctively folded his arms around her.
He realized with a start that she was crying softly.
“I promised I would keep you safe and I meant it.” He stroked the hair at the back of her head. It was soft.
She tensed slightly in his arms.
“You okay?” he whispered.
“You’re naked, aren’t you?”
“Yep … I’m afraid so.”
“I hate to tell you, but you’re also really hot and sweaty.”
He couldn’t help but notice that she didn’t pull away. “Climbing up and down stone walls will do that to a male.”
She let him go. “I’ve never been so afraid in my whole life.”
“I’m here now. We need to move though.”
Her eyes widened. “Move how? Where?”
“We’re getting out of here. Tonight … right now.”
She swallowed thickly. “You don’t mean …? Look, unless you magically sprouted wings, I don’t think—”
“I made a leather rope. I’ll tie you to my back. The longer rope is over there.” He pointed to where it lay. “I’ll use it to slowly lower us down …” He stopped there because she was shaking her head really hard.
“That’s dangerous!” She sucked in a deep breath. “What if …”
“I’m strong.”
“What if the rope snaps?” Her breathing quickened.
It was Gage’s turn to swallow thickly.
“You’re not entirely sure this will work, are you?” Even though she was still whispering, her voice had grown high-pitched.
“It’s not without risk. If we fall, I will be sure to take the brunt of the impact. We will move quickly and carefully.” He shook his head. “The only other option is to leave you here while I—”
“No!”
“Shhhhh.” He put a finger to his lips. “We can’t alert them. We have to leave soon. It’s up to you. I don’t want to leave you here. I’m pretty sure I can get us down in one piece.”
“I’m afraid. Afraid to stay but afraid to climb down the side of a sheer wall too.” Her eyes were wide and filled with definite fear. Before he could say anything more, she pulled back her shoulders. “I can’t stay here. These guys, they—”
Anger gnawed at him. “You can tell me all about it later. I take it you’re coming?”
Edith chewed on her lower lip for a second or two before nodding once.
“You don’t look sure.” It looked like Gage was raising his brows. It was hard to see much in the dark. Especially considering it was a half moon. At least the stars were pretty bright.
“I’m not sure at all, but it doesn’t mean I’m staying.” This was the most stupid thing she had ever agreed to. Her gut churned and her whole body felt clammy all of a sudden.
She looked around for her shoes and put them on, tying the laces.
“You need to be very quiet.”
She nodded. “Understood. We don’t have any food or water or—”
“Don’t worry about any of that. I’m quite capable of looking after us.”
Of that she had no doubt. “How did you get here?”
“I grabbed onto the beast that took you and hung on for the ride. You were out cold.”
“That sounds really dangerous.” She widened her eyes. “What if you had fallen?”
“I gave you my word I would protect you and I meant it.”
“Thank you!” She reached out and touched the
side of his arm. At least she hoped it was his arm.
Gage shifted his weight on the bed. “Maybe tie one of those smaller furs around your shoulders.” He lifted his arm.
She felt around until she found one that didn't weigh a ton and tied the arms around herself.
Gage was busy by the opening; it looked like ‒ from what little she could see ‒ he was tying the one end of the long rope onto the golden torch. She watched his large silhouette as he leaned out, scanning the area before turning around. It was too dark to see much otherwise, thankfully, considering he was butt naked.
Gage walked back to where she was standing and lowered himself, bending at the knee. “Climb aboard,” he whispered.
She gripped his shoulders and did as he said, trying hard to avoid his man-part. Maybe it was good she couldn’t see much. Her eyeballs were going to need a serious wash after this.
He walked backwards, lowering them onto the bed. “Tie this around your waist, make it snug and use a double knot.”
Again, she complied. Gage gave the twine rope a sharp tug, checking to see if she had done a decent job. Then he tied the other end of the rope around himself, giving the twine another sharp tug. “Ready?” he asked.
“I guess.” Her voice was a bit shaky. Was she really going to do this?
He gripped her thighs and rose to a standing position. “Um, you’re going to need to lock your feet around my waist.” She could hear that he was smiling.
“Okay.” She really didn’t want to be anywhere near … that part of him.
“Watch out for …”
For his you-know-what. “Yeah, I will,” she quickly replied, locking her feet as he had instructed. His abs felt rock hard, as did the rest of him.
“I’ve got this,” he whispered, his voice deep and assuring.
“I know.”
“You’re shaking.”
“Do you blame me?” Oh god! Oh god! She tried not to grip him too tightly. Tried not to think about what was about to happen. Despite not knowing him, she trusted Gage. He had somehow managed to track her down. He hadn’t given up, and now was about to rescue her.
Shifter Night Box Set: Complete Set (Book 1 - 3) Page 41
