"I'm sorry," I said, and collected myself. "I shouldn't have done that."
"Maybe not," he rasped in agreement.
As I gathered the stack of children's hardbacks from the front passenger seat, I could see I wasn't going to get any more kisses until the venom issue was resolved. I decided I was going to have to work on the problem the first chance I got. In the meantime, I headed toward the back of the garage with Valor at my side.
Inside the house, the curtains were drawn and the mood was subdued.
I dumped the notebooks and hardbacks out on the dining room table and turned on the lights. I asked Dare if he wanted to go for another driving lesson but he decided we should lie low, in case there was a harpy around. So we started writing lessons, instead.
Victor and Dare applied themselves with a lot of enthusiasm, while Havoc and Defiance seemed less passionate. But they did better than Reason, who spent most of his time doodling in the margins of his notebook. And all of them outperformed Valor who seemed to have trouble focusing. I don't know if he was worrying about me or his barbs or harpies but he definitely wasn't thinking about reading or writing.
"We've decided to set up a day and night guard," he told me when we went up to my room for the night. "Defiance, Havoc and I have the night watch this week."
"What about me?" I asked. "Shouldn't I take one of the watches?"
"You have school," he pointed out sternly.
I thought maybe I'd get a kiss goodnight but Valor wouldn't let me anywhere near him. Which just reinforced my determination to learn more about the venom issue as soon as possible.
I got my chance the next morning before school. Valor was still awake when I stepped out of bed. But when I returned to my room after showering, I found him fast asleep on top of my quilt with his face buried in my pillow. You can't imagine how nice he looked sprawled out on my tartan quilt. I was tempted to watch him for a while but forced myself to hurry downstairs so I could get some questions answered while he was asleep.
I passed Havoc and Defiance on the stairs, coming off the night watch. They gave me a sleepy "good morning" as they headed for the bedrooms on the upper level.
I found Victor eating cereal in the dining room so I grabbed a bowl and joined him. After a little small talk to work up my nerve, I launched my first question. "How is it possible for a gargoyle to give a human his rune? How can he mark her with his venom…without killing her?"
Victor's sharp gaze cut to my face. I could tell he was already suspicious and I'd only just started. "You can build up a resistance to the poison by drinking it diluted in water."
I tried not to act startled. I hadn't expected such a simple solution. "Is it dangerous?"
"It's not without risk," he admitted with a shrug. "But it's been done before."
"How long does it take to build up a resistance?"
"You start with one drop of venom in a cup of water and increase the amount every day until you're up to about this much," he said, indicating the tablespoon in his hand.
I looked at the tablespoon and figured it might take a week to ten days. "Then I'll be immune to the poison?"
Victor tilted his head and narrowed his gaze on me.
I realized I'd said the wrong thing. "How long do you have to drink the venom?" I improvised quickly.
"At least two weeks. A month to be safe," he answered slowly. I could tell he was on to me. "Why do you ask?"
I babbled out a long explanation about expanding my gargoyle knowledge but I don't think I fooled him.
"Did Valor's barbs…bleed while he was with you?" Victor asked.
"Not blood," I answered cautiously.
He crossed his arms over his chest and leaned back in his chair. His blue-green eyes glinted with interest. "Did they bleed venom?"
I didn't want to betray Valor so I kept my mouth shut.
"And how did he explain that to you?" he asked after a pause.
"He said instinct sometimes kicks in when a gargoyle's with a girl," I ventured tentatively. "And it makes his barbs leak."
"A girl?" Victor questioned. "Is that what he said?"
"Um, yes," I lied.
Victor chuckled softly. "It's not a girl that causes it to happen, MacKenzie. It's the girl."
"What do you mean?" I asked a little breathlessly.
The glow in Victor's eyes was warm as his gaze connected with mine. "It happens when a gargoyle meets the girl. The girl he wants to share his rune with. That's why his barbs extend and start leaking venom. Instinct makes him want to mark her as his own."
I just stared at the golden gargoyle.
"Valor's in love, m'dear. With you."
Chapter Sixteen
Speechless, I stared at Victor.
"Yeah, right," I eventually snorted. Valor hadn't said anything to me about marking me or sharing his rune with me. He was just attracted to me. That's what he'd said. He was attracted to me.
Reason stepped into the dining room, startling me. Evidently, he'd just woken up and had come downstairs. "If Valor was in love with her, he would have asked her to wear his rune," he argued. There was a mocking edge to his irritating drawl as he pulled out a chair and dropped into it. He targeted me with his gaze. "He would have wanted to put his mark on you. The mark he wears on his throat. He would have wanted to carve his rune into your arm."
I glared at him, annoyed by his comments as well as his gargoyle super hearing. A girl couldn't have a private conversation in her own house, anymore.
"Don't scare her," Dare growled as he walked into the room behind Reason and joined my increasingly unprivate conversation. "He's not going to carve anyone. It's more like giving someone a tattoo."
"Dare's right," Victor agreed with a quiet chuckle. "But before a gargoyle can tattoo the object of his affection, she has to build up a resistance to his poison."
"Did he offer to share his venom with you so you could build up a resistance?" Reason demanded. It was pretty clear the irritating gargoyle shared my opinion. He didn't think Valor was in love with me, either.
"No," I muttered. Valor hadn't offered to share his venom with me. He hadn't asked me to wear his rune. He hadn't even asked me to be his girlfriend. And he certainly wasn't in love with me. Feeling defeated and even a little beat up, I stood swiftly and hurried toward the hall. As I stepped through the entryway, I ran smack into Valor's unyielding chest.
I tilted my head upward and looked at him, but Valor's cold, hard gaze was fixed on Reason's face. "MacKenzie," Valor said slowly but clearly. "Do you have a small glass flask of some sort?"
"Will a drinking glass work?" I asked, and wondered why he needed a flask.
He shook his head. "Nay. It needs to have a stopper…a top…a lid."
A stopper? Normally, Valor got his words right. Apparently, something had rocked him pretty seriously.
In the kitchen, I sorted through my mom's glass vitamin bottles. I found one that was almost empty and dumped the contents into a coffee cup. "What are you gonna do?" I asked as I returned to the dining room where Valor stood with his arms crossed over his chest. He was still glaring at Reason who smirked back at him, but you could feel the friction crackling thickly in the space that separated the two gargoyles.
Valor took the bottle from my hand and removed the lid. He placed the glass container heavily on the table and flicked his gaze at Reason as if the whole putting-down-the-bottle thing was Valor's response to some kind of challenge.
He held his hand above the bottle and made a fist, exposing his barbs. Stroking his fingers downward on his veins, he milked a bright blue liquid from the sharp tips of his talons. The venom dripped into the bottle. "Drink one drop in a cup of water on the first day. Two drops on the second day. Add an additional drop every day until you're up to about ten drops," he said.
He strode from the room into the kitchen and returned with a small glass of water. He squeezed a drop of venom from his knuckles into the glass.
I watched the ribbon of color swirl
then spread through the liquid until the water was tinted blue.
"Try it," he murmured.
I took a cautious sip. It was delicious and warmed me right down to my toes. It tasted a little like strong, sweet alcohol with all of the heat and none of the dizzy. "It's nice," I told him as he watched me closely.
A chair scraped backward and I turned my head toward the harsh noise as Reason stood and paced from the room. I frowned at the back of his shoulders. For some reason I would never figure out, the guy just couldn't stand to see me happy.
After Reason had left the dining room, Valor's mouth softened into smile. "Let us know if you have any symptoms."
"Symptoms?" I asked, and jerked my gaze to his eyes. "What kind of symptoms?"
"Tell us if your fingernails turn to stone," Victor chuckled.
"Whaaat?" I exclaimed.
"He's kidding," Valor assured me as he backed into the hall. He lifted his arms behind his head and stretched his long frame. "Now, if you're all right, I'm going back to bed."
"I'm…good," I told him quietly. "I'm fine."
He smiled. "I'll see you this afternoon after school."
"See?" Victor murmured as I watched Valor climb the stairs. The golden gargoyle got to his feet and headed toward the kitchen with his empty bowl. As he passed me, he lifted an eyebrow and sent me a significant look. "Now he's sharing his venom with you. Next, he'll ask you to wear his rune."
I shared a look with Dare and snorted softly, convinced that Valor was more concerned with my safety than anything else. Although…I had to admit the whole wearing-Valor's-rune thing sounded pretty romantic, which was a big change from how I'd felt five days ago when I'd first considered the idea. "Valor's just trying to protect me," I protested sensibly. "When we climbed into Whitney's van the other night, he almost scratched me with his barbs."
Dare's answering gaze was steady. "Maybe. But if Valor does ask you to wear his rune, MacKenzie, there's something you must understand before you agree to wear it."
"What's that?" I asked, my voice a bare whisper of sound.
"If my brother gives you his rune, it will be forever for him. There is no breaking up for gargoyles. Even if you decide you no longer want him, he'll remain loyal to you—and only you—for as long as he lives. So before you accept his rune, you must be willing to give him forever, as well."
"I understand," I said solemnly.
"Do you?" he questioned me stubbornly but gently. "Because I'm afraid that modern girls might not understand the level of commitment that's involved. Back in my time, things were different. Nowadays, relationships seem much more casual."
"I'd better get to school," I muttered, changing the subject. I felt like Dare's concern was way premature. Because despite Victor's claim that his cousin was in love with me, Valor hadn't asked me to wear his rune. He hadn't said that he was in love with me. And the only reason he'd shared his venom with me was because Reason had challenged him to act.
I spent the day feeling a little gloomy about my prospects.
"How do you feel?" Reason asked as soon as I walked into the house after school. I was surprised to find him standing at the mudroom door, as if he was waiting for me. He was probably hoping I was dying.
"Fine," I answered just as cheerfully as I possibly could. I expected him to be disappointed but he actually looked relieved. I decided maybe he didn't want me dead, after all. He was probably having too much fun taunting me.
"How do you feel?" Dare asked as I stepped into the kitchen.
What? Now all of a sudden the amazing gargoyle super hearing wasn't working? "Didn't you hear what I just told Reason?"
Dare rubbed the back of his neck. "I wanted to check for myself," he confessed with a lopsided smile.
"How do you feel?" Valor demanded as he rushed down the stairs and into the kitchen, almost running into Dare.
I stared at the three gargoyles. You'd have thought I was having a baby or something. "I'm fine," I laughed. It was clear the guys needed a distraction so I got on my phone and called Whitney. I asked her to pick up Mim and come over as soon as possible.
We spent the night watching old westerns. Like most Brits, the guys were in love with the idea of cowboys. I dragged out the old hot-air popcorn popper so they could watch the corn explode. They got a big kick out of that.
"Are you annoyed with Reason?" I asked Valor when we went up to my room later that night. I watched his reflection in the window as I sat on my bed with my quilt pulled up to my chin.
"Nay," he answered. "I'm glad he pushed me into doing what I knew should be done. I was dragging my feet because I didn't want to expose you to any risk at all. But by doing nothing, I was putting you in even greater danger." He paused a moment before continuing. "But I didn't like the things he said to you. He made it sound like I don't care about you." Valor turned his head and held my gaze. "That's not true, Kenz."
"I know," I murmured as I scooted down on the mattress and dropped my head onto the pillow. I was encouraged by his confession. It wasn't exactly a declaration of love or even a declaration of like. It was a long way from asking me to be his girlfriend and it wasn't even close to asking me to wear his rune. But it was a start. It looked like he did care about me. Unfortunately, I was afraid his feelings for me might not come close to my feelings for him. Because by this time, I was pretty sure I was extremely, recklessly, unreasonably in love with the blue-eyed gargoyle.
The landline woke me at eight o'clock the next morning. Half asleep, I tumbled from bed and scrambled down the stairs to answer it in the kitchen. "Hello," I grumbled, annoyed at whoever was calling me so early on a Saturday morning.
"Sorry," Greg apologized from four thousand miles away. "I guess it's still a bit early there."
"Yeah," I agreed with a loud yawn I didn't try to hide. "It's early here."
"I didn't have much choice about calling, MacKenzie. You need to open the garage. The shipping company's supposed to be there before ten today."
That woke me up. At last, some good news. "Did you send more crates?" I demanded, trying to hide my excitement.
"Not yet," he answered.
"Then why is the shipper coming?"
"They're coming to pick up one of the crates that's already there," he answered. "I made a sale."
My stomach dropped like an elevator full of Sumo wrestlers. For some reason, I'd assumed Greg would ship all of the gargoyles home before returning here and putting them up for sale. Ideally, that would allow the gargoyles time to "disappear" before he got back, even if they didn't actually go very far. I didn't trust Greg with the gargoyles' secret but I figured he'd never recognize the guys in living color and without their wings. "What do you mean?" I asked hoarsely.
"I made a sale," he repeated. He sounded so smug I wanted to kick something. "To a millionaire in Texas."
"But, why?" I cried in panic. I was so alarmed, I forgot to act like the crates and their contents didn't mean anything to me.
"To be honest, I had to," he answered. "I've spent a fortune in shipping. I had to sell something so I could afford to send my last three crates back home."
I stood on the tiled kitchen floor in my bare feet with my mouth hanging open while Valor slipped down the stairs and gave me a worried look.
"Make sure you send me the tracking number when the van gets there," Greg instructed. "I have to send it to the buyer before he'll wire me the down payment. The rest of the money is due when he receives the shipment."
I tried to say something but nothing came out. Victor and Reason stepped into the kitchen behind Valor, the rest of the gargoyles following soon after.
Greg blathered on while I tried not to hyperventilate. "Listen, MacKenzie, because this is important."
"What?" I croaked.
"When the shipper arrives, make sure he loads up the box that's marked with the letter B. Do you understand?"
I nodded.
"Do you understand?" he repeated sharply.
"I understand," I s
aid, feeling very wobbly.
"Good. Call me with the tracking number as soon as he leaves."
I hung up the phone and shared a stricken look with Valor.
"What is it?" he asked gently. He wrapped an arm around my shoulders and tugged me into his warmth.
"My stepfather," I explained in a faint voice. "He's sold one of the statues."
There was a long silence before Victor finally asked, "Which one of us has he sold?"
Slowly, I shook my head. "I don't know. According to Greg, each of your crates is marked with a letter. I didn't notice it when you arrived. But in a few hours, the shipping company is coming to pick up the crate marked with a letter B."
Victor's expression was grim as he flicked his gaze at Dare. Even though we'd only had one reading lesson, they'd all learned enough of the alphabet to recognize the letter B. But Dare was my best student.
Dare disappeared through the mudroom doorway. I was relieved he was going instead of me. I didn't want to be the one to discover what was certain to be bad news. Well, unless it was Reason's crate that was marked with a B. That wouldn't be so awful.
But what if it was Valor? My knees went weak and Valor tightened his grip on me. I just wished Mim were there to hold my hand as well. Then I might have felt strong enough to deal with the situation. I looked up into Valor's eyes and saw my own concern reflected in his worried gaze.
Dare dragged back into the house like he was going to a funeral. Okay, I've never been to a funeral but you get what I mean. When he gave us the news, my worst fears were confirmed.
Greg had sold Valor.
Chapter Seventeen
Victor took his knife from his sheath and lifted it up to eye level. He gave the others a pointed look and headed toward the dining room. The rest of the gargoyles pulled their blades and followed.
The meeting started when all of the knives were sitting on the dining room table. I pulled up a chair beside Valor. He reached over and gripped my hand and gave me a reassuring smile though his eyes were shadowed with sorrow. I knew he felt compelled to do the right thing—the thing that would assure his three missing cousins were reunited with the pack. I just hoped the gargoyles didn't believe in sacrificing one for the sake of three. 'Cause I didn't want him to go.
The Greystone Bundle (Books 1-4) Page 14
