The Greystone Bundle (Books 1-4)

by Taylor Longford

  "What happened out there?" Victor demanded while my cousins pulled on hoodies and coats.

  "The harpy knew I wasn't Chaos," Dare explained. "I don't know how, but somehow she knew. Maybe I didn't smell right to her. Or look right. Or act the way Chaos would have acted. But she turned on me before I'd taken a few steps into the mine. Next thing I knew, I was flying for my life."

  "We got into formation and pulled off the Sparrow Hawk maneuver," Havoc offered next.

  "And it worked," Dare added, his arm around Mim's waist. "The harpy crashed into the slope. We just weren't expecting what happened next."

  Valor's serious gaze swept across the valley. "Well, the good news is the harpy's buried in the avalanche."

  "And the bad news is she probably isn't dead," Dare added.

  "Why do you say that?" Whitney asked. "Most people don't survive an avalanche."

  I shook my head. "She's not people. And she won't be dead. She's too strong. Even in her living form it's unlikely that she'd be killed. And she could have changed to stone to protect herself further. That monster's alive."

  "How long do you think it'll take her to dig out?" Havoc asked gloomily.

  "Hard to say," Victor answered. "I'm not sure this has ever happened to a harpy before. There aren't a lot of avalanches in England. That harpy's strong but there's no way to know how deep she's buried or how firmly that stuff is packed."

  "It'll be like trying to dig out of concrete," Whitney supplied.

  "Really?" he asked, rubbing two fingers along his jaw.

  Whitney nodded, her pale hair shifting over her shoulders. "It could take a while."

  Victor crossed his arms over his chest and studied the mess on the other side of the highway. "Well, we can't hang around here for days or weeks or months, waiting for her to show."

  "Days or weeks?" Mim echoed. "Won't she starve to death before then?"

  "Not if she turns to stone," Dare reminded her.

  "Well, there's not much we can do until she digs out," Victor reasoned. "And if it takes a while for her to find us, the effects of Chaos's venom will eventually wear off. She might be easier to handle when she does show up in Pine Grove. We'll have to be on the lookout for her though."

  "You're assuming that she'll manage to find us," I muttered. "We'll be too far away for her to track us."

  "That's not all bad," Havoc remarked, looking for a bright side to all of this.

  "But we can't free Chaos until she's dead," I pointed out impatiently. And that meant he couldn't help us look for my brothers until then. "If she can't find us, we might have to find her."

  Once I started arguing, my open wings didn't go unnoticed for very long. "What's wrong?" Victor asked sharply. "Why are your wings open?"

  "I got a little banged up when I came out of my dive," I told him, downplaying the truth. "It's not bad, but I might not be able to close my wing until the bones knit."

  Whitney's gaze narrowed on me as if she knew I was understating the issue. I was pretty sure Victor was suspicious too.

  "I thought I'd leave them open so I could go back up and check around," I added, then swiftly escaped back into the air where I could evade their questioning looks and glide around without too much discomfort. I rode some air currents to a higher elevation and listened in on the conversation below while keeping my eye out for any sign of harpy.

  But I didn't really expect to see anything. And down on the road, the emergency vehicles were making quite a spectacle with their flashing lights. The scene made a colorful backdrop for the reporters who were busy gesticulating at Havoc's avalanche. Just offhand, I'd say the whole situation wasn't going to do much to diminish my cousin's considerable ego.

  So I wasn't paying attention when the harpy made her move. Yeah, somehow she'd already dug out of the avalanche. And I didn't get much warning. She was too far away to sense, approaching the van from the other direction and flying low to the ground. I don't know why she targeted Whitney. With her blond hair and dark clothing, maybe Vilschka mistook her for me in the darkness. Or maybe she just grabbed the closest bargaining chip she could get her hands on and kept going. But she crashed through my family and came away with Whitney dangling from her sharp talons.

  I was proud of the way Whit kept her head and immediately started yelling so the others could follow. But the pack had to ditch their coats first before they could unfurl their wings and give chase. In the meantime, the harpy headed upslope with her prey, widening the distance between Whitney and help from my family.

  Angling my wings, I shot across the sky to intercept the harpy. At that point, I was feeling pretty thankful for the injury that had kept me in the air. If it hadn't been for my damaged wing, I'd have been down on the frontage road with my coat on. And several seconds from even getting off the ground. But I was afraid that I wouldn't reach her in time, even with the head start. Because the harpy was heading straight for a thick stand of evergreens. The monster was planning to drag Whitney through the trees.

  I wasn't sure a human girl could survive that kind of punishment. "No!" I shouted, straining my wings for more power, and sweeping into a dive when I got within fifty feet. I had one thought in my mind. To get to Whitney before she was harmed.

  When I reached her, I was moving so fast I was lucky I didn't knock us both out. I slammed into her and wrapped my wings around her bat-style, getting there just in time and taking the brunt of the impact as we crashed into the trees. They were all conifers so it wasn't like hitting an oak, thank God. The branches were much more flexible. But even so, it was pretty brutal. "Crap," I shouted as we banged through the thick branches and a rough twig slashed my ear open. "This is. So. Crap."

  My injured wing was curved around Whitney, the cracked spine bent to its limit. And when I took a direct hit on that side of my body, I felt the bone break. I gritted my teeth and tightened my hold on Whitney, wondering how far away my family was and hoping for their help. Right about then, Dare reached us, covering Whitney's back and wrapping us in his wings. And a few seconds later, Valor joined us. From the corner of my eye, I caught a glimpse of Havoc, looking like a wild Methuselah, his dreadlocks flying around his head while he thrust a ski pole at the harpy's wings.

  By now, Vilschka had four passengers and was slowly dropping toward the ground. Normally a harpy can only lift two people. This one was stronger than anything normal but we were going to hit the ground if she didn't let go pretty soon. With about ten feet to spare, Victor surprised everyone when he appeared out of nowhere and drove his shoulder into the middle of the harpy's chest. Her talons opened with the backward-driving impact and we started to fall. But Valor and Dare managed to get their wings out in time to provide a soft landing for Whitney and me.

  I crouched in the snow with an arm around Whitney and my bad wing awkwardly extended. "Go! Go!" I shouted up at my cousins, knowing we couldn't let the harpy get away.

  I checked overhead for any sign of danger then tried to get to my feet but the snow was deep and I lost my balance, falling over on Whitney. Panting, I lay on top of her in the snow. I knew I should try to get up again but I didn't have much motivation. She felt amazing beneath me.

  "Are you alright?" I murmured, searching her face for any sign of damage. I couldn't take her back to her father with so much as a scratch. It would mean the end for us.

  "I'm fine," she answered breathlessly, smiling up at me. "Don't you need to go with your cousins?"

  "Not that much," I said quietly, my gaze drifting down to her lips.

  She fingered the rim of my ear. "You're bleeding."

  "Maybe a little," I answered, barely aware of my ear or anything else but her.

  "Shouldn't we head back to the van?"

  "In a minute," I breathed, covering her mouth with mine in a rush of heat that was so good it was almost painful. I pressed her into the snow, loving her response, the way her slender curves reached for me and melted against my frame as she bowed in my arms. My barbs broke from beneath my knuckl
es with startling urgency and I felt the warm poison slide across my skin before it stained the snow beneath my hands.

  "That was more than a minute," she pointed out when I finally pulled away.

  "Yeah, well, you deserved it," I said huskily, rolling up into a sitting position and sucking a trickle of blue venom from my fist.

  She arched an eyebrow and laughed softly. "What did I do, exactly?"

  "You stayed alive," I murmured and licked my lips clean before I rubbed my mouth into her temple. "Keep it up."

  "And if I do?"

  I kissed her again and got to my feet then dragged her up with me, giving her a one-sided smile and telling her, "There's plenty more kisses where that came from."

  The tug of emotion that bound us together made me pull her into my chest. The way her fingers tightened around my waist made my breath catch in my throat. But it was a great feeling. A deep soul-rocking feeling. Victor had been right about my heart. I needed this feeling. Opening up to Whitney was the best thing I'd ever done for myself.

  "Shouldn't you fly us back to the van?" she questioned me.

  I shook my head and glanced at my wing. "I don't think that's an option anymore. Can you call Mac and tell her to send someone over to pick us up?"

  Her eyes filled with sudden concern. "Are you okay?" she asked.

  "Fine," I lied. "Call MacKenzie."

  And once Victor had ferried us back to the van, he left to give the others a hand. My wing hurt like hell whenever I had to move it, but I was determined to hide the pain, so I tried to keep my wing still while we waited with Reason and the rest of the girls.

  "What's taking them so long?" Reason growled, looking like he hated missing out on the fight.

  "Maybe you should go check on them," I suggested.

  His glance slid across my wing and he frowned as he pulled Elaina closer. "And leave you alone with my girl?" he snorted. "Not gonna happen."

  I shook my head and shot a wry smile at Whitney. Reason didn't think I was in good enough condition to protect the girls. But he'd never say so. So he pretended to be jealous instead.

  Finally the pack swooped back to the ground outside the van and we swung the door open to greet them. They were pretty banged up. Victor's bottom lip was split while Valor's left eye was beginning to turn purple. Havoc sported a long slash down the side of his face that was pouring blood.

  "What happened to you?" I asked and handed him my T-shirt to press against the wound.

  Havoc shrugged. "Somebody had to take down that harpy."

  "You got her?" I exclaimed.

  "He took her down," Victor allowed as he folded his wings.

  "But?" I questioned.

  "Then we lost her," Valor grunted, looking dissatisfied. "That mine is a freaking maze inside. There are miles of tunnels. We worked together to block the portal with some large boulders but I'm not sure how much they'll slow Vilschka down."

  "Another avalanche would have been ideal," Havoc added. "But Victor was afraid it might spill over the road and hurt someone."

  "We can't just give up," Reason argued.

  Victor propped his shoulder against the van's back panel. "I hate to suggest this but it might be better this way."

  "What do you mean?" I asked.

  Havoc's mouth curved in a wolfish grin. "He means that harpy isn't going to be flying again anytime soon."

  "Not until she spends some time in her living form. And by the time her wings heal, she'll be a lot easier to manage," Dare pointed out.

  Everyone watched Victor and waited for him to make a decision. "She can walk but she can't go far, not in this snow. I think we should come back in two weeks, when the effects of the venom have worn off."

  The situation was far from optimal and I might have argued harder if I was in full operating condition. But I'd be asking the pack to take a risk that I couldn't share.

  "We'd better head out," Victor grunted, his tone final as he moved toward the van's open sliding door. "I want to get Chaos somewhere safe." So we climbed into our vehicles and headed home—Elaina and Reason in the Rabbit, MacKenzie and the others following in her Jeep, Whitney and me in the van with Victor…and Chaos.

  Even though Chaos was in his stone form, he could still see and hear so Victor sat in the van's back seat and told Chaos what had gone down since we'd arrived at MacKenzie's house. He explained how we'd learned about the accident in Limon and had tracked him down to the mine outside Boulder with Torrie's help. Then to Idaho Springs with the help of Mim's dream.

  He apologized for the situation, knowing that his brother's instincts would demand he find his way back to Vilschka, knowing that it would be difficult for Chaos to be trapped in his stone form while those urges gnawed at his psyche. But Victor assured his brother that things would be easier after we'd taken the harpy out of the equation and had freed him from his terrible bond to her.

  Like I said, the situation wasn't perfect but it was definitely an improvement. We'd found Chaos and rescued him from the harpy. And hopefully, he'd be able to tell us something about my brothers.

  Back at our place, we got Chaos situated in a dark corner of the dining room, with the curtains drawn. While Reason visited with him, I confirmed what I already knew. The situation with my wing was worse than it looked. It hurt like a bitch whenever I tried to move it and I couldn't fold it over my chest, period. I knew if I tried, the bone would snap in two and slice through the sheath of muscle on my spine, making it almost impossible to mend.

  To complicate matters, gargoyle bones knit quickly. The bone had to be set within twenty-four hours or it would start knitting the way it was. If the bone was set properly, it would heal within a week or two. It if wasn't set properly, it would heal just as fast—knitting together in an awkward knot. So, yeah. I was facing some serious crap. As the pack healer, I was the only one who stood a chance of successfully setting a break like that. But I couldn't set my own wing.

  In the kitchen, Havoc tried his best to work the bones into position but—after a great deal of teeth-gritting pain—they didn't seat perfectly. They might heal that way but there'd always be a thick ridge where the bones hadn't aligned. Flying would never be easy again, and folding my wings away would probably be extremely painful for as long as I lived. That meant that I'd have to leave my wing open for the rest of my life. Which would be really difficult to hide from the modern world that didn't know about gargoyles.

  I was screwed.

  Okay, there was an alternative. But it was an ugly one. And scary as hell. I don't want to seem overly dramatic, but it involved amputation.

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  Yeah. My brain stopped right there, locked on that horrifying thought. I couldn't think. I couldn't breathe. I was looking at either the loss of my wing or a lifetime of isolation. The sort of isolation that meant I wouldn't be able to keep my job at the stables or go anywhere with Whitney. But without wings, I couldn't support my pack or properly protect my hearth and home. I sat slumped in my chair at the kitchen table and stared off into space like there was no future and no tomorrow. My pack and family were talking around me but their voices were a dull meaningless buzz.

  Trying to ground myself, I searched for Whitney's face, knowing that my feelings for her were the only thing that was stronger than this, bigger than this. And the only thing that could resurrect a flicker of hope in my life. She was leaning against the counter on the other side of the room, sharing a quiet conversation with Victor and Reason. When I found her eyes, she moved slowly in my direction and dropped to her knees beside me. I cupped her chin in my hand and tried to smile.

  She turned her face and touched her lips to my palm then lifted her gaze to mine. "Remember when we were up on Guanella Pass and you asked me to trust you?" she asked softly.

  "Yes," I answered dully, gripped in a fog too thick to wonder where she was going with this.

  "Well, I'm going to ask you to do the same for me. I'm asking you to trust me."

  "I do trust
you," I murmured, my focus narrowing on her to the exclusion of everything else. My vision darkened around the edges and it was like we were alone in the room. "Of course I trust you."

  "I want you to take a drive with me," she suggested gently.

  "That's a good idea," I agreed, thinking that I needed to get out of there, that I needed to be alone with her. I love my pack but there was nothing they could do to help me through this. To help me grapple with the stark inevitably. Only Whitney's love could help me survive what happened next. Only the promise of a future that would always include her. I lurched to my feet and followed her outside to the van, acting like everything was cool for the sake of my family and telling them we wouldn't be gone long.

  But inside the van, we didn't talk. I didn't ask her the questions that would make my future worth living. I didn't ask her to make those promises. I hadn't wanted this for her. I hadn't wanted her to be tied down at a young age. Numbly, I sat in the passenger seat with my right wing extended and watched the van's headlights cut through the night on our way down the mountain to the center Pine Grove.

  Eventually, we pulled off the road and parked outside a familiar brown brick office building. It was her father's medical practice. And a faint yellow glow shone from one of the windows.

  "What are we doing here?" I asked, waking abruptly from my dull stupor.

  She didn't answer. She just waited for me to figure things out.

  It took me a while, but finally I reacted. My eyes widened on her. "You asked me to trust you, not your father!"

  Whitney's voice was quiet. "I know my father, Defiance. He'll do the right thing."

  "Of course he'll do the right thing!" I exploded. "He'll do the right thing for you. Which is exactly what he should do. But when he knows what I am and the dangers I face as a gargoyle, he'll never let you see me again."