The Last Griffin

by Wendy L. Koenig

  She’d have to rectify the apart thing though.

  Her bladder made a second bid for her attention, and she turned and ran, bundle of clothes in hand. She wanted a shower before she dressed. Two doors sat side-by-side on the wall next to their room. She chose the closest one, reasoning the spaces between all three doors dictated this smaller room was either the bathroom or a closet. Luck granted her wish, and she found a cramped, rustic pine bathroom containing a pedestal sink, stall shower, and energy-saver toilet.

  After she relieved herself and showered, she dressed in the clothes chosen for her. The jeans were an off brand, but the blue, brushed cotton shirt was tailored. The underwear, bra, and socks were no frills, but fit well. She tossed the stained and smelly scrubs in the trash and wandered into the great room looking for Tony. Despite the size of the bathroom, the cabin wasn’t all that small. The great room was about forty to forty-five feet in each direction. Adjacent to the bedroom wall was an open kitchen area. Beside it stood a ladder that leaned against a small loft crammed with boxes, blankets, snowshoes, and the like. A wineglass and a hanging pan rack swung above a long island that separated the kitchen from the rest of the room. One step down from that was a roughly furnished pine dining table. Two steps below that was the living area, which contained a brown leather couch, matching chairs, and an Oriental rug.

  The wall directly across from the kitchen area was nothing but a floor-to-ceiling window with sliding glass door. In the corner of it and the bedroom wall burned a homey fire in an antique woodstove. The final wall, on the other side of the kitchen, contained a door to the outside, a small window and an even smaller desk. Blond pine logs rolled up the three walls and across the chandeliered ceiling. The floor was solid pine planking.

  Not seeing Tony, Olivia went to the picture window and stared out. Their cabin overlooked a secluded cove of a frozen blue-green lake. No other houses could be seen amidst the snowy forest, but she saw a power boat tied to the dock. Still no Tony. Because of the fire, she knew he hadn’t gone far.

  Frowning, she wandered toward the kitchen. Her head felt tight, which meant she had a migraine coming within the next ten or twelve hours. Not that this surprised her, given all she’d been through. Caffeine will help. Besides her head, she felt pretty decent. She did some tentative stretches to test the extent of her healing and was pleased to note, besides a hitch where the stitches tugged on her skin and a deep-seated ache in her kidney, she once again had almost a full range of mobility. Her ribs felt good, still a little sore though. She inspected the myriad of scrapes and bruises. They’d mostly faded to brown. It seemed Brian’s magic healing potion was exactly that. Though, she cautioned herself, she had just woken up and might go downhill again. She rustled through the cabinets and found decaffeinated instant coffee. That wouldn’t do much for her head.

  Hearing a soft sound behind her, she turned around and came nose-to-nose with the white Bengal. His fangs were only inches away. To her credit, Olivia didn’t shriek, but she sucked in an amazing amount of air while her stomach felt as if it jumped through the roof of her mouth. She closed her eyes and slowly blew out her breath through pursed lips. When she looked again, Tony had gone back to human form and was pulling on a pair of dress pants, his back to her. He turned around, shrugging on a white oxford shirt, and sat at the dining table in the great room. Any body builder would be jealous of the six-pack on his abs.

  Though Brian, with his sensitive ears, might have heard them already, Olivia kept her voice soft. “Asshole. I think I lost three years off my life.”

  “Just three? I may be an asshole, but, it’s your ass I’m guarding.” An arrogant grin creased his face, but then he frowned as she continued her search. “What are you looking for?”

  “Real coffee. You know, the kind with caffeine. I have a headache coming.” Now in a whole lot less than ten-to-twelve hours, thanks to Tony. She sighed.

  “The maker is in the first cabinet at the bottom. Coffee’s in the freezer.”

  In the freezer. Why didn’t she think of that? It made perfect sense because everyone kept their coffee in there, right? She stopped and took a deep breath. There was no reason to be churlish just because of a prank. The migraine was definitely coming soon.

  Once the coffee was brewing, she sat at the table across from Tony. “So, tell me about you. All of you.”

  “Okay. Education time.” He leaned his chair back onto two legs. “Our kind are called by many names…shapeshifters, changelings, animal people. Individually, we’ve also been known through time under other names and titles. Most ancient cultures have some kind of mythology about us. We’ve been called gods, and we’ve been demonized.” He pointed toward the bedroom where Brian slept. “He and those of his family have been known as ‘werewolves.’ We’ve been worshipped and petitioned. The Druids, American Indians, and many other cultures believe that animal spirits guide them. We’re not inherently evil, nor can we convert humans by bite or blood sucking. Not even Brian’s kind can do that.”

  “You’ve been around a long time then.”

  “Pretty much since forever. We live a long time too. That man you want so badly in the other room is over four hundred years old. We can produce offspring with others of our own kind or sometimes with humans. We cannot crossbreed with those of other families, however.”

  Olivia blushed at the mention of her desire for Brian. She really wished Tony’s nose hadn’t been so keen. She didn’t mind most people finding out who interested her, but somehow Tony’s knowing bugged her. Then she focused on the over four hundred years old part. Wow. To his credit, Brian didn’t look a day over thirty-five. “How old do shapeshifters get to be?”

  Tony chuckled. “He’s still a pup, if you want to know about his stamina. He could live to well over two thousand.”

  She felt her blush burn even more brilliant. Her temper was beginning to rise. Of all the arrogant, self-aggrandizing comments! Tony seemed to think he knew so much about her when he hadn’t the foggiest idea. She opened her mouth to cut him down to size, but then bit back her words. He’d saved her life twice now. Anger was not the way to respond. She took a grip on their conversation and turned it to a safer direction. “The world must be full of shapeshifters.”

  “Not so much. We have a high mortality rate, due to our dual lifestyles.”

  Olivia would have to think on that awhile. They could live to two thousand years, but usually died much earlier. She didn’t like the sound of that in regards to Brian. She asked, “What’s your part in all this?”

  He shrugged. “Someone has to help those of us who break the peace, who don’t know how to control the animal within. No one else will give them a fair shake. They can’t even show their true nature. Most of the time, they get in trouble because of a conflict between their other self and the laws of society. Sometimes, though, we have to deal with someone that has become truly evil.”

  Someone who had become truly evil. Another thing for her to think on. “Is that how you met Brian? Because he was in trouble?”

  “He’ll probably tell you himself, but he was in trouble. Not quite evil, but very close. He couldn’t reconcile with the wolf. When it would break loose on him, which happened often, he killed.”

  China. Guilin Mountains. Now she understood the pain in his eyes when he spoke of that place and the tourists.

  Tony continued. “He came over here to make a new start. But you can’t run from who you are, and that wolf just wouldn’t let him be. After a fortnight, he broke loose and mauled some loser who’d gone down the wrong alley. That was in New York City. Brian went to a local police station and turned himself in; he’d had enough and just wanted to die. But as luck would have it, a lawyer friend told me about him. She got him released on insufficient evidence, and he and I have been working together ever since.”

  Insufficient evidence. Since the wolf killed the guy, they’d had no evidence tying Brian to the crime. Probably made them mad. Olivia went to the kitchen and brought ba
ck two cups of coffee. “Like AA for changelings?”

  “Something similar.” She thought she saw his chest puff out with that statement.

  “And you, have you ever gotten loose?” She sipped her coffee and burned her tongue, wishing she’d waited.

  There he paused, looking at his hands as if seeing the scars and violence hidden there. “I think we all do, in the beginning.”

  She tried her coffee again. The burn earlier had numbed the center portion of her tongue, but the rest of her taste buds worked fine. The coffee had a nutty, toasted flavor and tasted great, though she’d never heard of the brand before. Being from Boulder, she assumed it was some kind of an organic variety. The smooth roast comforted her. She understood her need for that. She’d feel better if she had a grip on the whole wolf-tiger-bear-shifter thing. “Why do these bears want to kill me?”

  Tony shook his head, his face grim. “I don’t know, but I’ll find out. Though, I have to tell you that bears are notorious for withstanding interrogation.” He smiled and drank from his cup, watching Olivia through the steam.

  Chapter 25

  Brian dozed, waking occasionally to listen to Tony’s and Olivia’s murmurs. At last, he dropped into a deep sleep. His dream began in a simple, quiet forest, much like the one they’d just left, Marquis Park. It was in the full throes of summer. Trees were in heavy leaf. Shrubs carried long branches of berries. The stream bubbled and tumbled in its bed while fish and tadpoles cavorted in the shallows.

  He pressed through the high growth of spike-covered bushes. The deeper into the undergrowth he went, the more confused he became. Olivia appeared beside him. At least, it should have been her, but he couldn’t quite see her face. Together they walked through the forest, hand in hand.

  Then, as always, his dream stumbled into the hellish. Menacing shadows stretched to the ground from the treetops. They enveloped the forest. The darkness became absolute. He couldn’t even see Olivia’s hand in his own.

  Brian struggled to turn the dream around, to return to Olivia. The forest lightened, and he was beside her. The brush parted way for them, long vines draped from the trees like banners. She turned and stared into his eyes, but he still couldn’t make out her features.

  The shadows reappeared. They had scythe shaped claws and sharp canine fangs. They snapped and growled at him. Again, Brian fought to regain the happiness of the earlier dream. He called to Olivia, and she came to him. Her face was hazy, shifting with distortion. Still, he knew it was her. She leaned in to kiss him. He was happy. It was a happy dream. They talked about being together forever.

  Again, the sky darkened until he couldn’t see anything. Out of the dark, images of sharp, jutted mountains formed. His guilt screeched at him. It crowded everything out of the forest. He looked for Olivia, but she was nowhere. He found himself in the Guilin Mountains, near the Li River in China. Babbling voices reached him. Chinese was a second language to him; he should have been able to understand them, he’d spent enough time there, but he couldn’t.

  Sun-tanned farmers’ hands grasped at him, clawed his skin, pulled out his hair. He ran and they followed. A giant mango tree stood in front of him, filled with ripe, fragrant fruit. As he reached for a mango to slake his thirst, the tree burned red. The fruit in his hand became rotten. He dropped to all fours and ran, now a wolf. Still, the enraged people followed.

  Seeking refuge, Brian bolted into the back of a shallow cave. A ring of people brandishing knives, clubs, and torches crowded around the cave mouth. They threw burning twists of hay in after him. Some blazed on his coat, searing through to his skin. Branding him. More and more flaming hay twists flew into the cave. He couldn’t stay or he’d die. Yet, they’d kill him if he tried to flee the cave. With no good choices, snarling, he leapt into the crowd.

  Brian jerked awake. He lay on his stomach, his hands curled beneath him; his right one pulsed with pain from the lack of circulation. What a nightmare that had been. His insides still shook with the trauma of it. He tried to roll to his side, but the sheets had wound tightly around his torso and legs, trapping him. Slowly, he wriggled his arms free through the small space available near his head and stretched them out to the sides, uncramping and working his wrists.

  He was drenched in sweat, and it rolled into his eyes, stinging them with salt. Remnants of the dream still haunted him. As it had most of his life. As it always would.

  When feeling finally returned to Brian’s fingers, he began extricating himself from his soaked sheet. Patiently, he tugged the opening at his neck until it was large enough. He pushed the cocoon down to his hips. Then he pulled himself out. Freed, he sat on the edge of the bed and opened the window. The frigid winter air blew across his damp body, cooling it. The last traces of his nightmare dissolved. From the front room came the sounds of Tony’s and Olivia’s voices.

  He sat like that for a long time and waited for his insides to stop quivering. This had been one of the worst nightmares he’d had in the last few decades. Something was different this time, though.

  “Why Olivia?” His whispered voice sounded harsh in the silence of the room. He found no answers. With a yawn, he shut the window. He rolled flat onto the bed and let himself drift off again.

  Chapter 26

  Tony set down his coffee and continued watching Olivia. Steam curled from his cup toward the ceiling. She took another sip from hers, using it to hide behind. Those blue eyes could pin anyone to the wall.

  She got fidgety. “What?”

  He tapped his fingers on the table. “Brian and I have been friends for a long time. Be careful with him.”

  She shook her head. “He won’t hurt me.”

  “I’m worried about you hurting him. The wolf is very sensitive. So is Brian. He takes things seriously.”

  Ah. In other words, don’t break his heart. “Got it.”

  “Good. As I said, he’s a good friend.” He now stabbed his finger at her.

  Was that a threat? Really? Usually, it was her friends threatening her boyfriends. She’d never been on this side of it before. Offended, she said, “Relationships go the way they want. They can’t be predicted. I can’t guarantee either of us won’t get hurt. But I’m not after anything. And, though the wolf is certainly nothing I’ve encountered before, that’s not why I’m interested in him.” Or was it?

  He stood and turned his back on her, starting toward the loft ladder beside the kitchen. “As long as we understand each other.”

  That was the final straw. Fury burned through Olivia at this man’s arrogance. Before she knew it, she was on her feet, leaning across the table. “Look, Tony the Tiger, you really are an asshole. You don’t know me. You don’t know my past. Yet, you feel you can threaten me. If you honestly were Brian’s good friend, you’d be happy he found someone, even if it only lasted a short time, even if it caused pain in the end.”

  He turned, surprise on his face.

  Her words dripped with sarcasm. A small voice in the back of her mind said Caution! but she bulled ahead. “I saw how much luck you have with relationships, chatting up the nurses, trying your charm on every woman you can find, even one barely alive in the hospital. Buddy, you’re the last one who should be giving advice or thinking you had any answers regarding relationships. Your longest relationship is probably with a magazine.”

  His eyes glittered. With feline speed and precision he stepped close to her. She realized how foolhardy her words had been, but it was too late now. Anyway, she’d never been one for hiding her feelings. He leaned across the table until she could feel his breath on her face. He spoke in a low voice. “Round one and two went to me. Round three goes to you. But don’t think you can sit in the winner’s chair yet. The war is still to be decided. Be careful, little sister.” With that, he pivoted on his heel, jerked off his shirt, and vaulted up the loft stairs.

  Olivia picked up her coffee cup and went into the kitchen for a topper. “Asshole.”

  From the loft above she heard a chuckle. She looked
up in time to see Tony’s face watching her from over the edge of the loft as it changed into the pale softness of the Bengal. He winked a brilliant blue eye at her and then whisked away to his hiding spot.

  She closed her eyes. This whole shapeshifter thing had a high learning curve to it, and her head wanted to explode. She felt like she was always on the losing end of any conversation, much less an argument. She needed to talk to a plain old human, but that wouldn’t be happening for a while. Taking her coffee to the couch by the window, she settled down and watched the lake. Waves of snow scrolled across its frozen surface, pushed by the wind. Bare tree branches shook at the sky as if daring nature to do its worst.

  It amazed her how many people thought they owned a person because they did a favor. She could see this man, Tony, a savior to shapeshifters, was no different though. Friend to Brian he might be, but she resolved to get out from under his thumb as soon as possible. Once they were on even footing, then perhaps he would be tolerable to be around, for as long as Brian and she were together.

  For that matter, who was to say Brian wasn’t trying for a little action on the side as long as he had a captive play toy? Which was fine with her, actually. The thought of sex with Brian invoked the memory of his long lean body lying near naked next to her and she heated deep inside. She glanced toward the loft, where she’d last seen Tony, but caught no sight of his white fur. She hoped he didn’t smell the rise of her desire. Damn pheromones.

  Crossing her legs, she concentrated on her coffee.

  Within a couple hours, she felt the first stirrings of cabin crazy. Pacing in front of the window didn’t help. She tried taking a nap on the couch, but she’d slept so much lately that her eyes flew open the minute she closed them. The coffee didn’t help.

  Her stomach growled. Olivia decided to focus on food and rooted through the kitchen, checking out the larder. Apparently the boys had stopped for food somewhere during the trip. Boxes and cans filled their cabinets and fridge to jam-packed full. She decided on a bowl of cold cereal. It became a two-handed operation, holding the two neighboring boxes in the cabinet with one hand while she tugged out the brand she wanted. In the end, she had to pull out two extra boxes to sandwich with hers so she could put them back on the shelf together. She added milk from the fridge, noting the fresh cream sitting in the door shelf. Someone had put some money into stocking the place, as if they were going to be there awhile.