Page 26 of The Hidden
A white and gray gryphon lands gracefully on the ground, and Zeph steps over me and releases a menacing growl. Pigeon surfaces, and before I can stop it, we shift and she’s back in control. Our eyes meet a storm cloud gray gaze, and that same fire I was just recovering from sucker punches me in the gut again. Pigeon and I drop like a sack of rocks, and I scream through the pain. It’s too fucking much.
“I just answered her call! What the rut are you doing here? You’ve now sent her into another joining!”Zeph yells at me, but I’m incapable of responding and telling him to fuck off the way I want to.
“I rutting felt her panic. Someone was hurting her! I had to come; you know I didn’t have a choice.”
Ryn? What the hell is Ryn doing here?
Pigeon once again releases her hold and recedes inside of me. I’m pretty sure whatever is happening to us, she just did on purpose, and as soon as I can breathe and think clearly, I’m going to interrogate the little shit until she image-flashes me what the hell is going on. I feel hands on me, and it sends me past the level of sensation I can handle. I scream at the contact and thank fuck for the blackness that bleeds into my mind. I encourage it to consume me, and I breathe out a sigh of relief when it listens and everything just stops.
14
“She was dark purple when I first saw her, but she’s a solid silver right now. I’ve never seen a gryphon change colors completely after answering the call. Usually they become a mix of whatever color they’ve joined to; this is all new to me,” a tenor voice announces.
“Maybe it has to do with her Ouphe blood?” a female asks.
“It’s possible. Her color is strong though, no sign of fading or weakness like I’ve seen in passing gryphons.”
“She’s been out for a week, Ami. You keep saying that, but it doesn’t mean rut all if she never wakes up!” Ryn shouts.
“You should have warned me you were coming,” Zeph berates.
An irritated huff fills the room. “I told you, I didn’t have a choice. I only reacted to what I felt. If you had been protecting her better, she would have never forced me there!” Ryn accuses.
“Altern, Syta, please.”
My eyelids snap open, and I cringe against the bright light that assaults me. I blink back the brightness and find Zeph and Ryn squaring off with each other. Ami is watching them from the side of my bed, and Loa is moving to get between Ryn and Zeph. I sit up slowly with a groan, and all eyes in the room snap to mine. I quickly fist the falling sheet at my chest, realizing that I’m once again naked in my bed.
“Why the fuck am I always naked when I wake up in here? Which one of you perverts keeps making that happen?” I croak, my voice deep and gravelly from disuse.
“See, I told you she’d be fine eventually,” Ami proclaims.
A growl bubbles up out of my throat, and the next thing I know, I’m leaping for Ami. He scrambles away, and I don’t know how Ryn gets to me so quickly, but he intercepts my attack and pulls me back into him.
“You threw me off a cliff!” I shout at Ami, who doesn’t even have the good sense to look sorry. I fight to get out of Ryn’s vice like grip and get my hands on the little shit. “You owe me shoes, pants, a new shirt, and a bra,” I demand, my finger pointed threateningly at Ami. “And before you think you can get away with not paying up, these fuckers won’t always be here to keep me away from you. You hear me? Pants, shirt, boots, and bra by the end of the week, or I will hunt you down and shred you.”
Ami nods, but I don’t miss the glint of amusement in his eyes. I renew my efforts to get to him, swearing and driven by the need to slap that twinkle in his eyes off his face.
“Ami, out!” Zeph orders, and the teenage prick hurries out the door.
I breathe heavily and work to settle the rage pumping through me. I feel Ryn drop his face to my shoulder and inhale deeply. I’m about to turn and ask him what the fuck he’s doing, when I spot Loa glaring at me. I tense and focus on her.
“What the fuck is your problem?” I challenge, and her lips pull back from her teeth, and she snarls at me. “Oh no you fucking didn’t,” I growl back, and Pigeon sits up inside of me, responding to the clear challenge Loa is giving us. My vision shifts, and I feel the tips of my fingers elongate and sharpen. Tingles run up my back, and my wings pop out, breaking Ryn’s hold.
“Rutting fairies!” he shouts and tries to get a hold of me again, but I’m already just out of reach and charging Loa. Pigeon preens, satisfied by the hint of fear we see in Loa’s gaze before she masks it, but we can still smell it seeping off of her.
“Loa, out!” Ryn roars as Zeph slams into me, keeping me from connecting with Loa. I snap at him and watch as Loa ignores Ryn’s command. A snarl sounds off behind me, and that finally sends Loa scrambling out of the room.
Zeph shoves me against the cool stone wall of my room and gets in my face. I don’t know why I feel so fucking volatile, but I do. Rage, challenge, need, the drive to protect pounds through me, and I feel like I’m drowning in it. I try to bite Zeph, but he just chuckles and presses me into the wall even harder.
“Naughty little sparrow, you know you don’t want to hurt me,” he coos at me, and he nudges his knee between my legs. Suddenly, that’s all I can focus on, and I spread my thighs to make room for more of him. I breathe him in deeply, and Pigeon and I both start to settle.
“Good girl,” he praises, and that has me growling at him again.
“You’ve got the touch,” Ryn snarks as he leans against the wall next to me.
Zeph glares at him. Pigeon settles inside of me, and my vision and hands go back to normal. I use my wings to push away from the wall and challenge Zeph’s hold. He looks surprised for a moment, but he lets go and scrambles back away from me. “What is going on?” I demand, my head pounding and my stomach groaning for food. “What happened out there?”
Zeph and Ryn shoot a glance at each other, and something about it irritates the fuck out of me. I take a threatening step toward them, ready to lose it.What the hell is wrong with me?
