The Hidden (Shadowed Wings #1)(11)

I scramble to the back of the tub and push myself up and over the rim. Water splashes around me as I rush to get on my feet, and when I spin around, Loa is on one side of the in-ground tub and Ryn is on the other. They’re blocking my escape routes, and I back up to get as far away from them as I can. Loa’s eyes narrow at me, but Ryn seems to be tracking the water that’s dripping down my naked body. His pupils dilate as he runs his gaze down and slowly back up. His Adam’s apple bobs as he swallows, and when his gray eyes find mine again, there’s surprising heat in his gaze.

My back hits the sill of the window behind me, and a breeze rushes in from outside. White strands of hair snake in and out of my line of sight, but I don’t take my eyes off of my captors. I place my hand on the edge of the open window, and a deep rumbling sound fills the bathroom. Ryn’s eyes morph from molten to warning, and embarrassingly my body responds to his growl. My nipples harden, and a fluttering sensation works its way down my abdomen and settles between my thighs. Need pools inside of me, and the idea of Ryn having his hands all over me suddenly feels like a really fucking good idea.

My fingers dig into the stone surrounding the opening behind me, and I momentarily snap myself out of my lecherous thoughts. What in the fuck is going on with me? I’ve been kidnapped, held against my will, and now they’re threatening to assault me. But apparently, my fucked up brain is cool with it as long as the one doing the assaulting is this hot as fuck Ryn asshole? Have I been drugged? I quickly look from Ryn to Loa, ensuring she’s still well out of reaching distance, and then I turn and dive out of the window.

So much for practicing a lot before doing this. Here’s to hoping I can shift and save my ass, otherwise this is going to fucking hurt.





5





Ryn bellows a “noooo,” but it’s quickly lost in the loud sound of whooshing air as it streaks past me. I swallow the terror that my free fall sends coursing through me and reach into where my gryphon is evidently having a nap. I have no fucking clue how to wake her up, and it’s starting to get easier to make out the details below me. A shadow falls over me, and I know exactly what that means. Like I’m swimming through water and not plummeting to a very painful crush injury, I use my hands and legs to flip myself over.

A furious looking Ryn, who clearly has no trouble getting his wings to cooperate, shoots straight toward me as fast as a bullet. A tingling runs up my back, and when it gets to my shoulder blades, huge black wings shoot out of me. Just fucking great; it seems they only want to come out and play in the vicinity of very hot assholes. The sudden appearance of my new feathered ebony appendages puts me into a spin in the air, and I try to fan out my wings as much as possible to stop the tornado-like momentum.

Ryn crashes into me and wraps his huge arms around my waist to stop me from spinning. I’m slammed back, but he holds me tightly against him, his grip vice-like as his huge gray and white wings shoot out to slow us down. An ache starts in my stomach, and I feel the drive to wrap my naked body around him and hold on tightly. So instead, I punch him in the face.

He grunts and then roars at me in frustration, and the angry sound shoots right to my clit. Clearly something inside of me is broken, and I ignore its cuddly prompts as I scratch and scramble to get out of Ryn’s embrace. I knee him in the stomach in a last ditch effort, and his grip loosens just enough that I can get my legs up between us and kick off of his rock hard abs to get away. I have just enough time to flip around and get my wings spread out to try and slow myself as much as possible before I slam into what I’m pretty sure is a fruit stall.

I cover my face with my hands and scream as wood splinters all around me, and the sound of fabric tearing fills my ears. Something smashes into my left wing, and I grunt from the pain and try to pull them tight against my back to protect them. I jerk to a stop suddenly, my leg caught on something, and I clench my teeth against the pain that shoots up my thigh. Something wet and sticky covers my skin, and I glance down, worried it’s blood. A light pinkish juice covers my torso and chest, and I look over and deduce it’s from the yellow fruit I just pulverized.

I groan and take stock of myself. Bruised but not broken, it seems, and I sit up and unwrap some dark blue fabric from around my leg. It looks like it used to be part of the canopy of the stall I just crashed through, and I pull at it until it rips all the way free. I brush shards of wood from my arms and legs and wrap the canopy fabric around me and tie it off. My body protests as I stand up. The fabric of the canopy I’m now wearing is short but thankfully covers all of my personal bits. I snap my wings out behind me, shaking them free of debris, and breathe a sigh of relief as they seem to be fine. There would be no escaping with a broken wing.

Shrill screams and hurried shouts break through my collision-induced fog, and I look up to find I’ve just crash-landed into some kind of marketplace. I’m surrounded by other wooden stalls that are housing food, fabric, jewelry and far too many stunned faces staring back at me. I scan my surroundings and see a group of people huddling around something. Part of a gray-tipped white wing is visible on the ground, and I realize they’re surrounding Ryn. I feel the urge to check on him, and a twinge of guilt shoots through me at the thought that he might be hurt.

I take a step toward the gathering crowd, but a man moves to get in my way protectively. The stranger’s block snaps me from my empathetic thoughts, and I start to back up and look around for an escape.