The Hidden (Shadowed Wings #1)(27)

Like he can feel some of the fight in me waning, his voice gets even more encouraging and kind. “Stick with me, little bit, I’ll get you more vicious than a Thais Fairy in no time. Give you more bite to back up that growl, whatta ya think, huh?”

I sag against him, defeat coursing through me. I’m so fucking tired of feeling like this. “Can you teach me to never be helpless again?” I ask, and the pain in my question rises to the surface, coating the anger I poured into my words. I feel Sutton release a deep breath against me, and I can practically feel the empathy radiating off him.

“There will always be someone bigger and meaner, but if you work hard, I can teach you to shred anyone who gets in your way.”

I nod at that, and Sutton’s hold on me loosens. He sets me on my feet, and then we both realize that in my efforts to get away and his efforts to stop me, Sutton is firmly holding on to one of my boobs. He yanks his hand away as if I just burned him, and I turn around to find him slowly reddening like a ripening tomato.

“My apologies,” he stammers out, and the whole situation suddenly seems really funny to me.

“Tit happens,” I offer, and then the laugh I’m trying to hold in bursts out of me like machine gun fire because I totally meant to say it happens. A smile sneaks over Sutton’s face, and he chuckles, although I can tell he’s trying not to. I extend my hand to him. “I’m Falon,” I introduce myself, and Sutton just stares at my waiting palm. “You’re supposed to shake it,” I explain, and his eyes move from my hand back up to my face.

“Why?” he asks, curious, and I chuckle.

“Honestly, I have no idea,” I admit. “Where I come from, people do it when they first meet.”

Sutton reaches out and grabs my wrist with his big meaty hand and proceeds to move my whole arm until my hand is shaking. I watch my hand flip flopping all over the place like a fish on a hook, and I realize that technically he is doing what I said he’s supposed to do. I crack up when he stops and then offers me his hand to shake. I don’t know why, but I do to his arm exactly what he just did to mine instead of showing him what a handshake is really supposed to be. Maybe it has something to do with the weight that lifts from my soul as I laugh and reinvent the handshake with him. Or maybe I’m just a fucking weirdo; either way, I feel safe and hopeful for the first time since I woke up in this strange place.

“Alright, Sutton, let’s make me a terminator,” I announce when our hand shaking is done. He looks at me, perplexed, and I slap his rock hard pec twice in encouragement. “I’ll explain later.”

Sutton nods at me and then a devilish smile takes over his face. “Let’s begin.”





10





“No, Falon!” Sutton bellows and comes stomping toward me. “You’re not feeling the counter attack!” he tells me for the four thousandth time.

I rub at my ribs and glare at him. “I promise you I am most definitely feeling the counter attack,” I argue, my irritation clear. I’m practically one big fucking bruise at this point, and I’ve yet to get a hit in. Sarai, my opponent, gives me a sweet smile, and I fight the urge to chuck my sword at her. My ego is probably more bruised at this point than my body, and that’s fucking saying something.

“You should feel the shift in the air when she changes her stance or the direction of a hit. You should feel it coming as easily as the air current through your feathers when you fly. You’re not tapping into your instincts. You’re not one inside,” Sutton explains once again, his closed fist hitting his chest at the end of his statement.

“I know that!” I shout, exasperation dripping from my words. “My gryphon is an asshole! I keep telling you that. She won’t even wake up to help me best a thirteen-year-old.” I gesture to Sarai who is momentarily distracted by something that looks like a dragonfly whizzing through the air.

Sutton’s gaze fills with sympathy, and he steps closer to me. “Don’t be so hard on yourself. Sarai’s the best with weapons I’ve ever seen, but you’re ready to learn from her. You’ve worked hard these past three weeks, you just need to figure out how to work with your animal at all times, or you’ll never get anywhere in the next phase of training.”

I look past him to the part of the field where shifted gryphons are learning to defend and attack. I exhale a deep resigned breath.

“I can’t make her listen to me, Sutton. She doesn’t even wake up when I actually need her. She’s a lazy, good for nothing gryphon who likes to pump me full of hormones to fuck with me and then gets off on leaving me hanging at all other times.”

I leave off that she sits up at attention whenever Zeph or Ryn are nearby, as it feels like TMI. I barely see them these days anyway, between training and working on my project for Tysa, which means my bitch of a gryphon is pretty much dormant at all times.

My trade with Tysa has worked out well. I now own several pairs of pants and shirts, a couple bra-like garments I walked Tysa through making, and last week, she gifted me with my very own braided armor vest and pants. What looked like leather turned out to be something called Narwagh hide. I guess it’s like a pig or something. The material is protective on the outside but soft and somewhat stretchy against my skin. The pants she made are so badass they almost look like black scales all over my legs, and I laughed so hard when I saw them.