The Hidden (Shadowed Wings #1)(39)

Well, I guess he wasn’t as affected by the raging inferno that Pigeon and I just experienced.

My vision blurs, and I work to blink it back into focus. When I do, Zeph’s gryphon is inches away from me. He nudges my shoulder until I flip over onto my back. I don’t fight him, because it hurts to breathe let alone move. He sniffs at me, his beak warm and smooth against my skin. Goose bumps pebble over me, and he huffs out a breath that blows my hair back from my face.

“I don’t know what you did to me, asshole, but as soon as I can move, I’m going to pluck out all of your nose hairs,” I threaten, and a familiar chuffing sound radiates from Zeph’s chest.

“Are you laughing at me, you overgrown crow?” I demand, and Zeph drops his beak and sniffs between my legs.

“Not a fucking chance, bird brain,” I warn and try to roll away from him without any success as he stops me and rolls me back the way I was.

“Mine!” I distinctly hear the male voice in my mind, and I try to shake away the confusion that sends crawling through me.

“What the fuck is going on?” I demand.

Unsurprisingly, nothing and no one answers me. The big black gryphon brings his head back up, and he presses his forehead against mine, just like Pigeon did to Zeph. I think it’s some kind of greeting, so I mimic what Zeph did. I close my eyes and breathe him in. The telltale lilac-on-a-windy-day scent that all gryphons have fills my nose, followed by the deep masculine scent that is Zeph. He overflows my senses, his essence working through me, and I reach up and place my exhausted hands on each side of the gryphon’s face.

I open my eyes and stare into his large honey orbs.

“Mine,” purrs through my mind again, and I laugh at the lunacy of it.

“You wish,” I respond, but I’m once again confused as to who I’m responding to; could be Pigeon, my crazy ass, or an imaginary friend at this point. Or maybe I’m losing it?

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.”