The Hidden (Shadowed Wings #1)(53)
I expect Loa’s gryphon to be black like her hair, or maybe it’s her shit-stained soul I’m expecting to be reflected in her fur and feathers. So I’m surprised when she shifts and her body is fawn-colored, and her barn owl looking head is the only thing that’s black. She opens her maw to screech at us, but we’re on her before she can make a peep. I slam into Loa with such force I feel it vibrate through the ground. We’re two feral, deadly animals doing our best to tear the other apart, and we growl and snarl as we claw, bat, and snap at each other.
Loa and I separate at the same time, neither of us getting the advantage over the other. We circle each other, assessing and watching for an opening. Or at least that’s what Loa’s doing. Pigeon seems less analytical about it all and more balls to the wall. She puts our head down and goes full rhino and charges. Loa’s beak digs into the base of one of our wings, but she lets go when we ram her into the trunk of one of the surrounding trees.
Loa rears up and swipes at us with a talon-tipped hand. She gets our cheek, but it doesn’t stop us from sinking the talons of one hand into her armpit and snapping at her throat simultaneously. She screams and pummels us with her wings and her other free hand. Pigeon is doing her best to rip off her other arm by shredding up through her armpit. Loa tries to drop her body weight on top of us as she’s realized that rearing up to challenge us didn’t go so well for her.
We pull the talons out of her armpit to keep her from getting us on our back, and immediately charge her again, hoping we can get her on her side. Pigeon is fucking pissed. She doesn’t give a fuck what kind of damage Loa is doing to us this close with her talons and clawed back paws. She knows she has the upper hand over Loa, that she’s more dominant and ruthless in her efforts to protect and claim what is rightfully hers.
I choose not to take this time to point out that Ryn is a big boy and can easily protect himself, and he by no means belongs to us, because the last thing I need is a pissed of Pigeon who feels the need to teach me another lesson and ghost me. I’d hate to know first-hand what it feels like to have my head ripped off, which is exactly what Loa would do if Pigeon receded right now and left me here to deal with this on my own. Fuck knows none of these asshole trainees have done anything to intervene at this point, so I’m pretty sure their help would be nonexistent if Pigeon abandoned me.
“That’s right, Pidge, he’s fucking ours, and no hulk-assed bitch is going to take him away from us!” I scream internally, feeling no shame about egging Pigeon on. Whatever shuts this Loa bitch down once and for all is okay in my book. And I’d be down to ride Ryn’s face before we leave as a thank you to Pigeon for beating this shit talking worm of a woman beyond all recognition. With that thought, I stand back and take a long hard look at my own brutal ruthlessness. I shrug and decide it is what it is, and check back into the fight.
Loa has a new gash where her hind leg meets her torso. Blood is pouring out of it just like the nice wound we gave her in the armpit, and Loa is obviously tiring. We have gashes on our face, shoulders and chest but nothing as deep and debilitating as Loa’s injuries. Loa growls at us as we circle her again, but even she sees it for the empty threat that it is. Her fawn eyes are filled with fear and desperation as her body grows weaker with each drop of blood that splatters to the dirt and grass beneath her feet.
Loa shifts back into her other form, but if she thinks that will stop us from ripping her apart, then she’s the queen of all dumbasses. She just made this a thousand times easier. Pigeon leaps for her, mouth open and ready to rip Loa in half. Just as we’re about to close in on her, someone slams into us, and it throws us off our lethal trajectory. Pigeon manages to get a swipe of our talons into Loa as we’re shoved away from her, and it throws Loa spinning out into the surrounding trees.
Pigeon roars a challenge to whoever intervened, and we scramble to face off with the asshole that just stole our kill. Our gaze lands on honey-colored irises surrounded by black feathers and a gray and black beak. I expect Pigeon to go all demure, like she normally does around Zeph, but apparently, by protecting Loa, he’s crossed some kind of line with Pigeon, and she’s beyond enraged.
About fucking time she saw past all the muscles and hotness.
Images flash through our mind faster than I can make out. I can’t be sure, but I get the distinct impression they aren’t coming from Pigeon. She does this weird growl chuff thing, and then I can see the speedy images that she’s suddenly projecting.
Are Pigeon and Zeph talking to each other?
Pigeon steps in the direction that Loa’s body disappeared in, and Zeph once again moves to get in our way. I wait for Pigeon to tell him off via the image share they seem to be doing, but instead she charges Zeph and swipes at him.
Well, this just fucking escalated!
Shock bleeds into me, and it slams up against Pigeon’s fury. I don’t know what Zeph just did, but it seems the rose-colored glasses that Pigeon always has on when it comes to Zeph just got smashed into a million pieces.
We’re all claws, talons, and pissed off rage as Pigeon attacks Zeph. He bellows at us, and I can hear the stop in it. I’m with Pigeon on this though, Loa started it. She came for us. We have every right to deal with her exactly how we want to. If we had been losing, does Zeph really think Loa would have had mercy on us? Would Zeph have stepped in if it were Loa leaping to rip our head off? Yeah, not fucking likely.