The Hidden (Shadowed Wings #1)(56)

“No. You need to get the fuck out of my room!” I snap as I step all the way inside and shut the door behind me. I debate the best way to deal with the bag full of food I have my arm slung through. If I set it down, it will draw attention to it, but if I keep talking to him with it slung over my shoulder, he’s bound to notice that too. Shit.

“It’s not what you’re thinking it is!” he defends, and I round on him like a boa constrictor does its prey.

“Oh it’s not?” I ask with faux confusion and wide eyes. “You didn’t step in and protect the weaker half in a dominance challenge?”

“No, I stepped in and stopped a training exercise gone wrong,” he argues.

“Ahhhh, a training exercise. Is that what that was? Funny, I’ve never seen Sutton start beating on a trainee with no warning before,” I point out, my voice dripping with imitation sugar.

As Sutton’s name leaves my mouth, Zeph shoots off the bed, and a deep growling starts in his chest. I take a challenging step toward him.

“She attacked me without warning or provocation. She made it personal when she told me to stay away from Ryn and that she dreams of my death. I responded to her challenge with the same level of force that she would have if the roles were reversed. This was absolutely about dominance, and you stuck your beak where it didn’t belong and probably just made things worse for me.”

Zeph opens his mouth to say something and suddenly pauses. “What do you mean probably made it worse for you?”

“You think she’s going to come for me head on now like she did today? No. That sneaky parrot will attack when I least expect it. And who the fuck knows when that will happen, but I can’t watch my back around all the fucking people here who hate me, so she’ll probably win. Are you going to step in and save me, Zeph?” I mock.

Zeph runs his hands through his long black curls and huffs. “I’ll talk to her.”

I snort a humorless laugh. “Good thinking. That’ll definitely solve the problem.” I drop the bag of food from my shoulder onto the ground discreetly, but Zeph’s gaze immediately zeros in on it.

“What is that?”

“Nothing,” I lie.

He breathes in a deep inhale, dousing my hope that he’ll take my word for it. “Why do you have a bag of food?”

I watch his face morph into understanding as the question leaves his mouth. And he closes the distance between us. “Where the rut do you think you’re going?”

“I’m going home. I don’t belong here, and I don’t want to be here anymore.”

Pain flickers in Zeph’s amber gaze, but it’s quickly replaced by anger. “You told Ryn that you would stay here until he was back. You vowed,” he accuses.

“No, I didn’t, I just said I would, now I’ve changed my mind. I want to go home, and you promised you’d take me. So take me. I’m ready to leave.”

“Your word means so little that you would say something and then go back on it just like that?” Zeph looks at me like I’m something gross he stepped in. Since he’s practically been doing that since I met him, I remain unfazed by it.

I raise my eyebrows and give him my best pot calling the kettle black side-eye. “You’re one to talk. Didn’t you say something along the lines of when we get back here, you’ll take me home?” I throw my hands out to punctuate my point. “And yet I’m still fucking here.”

“That was before,” he yells at me.

“Before what?” I yell back over all this cryptic bullshit all the time.

“Before you told Ryn you would wait.”

I release a frustrated growl and push him. I have no Pigeon backing me up, so my efforts result in Zeph staying exactly where he is.

“Why do you fucking care? Why does Ryn fucking care?” I ask exasperated. “You hate me. Your people hate me. They spit on the ground as I walk by. They look at me like I’m the person solely responsible for all of their problems. You and Ryn avoid me at all costs unless the drive to get your dick wet is upon you. I mean, I get that, I really fucking do, but he can fuck some other chick in my absence. I’m certain it will make very little difference in the long run. This is just some fucked up powerplay with you guys. Some weird ass game of let’s hatefuck the Ouphe tainted.”

Zeph snarls at that, but I cut him off. “Oh please, did you not think I knew what was going on? I’m not stupid, and honestly, I don’t fucking care. I got a good fuck out of it, but enough is enough. You and Ryn can tag team some other bitch. I’m done.”

Zeph pulls me into him and grabs the back of my neck roughly. He brings his face down to mine and then rubs the scruff of his cheek against me as he nips at my earlobe.

“This has nothing to do with hatefucking or powerplays. And you are stupid if you believe any of the nonsense you just spewed. You have no idea how this world works or what’s at stake.”

I growl as I push away from him. He allows me to pull far enough back that I can look in his eyes but no further. “If I have no understanding of what’s going on, it’s because you’ve made it that way. You know where I come from and that I had no idea what I was or that this world even existed until you attacked me. But I don’t see you filling in the gaps for me. I’ve had no lessons. No tutors to explain how gryphon life and this world works. You want me in the dark. Let’s not pretend otherwise.”