Clanless (Nameless #2)(68)
Zo stepped back and inhaled to scream and wake the sleeping Kodiak, but it was too late. The man jumped over the flames of the fire.
In one graceful motion, he covered her mouth with his large hand and wrapped his arm around her waist.
There was something about the man’s touch. Something she recognized. But it can’t be. Zo’s legs melted but the phantom before her didn’t let her fall.
Gryphon?
It wasn’t possible.
Yet, even his smell was familiar. It couldn’t be.
Someone in the camp groaned. Gryphon’s ghost didn’t waste a second. He threw Zo over his shoulder as if she were a sack of grain and jumped back over the fire that blocked their exit from the rudimentary cave.
As they ran, Zo beat upon the ghost’s back to get him to stop, but he didn’t listen. Behind them shouts echoed off stone. Ikatou’s voice rose above the rest. What if they thought she’d abandoned them?
Blood rushed to her head. She couldn’t catch her breath to scream. Pain from the jostling of her hands and the pressure on her stomach mixed with a dizziness of being upside-down. This man ignoring her battle couldn’t be Gryphon. Was her mourning so great that she’d attached his face and smell to another man?
He could have been a Ram scout. That made a lot more sense than any other explanation she could dream up. She kicked harder, grasping for branches of passing trees, unable to fill her lungs enough to scream.
Eventually her fight dwindled to a few sporadic fists against his back. Her eyes drooped closed, the running motion carrying her in and out of consciousness to a place of dreams, of loss and pain and longing so real her heart broke all over again.
Chapter 28
Gryphon hugged Zo’s legs as he ran wild with fear through the night. Joshua sprinted ahead of him, darting around trees, scouring the area for some place to hide, constantly looking over his shoulder to make sure Gryphon and Zo were close behind.
Thankfully, Zo stopped fighting Gryphon’s hold a few minutes into the run. He’d refused to put her down so close to the camp in case she was too injured to run, and—even more vehemently—refused to consider why she fought him to begin with.
Zo was smaller than he remembered, lighter, but that didn’t lessen the ache sprouting in his shoulder from supporting her weight. He winced and adjusted his hold, but it didn’t help.
Slowing to a walk, he leaned forward and let her body shift so he cradled her in his arms. He couldn’t decide if she was unconscious or simply sleeping. Had she lost too much blood from the cuts on her hands?
Why didn’t she come when he beckoned? What did those savages do to her?
Her eyes fluttered open, but swiftly drifted shut again. Blood was smeared across her cheek and her head lolled back to face the dim light of the crescent moon. How could beauty be so frightening? It reminded him just how unworthy he was to even hold her, let alone try to claim her heart. Rejection from her would wound him in a way that a sword or spear never could.
Gryphon didn’t realize he’d stopped walking until Joshua approached.
“I’ve found a place, Gryph,” said Joshua. He reached out and touched his fingertips to Zo’s where they hung limp in the air. The poor boy looked ready to fall over. “It’s not the best, but—”
“Lead the way, kid. I’m sure it’ll be fine.” They needed rest and couldn’t afford exposure to the Kodiak and possibly Zander.
Joshua led them to a tight cluster of trees, heavily furred, with boughs hanging close to the ground. Gryphon dropped to his knees still cradling Zo to his chest. Joshua cleared the ground of rocks and pulled a bedroll from his pack.
“This reminds me of the tree I woke up under after Zo healed me,” said Joshua. His words slurred with need of rest.
Gryphon’s throat tightened at the memory of being with Zo under that tree. The kiss they shared. Zo had called him her family. She’d clung to him with such intensity at the time, he’d had no doubt of her affection. Or was it merely gratitude?
He shook his head and bent over to lay her unconscious form on the bedroll. He cleared the ground next to her and unrolled his own blanket. “Here you go, Joshua.”
Joshua shook his head. “I’m not taking your spot.”
Gryphon dropped to the open ground near the perimeter of the tree to keep watch. “It’s not my spot.”
He’d trained himself long ago to soak in as much rest as possible without actually falling asleep. Tonight it wouldn’t be hard to stay awake. As exhausted as he was, he doubted he could sleep even if he tried.
Rays of light kissed Zo’s eyelids, but she wasn’t ready to wake. A soft sensation caressed the skin around the wounds on the backs of her hands. Though her hands were still tender from the blood oath, she welcomed the touch, considering it just another form of light kissing her skin.
She’d dreamt of Gryphon working beside her on hands and knees, thinning a patch of beets. He didn’t carry any weapons. His dark hair was tied back with a strip of soft leather. He looked over his shoulder and gave her a contented smile then went back to his task, the muscles in his forearms moving beneath his skin as he worked.
Zo became aware of the hard ground beneath her, the sun filtering through the branches of the tree overhead. She wasn’t ready to wake up. Adjusting into a new position, she inhaled the scent of pine, and then slipped back into another dream to be with Gryphon. The farm was gone. Now she sat under the tree with Gryphon outside the walls of Ram’s Gate. “I never left you,” he said.