Clanless (Nameless #2)(70)

She looked down at her mutilated hands. She shouldn’t be held responsible for a promise made to those men. Barnabas would have tortured her for information and then killed her if she hadn’t escaped Boar. She’d been desperate. It wasn’t her fault that Ikatou’s clan was raided. She hadn’t forced the Kodiak from their homes, starved their children to the point of desperation …

“Zo.” Gryphon took her by the upper arms, bringing her back to the present. “What’s wrong?” He tucked her wild hair behind her ears and let his fingers slide down her neck. Her body responded with fire. A craving she never experienced with Gabe. How could she live without this man?

Zo sat up and scooted away from Gryphon. She cradled her wounded hands to her stomach, afraid she might be sick. “We need to go back.” She couldn’t push her voice past a whisper.

“To those Kodiak animals?” Gryphon thundered. “Not a chance.”

Zo blinked, startled by Gryphon’s resolve. “They saved me from Boar. I’ve promised to take them to Commander Laden and the Allies in return. I can’t go back on my word.” Not a complete lie, but not a complete truth either. She wasn’t ready to tell him about her blood oath. Not yet.

“What happened to your hands, Zo? Did they do that to you?” Gryphon’s expression darkened into something dangerous.

“Gryphon? Did you hear me? I have to help these people.”

One of Ikatou’s brothers shouted in the distance. “Fresh tracks. To me! To me!”

“Sorry, Zo.” Gryphon gathered the blankets and tightened the straps of his pack. “I’m not taking any chances with you. Run with me, or be dragged. But I promise you I will fight every Clanless wild man that comes near you.”

“We’ve got to go now,” hissed Joshua.

“Zander and my mess are in these woods, somewhere between here and the Allied Camp. They’ll have an easy time tracking those Kodiak. You’re safer with me and Joshua.” Gryphon’s hand cupped her cheek with such reverence. “Please run with me.”

How could she refuse him?





Chapter 29





Somewhere, repressed deep in the folds of his mind, Gryphon knew running was crazy. Seeing Zo—no, feeling Zo—altered all reasoning. He should have taken her back to the camp. It’s what she wanted. Leave it to Zo to find someone to save while she herself was in mortal danger.

But the idea of entering a situation outnumbered, without control, with Zo under his protection, simply wasn’t acceptable.

They ran for hours. Zo checked him if he varied from the southerly course. Both Joshua and Zo asked to stop, but Gryphon refused. Too many hunters in the forest. Everyone was against them. The whole world, it seemed.

Only when Zo tripped on a fallen log and collapsed to the ground in an exhausted ball did he come to his senses. He knelt beside her and lifted her from the ground onto his lap. Even after the run her body was cold, her skin pallid and sickly.

“I’m sorry. I just—”

Zo covered his mouth with bloodied fingers. “I feel it too. The urgency.”

They’d cheated death. All three of them. “I can’t lose you again,” he said.

Joshua dropped wearily beside him. “You’re going to lose us both if we don’t stop to rest.” The boy’s teasing bordered too close on truth to be funny.

Zo nudged for Gryphon to set her down and he grudgingly obeyed. They wouldn’t rest here long. Not enough cover.

“Tell me how you escaped,” she whispered, easing down to lie on her side. Days of trekking the mountain with little food showed in her prominent cheekbones.

“Barnabas decided to let Zander and his men sit out in the rain for a night. Ajax and Gabe helped me escape.”

Zo sat up. “Gabe? That’s not possible. He told me—”

“He lied, Zo. He wanted us both to believe the other was dead.”

Zo shook her head. “He wouldn’t do that.”

“But he did. He came back with me to warn the Raven. He let me believe that Ajax, my best friend, killed you.” Gryphon grabbed a soggy pinecone and ground it in his fists. “If I hadn’t run into Talon and Raca, I would never have found you.”

Zo stared into the distance, still shaking her head. “Gabe wouldn’t do such a thing. It doesn’t make sense.”

Gryphon threw the crumpled remains of the pinecone and barked, “Of course it does!” Didn’t she understand? They both loved her. They both wanted her. This was Gabe’s way of keeping Zo to himself.

Joshua voiced what Gryphon was too angry and too afraid to say. “Gabe doesn’t want you to choose Gryphon instead of him.”

Gryphon looked away, not daring to see Zo’s expression. He knew she cared for him. But could that affection trump years of friendship, and maybe even love, between her and Gabe? It didn’t seem possible.

“Where is he now?” whispered Zo.

Gryphon’s throat wouldn’t relax. “On a boat sailing south with the Raven. They’ll approach the Allied Camp from the south to avoid the Ram.”

Gabe had saved his life more than once. The Raven would have killed him in that field if Gabe hadn’t shown up. How could he hate and admire someone so thoroughly?