Page 280 of The Protective Gryphen

“I never thought it would be possible, but it is,” Ian said, they headed toward the cliffs.

“I felt the same. With you, I’m calm, and I’ve never been happier.”

It was nice just being with someone he loved.

“Do you think we can actually pull this off?” he asked. “I mean living how we want. Will you get tired of me being bossy and demanding?”

Ian considered it.

“I won’t get bored, but what about you?”

He was amused.

“I loved every second of it in town in that bathroom pub. I’m a dirty, dirty Lord.”

It made Ian giggle.

“Thank freaking God,” he said. “And you’re mine.”

Gryphen glanced over.

“Always, Mr. Patterson. I swear on my life.”

That was all he wanted.

In silence, they walked for fifteen more minutes, and they could see the sun getting lower ahead on the horizon.

“I hope Romeo and Juliet can do this as it gets dark,” Ian admitted.

The dark was going to be tricky.

He reassured him.

“Graham said they know their way back instinctually, and if we let them lead, they’ll get us there. Just enjoy the ride with Lord Gryphen, the perpetually horny,” he said, as he checked out the trees.

There wasn’t a more accurate name and Ian knew it.

As the ride progressed, Ian noticed that the cliff was odd. It was an outcropping with steep drops into the valley below in the West and East sides. It outcropped from the mountain and narrowed out. At the widest part, it was only maybe five hundred feet across.

“We might make it,” Gryphen said. As he gauged how much time they had before the sun was gone.

Nudging the horses along, they kept going, and everything was good, until they got to a part of the cliff that had a thick swatch of trees down the middle. It divided the sides, and looked to have two paths.

Even though there was silence all around them, Ian’s horse’s ears perked up, like she heard something. Immediately, Juliet tried to go to the right, and Romeo stayed going left.

Ian tried to adjust, and that’s when Juliet must have seen something.

It spooked her.

The horse freaked out, and she went up on her back legs frightened by whatever it was.

Romeo went nuts, dancing around her, and Gryphen tried to get his horse to go closer to Ian to save him.

“Ian!”

The man moved with the horse, staying in the saddle. The only reason he didn’t fall and was trampled was because he knew how to ride.

“I have her,” he reassured, patting her on the neck. “Just give me space. She’s spooked. She heard something and freaked out.”

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