Page 35 of My Guardian Gryphon

“And then what? What about after you have the baby? Do I lose you then instead of now?” His bitter tone chipped at my already broken heart.

“I’m trying to find a way.” The words came out in a half-sob-half-wail. “Please, Alek. I would leave with you right this second if you would take me away from here, away from all of it.”

“I wish I could, Gretchen. By the gods, I would leave with you in a heartbeat if I thought it was safe.”

The door swung back open, and Rose stormed inside, slamming it behind her before the Drakonae could enter. It locked without a touch from her hand, and even under Miles’ pounding, it refused to budge. “Not a single Sister has left this castle in over a hundred years, and not a single one ever will. If you leave, you’d be vulnerable. If something happened to you, the entire House would suffer for it. Are you really that selfish?”

“I love him,” I said, trying to keep my voice from shaking.

Rose was angry. Her typically soft, compassionate brown eyes were flecked with white, and her skin was starting to glow. She kept one hand focused on the locked office door—keeping out the dragons—while the rest of her magick filled the room until the air itself seemed statically charged.

“Is your love worth the deaths of hundreds, perhaps thousands more innocent people? People who need to leave this Earth and return home. People who’ve fought their entire lives without the support of a place like Sanctuary. Is that worth you throwing away the dedication and sacrifice of your mother. Of your grandmother?”

One stab after another, each statement and question making me feel smaller and more insignificant than the last.

“You take the offer I made or leave it. As of this moment, Alek will not be permitted inside the Blackmoor residence again until you are pregnant. Any attempt to leave the premises will not be taken lightly. Alek… if you are caught trying to sneak in to—”

“Fuck you, Rose. If you think we can’t be in each other’s presence without sleeping together, you’ve got a few marbles loose in that ancient brain of yours. Gretchen and I are friends, first and foremost, and you think you get to just end tha—.” He coughed and grabbed his throat.

I screamed and threw myself at Rose’s feet. “Please. Let him go. Please. I’ll do it. I’ll do what you want.” Tears cascaded down my cheeks.

Rose released him from her magickal grasp, and his choking subsided. “I don’t want to have this conversation again.” Her voice was thin and pained and tired. “I know what it is like to love. And I know what it is like to lose the one we love. Be thankful for your years of friendship. You were blessed to have so many.”

Alek grabbed me by the shoulders, lifting me from the floor in front of Rose. “I love you. I will always love you, no matter what. Remember that…And never bow to her again.”

Then he was gone, snarling his way past Rose and between Miles and Diana, who stood speechless in the doorway.

My body shook with the remnants of a sob, and I wiped my eyes, determination filling my soul. I was done being broken. Done being a little girl, crying about her circumstances. Neither my mother nor my grandmother would’ve begrudged me happiness. They hated being stuck in the House of Lamidae as much as I did. There were others that felt the same and others that didn’t. Most said there was no use fighting the status quo, and so they didn’t. It wasn’t like anyone could win against a woman who considered herself god…at least of our world.

Didn’t mean I wasn’t going to try.

Chapter 15

ALEK

“Alek,” Miles shouted, sprinting to catch up with me.

Ignoring him, I barreled down the staircase in the foyer and out the giant oak door. I turned to the right, following the path to the left toward the street ahead.

“Alek, you can’t give up on her. Not if she’s your mate.”

I whirled on the Drakonae. Miles was only three or four inches taller than me, but I still had to look up, and in my state of unrest, everything pissed off me and my Gryphon, and not being taller than the alpha-asshole Drakonae calling me out was doing a bang-up job. A growl rumbled from my throat, and I felt my skin tighten and stretch. My beast pushed to come out and rip apart anything it could get its claws into.

“I don’t know if she is, Miles. I got thrown out of the Veil as a fucking fifteen-year-old. I don’t know my history, or my lore, or anything really about being a Gryphon. I’d barely gone through puberty. My family had just started teaching me. My father had taken me to our family temple once before the Incanti struck our city. There were dozens of us on Earth in ancient times—all teenagers mind you—but I haven’t seen a Gryphon in almost two thousand years. As far as I know…” I couldn’t say it. I couldn’t admit aloud that I was the only one left alive, even though I knew it was most likely the truth.

The big Drakonae fell into stride next to me, and we walked silently down the sidewalk, passing Calliope’s shop then the market. We halted in front of the small building Jared and I called the sheriff’s office and fire station.

“What do you feel when you are near her? When you touch her?”

I dragged in a ragged breath, staving off the burning rage building in the pit of my stomach. “I want her with a fury I can’t explain. My Gryphon wants her. I feel like I’m going to lose control and come out of my skin at the very thought of another man touching her. I want to rip Rose’s face off.”

Miles chuckled.

“What’s so fucking funny?” My voice carried a unique mix of beastly snarl and human annoyance. How could he possibly find humor in my situation?

“I think we’ve all wanted to rip Rose’s face off at one point in time.”

Now that I believe. “But you can’t. The fight would be over before you could lay a single claw on her.” Lamassu weren’t gods, but their magick could encompass everything around them with a mere thought or flick of their hand to direct the power. I’d seen Rose freeze rooms full of people. I’d felt the chokehold her magick could inflict. I could still feel it around my neck even now, and that small display of power had been just enough to remind me of my place—below her.

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