Page 25 of My Guardian Gryphon

She clucked her tongue. “Don’t be such a sour apple. I won’t tell anyone. Pixies are very good at keeping secrets.”

“I don’t need a secret kept or your discretion. Just leave me be and let me pass.” Not that she truly posed a problem. I could’ve easily removed her from my path, but manhandling a woman wasn’t on the approved action-list inside my brain. Bella was not one easily deterred, though, and I truly wished she would just drop it.

And she did.

Her hand fell from my chest. The magick coursing between us dissipated. The glow in her skin faded, and she stepped to the side, leaving the entire sidewalk open for me to continue. “Go then. Just remember, if you ever need help, I’m here.”

“There’s nothing anyone can do for me.” I gave her a curt nod and walked past.

“Love is always worth the fight. There’s nothing in the universe quite like finding the person you’re meant to be with. Don’t give up on that.”

I refused to look back. Refused to encourage her meddling. I didn’t need her or her pixie dust making a bigger mess than I’d already stirred up. Gretchen wasn’t for me. She could never be for me, her destiny—whether she liked it or not—was tied up with Rose’s crusade. Fate had already threaded that string, long before she’d been born.

Movement across the street caught my attention, and I focused.

“The Sisters must have more children,” Rose’s hushed words carried to my ears from where she stood next to the large passenger bus Harrison Bateman drove.

I didn’t stop walking, but I didn’t stop listening, either. It wasn’t often that Rose revealed details surrounding the House of Lamidae. Harrison was probably one of the only people who knew a little more about the needs surrounding their circumstances.

“Astrid is a new Oracle, unsure of herself, and the House numbers are down. She’s already told me they’ve had visions of another Protector, but that they are unclear and too vague to be of use. If just a few more could get with child, the collective power would be restored.”

“It’s not their fault. I’ve spoken with the pixies. Bella agrees that the humans are the ones with the fertility issues.”

“You have to go farther, more rural. Try to find men who haven’t participated in the vaccine programs that started right after the Riots and offer them more money, whatever it takes.”

“I’ve tried. It’s hard enough to find decent men who don’t have families already and then to agree to the contracts—even with gold payment as incentive. I’d have already tried Mexico and Canada, but that option disappeared years ago after—”

“I know, after the Republics dismantled the Federal government.” The Sentinel sighed—the tone of her voice heavy and hopeless. “I’m depending on you. Please keep looking. We’re so close. After all this time, we only need to find two more Protectors to be ready to complete the spell.”

“There are still a few pockets of people who avoided some of the mandatory vaccinations from 2060, before they realized how damaging they were. I’ll try there on my next run. The gold helped this last time, though I hate that aspect.”

“In the end, this is the only way we get home, Harrison. Your family can start fresh in the Veil, away from the hatred and prejudice. All of Sanctuary will be able to escape the madness Xerxes is ushering toward us. Many from around the globe will want to join the exodus.”

“I know.”

I turned the corner onto my street, my heart sinking into the frothing pit of my stomach. The very thing that would free Gretchen from her duty was the only thing I didn’t want her to do.

Imagining her with some other man, some stranger…

An alarm went off across town—a magical horn set up by the pixies, Sanctuary’s very own alarm system. Poles with alarm triggers had been set at every cross street.

I increased my pace from a slow walk to a full-on-devil-might-be-on-my-heels run. Doors slammed around me. Men and women alike poured from the houses up and down the streets, joining me on the run toward the sounding siren.

A blur with a streak of blond whooshed past—possibly Erick—followed by several other nearly invisible figures. Vampires were capable of moving so quickly they literally blended into the background.

A cry of anguish from down the street spurred me faster, and my beast came forth. Unlike the Lycan’s, my magick enabled me to shift without losing my clothing in the process. I lunged forward, allowing the Gryphon inside to take shape. My wings unfurled, and I propelled myself into the air within moments, my human form melting into the body of a lion, and my shoulders and head into that of an eagle.

The crying continued, and I circled over the street, crossing where a crowd had gathered. All six Protectors, along with dozens of Lycan’s and others, huddled around an unrecognizable bloodied body. I used my eagle’s vision to scan the surrounding roads and rooftops for any signs of intruders. Even the smallest movement of a leaf on the ground would trigger my enhanced sense of sight. Being seen wasn’t a concern for me at this moment. Fuck whoever might be watching from a distance. Or satellite. I was the only Gryphon on Earth. My actions would only expose myself.

Two streets over, I saw them. It could’ve been two Sanctuary citizens, but they were running away from the alarm horn when the entirety of the town was running toward it. The pixies had made sure the alarm would never be used against us. No one from inside the town could trigger it. Everyone had been programed in, so to speak, even the children.

I swooped lower, letting loose a cry that sent both men pitching forward, falling to the ground in pain. Diving faster, I almost had them, but I pounded into an empty street instead. I screamed again in frustration, shattering the glass in several nearby houses with the force of the decibels.

I folded my wings and shifted back into human form. “Fucking Djinn.”

“Alek,” Jared’s voice called from down the street.

I whirled to face my friend and shook my head.

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