Page 5 of Saving Destiny

If I hadn’t sworn an oath to protect the building we are standing in, I’d have shifted already. I want to roar my fury regardless of the ancient treasures and books that surround me. Reminding myself that the library is one of the true wonders of the world, I restrain my anger with concentrated control.

Learning that my father starred in Zosia’s past and her crippling memories shouldn’t have shocked me so greatly. Every traumatic event my brother and I have suffered through involves him. His tyrannical, amoral nature craves power and destruction.Being his sons didn't make us immune.

For a brief second, I’d believed that this place, and the woman I didn’t know I wanted, was free of his taint. I should have known better. Hope is a dangerous emotion.

My griffin growls inside me; he wants to tear the wolf that sired him into unrecognizable pieces. The sphinx bears the scent of a potential mate, and Addington hurt her. It doesn’t matter that the confrontation happened years ago. Her injuries might be old, but they remain painful and disabling. In addition, the trauma within her recently recovered memories is fresh and relevant to the present.

The throbbing in my chest grows in intensity, and I worry that Zosia is hurt. What if the vampire can’t be trusted?

Growling with aggravation, I seek my half-brother. He’s where I left him, nearly invisible in a huge, overstuffed chair surrounded by piles of books. I don’t understand how he’s able to read at a time like this, but then I realize he’s not. His current text has been abandoned, and his face is pained. I’m more familiar with the expression than I care to admit because our father thought hurting him would change the inner workings of his mind. The torture had barely affected Bren, but it had hardened my resolve to seek revenge. My life since Bren’s birth has revolved around protecting him. I didn’t always succeed.

“What’s going on?” My words emerge more harshly than I intend. Thankfully, my brother understands that my anger isn’t directed toward him. Despite my physical strength, I have a low tolerance for pain that isn’t self-inflicted. Both the pain and the lack of tolerance aggravates me.

“Addington and Walthers are gone, but Kodi is struggling. He’s been given a choice.”

I expect a quote to follow, but Bren is too distracted, and it’s a sign that the situation is worse than I thought. My hands clench into tight fists as the veins bulge in my arms. I’ve only skipped two days of my workout regimen, but I feel weaker already. When I feel weak, I feel trapped and powerless. Tearing my body apart one muscle fiber at a time offers me a perception of control I’ve never been able to explain or replicate.

Belatedly, I realize that Bren called our mutual enemy by his last name instead of Father. I decide that it’s the right thing to do. I can’t filter the alpha’s blood or genetics from my body, but I can diminish his connection to us.

Another stab of pain draws my attention back to Bren’s words. “What do you mean? What choice does the ghost have?” I know Zosia relies on Kodi, but he’s caused her nothing but distress in the time I’ve been here. My griffin doesn’t like him; maybe I don’t either.

Bren points to his sternum, indicating the location of my pain, and I marvel at the strange connection. My beast resents sharing his mate with anyone, including my brother, but my more civilized brain is grateful that Bren is still with me. I couldn’t imagine being without him, despite the strangeness of the situation. Some shifters share mates, but not griffins. Bren also isn’t a shifter, although my beast considers him family. He’s always been with me, and I’d worry about him if we were apart.

“Kodi faces a choice,” Bren repeats slowly. His eyes glaze over like when he sees the future, but his tone is uncertain. “I always knew he’d have to choose between two paths. One leads away from here and one leads him back to us, but something is interfering. Something, or someone, is tampering with his decision and free will.”

I struggle to interpret the meaning behind Bren’s cryptic words, but it really doesn’t matter whether I understand or not. The end result remains the same. Whatever is happening to Kodi is hurting us, and it’s hurting Zosia more. The knowledge is instinctive and filters through the tentative bond I’ve started to cultivate with the librarian.

Just as I think this, the main doors crash open. Zosia lopes toward us in sphinx form. Although her gait is uneven because of the injuries to her hind legs, she’s still the most beautiful creature I’ve ever seen. My beast rumbles with appreciation and forces me to take note of her magnificence despite the more pressing matters. Her entire body shines as if she’s entirely made of spun gold. Her skin, hair, fur, and wings glint with variations of the shade, and I swear she glows like molten metal. The glow could be my imagination or a manifestation of the power within her. I’ve never been a romantic, and I refuse to spout poetry like the effeminate vampire, but I can’t deny the effect she has over me.

The Abrams, a proud line of supernatural librarians, are the only sphinxes in existence. I’ve heard idiots refer to their hybrid nature as abominations. Something about a human head on an animal body unsettles them, but I’ve never encountered anything more otherworldly or regal than the beast standing a few paces away from me. It takes a disproportional amount of effort to focus on the problem at hand because my beast only wants to ogle her. The human part of me might want something similar, but it understands that staring at her shouldn't take precedence ... mostly.

“Kodi.” Zosia gasps the ghost’s name. “I think someone is trying to tether him again.”

The anguish in her voice refocuses my brain. That fucking ghost seems to be the source of most of our troubles. I don’t say my thoughts aloud, because I know they’ll cause the sphinx more distress.

“How?” I ask instead. “Doesn’t he belong to you and the library? Did he – could he – sign the contract?” I don’t understand the fine nuances of our bizarre employment agreements, but I’d considered them unbreakable. How is the tether disrupting the library’s hold over him?

“Yes, he signed it. I thought he was safe, too. I don’t understand what’s happening.” Her words emerge as a desperate wail, and her gorgeous wings flutter with agitation. I never thought I’d find a mate who appealed to my beast. My shifter form is almost as unique and rare as hers, and we both represent more than one animal. She shares aspects of my bird and leonine forms. Both call to me. I want to fly with her and stroll with her. We’ll never have the chance to do either if we don’t deal with the threats against us.

I brace myself as the air shivers in a peculiar way. The ugly goblins that live in the library pop in and out of existence like they don’t exist fully within our world. The suddenness of their appearance is still unnerving, but I’m starting to recognize the shift right before they arrive. The first time it happened, I nearly squealed like a stuck pig.

Duggar is our most frequent visitor, but the creatures look similar. They resemble garden gnomes with wings … if those gnomes were designed out of sticks and clay by a blind person who possesses a disturbing obsession with lips. Their features present a bizarre fusion of ugliness and beauty, depending on where you look, and their wings seem to be constructed of leaves that can flutter at any speed. Furthermore, their hats look like an extension of their heads, and they don’t have a single strand of visible hair on their bodies. The lack of eyebrows is more unsettling than I thought it might be.

Supposedly, the library hosts seven of the little buggers, but I’ve only seen Duggar and his wife, Gilly. Duggar is bossy and always has an answer for every question, but Gilly acts motherly toward Zosia.

“The current tether is more unnatural than the last,” the male goblin says immediately upon manifesting. His serious tone makes my stomach dip with foreboding, and his concern increases mine.

The ghost is a pain in the ass, and I’m still pissed at him for the stunt he pulled earlier that morning. I’d been enjoying a pleasant dream after falling asleep, happily relishing the newfound safety of leaving our father’s – Addington’s – house. Something had startled me awake, and I’d awoken to the ghostly specter hovering an inch above my face. He’d worn the grin of a cannibalistic circus clown. The unnatural smile had rightly coerced a pathetic squeal of terror from my throat. I’d threatened to throttle him if he told anyone about the noise, but he’d just smirked and floated through the wall. If he returns, he’ll probably save it as fodder for blackmail. I would.

Despite his childish tricks, Zosia loves him and considers him her best friend. He saved her life, after participating in her captivity, but that is between them. Right now, I only care about her health and well-being. Whatever is happening to him is hurting her. It’s hurting all of us, but her pain is the greatest.

“The library is uncertain whether the contract can be circumvented, but he can still be drained of his essence … and possibly erased.”

Unease fills my chest. Erased? As much as I dislike the ghost, I wouldn’t wish that word on anyone; I don’t even want to know what it entails. Being drained of essence sounds bad enough.

Bren’s muttering catches my attention. He’s rocking back and forth with his palms clapped over his ears as he talks to himself. I don’t have to hear him to know that the words are gibberish or a language I don’t speak. This behavior is common when he lapses into one of his episodes, and I waffle with indecision. For the first time in my life, my sole focus isn’t how to prevent an explosion of his unstable magic. He needs me, but so does Zosia.

Avery reentered with the sphinx, and I study him. His hands are clenched into fists, his silver eyes glow with a scarlet tint, and his canines extend over his bottom lip. I’ve never liked any of the vampires I’ve met, but Avery might be an exception. I haven’t decided yet. What I have decided is that his slender body isn’t as weak as it looks. He’s stronger and more powerful than he appears, and his blindness isn’t the handicap most people think it is.

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