Page 40 of Prey It Ain't So

“Perhaps it isn’t working?” I offer gently. I don’t want to suggest that his former clutch set him up, but it’s feeling like it could be the case. The red color of the sun is beautiful and makes the landscape even more rustic, but we didn’t bring what we needed to be out here all night—something that fucking bear pointed out. I’m going to be pretty goddamn furious if he turns out to be right.

“Give it some more time,” Renard says softly as he stares into the sky. “It’s coming.”

“Baby, I know you want to believe that they wouldn’t trick you, but—” Dolly’s words are cut off when she gasps.

I follow her gaze to the ridges across from the peak we’re standing on to see two huge gargoyles gliding through the air towards us. The dim light of the sun catches their forms, and I notice one is a shiny, metallic gray-ish black, and the other is a deep green with crystalline accents. They’re obviously looking for us, but until they come close enough to say that, I stand at the ready. My dragon rumbles inside, letting me know that he’ll take over and blow them out of the sky if they so much as breathe wrong.

“That’s probably the emissary and a guard,” Rennie murmurs softly. “The guards are often from the lineage that shift into darker colored hard forms like me.”

“Uh, not to be distracting, but does anyone wish we’d made him tell us more about fucking gargoyles before we got here?” Fitz says ruefully. “I’m suddenly feeling extremely stupid because I thought you fuckers were all made of stone.”

Our mate chuckles, nodding at him. “Me, too. I mean, Rennie is shiny, but I guess… I didn’t really consider asking why. It’s just who he is, you know?”

“Gargoyles from various lines and heritages have rocky forms of lots of different minerals and stones. The one on the right has a jade form, so he must have come from the east to join the clutch. Some younger gargoyles leave their homes to visit clutches around the globe, to see if they would be a better fit than their original home.”

Looks like we’re all going to learn a whole fucking lot about his species—more than I ever thought I’d get to know—and it will be first hand.

Free Bird

Delores

The two giantsparkling gargoyles land with a thud that makes me stumble a bit, and Aubrey grabs my arm to steady me. Fitz and Felix move in front of us in an instant, their bodies tense with readiness. I can’t help but stare at the newcomers as they glisten in the waning light. Fitz was right about not knowing shit about Rennie’s kind, though I’m comforted because other than my onyx hued mate, the others are in the dark, too.

“We have come to meet the exiled one,” the green one says, his voice stiff and formal. “By royal decree of the King and Queen of the Carpathians, you are officially deemed guests of our clutch.”

“Thank you for extending your hospitality,” Renard says as he bows to them. His expression is bland, but I can sense the roiling emotions warring inside of him through our bond. “We will honor the laws of your territory, leaving without taking more than we give.”

That makes me shoot a look at Aubrey, but he doesn’t react. I decide that my ‘meeting stuck-up fuckwits’ act is needed yetagain, so I affect a haughty gaze as I raise my chin. My eyes meet those of the silent guard and his charge with confidence I don’tfeel, as I channel my bitchy mother once more. I didn’t know this would be such a tool as I was growing up, but I almost feel like I should send her a goddamn ‘thank you’ given how often I mimic her icy cruelty.

I said ‘almost’; don’t worry.

“Very well. I am Vasile, and my companion is Matei.” The jade gargoyle looks at the surrounding terrain for a moment, then nods to the guard. “He will now grant you entrance to our lands, guests of the exiled. Remember the oath he gave as you enjoy the fruits of our people.”

“Uh… some of us don’t fly?” I mutter, and the two sparkling creatures laugh. That doesn’tseemlike a funny statement, though I suppose if all four of the winged preds carried someone, we could make it across the deadly gap to the area they came from. Aubrey will be pissed, but he’ll get over it as long as he gets to take me.

“You don’t need to,” Vasile says as he waves his hand. “Behold.”

Matei walks over to a spot on the ground near us, then raises his fist high in the air. Before I can question it, he slams it into the ground, shaking the earth below us briefly before the air pops and an enormous stone bridge appears in the place where nothing but air was before. My jaw drops and I have to reach up to shut my mouth because I’m too fucking shocked to even make a noise.

“Holy. Fuck.” Fitz breathes as his posture slumps a bit. “Holy.Goddamn. Son of a bitching.Fuck.”

Aubrey makes a dissatisfied sound, and I look at him in confusion. He shakes his head slightly before going back tostaring at the very solid, veryvisiblestructure that now exists in a formerly empty gap. “You first, emissaries.”

Oh. Well, that’s a good idea—we definitely shouldn’t cross the damn thing without confirming that it’s not some sort of fancy illusion.

“You are far smarter than you appear,” Matei says, his voice a stony rumble. “We will, of course, guide you to the gateway. Once we are on gargoyle land, your oath holds firm and punishment for breaking it is severe.”

All Rennie said is that we’d honor their laws and be equals, but they’ve mentioned it twice. I fear that means something more than what the simple words convey, and they will not explain it. We will have to beverycareful not to upset anyone or touch anything until he can tell whatexactlyhis oath meant. I suck in a slow breath, then twine my arm in Aubrey’s as I look at the two stony sentinels.

“Let’s go then. I’m tired as hell from this hike, and I’d like to find out where we’re going to be staying before I drop.”

The look on our hosts’ face doesn’t comfort me, but then, not much about this obviously magical presentation does.

The walkto the other side of the peak makes my stomach churn with fear, but I keep my features schooled just like the others. I refuse to let these damn silent dudes know that I’m freaked out by having to rely on magic to get to their—whatever they call it. I know they call their home a nest and their group a clutch, but I have no idea what the hell term they use for thecollective group of homes. Town, city, village… Whatever it is, I’m not scared to go into it as much as to find outhowthey have this capability. If they are aligned with the Fae again and Rennie wasn’t told, we’re going to be royally fucking screwed.

“This is beautiful country,” Chessie says absently, and I have to hide my smile. He’s such a good man. Despite the undercurrent of mistrust flowing between us as we watch the two gargoyles like hawks, he’s trying to make pleasant conversation, so the tension eases a bit. “I haven’t been to Eastern Europe before, so I’m enjoying our journey. Outside of the hike, of course. That was brutal.”

“Those who are not our kind must earn their entrance to the Rookery.”

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