Page 24 of Griffin Undone
Staring into my eyes, Arik slowly lifted the gray T-shirt, revealing the muscled perfection of his abs, his chest, and those magnificent shoulders. I drank it in like I never had another man’s figure, and when he turned his back to me, I drank in even more.
Defined muscles formed a perfect vee along his spine, his pale skin gleaming in the low light. On one side of his throat, bleeding down to where neck met shoulder, I could see the stark black outline of a compass, the kind on antique maps or at the front of old books. My gaze traced the image hungrily, wondering at its significance—until something else suddenly caught my attention.
Two narrow openings slit down each side of his spine, unfolding slowly to release feathered projections that spread into the air. My breath stopped as, within moments, enormous golden wings extended halfway across the room, mesmerizing me. Arik shook the wings, their gentle flap sending a gush of wind across my face, making me realize my mouth was gaping open. Relieved he couldn’t see, I snapped it shut, took another wide-eyed look at the beautiful sight, and lifted my water glass for a shaky drink.
“Okay, either I’m still asleep or you gave me some good drugs.”
Arik looked over his shoulder at me. Eyes intense, he extended the very tip of one wing. It came closer, closer, and I held absolutely still as it carefully brushed a soft stroke across my cheek. The sensation was like touching the softest fur, though the wing looked like it was layered with feathers. For a brief moment I wondered how it would feel on other, more private parts of my trembling body.
I tried to raise my voice above a hoarse whisper. Didn’t succeed. “Guess I can’t argue with that.”
“Don’t be impressed, hon,” Sun said. “A lot of us have them, some bigger than others.”
Arik flicked a wing in the redhead’s direction, the action reminding me of a certain obscene gesture.
“You too?” I asked Sun.
He nodded. “Phoenix.”
I stared, trying to imagine the big man in a bird’s body.
“It takes some getting used to,” Grim said. “We’ll work on more of your questions later. For now, you need to rest.”
And suddenly he was right; I did need to rest. Overwhelming fatigue swamped me, shutting my eyelids, slowing my breathing, quieting the questions like a heavy dose of narcotics. I felt myself sliding into sweet oblivion. Before it could take me, I forced out the question I needed the answer to above all else: “Why the gag?”
Grim’s sigh echoed in my mind.“We’ll cover that when you wake up. Now sleep, little Kat.”
The only thing I carried with me into the dark was the deep yearning for Arik’s wings to rub against me once more.
ChapterTwelve
Arik
Itucked my wings away as Kat went under, drawing my T-shirt over my body, my mind working like a steam engine on full speed ahead. The moment her gaze had fixed on me, the moment drowsy desire blossomed between us, I’d known my plan would work. That shy hunger was the key to getting what I wanted from her.
Did that make me a bastard? Sure. I could live with that on my conscience if it meant Maddox and the clan got what was coming to them.
“How long before we can move her?” Sun was asking.
I turned, a whole lot ofnot gonna happenflashing across my mind. My face too, if Sun’s mutinous expression was anything to go by. I rolled my eyes. “You really need to work on that little-boy attitude you got going there, Prince. Doesn’t work with the whole future-king deal.”
Grim stood, his sigh of resignation killing the argument before it could start. “You know she can’t stay here, Arik. It’s not safe.”
“Of course I know it. I’ve at least seen the enemy; you two are just wandering around in the dark.”
Sun crossed his arms, and the veil of boyishness fell away, leaving a commander in its wake. “Enlighten us, then.”
“You mean you’d actually believe me?”
Sun shrugged. “If what you say pans out, sure.”
Because of course I couldn’t be telling the truth. Everything I’d told them had been confirmed by the Aomai’s forays into Kat’s mind, but fuck, why should that matter?
Instead of answering, I stood to pace the too-small room. With every step I absorbed the weight of Grim’s gaze staring right through me despite the damn hood, demanding I speak, share, work with them. Help them like they’d helped me.
Fuck that.
I stopped as far from the bed as I could get and notched my spine into the corner of the room, arms mimicking Sun’s crisscrossed pose. “What do you want to know?”
