Page 29 of Griffin Undone
I jerked my hand away. “You’re not reading my thoughts, are you?”
Arik’s laugh held a rusty note, like he rarely used it. “No, I’m not reading your mind. I can’t.”
I opened my mouth to question that statement. His raised hand forestalled me.
“Grim can because he’s the Aomai, but other Archai males only possess telepathic gifts…” His voice continued in my head.“Like this. I can send thoughts, even receive them if you send them, but I can’t pluck them out of your head.”
How…“How do I send them?”
“You don’t. That’s part of your training. For now, those synapses”—he nodded in the direction of my forehead—“need to heal. Just a few more days. Until you’re ready, Grim built some mental barriers to help control your psych abilities and allow you to rest. No excuses,” he said, his stern tone reminiscent of Grim’s.
What abilities? What did the barriers do? I rubbed the ache developing between my eyes. I had more questions than I could count, and I had a feeling answers weren’t going to be easy to get or understand. This new reality was screwing with my head in more ways than one.
I finished off my food and leaned back against the pillows, glass in hand. Arik pulled his knee onto the bed, shifting to face me more fully, seeming content to stay as long as I needed. What I needed was to stop staring, but looking around only revealed the brushed concrete walls, lack of windows, and dim recessed lighting to which I’d woken up. “So…this isn’t the same place as before, is it?”
Arik shook his head. “That was just a quick stopover.”
“Is this your home?” I let my gaze wander the room again. “Are we underground?”
“Safest place to be, really. Cooler too, at least in the summer.”
I met his humor with a strained grin. “Are the myths true, then—you can’t be in sunlight?” No, that was vampires, and the Archai weren’t vampires; they were shifters. Except, the one who’d caught me had bitten me.
Could I get any more confused?
Arik chuckled. The curve of his full lower lip gave me the strangest urge to nip it, suck on it.
I so needed to get a grip.
“No, not afraid of sunlight. Think about it”—he leaned back on his hands, putting the well-defined muscles of his chest on sinful display—“if you have a home, do you really want to be leaving it every few decades so people won’t suspect what you are? We go out mostly at night and build our homes in places that are less out in the open for a couple of reasons, not the least of which is the whole taxation and inheritance mess immortals would have to deal with to keep their identities secret. Modern surveillance makes staying under the radar even harder. And yes, we have enemies.” He gestured toward my neck. “As you already know. Underground lairs are more easily defended, less easily destroyed.”
I nodded like a marionette whose string had been pulled, my brain still tangled in the worddecades. “How many more years will I live?”
“Didn’t that healer teach you anything while he hung out in your brain?” He cocked his head to the side, his look assessing. “You’ll be around a long time, Kat, assuming you learn to stay safe. A long time.”
“How long have you been around?”
“A thousand years, give or take twenty.”
I choked on a sip of water. Seeing the seriousness in Arik’s eyes, I had a sudden wish that I were drinking alcohol instead. I was pretty sure I needed some right about now. “Uh…you’re awfully well preserved.”
A hot wave washed over my face, but when I dared a glance at Arik, he winked—actually winked—at me. “Thanks.”
My blushing got worse. Desperate to change the subject, I stammered out, “Y-You said something about training? How long will that take?”
Arik sat up. I breathed a sigh of relief. “That depends on you—how fast you get well, how fast you learn, how good your control is.”
No pressure there.“Are there other students?”
“Nope.” One corner of his mouth quirked. “You’re special. I’m afraid you’re stuck with just me.”
The butterflies in my stomach took a nosedive. “And…you’ve done this before, haven’t you?”
“Well, yes and no.”
His expression had gone blank. What exactly was he not telling me? I remembered now, I’d gotten that sense from Grim a lot too. How could I learn about this new life, the new me if they were holding things back?
Or hiding them on purpose. But why?
