Page 83 of Griffin Undone
Iwatched from the edge of the lot as Arik pulled Kat from the ground beside a dumpster and urged her to start walking. The need to go to her rattled through me, the need to help her, to take her from the bastard forcing her to do things that would kill her spirit even if her body didn’t end up dead. But as I watched, she leaned against Arik, clutching his shirt in her fist. Did she want to stay, to fight, or was she simply too weak to manage on her own at the moment?
I’d caught the surreptitious brush of her fingers beneath her nose, though I didn’t think Arik had. Truly Kat’s gift was unlike anything I’d ever seen. Yes, we had female warriors, Lyris among them, but they typically didn’t kill with their gifts. They could be used in war, but Kat…she was a bomb waiting to be thrown in the midst of our enemy. She’d shattered the Anigma warrior to bits more effectively than any bomb. With control, her power could be used to accomplish almost any scale of attack, including mass destruction. But could her body withstand it?
If her heart was tied to Arik, she might not care. She’d do whatever he asked. And if we tried to rescue her, she might not come willingly.
Hopping to the ground behind the sagging fence, I shifted quickly into human form, then pulled my cell out of my pack. Demetri answered on the first ring.
“Yes.”
That was Demetri—short and to the point.
“Call the council together. We have things to discuss.”
“When?”
Glancing over the fence, I saw Arik heading toward the farthest, darkest corner of the abandoned lot. He would shift; no way could the male get Kat home on foot. He’d be distracted with his cargo, which was why I intended to follow them home. The male’s lair would no longer be secret. The warriors’ council could decide what to do with the information once I had it. “Two hours before dawn.”
Demetri hung up without response, and I shoved my phone back into the pack. As I shifted, I prayed the right thing to do would present itself. It would be hard enough to snatch the female from under Arik’s nose. Saving her from herself might be impossible.
ChapterThirty-Six
Kat
The blister on the back of my heel screamed at me to stop. Too afraid to hitchhike the dark country roads outside Arik’s lair, I’d walked the first hour after escaping—or, more accurately, melting the latch area on the front door of the lair. My power had grown so much I hadn’t even needed to concentrate to do it, just laid my hand on the metal and bingo, the door no longer stayed shut.
At least I could use my power for something besides turning living things into sushi.
Every step urged me to go back, to make Arik see that I couldn’t be what he wanted me to be. And I reminded each of those steps that, with no purpose, Arik didn’t need me anymore. He certainly didn’t love me. I’d be out one way or the other; I might as well take the initiative on my own. Find home, then find Sun and Grim. Simple, and yet so hard.
Of course, there might not be a home to find. My landlord had been paid up for the month, but I had been gone much longer than that. Maybe, if I was lucky, he’d been too lazy to clear out my stuff. And yet the sight of Buck’s Pistol and Pawn, with its flashing neon sign and rusty bars across the windows, sparked no joy in my chest. Relief, yes—these boots couldn’t come off soon enough—but not happiness. My chest felt colder than the winter air freezing my lungs. Numbness had taken hold since Arik and I left the abandoned parking lot behind two days ago, and shameful though it might be, I wasn’t sure if it was killing someone that had overloaded my emotional circuits, or being forced to kill by the male I loved.
The alley between the pawnshop and the abandoned building next door loomed midnight black as usual, though the stair rail seemed more rickety than I remembered. It wobbled beneath my grip, but when I reached the landing outside the apartment and released the rail, my hand continued to tremble. Something else to ignore. Walking across the ragged boards to the door without tripping was all I could manage right now.
I fished around in the rusted-out gutter for my emergency key, all but collapsing when I found it still there, and wrestled the door open so I could drag myself inside. Thank God the locks hadn’t been changed.
The air was stale, musty. I leaned my back against the closed door and just breathed it in, a part of me unable to believe I’d actually done it. I was home. Safe.Free.The word broke through the fog that held me in its grip, releasing emotion in a sudden flood. Sliding down to the floor, I curled my arms around my knees and choked on a sob.
“What’s this? Tears? From the mighty warrior?”
The voice was slick, hard. Unfamiliar. I abandoned the floor for a hasty fighting stance, searching the murky room for the source of the words. “Who’s there?”
The darkness separated before me, a hulking shape coalescing to walk out of the shadows. The wicked gleam of fangs flashed despite the dearth of light. “You mean you don’t remember me?” The shifter chuckled, the sound crawling up my spine like a million tiny legs. “The male who made you what you are? The one you eviscerated? Now, I might have to punish you for that, female. Right after I return the favor.”
Something clicked in my sluggish brain. My attack, that voice, the pain. Images flashed across the screen behind my eyelids, things I hadn’t even realized I remembered, things I’d hoped to forget.
“M-Maddox?” Could I get the door open before he reached me?
The scrape of a shoe on the cheap linoleum was my only warning. Just like that, the shifter was suddenly right in front of me, his hard body crowding mine, preventing any attempt at escape. “So he told you my name, did he?”
I swallowed hard, the dry click of my throat loud in the silence. Cringing away from Maddox’s touch pushed my hip against the doorknob. “Y-yes,” I said, desperate to distract him as I closed a hand around the cool metal. “Arik told me about you.”
Maddox’s fist closed over mine, squeezing down until the metal bit into my palm and my bones strained from the pressure, my nose tingling with the threat of tears. “It’s a bit like a mouse scrambling at the walls of a maze, isn’t it? The way your mind tries so desperately to come up with a way out. You’re broadcasting so loud I can hear every little thought fluttering through your head.” A creepy smile touched his lips, chilling me more than the freezing winter air in the unheated room. “You wouldn’t want to leave me yet, Katherine, not when we’re just getting acquainted. Or reacquainted.” He chuckled. “I can smell the griffin all over you. So can my wolf. Maybe you want to give him a little taste, huh? I can’t forget it, the sweetness of your blood sliding down my throat.” He leaned close, his lip pulled back to reveal the pink tip of his tongue as it licked over razor-sharp fangs. “Delicious.”
His teeth would never touch my throat again. I’d die first.
“What do you want?” It wasn’t a taste of me, at least not in the long run; I already knew that. He either wanted to use me or wanted me to die. Either way, I was screwed.
Maddox opened his mouth to speak. Without warning a blow hit the door behind me, forcing it inward. The wood shattered around my back, the pressure pushing me into Maddox. He fell backward, scrabbling along my arms for a firm grip.
