Page 69 of Guardians of the Pack

Outrage flared within both Esme and me.We must free them, she said.

Yes.The ‘whatever it takes’ was unspoken but understood.

‘I said,ifthey didn’t have a witch, they wouldn’t be able to find us,’ Charlize protested. ‘Evidently, they have a witch. But that won’t save them.Wehave a griffin.’

‘We have a griffin too!’ Greg informed them drolly.

‘I don’t see him,’ Charlize sneered.

‘Well, no, he’s a bit unconscious at the moment. But your dad is going to be really pissed when he wakes up.’

A flash of uncertainty crossed her face. ‘You’re lying. My father isn’t here.’

‘Not in this room, no. He’s out there. Go and check.’

Her eyes narrowed. ‘Nice try,’ she spat. ‘You want me to turn my back on you. You won’t find me such easy prey.’ With that, she shifted. She was smaller than Bastion in his griffin form, but only just. A few beats of her wings and she was airborne.

I didn’t want to hurt Bastion’s daughter, but Esme had no such compunction. I let her take the reins and we flashed onto four legs.

Greg was as practical as Esme; he recognised a kill-or-be-killed situation when he was faced with one. His gun was already in his hand as Charlize flew towards him, and we saw the muzzle flash.

Esme wasted no time in attacking whilst Charlize was distracted. Greg fired his gun repeatedly as Charlize ducked and dived out of the way.

Liam and Roscoe were tangling with the ogre, and James was slinking around the room trying to reach the stairs. We couldn’t let them distract us; one wrong move and we’d be griffin dinner.

Esme, ever-daring, crazy-ass Esme, leapt onto the top of the cages and used it as a springboard to send us flying into the air. Our claws were extended and we landed on Charlize’s airborne back. She screamed as Esme dug our claws into her, ripping and wrenching at her exposed flesh. With a screech of pain and fury, she darted forward, gathering momentum for something else.

Hold on!I warned Esme.

Charlize pulled in her wings and threw her body left in a dizzying roll. She overestimated the size of the cellar – or maybe she didn’t care – as she flew towards one of the walls at speed.

Brace yourself!I barked.

This was going to hurt. Charlize had timed her roll perfectly so that we would be crushed by the wall and cushion her impact. Fuck.

As we barrelled towards the stone wall, Esme suddenly retracted her claws and pushed us away from Charlize. We started to fall towards the hard cellar floor. As we fell, Charlize slammed into the wall, hard. We crashed onto the stone slabs equally hard, but at least our body hadn’t cushioned hers.

The fall robbed us of breath, and we lay for a moment stunned.

‘Lucy!’ Greg shouted.

It took a moment before our lungs would obey us and we could draw in a shuddering breath. We saw the flash of griffin claws as Greg drew closer to us. Charlize wasn’t as unconscious as she’d appeared.

Watch out!Esme barked a warning and Greg whirled around.

‘Lize!STOP!’ came a bellow from the top of the stairs.

Charlize froze, her sharp claws inches from Greg’s face. ‘Father!’ she said in astonishment. She retracted her claws and shifted into human form, complete with clothes. ‘I didn’t know you were here.’

‘I did tell you,’ Greg grumped.

‘And it turns out you weren’t lying. Who knew?’

‘I did.’

Charlize turned her dark eyes to her father, watching him make his way slowly down the stairs. The curse had clearly done a number on him. ‘This didn’t work out the way that I planned,’ she murmured. ‘Father, I submit myself to Shirdal’s justice.’

Bastion nodded, like he expected no less. ‘I accept your request for sanctuary.’ He glared around the room. ‘None may harm her. She will be tried under griffin law.’

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