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Even my wings—a Gryphon’s pride and something we loved to display for our mates—were a mess. They hung limp, having nearly been ripped from my back. I wasn’t fit to be a mate to anyone at that moment, and I knew it all too well. She should have rejected me, but she didn’t.
I heard a man’s voice drift from the open doorway, but knowing he wasn’t a threat to Ryls or myself, I allowed my curiosity to take over.
my brain registered that I wasn’t feeling any pain. It wasn’t just the pain from the fire that was eerily absent, either. I wasn’t feeling pain from the many other injuries that had been inflicted on me.
It was unbelievable. For the first time since my capture, I was completely pain free. I laughed, my heart soaring in joy. The weight of the pain, the suffering—everything they had taken from me lifted.
A man I knew all too well. Straightening my spine and lifting a brow, I regarded the cousin of my childhood best friend through scorn-filled eyes. “Hello, Jackson. Fancy meeting you here.”
Ryls blushed, a sure sign she had been raised by humans. I tucked away that little nugget of information about my mate.
Do you know how hard it was to track you?” “No, but I know how long I’ve been rotting in this lab. Ten years, Jackson.
Raw hurt and anger laced my voice. I tried to reel in my emotions. It wasn’t his fault, nor was it anyone else’s problem, and he didn’t deserve my outrage. They’d captured me during a meeting of supernatural leaders. This meeting required every species to send a liaison, and it was non-negotiable
I had always traveled alone. Gryphons were still on the list of creatures being illegally hunted, and our numbers had dwindled to near extinction.
I found myself attacked by a pack of rogue werewolves. I had slaughtered more than half of the wolves before they subdued me, although it had taken fifteen sedative darts to do the job.
“Next month will be eighteen years since you vanished. We’ve been searching for you all this time, but the secrecy surrounding your abduction made it hard to track you down. They laid a false trail and left a corpse that was badly burned to ensure everyone believed you had died. “Everyone believed them, except for Xerxes.
“How did you survive this place for so long? I’ve only been here a month, and it has seemed like an eternity.”
“Well, there goes the plan to sneak you both out of here. Why does my species get a bad rap for being hotheads when you Gryphons seem to lack control or common sense?”
Never in a million years would I admit it, but I had missed bantering with him.
Jackson POV
Were they really talking about Trevor? Fine, he was a beast, but he was also smart. I had learned quickly to not underestimate him. The man was nearly as intelligent as Xerxes, which was saying a lot since Xerxes tested off the charts. Literally. Yet these scientists
“Who is going to tell the CEO that the beast has ravaged her? He made it perfectly clear last week that her first child would be with him. After she birthed his heir, we could have her to match up with other test subjects for future offspring.
Our family had moved through the criminal underbelly of this earth and had been around long enough that horrific abuse of power was rarely shocking, but that didn’t mean that I was desensitized to it. Negotiations had been going well, and I had thought I could walk away with Trevor that evening. The plan had been to come back and sneak out the little Phoenix this evening
But this type of cruelty toward women, or men, wasn’t tolerated among my kind, and I no longer wanted to negotiate our way out of this situation. Oh, no. I wanted this place destroyed. Xerxes was in the middle of a delicate deal that would either result in peace for a few years or the next world war. Since everything had been going as smoothly as could be expected with my negotiations here, I had decided not to bother him.
Trevor was family, and if Xerxes got his way, Sparks would be too. In our family, if you crossed one of us, we were all coming for you. There wouldn’t be a place on earth where these men could hide from the leader of the Drakon.
The magic that had grown steadily stronger inside me disagreed with that prudish way of thinking. I found my fated mate, and he wanted me. He didn’t push me away, and it was more than I could have hoped or dreamed. Nothing but your mate should matter,
property, not as humans. We were little more than misbehaving animals in their minds. “Don’t you dare touch her!” Trevor’s vicious growl raised the fine hair on my neck, and their fearful comments about ‘the beast’ made more sense. Muscles bunching, he yanked hard on the chains. You had to admire good workmanship. The anchors held firm even against the strength of a shifter. However, the walls didn’t fare as well. Large chunks of drywall crashed to the floor from the walls, and the ceiling above us gave an ominous crack and collapsed on top of us. Trevor moved fast, arching over my body and
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Shock, not tingle. I was receiving a shock, but it just didn’t affect me in the same way it would a normal person. Okay, so we could put a mark beside electricity on the things-a-Phoenix-could-control-but-only-if-she-knows-how list. Shouldn’t there be a manual
There was a soft click in my mind, a padlock opened, and part of the tightness in my chest that I always attributed to anxiety eased. Hot magic bloomed and spread through me,
After I had seen the damage they inflicted on Trevor and heard the sickening plans they had for me, I felt zero pity for what I unleashed on those who worked to support the monstrosities done here. I would give them one last warning and a final chance to live.
My wings were much smaller than Trevor’s, but the flames added a whole other element of cool if you asked me.
I locked eyes with Jackson. I needed to speak to him but wasn’t sure that was something a Phoenix could do. Imp, I need to speak with him. Is that something I, we, can do?
A buzzing in my brain was followed immediately by the snap of elastic. Jackson? Sparks? Yeah. It’s me.
My insides turned to liquid at the deep baritone of the unfamiliar voice… one that definitely didn’t belong to Jackson. Hissing, I asked. Who was that, Jackson?! It wasn’t Jackson who answered, though. Xerxes, your mate and the man who has lived nearly every day of his long life hoping to meet you. You are mine, mi Reina, my Queen. Stay safe. I am coming for you.
“It’s going to be fine. Oh! And just a head’s up, I tend to die, frequently.” Unadulterated fear registered on Trevor’s face. “It’s okay! I’ll come right back!
Lucky for me, they were still trying to take me down without injuring me. Unlucky for them, my magic wasn’t playing nice today.
Behind me, Trevor caught the knife mid-air, a nifty feat considering his limited range of motion. With a single smooth movement, he flicked the blade back toward the soldier who had thrown it. It flew unerringly straight into the man’s heart. I raised an eyebrow, both impressed and terrified at his deadly speed and accuracy. There was so much I needed to learn about this man, my man.
If I am going to be perfectly honest, I was in pain and lacked a solid plan for what I wanted my magic to do. It turns out, calling your magic without at least a vague notion of what you intended to do with it gives the magic free rein to play… And for the love of all things salty, did my magic love to play hard.
No, he looked like he could chew nails and spit out a barbed wire fence. “You could have broken the chains earlier.”
“I know that! But you shouldn’t have to. That’s what I can offer you as a mate.” His voice had started out strong, but by the time he finished speaking, I had to strain to hear him.
While I hadn’t tried to escape during my time here, that didn’t mean I hadn’t thought about what I would do once free. There were two things I wanted: information and revenge—in that order.
Between the hurt from my jaguar mates’ bullying and my parents’ betrayal, I’d given up. My first three regenerations after my kidnapping had been the hardest of my life. The regens had happened in slow motion, my body teetering between worlds. I’d given a lot of thought to those three deaths, but I couldn’t figure out what had made them so much different from the deaths I experienced before or since. Broken heart. Pain. Make weak. To my surprise, Imp
“Little mate, we aren’t the only two prisoners. In my years here, I have seen dozens of paranormals arrive. Most don’t leave unless it’s through death.
“Arabelle.”
She laughed. It was a musical sound that instantly lifted my spirits in a way that shouldn’t be possible while in a life and death situation. Magic. Imp whispered the word in my mind.
The male voice was one I recognized. It was the big kahuna himself. Fear sliced through me like a hot spoon through chocolate ice cream, but a second emotion followed close
Trevor POV
As soon as they were all safely out of the unstable building, I sent them toward the tree line. The deep thump of helicopter blades sounded in the distance. We had Jackson to thank for that. I had run into him in the hallway, and he had given me a burner cell phone and explained that help was on the way.
I doubted the child had parents anymore, but I knew the wolf shifters would guard him with their lives. There were few paranormal species as open and welcoming as the wolves.
The shriek of a predatory bird ricocheted around the room. My Gryphon shoved forward inside me, ready to answer that piercing call. I knew what that call symbolized. War.
I had enhanced healing thanks to my shifter side, but in my undernourished and exhausted state, it was little better than human healing.
Flinging myself between the ball of fire and the guards, I braced for the impact of the bullets. They never came. Right as I came parallel with the flaming orb, I was plucked from the air and spun around as if I were a child,
She was the living embodiment of fire. She wasn’t just supernatural, she was otherworldly. I’d heard enough chatter through the lab grapevine to know she was a Phoenix
“I haven’t done anything…yet.” She leaned in, pressing her scarlet lips to mine. “Now, run.” In shock, I pulled back. There was a soft smile on her lips, but in her eyes, there was something else. It was that terrifying ‘something’ that had inspired those many legends and myths of old.
Knox POV
