Chapter 17
Something warm and soft was pressed against my stomach, and I stretched lazily. The feeling in my limbs could not be described. It was like waking up from the most restful sleep ever, in a bed made from clouds. I felt lighter than I had in months.
That was, until my eyes opened and I realized what was pressed against my stomach was the cheek of a man. I blinked, and the face was replaced by an eagle’s head.
Blink.A man again.
I sucked in a frightened breath, but then Nate was there, his hand on my cheek. “Easy, mo stóirín. You’re safe. This is Teron. You passed out, and he’s just checking you and the babies.” He muttered something about a stethoscope, but the guy ignored him.
I looked down into a pair of molten gold eyes, and something shifted in my chest. In my world. The breath I’d been holding whooshed out, ruffling the guy’s long, dark hair.
“Hello,” he said softly, his voice smooth like warm wax over my skin. “Your friend here says that you can see through our glamors, so I’m trying really hard to maintain it. However, if it drops, you should know that I am a Gryphon, and therefore I’ll have the head of an eagle. Please, don’t be alarmed.” The soft lilt of his gentle tone was soothing in a way that was hard to describe. It made my limbs languid and my eyes droopy. “My senses are heightened, given my other form, so I can hear the heartbeats of your young without the aid of a stethoscope, as your friend mentioned.”
“Nate,” I croaked out.
He gave me a smile that was otherworldly in its beauty. “Ah, yes. Your friend, Nate. And you are?”
I flicked my eyes over to Nate, whose face was completely impassive. “Wren.”
“Wren,” he repeated, drawing out the vowel like he was tasting the word. “Well, Wren, all three heartbeats sound strong and steady, so whatever caused you to faint wasn’t related to the babies. Your color is looking better, and your own heart sounds strong and even. I can’t test your blood pressure, though, so when you get back to Heraklion, I would suggest asking the hospital to check you over.”
That seemed unnecessary. I raised an eyebrow at him. “I fainted because I saw a buff guy with a lion’s head.”
Teron chuckled as he pulled away. “I imagine that would be shocking to any human.”
I scoffed. Not after the month I’d had. I didn’t say that, though, trying to sit up but kind of hitting the bumper stopper of my stomach. I was going to have to roll onto my side and swing my legs out.
An arm pushed beneath my spine, raising me up slowly. Teron held a glass of water to my lips. “Perhaps dehydration exacerbated your shock. People who aren’t used to the heat here in Crete can find it punishing after a short time.”
I took the drink in shaky hands and sipped it slowly. I didn’t know how to tell this guy that it wasn’t dehydration making me shaky, but the weird, unexplained pull in my chest that was lurching toward him like it was alive. Instead, I just thanked him.
Nate had obviously reached the end of his restraint, because he moved toward me, taking my face in his giant hands and kissing me possessively. “You scared the almighty fuck out of me, little one.”
“Sorry,” I croaked sheepishly. “I’m fine.” Kind of.
Teron got to his feet, uncoiling to his full height. He was tall and lean, his shoulders wide and his torso a dramatic V to his waist. I didn’t need to be in the know about the supernatural world to know there was something different about this guy. You couldn’t look at him and believe he was an average human.
No, he was the kind of guy that early civilizations would have worshiped.
I kinda wanted to get on my knees and worship him too.
“If you are feeling better, I think it might be best if we go downstairs and have a conversation with Demke in the living area. He’ll want to know why a human felt compelled to knock on our door when the wards we’ve placed on this building should make you want to run for the closest airport just to get away.”
That was definitely not the overriding feeling I was having right now. The more settled I became in his presence, the more the yearning in my chest evolved into a longing that throbbed considerably lower.
Nate shifted uncomfortably, and it didn’t escape Teron’s notice. “I promise she is safe with us. We haven’t practiced ritual sacrifice in a very long time,” he laughed, like he was joking. At least, I hoped he was joking.
The heat of the scowl that Nate was giving him was burning me in sheer proximity. I stood, wedging myself to his side. “I hope by a long time, you mean centuries and not weeks.”
Teron smiled that blinding grin again. “Millennia. It was a different world back then.”
My brain spun at the concept that both the men in this room weren’t men at all, but immortals. Shaking my head, I gripped Nate’s hand. “Lead the way. I’d like to get to the bottom of all this too.”
Teron ushered us out of the room we were in, and I realized it was some kind of sitting room. There was a desk in the corner, and I’d been lying on a chaise lounge. The halls of this fortress were made of the same stone as the outer walls, making the whole place blissfully cool in comparison to the heat outside. The floors were a darker slate stone, covered in bright rugs. Large arch windows with white painted moldings prevented the place from being oppressively dark and dungeon-like, but still our steps echoed as the sound ricocheted around the vaulted ceilings.
I peeked through one of the windows and saw a pool in the backyard, a paved area shaded by a small stand of what looked like orange trees. The blue water sparkled enticingly, and I stared at it longingly. Who came to Crete and didn’t swim immediately?
Teron turned and ushered us into the central part of the home. A big stone arch was rendered white, and through the arch were large glass doors that led out to what I assumed was the back patio area. The sitting room was flooded with light, which meant that I saw every single one of the monsters before me in stark, crisp technicolor.
There were two lion-headed men, though they were both wearing shirts this time. Their faces flickered back to human quickly, and I could see the one I met at the door looking a little guilty now that his features were something I recognized. And what beautiful humans they made, golden gods in mortal-looking bodies.
Beside them was the largest man I’d ever seen—even bigger than Nate.
No, not a man. I swallowed hard as he stared at me from a bull’s head. Large horns curved gently from his face, his broad nose looking velvety soft, a gold hoop through the septum.
“Concentrate, Milo. I don’t want to scare her any more than necessary,” Teron chastised gently, and suddenly, the bull’s head was gone, and in its place was a strong jaw and a pair of piercing blue eyes the color of the Aegean sea.
The guy lowered his chin. “Apologies. It’s been a while since we’ve met anyone who can see through the glamors quite so easily.”
I turned to the last man in the room. This one didn’t have any glamor, but he still made my knees shake. The raw power coming from him whooshed over me, shining so brightly that I squinted against it. The golden streaks spread from his body like fireworks, and I sucked in a breath. I wanted to touch him.
No, I wanted to rub my body all over his, like a cat marking its territory.
A pain pounded in my head from staring at him, and I closed my eyes against the lights completely.
A warm hand wrapped around my wrist, making Nate growl with disapproval. Teron made a soothing noise, and I wasn’t sure if he was trying to appease me or Nate. “What’s wrong, Wren? Why do you look like you’re in pain?”
I chewed my lip, squinting at him. “He’s too bright.”
“Bright?” he questioned, and I screwed up my nose. How did I explain my visual hallucinations to complete strangers?
Luckily, Nate answered for me. “She describes seeing golden streaks of light around people.”
Teron hissed out a breath. He looked over his shoulder. “Erus, get me your sunglasses.” One of the lion-headed guys disappeared and returned quickly. He stood in front of me, threading the shades over my ears until they sat perched on my nose. He was really very pretty, with his shiny brown eyes and the small dimple in his chin that I kind of wanted to stick the tip of my tongue into.
The sunglasses were wonderfully dark, and my headache relented almost immediately. I smiled softly at the man—er, man-lion?—in front of me. “Thank you.”
He gave me a gentle nod, and I resisted the urge to lean into his body.
Teron slapped him on the back. “Indeed. Thank you, Erus. I think it’s best if you start at the beginning, Wren.”
The bright man grunted his agreement. “Why would an American be in Amourgeles?”
I sucked in a deep breath. This would be the moment they decided I was crazy.
Well, maybe not, considering the animal heads.
“An Oracle told me that if I didn’t come here, to Amourgeles, that I would be murdered and so would my babies. When the Lamia turned up on my doorstep, I decided that even if the Oracle was crazy, she might also be right.”
The big bull-headed guy—Teron had said his name was Milo—sucked in a breath. Even Erus looked perturbed.
I risked looking over at the big, overly bright guy. I could tell he was the leader, because everyone else was shooting looks in his direction as well, as if waiting to see what he would do or say. He crossed tanned arms over a broad chest, his almost-black beard just this side of scruffy. With the darkness of the sunglasses, I could look at him with minimal wincing.
“Explain.”
Hooboy. If I had an explanation, I wouldn’t be here. But I went right back to the beginning and hoped they’d understand, and maybe, just maybe, they’d have some answers too.