Chapter 24
Chapter Twenty-Four
Atlas
The moment I land at the eyrie, I know that something is wrong. Scents. One soft and lingering, the other masculine: Darrion and Violet.
Godsdamned presumptuous male.
“Where is she?” I demand through the bond. “And where are you?”
The mutt bursts into the craggy upper landing. He must have taken the passage from the ground entry here at a dead run. He is still in direwolf form, and his hackles are up.
He stills abruptly, lifts his nose to the air, and growls. “Darrion. Why is that bastard’s scent layered over Violet’s?”
“A good question.” Fenix lands to my right. “I believe he would not dare. Then again, this is Darrion, and he has ever had problems with boundaries.”
“We are in your study,” Darrion replies mildly. “She is asleep. I’m on the other side of the room. I am not even touching her, and nor have I.”
That calms me somewhat.
“Come,” I say, shifting to human and manifesting my clothing into place.
Fenix falls in step on my right side. Lark takes the left, still a direwolf, which brings a fleeting smile to my lips—he is already very much attached to the beast he has only met today.
The nearby pride members eyeball me as I storm past.
Violet
Darrion is still watching me. But as he has just pointed out, it is his right. The parameters of this new world I have been thrust into are still new to me.
His other words linger. I have questions. Rafe is resting. Lark is battling. That I may go anywhere I wish. That I am not owned, but chosen, and that I may also choose.
That I may keep his jacket for my nest if I wish to. And I do wish to.
The moment he mentioned it, my fingers tightened upon it. The thought of giving it away? Impossible. I’m not stupid. Putting it in my nest will cause problems with my other mates.
I groan under my breath.
Is this me admitting that Darrion is my mate, too? I understand that Atlas is. But Darrion?
He watched me spread over Atlas’s desk, vulnerable and needy. From the moment I arrived, it has not only been Atlas’s scent working upon me; it has been Darrion’s too.
And Fenix’s, the little voice taunts in the back of my mind. However, I do not know the third griffin shifter as well.
Fine, he’s handsome. His russet-colored griffin might be the most beautiful of them all. His feathers might not be as lustrous as Darrion’s, nor as impressively huge as Atlas’s. But he is pretty.
This time I groan for real and go so far as to drag the jacket right over my head. A faint chuckle sounds on the other side of the room. I don’t care if he’s amused. He can’t watch me anymore now, can he?
He’s going to be my mate.
A little tingly sensation manifests between my legs. I’m getting hot under here. I try to blame it on the thick jacket covering my head. But the fact is, I’m getting squirmy, thinking about Darrion putting his hands on me.
“Don’t be alarmed, little one,” Darrion says from the other side of the room.
I blink. Thrust my head out from underneath the cover. I’m about to ask him what he’s talking about when the door to the study thrusts open, and Atlas—wings high and proud—charges into the room.
He is not alone. Fenix is right behind him. His brooding eyes slide to me and then across to Darrion.
Then, from behind them, charges a huge, snow-white wolf.
I scream.
The wolf charges. I scream again as he launches himself fully at the couch.
Giant paws hit the seat. It skids across the floor and slams into the bookcase.
Books tumble down around us. The wolf creates a barrier, but I feel them hit him as he smothers me completely, his huge body pinning me to the couch.
I squeal and fight for freedom, convinced he’s about to savage me, but all he does is lavish the side of my throat with his big wet tongue.
“The harbinger of chaos,” somebody mutters on the other side of the room—I believe it is Darrion.
“Get the fuck off her, mutt,” Fenix says, his voice closing in. “You’re terrifying her to death.”
The wolf snarls and snaps at the approaching male.
“Lark!” Atlas’s snapped command cuts through the frenzy.
Lark? Wait! Where is Lark?
The giant wolf crushing me unpeels itself, displacing the books that landed on it and sending them thudding to the floor.
I don’t move as I blink up at the huge wolf who is now sitting, tongue hanging out the side of his mouth, staring at me expectantly. There are a lot of sharp white teeth showing, and his tail is thumping wildly against the stone floor.
That has to be a good sign, right?
“Here, let me help you.” Fenix darts forward, takes my arm, and helps me sit up.
The wolf growls.
“Stand down,” Atlas barks.
I give the wolf a wary look as he continues, fluctuating between watchful interest and curling his lips at Fenix.
Fenix’s wings are fully spread, catching the sunlight streaming in through the window in the most arresting way. His hair is red and a little windswept.
He smiles and releases my arm. “Don’t mind him,” he says. His voice has a soft, measured quality that wraps around me like an extra soft blanket. The wolf finally stops his growling. “He’s new to the form. Enthusiastic, but well-meaning.”
Form? New? I eyeball the huge wolf. “Wait, where is Lark?”
Darrion chuckles. I cannot think what he finds amusing in this situation.
The wolf lunges forward, his big wet nose hitting me in the center of my chest. His big tongue laps out, poking into the bodice of my gown and catching my nipple.
“Goddess,” I mutter weakly, and panicked by the nearness of those sharp teeth.
Fenix lands a hefty blow to the wolf’s ribs. The wolf’s head swings around to snarl at the male who dares to interfere before he turns back to me and sits down, this time with his huge head in my lap.
Then he edges a little closer, making me feel very much still trapped. Goddess, his head is very heavy… snuffling against my core and… is he drooling?
Atlas sighs. “He won’t settle until you acknowledge him.”
Fenix remains watchful. The wolf edges closer, settling more weight on me. My breathing is all kinds of erratic. He just—he just licked me intimately. “He’s staring up at me like I’m dinner,” I say weakly. “Whose wolf is this?”
“I believe it is yours,” Darrion says dryly.
The giant wolf growls, lifting his head to peer back at Darrion out of the corner of his eye.
I’m still quaking a little. Everyone else seems calm, like the wolf is not a threat.
They all want to claim me. They would hardly let me be savaged.
Maybe this is like a guard wolf? He is very handsome.
His coat is shimmering white in the light, and his eyes are a bright, winter blue.
Now that there is a little space between us, I can fully admire his size and deadly air of beauty.
“What sort of wolf is he?” I ask.
“A direwolf,” Atlas says.
Fenix is still standing to the side of the couch, his wings wafting slowly.
“He is huge,” I state the obvious. “And very intense. Why does he belong to me? Is he to guard me?”
Atlas steps up behind the wolf, rests his hand on the scruff of his neck and rubs it. The wolf’s ears flick back, and he growls. I am on to him now, and I believe it is no more than an indication of mild vexation. Atlas continues petting him. The wolf stops growling, turns back to me.
“I believe you claimed him some time ago,” Atlas explains, taking his hand away.
“I don’t remember claiming any wolf… Why is his scent so familiar…” My eyes suddenly widen, and my hands fly to my face as though to hide from this dawning truth. “Oh no.”
The wolf yips.
“It’s… No. It cannot be.”
“It very much is,” Darrion says, coming to stand on Lark’s other side.
Lark? “You’re telling me this is Lark?”
Fenix shrugs. “I believe you already know.”
“Goddess,” I say inadequately. “How? Why? When?”
“Just before we were called to the village,” Atlas says.
“We suspected when you first arrived, but it took a little time to coax him to reveal. He’s new to this form.
I dare say he might spend a great deal of time like this, at least at first. He has changed back to human once, so I know that he can. ”
I rise slowly, even now that I’m standing and with him sitting my head only reaches his chest. The wolf—Lark—watches me intently. I reach out my hand, tentatively, and yet I see that it is him. And I feel it inside me. I know.
My fingers sink into the soft fur at the side of his snout. He issues a sweet, rumbly purr and presses into my touch. I heave a ragged breath, and then with a sob throw my arms around him.
“Oh, Lark, you are so beautiful. How did you hide this so long?”
He purrs and licks me wherever his snout can reach as I giggle and sob, tears streaming down my cheeks.
Then my mind skips back, and I peer around him to where Atlas watches me. “What has happened to Rafe? Is he—”
Atlas shakes his head slowly. “Rafe is a work in progress. But we have begun.”
“You’re talking in riddles,” I say, my lips trembling anew. “And you are scaring me. I want to see him.”
“That would not be advisable,” Atlas says.
Lark growls low, eyeballing Atlas.
“Rafe is not a wolf shifter,” I say.
“He is not,” Atlas agrees.
“Then what are you talking about? What has begun? What are you doing to him?”
“I don’t know what he is,” Atlas says, and I sense the truth in his words. “Yet. Beyond that, he is not a beta. You are here with us. Destined to be a mate to griffins. You are no ordinary woman. Not even an ordinary omega. That you chose Rafe tells me he is likewise not ordinary.”
The words are out. Clear and unambiguous. I am to be their mate.
Something has begun. Something unknown. A terrible fear for Rafe bears down upon me.
“I want to see him,” I say, dashing the tears from my cheeks. “I want to see him right now.”
“Let her,” Fenix says, surprising me that he takes my side.
Atlas is quiet and thoughtful. Yet I am still terrified for Rafe. I’m convinced he is naught but a beta, and I would love and want him no less that he is. He doesn’t need to be more. He is already perfect to me.
The silence stretches. Lark whines. I stroke the fur on his chest, so luxuriously soft, and take small comfort from it, even as desolation waits for me.
“I beg you,” I say. “Let me see him. He needs to know that I love him. He needs to know that whatever happens, he is always and forever my mate.”
Atlas nods. “So be it. But know that what has been started cannot be stopped.”
And with those ominous words, they lead me out of the room.