Chapter 9 – Conley
CONLEY
Idon’t know what the hell is happening tonight. I have never seen these gargoyles even seem like they have dicks. They’re all about the mission, all about loyalty. Nothing has steered them from their course in all the time I’ve known them.
And then the crazy gargoyle who hates me invited me to have a threesome with him…
I’d done it. Hell yeah, I’d done it. This Em is the most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen in my life. And watching her with Narath had turned me on in a way I never expected.
But it’d also been more than that. Him inviting me to join them felt like he was accepting me for the first time ever. I mean, having a threesome with someone has to draw you together, right?
I didn’t know. But then, Em was gone and Narath and I were left naked in the woods searching for her. We’d ran into Rokad and quickly realized something was off with him, and even though we’d been dressed when we saw him, I was pretty sure he knew something was up with us too.
In typical Rokad style though, he hadn’t said a word.
He just redirected us on our mission. We’d flown over the woods, searching for any sign of our target.
We saw him leave this cave and go to another one, sealing it shut behind him.
We’d sensed people inside both caves, but we’d gone to this one first, just to be sure.
And now we find Em with Lucas, her hair messy, that glow to her skin, and I think we all know what happened.
Yet, it’s not time for that. We have a hungry cyclops and a bunch of missing kids to deal with.
But we will deal with this eventually, and I pray this is more than just one strange night of hotness.
“So, the other cave?” Em says, clearly embarrassed.
I almost ask her to explain what the hell is going on, but Rokad is the first to answer. “It’s close.”
He turns and starts heading in the direction of the cave. Narath, on the other hand, is staring at Em like he wants to devour her. I’m not even one hundred percent sure he realizes the rest of us are here.
I glance at Lucas and nod toward his brother.
Lucas gives me a slight nod. “Narath, want to lead us there?”
Narath doesn’t answer; he just keeps staring at Em, his dark eyes growing darker.
Em, to her credit, glances away from him and starts toward the cave.
He catches her wrist, effectively stopping her. “Em?”
She glances nervously back at him. “We need to get there before the kids get hurt. Remember? We have monsters to hunt.”
This is normally the moment when Narath completely loses his shit.
He’s not a man to be told what to do. When he has something in his sight, he can’t let it go.
It’s part of the reason he scares me just a bit.
So it’s no surprise when both Lucas and I carefully move closer, worried he might hurt the woman.
To our shock, he nods, releasing her wrist. “I’ll stay close to you.”
Em looks relieved and hurries after Rokad. And just as he said, Narath stays close to her, right at her heel. His hands curled into fists, his head swinging from side to side as he searches, presumably, for anything that might threaten the tiny woman.
“What the fuck was that?” Lucas mumbles to me.
I shake my head. “Not a clue.”
We follow them all, feeling lost. Who is this woman? And how the hell is she able to tame Narath with such ease? The big guy is scary. Not just scary to me, but scary to all of us. And yet, a tiny woman with claws is able to get him to follow her like a puppy?
So miracles really do happen.
A few minutes later, we come to the cave we’d spotted our target entering. He’s managed to roll a big rock in front of the entrance. But between all of us, I have no doubt we can move it. We just have to be prepared for whatever we might find on the other side.
Rokad looks at all of us and shifts into his stone form. Instantly, his pale skin turns to grey, and his wings become stone too. The other two shift as well. And then, they move toward the rock.
I step forward too, but Narath snarls back at me, “We have this, phoenix.”
Damn. That hurts a little. Apparently, our little threesome meant more to me than to him. At the end of the day, I’m still a phoenix, and he’s still a gargoyle, and that’s all that matters to him.
Em slides to my side, and the heat of her skin takes a little bit of the sting out of Narath’s words. But when the big guy sees her beside me, his hands drop from the stone, and his gaze grows thunderous. He moves away from the stone, charging at me like a wild bull.
I tense, prepared to have his huge form crush me, but then Em is standing in front of me and Narath stops just before touching her. His eyes are wide and confused, and Rokad and Lucas are staring at us all, waiting for what might come.
“The kids,” Em snaps, a little anger in her voice. “Don’t focus on me. I sure as hell can take care of myself.” She points at the rock. “If you want to help me, move that.”
Rokad and Lucas are launching toward our group in an instant, trying to prevent him from hurting her. But his eyes gentle, and even when their hands grab his arms, there’s no anger in his eyes.
“Okay,” he says.
Lucas’s mouth drops open, Rokad’s eyes widen, and they release him as he turns back to the boulder.
Then, Em and I watch as the three huge gargoyles slowly roll the stone away from the entrance.
I pull my sword from my side, as do the others when they’re done with the boulder, and Em’s claws grow.
We face the darkness, and all thoughts of Narath’s strange behavior fade away.
Hunting monsters. This we can do in our sleep.
We all slink into the cave, Narath at one side of Em, me at the other. Rokad leads our group, and Lucas follows behind us.
The cave is winding and goes deeper and deeper into the earth. And as it does, a chill grows. The darkness is overwhelming, but I don’t let my wings flame. If I do, our enemy will see me coming. Instead, I run my hands along the wall of the cave, and let my feet feel the way ahead of me.
I crash into Rokad’s big back a second later and realize that there’s some kind of light ahead. At first, it does nothing to light our way, but as we creep forward, I realize that around the bend, a fire burns. The orange flames dance on the walls around us, and every muscle in my body tenses.
Up ahead, we hear someone weeping.
Fuck. The kids.
At least one of them.
We’re all ready when we spring into the cave.
But there’s no way we could’ve been ready for what we find.
There are three cages in the back of the cave, and the kids have been crammed into them.
Two kids in one of the cages, and one in each of the others.
It’s horrific to see them battered and bruised, looking terrified, but at least the cyclops hasn’t eaten them yet.
Rokad and Lucas move toward them, scanning the small cave, but there’s no sign of the cyclops.
Rokad shoots me a look I didn’t need to see.
He’s reminding me that if the cyclops isn’t in this room, he’s probably somewhere behind us in the cave.
I turn back to the darkness, sword at the ready, and stare. Waiting.
But there’s no movement.
I hear Rokad speaking in his gentle voice. “We’re here to help you. Don’t be afraid.”
“You’re scary too,” a little girl says in a tiny voice.
“I know we look scary, but we’re the good guys.” His voice has a smile in it. The big guy really does have a soft spot for children, just like we all do. “Do you want us to get you out and back to your moms?”
There’s a series of “yeses” and some crying.
I hear the doors to the cages being opened. Well, I hear the doors likely being torn off. Glancing back, I see Rokad and Lucas helping the kids get free. All of the little ones still look afraid, but I don’t blame them. Gargoyles aren’t exactly snuggly-looking.
Suddenly, I feel something shoot past me.
A huge shape slams into Em before I can react, and she’s knocked to the ground.
The cyclops has dropped its glamour. Now, instead of looking like any other man, he’s twice the size of any of us, with one big eye.
He has a hand around Em’s throat, and he squeezes.
Fuck. He’s going to kill her!
A roar tears from Narath’s throat, and he crashes into the cyclops.
“Rokad!” I shout.
He and Lucas react in an instant, grabbing the kids and running for the exit.
We’ve all seen what Narath can do when he’s angry, and there’s no way the kids should see this.
Narath doesn’t even use his sword. He punches the cyclops in the eye over and over again, popping his eyeball like a grape.
The cyclops begins to wail, but Narath doesn’t stop.
He beats him and beats him. His fists pound into the much bigger man without a pause, and I have to look away when chunks of skull and bone go flying.
My gaze goes to Em. She’s staring at Narath, her mouth hanging open.
Time passes. So much time that I can’t imagine any part of the cyclop’s head remains.
“Narath.” I whisper his name, afraid to become his new target.
Only the sound of him punching answers.
“He’s dead,” Em finally says. “Narath, you did good. You got him.”
To my shock, the sounds of his attack stop, and I just hear him breathing heavily.
I finally glance over when I sense him approaching.
Narath is covered in blood and flesh, his eyes wild, as he comes toward Em.
I clutch my sword tighter, prepared for anything, but he simply leans down and presses a light kiss to her lips.
“You did good,” she repeats, then smiles.
It’s weird, and somehow not. She’s like a dog owner whose vicious creature is calm and loving, but only with her. Whatever spells she’s woven over him is exceptional.
“Can you guys clean up the body?”
Narath nods and looks at me. “He has the black powder on his belt.”
I do. As much shit as these guys give me about my utility belt, they certainly rely on the stuff I keep in it. This is the first time that Narath has even acknowledged that I have any kind of a use to any of them.
“Can you help him get rid of the body?” she asks.
He nods, kisses her lightly again, and turns back to the body.
I feel lost, but I join him at the body. Narath takes one of the sticks from the fire, his stone form not feeling the flames in the least bit. I sprinkle a little bit of the black powder from my belt, and then he drops the flaming stick on top.
The body instantly burns, going from a beaten corpse to nothing but ash in seconds. A terrible smell fills the air, and I cough, ready to get out of there.
When I turn back, Em is gone.
“Where is she?” Narath asks, and there’s a note to his voice that worries me.
“Probably just outside with the others,” I tell him hesitantly.
He rushes from the room, not at all cautious about running through a dark cave. I follow him more slowly, since I’m not made of stone and I feel it each time I stumble on an uneven surface or hit the side of the wall.
When I finally make it to the surface, Lucas is waiting.
“Where are the kids?” I ask.
“Rokad is leading them back to the house. He won’t let himself be seen. He’ll just get them close enough to get home, then watch to make sure they make it back safely.”
“What about Em?” Narath asks, his voice holding that wild edge that makes me nervous.
Lucas winces. “She took off.”
“Took off?” Narath repeats the words like he doesn’t know what they mean.
Ah, fuck. This won’t be good.
“She left,” Lucas says, his gaze darting from me to the giant.
Narath roars with fury and takes off into the sky.
I stare after him, butterflies in my stomach. “We should probably follow him. We have no idea what he’ll do when he reaches her.”
Lucas nods, but then says, “I have a feeling he’d cut off his right arm before hurting her.”
“Me too,” I agree. But still, the guy is unpredictable.
We take off into the sky, following the psychotic gargoyle.
It kind of hurts that Em just left. I like the changes that she brings out in all of us. But at the same time, some deep instinct within me wants to keep her safe. And our group will never be safe.
So, I try to push away the longing I have for her and just focus on the fact that I want her to escape us. For her own sake. Because even though my mom said I was born selfish, I don’t think I am, deep down.
If I was selfish, I’d never let the beautiful woman out of my sight.