Chapter 3
Pale gray morning light filtered through the ventilation gaps at the top of the woven gourd, waking me from the deepest sleep of my life. I stretched my sore muscles under the warm bearskins, content to stay buried in the furs until noon, when Plumak ruined the mood.
"Get dressed, Kelsy," he rumbled from the edge of the sleeping pit, already tugging his dangerously low leather shorts up over his furred thighs until the waistband caught right beneath the base of his tail. "We are going to the Central Nest to tell my father and your mother."
I propped myself up on one elbow, clutching my stolen gray sweatshirt to my bare chest, and glared at him through a tangle of bedhead. "Tell them what? Why the hell do we need to report to them? What happened in here is our business, not a clan announcement."
Plumak paused, his round golden eyes fixing on me with unyielding calm. "It is the way of our kind. A claimed mate is presented to the family."
"Yeah, well, our family tree is already a twisted pretzel," I snapped, sitting up and yanking the sweatshirt over my head.
Panic gave my ribs a sharp squeeze. "Have you forgotten that your dad is married to my mom?
We are stepbrother and stepsister, Plumak!
People back home would lose their minds over this, and I doubt your clan elders are going to throw confetti either. They won't approve!"
Plumak gave that infuriating, careless shrug of his massive furred shoulders, making his copper wings rustle against the woven wall.
"We cannot avoid them forever," he said, stepping closer on silent lion paws and tossing my dry pants into my lap.
"I am never letting you go back down to that muddy hut at the roots.
You live with me now. You are my mate, and you are a permanent part of the Gryphon Clan.
Everyone will see you in my arms sooner or later. "
I groaned, shoving my legs into my pants and zipping them up with a sharp tug. Arguing with a towering wall of muscle and feathers before breakfast was a waste of breath. "Fine," I grumbled, jamming my feet into my boots. "Let's go get yelled at so I can come back and go to sleep again."
Two minutes later, he scooped me up against his broad chest and glided across the misty gap toward the ancient oak.
As Plumak banked onto the wide wooden landing of the Central Nest, I frowned, squinting up at the yellow leaves overhead.
The sky wore its usual slate - gray blanket, and the same lazy, fine drizzle pattered softly against the bark.
No howling wind. No torrential downpour.
Looking down over the braided railing toward the forest floor seventy feet below, the lowland stream trickled along its normal mossy bed without a single puddle overflowing its banks.
Before I could ask Plumak where his catastrophic monsoon was hiding, we stepped through the wide archway of the communal hall.
Seated near the central fire pit on a pile of thick pelts were the Warlord and my mother.
The instant the massive, battle - scarred gryphon leader spotted us walking in together - with Plumak's heavy arm still curved possessively around my waist - the old beast let out a booming, resonant squawk of triumph and slapped his taloned hand against his knee.
Beside him, Brenda beamed, holding up a carved wooden goblet. "Well, look at you two!" my mother chirped, her cheeks flushed pink with berry wine. "Congratulations, sweetheart! I knew you'd stop being such a prickly little hedgehog if someone just locked you in a dry room with him!"
I froze in the middle of the rush mat, my jaw dropping open. "What?"
The Warlord rumbled a deep, approving purr from his broad chest, inclining his feathered head toward his son. "A strong bond. My bloodline is blessed."
"Wait a second," I said, looking between the two of them while my brain scrambled to catch up. "You're not mad?"
"Mad?" Brenda scoffed, waving a hand dismissively as she leaned back against the Warlord's massive furred shoulder.
"Honey, whose bright idea do you think the whole lowland flood story was?
I'm your mother, Kelsy - I know how your stubborn head works.
You would have rotted in that swamp down there until moss grew out of your ears just to prove a point.
A wonderful, devoted male like Plumak needed a little push to get you up into his nest, so I told him to tell you the river was rising! "
For three seconds, the only sound in my head was a high - pitched ring.
Every muscle in my body locked tight. The damp clothes I had crammed into my backpack, the panic over my hut washing away, the frantic flight through the rain - all of it had been a setup cooked up by the woman who kicked me out at eighteen.
A volcanic wave of rage surged up my throat.
I sucked in a huge breath, taking a step toward her pelts with my finger raised, ready to unleash six years of pent - up fury right in the middle of the Warlord's hall.
Before a single syllable could tear past my teeth, two massive copper wings swept around my shoulders, and Plumak's heavy, furred arms banded around my torso from behind, pulling me flush against his front.
The scorching heat of his chest slammed into my spine, and the rich, familiar scent of toasted cedar, rain, and his wild musk flooded my nose.
Like flicking a switch, my traitorous body melted on contact.
My knees went weak, my pulse stuttered into a hot, heavy throb low in my belly, and the furious words tangled on my tongue as his low purr vibrated straight through my ribs.
Using my sudden daze against me, Plumak half - lifted, half - guided me away from our parents, ducking through a side archway onto a quiet, mist - shrouded wooden balcony overlooking the yellow canopy.
He set me down against the railing, keeping his large hands framed on either side of my hips, and bowed his feathered head until his hooked beak sat lower than my chin. "Forgive me for the lie, Kelsy."
My head cleared enough for me to narrow my eyes at the stiff rust feathers on his crown. "So there is no flood," I bit out, crossing my arms over my chest. "No monsoon. No six feet of rushing water."
"No," Plumak admitted, his golden eyes lifting to meet mine, filled with genuine remorse.
"The rain does not change in the Yellow World.
I am sorry I deceived you. Both my father and I were against using falsehoods from the start - gryphons do not court their mates with trickery.
Yet your mother swore to me that human females expect small games like this, and that a harmless excuse to leave your hut was the only way your pride would let you accept warmth.
I was desperate enough to have you safe in my nest that I listened to her. "
Looking down at this eight - foot - tall monster crouching slightly in the drizzle with his wings drooped in apology, the remaining fight leaked right out of my chest in a long, heavy sigh.
"Yeah, well, it's not news that my mom is a bad influence," I muttered, rubbing my forehead before reaching out to tug lightly at the soft fur on his wrist. "Just get me out of here before she tries to plan a wedding banquet. Take me back to your nest."
Plumak's golden eyes brightened instantly, the feathers along his neck smoothing down as a low, triumphant click sounded in his throat.
"Our nest," he corrected softly. Stepping off the railing, he scooped me up into his powerful arms, tucking me tight against the warm fur of his chest, and leaped off the high balcony straight into the open sky.
My breath caught as we dropped for two exhilarating heartbeats through the swirling gray mist before his colossal copper and gold wings snapped wide, catching the damp autumn air with a booming crack.
The force of his upward thrust pressed me deeper into his muscular torso.
This time, I didn't hide my face or fight the electric shiver racing down my spine.
I wrapped my arms tight around his thick neck, letting the cool drizzle kiss my cheeks while the steady, powerful beat of my mate's wings carried us home through the golden crowns of the trees.
Plumak landed on the braided lip of our nest with a soft thud that barely rocked the woven structure.
He ducked through the round entrance, set me on my feet near the warm hearth, and straightened to his full towering height.
The fire crackled behind him, casting his massive frame in flickering amber light that caught the copper edges of his folded wings.
I stood there in my damp pants and sweatshirt that he previously stolen, my arms crossed, still simmering from my mother's manipulative stunt.
The betrayal stung fresh in my chest. Six years of silence, then she waltzed into my apocalypse and played puppet master with my life like she had any right.
Plumak stepped closer, his lion paws silent on the thick pelts.
His golden eyes tracked my face, reading the anger tightening my jaw.
He stopped two paces away, his taloned hands flexing at his sides, and bowed his feathered head until the stiff rust feathers of his crown dipped lower than my chin.
"Show me," he said, his voice rough and low.
"Show me how I can apologize for the deception.
Tell me what you need from me, Kelsy. I will do anything to make this right between us. "