Chapter 12
Twelve
“We need to get her quiet quick,” one of the men said to Gannon. “We’re not far enough out of town here. If anyone hears and comes to investigate, word of our location could get back to the Duke’s squad.”
“I’m afraid it’s too late to prevent that.” The steely voice made Chloe slump in relief.
Harrison had come.
Two enormous, fully grown griffins leaped from the darkness beyond the edge of town, armed riders on their backs. Gannon’s men scattered before the flashing beaks, talons and swords, the chaos of people and griffins making it impossible for Chloe to keep her eyes on Harrison.
Instead, she focused on Sage, relieved when the griffin managed to shake off the net now that the men no longer held the ropes tight. She spun toward Chloe with a screech, making Gannon stagger backward.
But he dragged Chloe with him, his arms still holding her firmly. He seemed eager for a barrier between himself and the enraged griffin, and Chloe could see frustration building in Sage’s eye as she searched for a clean avenue to attack.
“Get back!” called a voice behind Sage, and the griffin lunged sideways out of the way.
A running figure appeared from the semidarkness, and Chloe threw herself sideways as Sage had done. She didn’t entirely manage to wrench herself free from Gannon’s grasp, but she exposed enough of him that Harrison’s sword was able to find its mark.
At the bite of steel, Gannon shouted in pain, his arms finally releasing Chloe. She staggered forward, straight into the arms of Harrison.
He caught her, his sword dropping to the ground as his arms circled her in support. She twisted her head to look back at Gannon, but Harrison’s attention was all for her.
“You’re safe,” he murmured, his arms tight around her waist. “He can’t hurt you or Sage.”
She drew a shaky breath, looking for Gannon again and finding him bleeding on the ground.
Other men had appeared from the direction of the city, however, these ones dressed in the uniform of Everard’s guards.
They swarmed the injured men who now littered the ground, and one of them yanked open the warehouse door.
What he saw inside made him call out, and more of the men ran forward to look before exclaiming and rounding on Gannon’s men with fresh fury. Fletcher directed them, while the two older griffins circled Sage, visually inspecting her for injury.
In the midst of it all, however, Harrison had eyes only for Chloe. And he looked furious.
“What were you thinking?” He pushed her away from him, holding her shoulders and looking down into her face. “You could have been killed! Why would you do something so reckless?”
She blinked up at him, utterly bemused.
He looked shaken, his face gray in the gloom. “When Ranger told me you and Sage were trying to track down the egg thieves on your own, I—” Words seemed to fail him.
“But we weren’t on our own.” She glanced toward Ranger and Hunter, who had finally accepted that Sage was unhurt and were instead prowling menacingly among the injured prisoners.
“When I heard, I came after you immediately, of course,” Harrison said.
“But we only just arrived. What if we’d been too late?
” He sounded haunted. “Chloe, I…” He swallowed.
“I was angry, I won’t deny it. I hated to think you were just like the others, pursuing me for my title.
But as soon as I feared you might be dead, I could see my own heart clearly.
You started the deception for your sisters—I know how much you love them.
But all those hours we spent with the griffins together—every day when you came to the estate—you weren’t searching for the Duke.
You were fully focused on the griffins—on me.
I know you would never want to hurt the griffins, because I know you. You never even tried to take an egg.”
His eyes slid away, shame on his face. “I was awful to you in our last interaction, and if I’m honest, part of my anger was from seeing you with Crane.
I was still refusing to be honest about my own feelings, but when I saw you flirting with Crane…
” He sighed. “I was a fool, clearly. In more ways than one.”
He looked down at her. “Can you ever forgive me?”
“Me forgive you?” Tears filled Chloe’s eyes. “All I want is to regain your trust. I was the one who was inexcusably foolish.”
Harrison’s breath quickened, his hands returning to her waist. “I do trust you. But I want more than trust between us. I want your heart Chloe, as you already have mine.”
Chloe turned wet, shining eyes up to him. “I’ve been trying—and failing—not to give you my heart since the first time I fell and you caught me.”
With a growl of triumph, he pulled her against his chest, ignoring the crowd around them as he pressed his lips to hers. Chloe melted against him, clinging to his arms as her heart soared higher than a griffin.
When he pulled away, his breathing was ragged. “You’ll marry me?” he asked. “You’ll be my duchess?”
Chloe sucked in a breath, her dazed mind turning to panic. “I’m a milliner, Harrison! What will everyone say?”
“I don’t care,” he growled. “They already think I’m an oddity—the Griffin Duke, who captains a griffin squad despite his rank. The griffins accept you, so I couldn’t care less about high society.”
For all she loved griffins, Chloe wasn’t quite so ready to face social ostracization. But maybe everyone would forget about her brief stint as a milliner. She had been born a lady, after all, even if Harrison didn’t know it.
“I was actually born a gentleman’s daughter,” she murmured, speaking her thoughts aloud. “So maybe they’ll come around.”
Harrison’s brows rose. “That makes sense of a few of your stories. And the way you talk. But you haven’t actually answered me, you know. Do I need to kiss you again to convince you?”
He lowered his face toward hers, and she was tempted to say nothing and let him start kissing her again. But they were standing in the middle of the street! Surrounded by guards!
She laughed instead and gave him the answer he was seeking.
“Yes. Yes, I’ll marry you, if you’re so very desirous of my doing so.”
He pulled her close and murmured against her hair. “You’re the first woman I’ve ever wanted to ask, and I can’t imagine ever wanting anyone else.”
She flushed, glad the darkness and noise hid both his words and her face. But he pulled back abruptly, frowning down at her.
“But you’re never to do something like that again! How could you have risked yourself like that? What if I’d lost you?”
Chloe frowned back at him, her earlier confusion returning. “But you were the one who sent me the egg and asked me to give it to Gannon. This whole thing was your plan.”
“Me?” His hands tightened on her waist. “You think I sent you here! I would never have put you in danger like that! If we’d been a minute or two later…” He broke off shaking his head.
“But Sage said Ranger gave her the egg,” Chloe protested. “She said it was the squad who worked out that someone was behind my original plan, and it was the squad who wanted me to follow that person. So I thought…” She trailed off at the expression on his face.
“So naturally you thought the order came from me.” He sounded dangerous. “You thought I would send you to—” He turned his thunderous look on Ranger.
It was necessary, came the deep voice of Ranger in her mind.
“Necessary!” Harrison growled. “Sage and the egg are valuable to them, so they would have been safe enough, but they could have killed Chloe!”
But they did not. Because we were watching over her.
“You planned this!” Harrison growled. “You came to find me, saying that Sage was gone and we needed to go after her, because you’d sent her.”
Of course. It was necessary.
“I know we wanted to find these blackguards, but—” He broke off, clearly assailed by a sudden thought. Whirling on Fletcher, he growled. “You!”
Fletcher strode toward them, looking entirely unabashed as usual. His eyes lingered on Harrison’s arms around her waist, and a grin spread over his face.
“The griffins did not pack that egg for transport.” Harrison held Fletcher’s gaze, his own ice cold. “And when I called for you, you were ready awfully fast.”
“No, they didn’t pack the egg,” Fletcher said cheerfully. “I thought it was quite a good plan when Hunter brought it to me.”
Harrison dropped his hands from Chloe’s waist, taking a step toward his second-in-command. Chloe lunged after him, seizing his arm.
“It was a good plan,” she said fiercely. “Look how it turned out.”
Harrison stopped, glancing at the guards who had their prisoners on their feet and lined up. Yet more guards led released creatures out of the warehouse prison. The cacophony of sound they created between them was going to bring any nearby residents out onto the street at any moment.
Harrison shook his head, his expression one of disbelief. “They even had one of the royal pegasus herd in there. Those men are going to find themselves facing the full power of the law. I suppose I can’t complain about the result, at least.”
Fletcher slapped him on the back. “In more ways than one, old friend. I didn’t agree to the plan only to find these criminals, you know. I could see you needed a bit of help, and I’d pledged your fair lady that I’d do what I could.”
He grinned broadly at Chloe and winked.
“Fletcher!” she cried. “That was outrageous of you!”
“Ah, but it worked, didn’t it? Or did I hallucinate our reserved Duke just kissing you in the middle of a crowded street?”
Harrison flushed, and Chloe giggled.
“I suppose I can’t complain about the result either,” she murmured.
“So how soon will I be calling you Her Grace?” Fletcher asked with a cheeky grin.
“As soon as possible,” Harrison said in a rough voice, seizing Chloe again and pulling her close.
She sank against him with a soft, happy sigh. “That sounds perfect to me.”