Between Feather and Fur (Gryphon Melds #1) (11 page)

“You’re ours now, now and forever.” Ben whispered against her lips, staring deeply into the beautiful pools of her eyes.

“Hey, I don’t remember agreeing to marry you, yet.”

“Too bad.” Steve sneaked his arm around her waist, pulling her from Bens lap into his. Ben sighed, instantly missing the comfort of her warmth and weight from his lap. “Because you’re going to.” Yup, this is the bossy Lion he melded with. They only had one thing left to reveal to her.

Arial laughed. “Okay, then.”

Chapter Nine

What’s this?” She snuggled into Ben’s side on the sofa. In his lap, he held an old leather bound book, a few weathered cracks where visible where it was opened over its life span. Perched on her lap, it took all the space. A bronze spine, with Gryphons elaborately etched into the metal matched the clasp holding the book closed. It was beautiful with an old world charm. On the cover was a magnificent life like drawing of a Gryphon.

“It’s a family heirloom passed down through our families. Each of our kind has some version of this to help the transition.”

“Transition?”

There it was again, referring to themselves as something other than what or who they really are. Ben’s secretive smile didn’t reassure her; the big deep secret they kept from her was starting to wear on her nerves.

Something changed since last night in the club; she felt it in the air. Her new fiancé’s seemed more relaxed and confident. They brought her home and made love to her over and over until she passed out from exhaustive pleasure.

They pampered her all Saturday with long soothing baths, a walk along St. Kilda pier and a few rides on the less scary ones at Lunar Park, ending with her taking another, slightly larger anal plug. She endured it for the required hour; afterward they gave her a relaxing massage.

Tomorrow, they were planning something ‘special’. Tomorrow, they would tell her their secret.

Her mind raced at what it could be they held off telling her for so long. They wouldn’t have said they loved her, introduced her to their parents and asked her to marry them if it was something so...bad?

Ben unclipped the latch and opened it to the first page. The delicate, old ink drawings were amazing.

“This must be worth a fortune.”

“Not as much as your value to us beautiful. It’s an introduction, it helps the women in the lives of our kind understand.”

“You keep saying you’re kind as if you’re not…well, human. You’re both really aliens right?”

Ben chuckled, shook his head. “Not quite.”

“Where’s Steve?”

“Not sure, I’m guessing he’s seeing to some business.”

“On Saturday night?”

Ben shrugged, his answer wasn’t very comforting.

“That’s why you get two husbands; one of us will always be with you when the other can’t. Don’t worry he’ll be here soon. Now, story time, see here.” He pointed to the first page. “The history of the Gryphon - Once, many an age ago, the gods ruled in the heavens and over the lands of men.”

He turned another page, showing the drawing of a proud majestic lion standing on a big boulder, its face towards a glowing figure. “The gods appointed guardians to protect them from their enemies. First the Lion beast, with his roar to warn, mighty strength and deadly claws to defend and destroy the enemy.”

He turned another page. Against a bluish-black background and fluffy clouds flew a big majestic, brown and white feathered eagle. “But it was not enough, so they created the giant Eagle, with sharp sight, great strength and speed, and talons to rip apart the enemy.”

If she wasn’t mistaken, there was pride in Ben’s voice. He flipped to the next page; showing the Lion and Eagle together.

“An enemy of the gods and men, the Red Dragon threatened to destroy all the gods and rule over their Earth. They feared the Red Dragon’s power and dark magic, so they sent both their Lion and Eagle guardians to seek out and destroy the serpent.”

“Pre-emptive strike, it makes sense.” Arial smiled now fascinated by Ben’s story as there was no writing she could see.

He turned the page, showing a dragon-like snake with raised ridges and a flat spade tail, it was black and red spikey, and it made her shudder. Its red eyes gleamed out at her from the page, as if really wanting to kill her, or do bad things.

“A battle erupted between the Lion, Eagle and the Red Dragon. The battle was fierce, magic and strength raged. Somehow in the confusion, a magic bolt struck both the Lion and Eagle, melding their hearts and bodies together in a fusion of feathers and claws, beaks and roars. The birth of the first Gryphon.”

“I love mythology, but I’ve never heard of this before.” She glanced up at Ben; he smiled and kissed her temple.

“Pay attention now, there will be a test later.” he teased.

“Yes Sir.” She saluted, glancing back to the page.

“Together the Lion and the Eagle were even stronger, faster, and more deadly. The melded Lion and Eagle defeated the dragon serpent. The creature was buried deep under the Earth in a place hidden for all time. The Gryphon went back to the gods, hoping they could undo The Red Dragon’s magic, as it came from an evil source, and they felt the pull towards a dark madness.”

The next page was the Gryphon standing before a group of godly looking people, who appeared to be in a discussion. “The gods managed to separate them, but un-melded the two creatures craved to be with each other. They blended and melded at will. All too soon, they realised, if they spent too much time apart, they would lose their minds, turn feral and become uncontrollable. So, the gods took out their animal hearts and replaced them with human ones. It was how they first transitioned from animal to human. They could now change from animal to human at will, and yet, it was not enough.”

Ben flipped the page. “The goddess of life and fertility in her wisdom knew a third heart was needed to stop them from turning into feral beasts. The heart of a woman to love and to bind three together.”

At the flip of another page there were three naked people, a long haired, beautiful woman between two buffed up men.

“The goddess blessed them, and promised to the melded that there will always be a one for them to find whenever a pair came together to become a Gryphon. To this first triad, three sets of twin sons were born—always male and always a Lion and an Eagle.

Each Lion and Eagle is drawn to each other to become melded and become the mighty Gryphon, but without the heart and love of their one woman, the melded pair would fall into madness and turn into beasts forevermore.”

The paged turned. It showed a medieval village and triads of three standing around several Gryphons. “As the gods faded, the Gryphon melds stood strong because of their strong human hearts and the love for their special woman, the one who keeps them happy and sane.

As a part of the bonding, their one is granted the same life span of the Gryphon meld, which is a hundred years longer than an average human.

Years passed and as they move into the human world, integrated into communities, new melded pairs started the search for their special one before their time ran out and they fell into darkness.”

Ben closed the book and set it aside. Silence filled the room as she took it all in. Much of Ben’s story made an odd and scary kind of sense. She licked her lips and glanced at Ben; needing to know a little more.

“So what happens to the two…uh, melds who don’t find their one woman?”

“The Lion and the Eagle were both thirty eight human years when they first transformed into a Gryphon. So if the pair doesn’t find their one woman before that time… ” A sadness filled his eyes. “The community has to shut them away and it’s not pleasant. It’s why they put a lot of effort into searching the planet for their one.”

“It’s a lovely story, but I don’t understand why you talk about this as if it’s real. C’mon, it’s impossible; there’s no real magic, or people who turn into Lions or Eagles, or a Gryphon.”

Ben gathered her hand in both of his, fiddling with her fingers. “I hate to burst your bubble, sweetheart, but that’s not true. You know we’ve been keeping a secret from you. The truth is; Steve and I are both descendants of the first Gryphon. I’m an Eagle and Steven is a Lion, and you sweetheart are our one, our love.”

Arial laughed, they were playing with her, teasing her. He kissed her hand and stood up from the couch. Immediately, she missed his warmth, but worry spread through her like a cold creeping vine, slowly wrapping around her body. She studied his face and couldn’t find a hint of laughter or jest. He sighed, leaned down and kissed her briefly. “You don’t have to accept it now, think about it for a while. There is magic in this world, but not as much as there was centuries ago.”

A small smile lit his handsome face briefly, love in his eyes as he looked at her. Without another word he turned and walked from the living room. She watched him disappear into the study. Her mouth fell open as many swirling, conflicting emotions moved through her until she settled on one.

Yes, her men were drop dead sexy. They were caring and kind. She has never known such a pair of wonderful men. Without a doubt, she loved them. They treated her with such loving tenderness, and had transformed her dark world into something bright and beautiful. Her future with them was something she looked forward too, but, clearly, they were off their rocker, too, if they believed a story book to be true. Everyone has their quirks; it wasn’t as if they were pushing this odd belief on her.

She climbed from the couch, moving through the apartment to the balcony door and slid it open. The cooler air made her skin prickle and she shivered, rubbing her arms as she stepped out, half hoping the night air would help to un-muddle her mind. Has it really been six weeks since she last stood here and contemplated ending it all? She was not the same woman she was back then, there were no such thoughts now, only confusion over Ben’s story and odd statements. Did Steve really believe it, too? Believe they were animals who turned into something mythical.

I could leave?

No, the thought of her parting from Ben and Steven tore at her even worse than anything she ever suffered. She loved them so dearly.

Why this, why now? Could she play along with their delusion? Not once, did they hurt her mentally or physically. She trusted them, but to what extent?

* * * *

“She’s on the balcony.”

Steve gripped Ben’s shoulder to stop him barrelling out of the office. “Easy, buddy, she wouldn’t think about the same things she did a month back. Have a little faith.”

“She didn’t take me telling her the truth very well.”

“Remember your mum’s story when your dads told her? She freaked out for days, thought they were insane.” Steve smiled “Your dads still grin when they recall how they had to basically kidnap her to show her the truth. I’d say this went much better than that. I knew you would be good at delivering the story, better than I could have done. Moving this slow helps give her mind time to adjust. She may not believe us now...”

“And think we’re crazy.”

Steve shrugged; his eye still on her while standing in the entrance way to the office, out of her line of sight.

“Tomorrow, buddy, show and tell day at the country house.”

Ben’s chest heaved with a sigh. “So, what was so important you couldn’t be with us? We should be doing this together.”

“I know, but I’ve been chasing up a few things with her asshole ex; it seems he’s still missing. I don’t like not knowing where he is.”

It was still a heavy weight on their shoulders, knowing he could pop up at any given time. They worked so hard to bring back the beautiful self-confident woman Arial is now. They would have to be extra vigilant.

“If he’s out there looking for her, then the bastard’s grasping for straws. No matter what, she’s safe with us.” Ben’s eye drew to the balcony. Steve shared Ben’s sentiment to her safety. “She’ll get cold out there; time to get her in before she catches a chill. It’s the last thing we need before tomorrow.”

Steve licked his lips, wondering how far they could go with warming her up once they did get her inside, or did Ben’s story put her off?

The door slid open and she stepped back in, a smile on her face. Fuck it, his dick took over his brain. He moved across with determined purpose and she saw him stalking towards his prey. Her beautiful blue eyes widened when he pulled her into his arms and flush against him, making her gasp.

“Steve, what—” He didn’t want to talk tonight; he took her lips in a deep impassioned kiss. Relieved when she moaned and melted into him, her arms moved up around his neck, and he took pleasure in the way her fingers curled into his skin like a kitten. The love of a woman, even though she thought them mad, is still a beautiful thing.