Sorceress Hunting (A Gargoyle and Sorceress Tale Book 3) (29 page)

Lillian was far too tired to care. She rested her
muzzle on her forearms and closed her eyes. She didn’t sleep deeply though,
still not trusting the uneasy peace, and her ears tracked every sound in the
glade.

Several hours later, Lillian had awakened in dryad
form after having fallen asleep even after telling herself she wouldn’t. She
never knew if it was a dream, or simply the act of sleep itself which triggered
her to shift from gargoyle back to dryad form. That was a question to ask
Gregory another time.

Gran had told her the scientists were practically
tripping over each other to get her reverse shift on tape.

Lillian frowned at her reflection in the bathroom
mirror. Yeah, she was certain there was going to be scientists and military and
complex politics in her future. Luckily, Gran was dealing with that mess for
the moment.

For the rest of this night, all she had to face was a
long, hot bubble bath, where she planned to soak away the day’s worries along
with the aches of her abused body. Her hand strayed to her belly, still
marveling at the life which grew there. Gregory had checked her over as soon as
he was back on his feet and proclaimed their child was still a strong life
force within her.

The relief which had washed over her had left her
weak-kneed and ridiculously happy. That mellow warmth had stayed with her all
the way back to the house and up the stairs. It had even survived watching
Gregory strip and step into the shower where the powerful showerheads washed
away the layers of dried blood and loam to show her the raised ridges of pale
scar tissue crisscrossing his body.

Her beautiful gargoyle looked like someone had cut him
up and sewn him back together.

“They’ll fade again in a few days,” Gregory said as he
stepped out of the shower.

“Do they still hurt?” Of course, they did. How could
they not?

Gregory shrugged. “They still ache a little. The
warmth of the shower helped.”

He turned to the vanity and hunted through the drawers
for a comb to tame the wild mess of his mane.

Her eyes slid sideways to her bubble bath and then
back to Gregory. The heat of the water would do him good. It was a big Jacuzzi-type
tub. She went over and sat on one of the steps leading up to it, and then eyed
Gregory’s large form again.

“Come here.” She patted the step next to her.

“There are certainly more comfortable places to sit,”
he said with an accompanying flick of his tail.

“How comfortable is it to rest on your wings? Do you
think you could fit?” she gestured at the tub again. “The heat would do you
good.”

He looked like he was going to shake his head, so she
decided to sweeten the deal. “I’ll groom your mane for you while you soak.”

Gregory huffed softly and then walked over to the tub.
He discarded the towels he’d already wrapped around his hips and stepped into
the water without a word. Lillian turned her head to the side so he wouldn’t
see her grin.

When he relaxed back into the water, she scooted
behind his head, and equipped with a comb, began work on his mane. She’d only
taken three sweeps at the task when Gregory reached behind him and stroked her
leg where it was draping over the side into the water.

Wordlessly, he reached for the other leg and then
arranged them both, so they draped over his shoulders and then allowed the
heels to rest against his pectorals. She sighed when he started to rub them in
a skillful massage.

“Foot massage in payment for untangling this mess,”
Lillian tapped the comb playfully against one of his horns. “Sounds about right
to me.”

He rumbled out a wordless agreement as he worked.

As much as she enjoyed the foot rub and grooming his
mane, only a part of Lillian’s attention was on the tasks at hand. When she
closed her eyes, what played over and over on the backs of her lids was seeing
Gregory about to be torn apart by a magic that was his birthright. He’d been
going to sacrifice himself to save the rest of them.

It was noble and brave, but she didn’t want him to die
for her.

She wanted him to live to raise their child. She
wanted her mate. She’d come far too close to losing him.

Lillian leaned down and pressed a kiss to first one
horn and then the other. Gregory paused in his massage and tilted his face back
to study her. Then decided, she pulled her feet from his grasp and turned
sideways so she could stand and come around the side.

He was still looking up at her questioningly though he
had to know what she was thinking. Untying her robe, she shrugged it off her
shoulders. Underneath she was naked. Gregory inhaled, his lips parting to
better take in her scent.

Leaning forward, she braced her hands against his
shoulders and placed kisses along the side of his face and neck. He rumbled,
and returned the favor, wrapping his hands around her hips to help her balance.

There was a ripple in the suds, and then his tail
emerged from the depths and slid along her right leg from ankle to hip and back
again before it coiled around the calf to anchor her in place. Not that she
felt the least bit like running away. Gregory rumbled again and dragged her
closer until she was in danger of losing her balance and falling into the tub
with him.

“Hmmm, love, that would likely be painful for all
parties.”

The way his brow furrowed was almost comical. “Strange
little dryad, I have no plans to let you come to harm anytime soon.”

He hoisted her up and into the tub with him. Lillian
squealed, but it quickly changed to a surprised gasp as Gregory settled her in
his lap. She tried to keep some of her weight supported in her arms so she
wouldn’t knee him too badly somewhere sensitive. “I hadn’t intended for this
to…I mean I know you’re dead tired. I don’t expect you to…”

Gregory laughed, shaking her entire body. “Nor had I
intended anything more than playfulness. In truth, I’m not sure if I’ll be able
to…preform as required. However, I very much like the direction this is taking.
I think we can make this work.” He kissed her again, shifting her closer. The
position wedged her knees to either side of his hips and it left little up to
the imagination, and she leaned forward to kiss him in return. When he finally
cupped her breasts, she sighed out his name and allowed herself to relax
against him. Even if neither of them was at their best, it could only be good
between them.

He slowly rocked against her, the solid heat of him
hotter than the bathwater. “I can’t guarantee stamina, but I’m more than
willing to brave an attempt,” he rumbled in her ear.

“I love you,” she said in between kisses and nips as
she caressed him.

Gregory rumbled his own deep-throated words of love,
and then there was no more talking for a long time, only soft kisses, groans,
and laughter. And lots of splashing.

A heavy-handed knocking roused Lillian enough to lift
her head off of Gregory’s well-muscled chest. Whoever was on the other side of
the door better have a really damn good reason.

“If the Lord of the Underworld and the Lady of Battles
are not, at this very moment, fighting to the death on the front lawn,” Gregory
growled at the door. “I’m going to eat someone.”

There was a stretch of silence, and then shuffling
outside the door. Lillian heard Gran’s voice scolding someone. “Get out of my
way.”

“Sure,” Jason whispered back. “Better you than me.
Gregory didn’t sound too happy about being disturbed.”

The door handle wiggled, but the door didn’t open.
Lillian had wised up and jammed a chair under the handle. Gregory had laughed
at her last night. She arched a brow at him. “See? Told you. Not even
twenty-four hours peace. My bet is the scientists want us to pee in a cup.”

“Humans are strange.”

“Tell me about it.”

The knocking came again. Harder. Gran this time.

“Get out here or you two are going to miss all the
action. The hamadryad is up to something.”

Gregory lunged out of bed so fast it bounced. Lillian
jumped to her feet as well. He was already tying on his beaded loincloth,
Lillian was just a step behind him, when she pulled on the first thing that
came to hand—a sun dress.

What had Gran sounding so flustered? More importantly,
what was her hamadryad up to now? Had she returned Gryton?

She raced after Gregory as they made their way
downstairs and out the back door. He dropped to all fours and soon outdistanced
Lillian. In dryad form, she couldn’t keep up with him, and he was so focused on
his destination he was ignoring the warning flares from the tattoos.

Well, hell. Even breaking into a sprint, Lillian
barely kept the tip of his tail in sight. She raced after him, calling his
name, but he ignored her. By the time she cleared the maze and crossed the
distance to her tree, Gregory was already there. He’d reared up to stand on two
legs, his wings mantled out behind him in shocked surprise.

Lillian joined him, wishing she’d thought to grab a
sword or some other weapon. Inching out around his wings, she peered at her
tree, not sure what she was expecting to see. But the gaping, bloody crevasse
in the hamadryad’s trunk wasn’t it. The greater surprise was the slim line of a
leg emerging from the trunk. It was pale, and blood covered, but human-looking.
The rest of the body followed suit, extracting itself…no herself, for the body
was female, from the hamadryad’s embrace.

Lillian might as well have been a statue. All she
could do was stand and stare at the woman, too shocked to do anything else.

The woman held up a hand and studied her arm, wiggling
the fingers and then glanced down at the rest of her nude, blood-smeared body.
She compressed her lips at the sight of the blood, or maybe it was the nudity
part. Lillian had no idea, but with a wave of one hand, the bloody residue of
her birth disappeared.

Now the stranger was merely naked. It didn’t seem to
bother her overly much as she took a couple wobbling steps from the base of the
tree. Lillian noted how the stranger grasped one of the branches, using it to
steady her first few steps. Her newborn-like lack of coordination didn’t look
like it was going to stop her from achieving her goal, which to Lillian’s
unsettling realization was Gregory.

The destination shouldn’t have been a surprise.
Lillian had always been drawn to Gregory’s presence even when he’d been a stone
statue in Gran’s garden. So it made perfect sense this stranger would be
equally drawn to him.

Lillian’s own throat had closed off to the point where
swallowing past the lump in her throat was nearly as impossible as unclenching
her locked jaw. All she could do was watch in a kind of dreadful fascination as
the stranger made it halfway to Gregory.

He simply watched her approach, outwardly calm, but
his tail flicked with excitement and his wings tremored with each beat of his
great heart. If he’d been a dog, he would have been thumping his tail and
wiggling with happiness at the first sight of his beloved owner.

Lillian’s heart dropped to her toes, and she broke out
in a clammy sweat, seeing more than her happy future with Gregory evaporate as
her clone held out her hand and gestured him forward.

So the hamadryad had found a solution to the problem
of the tattoos.

Gregory said she would. Yet, Lillian didn’t think even
he had guessed the tree would do this. The Fae standing around seemed equally
shocked.

“Durnathyne, my Hunting Shadow, my other half, I have
missed you,” the clone said in Lillian’s own voice.

“My Sorceress,” Gregory said, emotion thickening his
voice as he swooped into a deep old world bow.

The other Fae took their cue from Gregory and bowed to
the Sorceress.

When Gregory straightened, he gave a little shudder
and then dropped to all fours and bound over to Lillian’s twin. “Beloved,” he
said as he gathered her to him, sheltering her in his vast wings. “Forgive me,
had I known, I would have been here sooner.”

“There is nothing to forgive.”

The Sorceress turned her gaze to Lillian, a hint of
pity showed in their depths.

Lillian didn’t bow, and she damn certain wasn’t going
to let this one see her tears. Instead, she returned her replacement’s pitying
regard with her own steely gaze, and said, “Welcome to the Mortal Realm,
Sorceress. It takes some getting used to, I’m told.”

And so too would this, but Lillian had survived
everything else fate, and the Divine Ones, had thrown at her, she’d damn well
survive this too.

The End

Lillian and Gregory’s adventures will continue
in Sorceress Triumphant, coming Fall 2016.

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