WingSpan (Taken on the Wing Book 1) (25 page)

“Dame Shadow,” Black-Eye announces.

Stupid fuck, she’s past the point of listening. Stray sparks run down the long feathers at the tips of her wings and her sharp nails have thickened extending nearly an inch past her fingertips. She’s too young to shift any more than this but it isn’t enough to stop her from threatening him with all she has at her disposal.

As Talon fights the urge to stay out of the angry female’s way, Shadow makes her move; one arm around Cloud to support the girl’s weight and her other sinks long nails into Black-Eye’s wrist.

“Release her,” Shadow orders. A smart gryphon would but this one persists.

“Dame Shadow, this child has been accused of murder.”

“Bullshit, fucknuts,” she hisses and knees his groin hard enough to shift his armour and get his attention.

“I didn’t,” Cloud whines, able to speak now she’s not dangling by her hair.

“Let her go.”

“Do it,” Talon says as he gets between his mate and Black-Eye. It’s far from the riskiest thing he’s ever done, getting in the way of an angry dame, but it’s right up there. Shadow’s maternal reaction to Cloud has turned the girl into something far more precious than Tawny’s annoying brat. The danger to his mate’s offspring has him ready to draw blood.

Then Black-Eye’s arm retracts as Talon’s wings take the place of Shadow’s protective shield and create a wall marking both females as his. A glance over his shoulder shows Shadow backing away, Cloud nearly invisible in a cocoon of white feathers. Talon joins them at the far side of the chamber before dropping his wings. Cloud is so distraught Talon does the one thing reserved for a male’s mate, female offspring or sibling.

He gives her affection, gently cradling the back of her slim neck in his hand and finding the pressure points that relax her. Loose red hair falls from Cloud’s head in clumps as the standoff continues; the males at the tunnel haven’t taken their eyes from the angry white gryphon and Shadow hasn’t taken hers from Black-Eye.

“Dame Shadow,” he tries again. “The child has been accused of murder.”

“Don’t speak to me again, fucknuts,” Shadow hugs Cloud even tighter and with a nod of her head at Soar she points at the ground in front of Black-Eye.

“Dame Shad—”

“We have disturbed you, Dame Shadow,” Soar interrupts with a carefully framed acknowledgment of their brutal intrusion. “A gryphon was murdered and Cloud was found with her hands on the victim’s throat.”

“I didn’t,” Cloud moans, desperately looking in Shadow’s eyes.

“She has implicated another in the crime. Sire Lev suggests you may be sensitive to dishonesty as your dame was and Sire Sher and Dame Arden have agreed your validation of this child’s story is sufficient to condemn or clear her.”

Fucknuts is a far better name for the big gryphon than the one Talon can’t remember. He stands until his cohort hits him in the back of his knee, buckling it and prompting him to get on the damn floor.

“Murder,” Shadow whispers but the revelation that shocks Talon is the word dishonesty. Could it be her tears that made him truthful to her? But she nods at Soar like she knows exactly what he’s talking about.

“Cloud? Are you hurt?”

Cloud pushes Talon’s hand away and shakes her head, painfully holding her chin up.

“That’s a lie, Cloud. You’re hurt.”

Cloud tries to drop her eyes but Shadow won’t let her. She places her fingers under Cloud’s chin and refuses to accept submission instead forcing the girl to remain proud. Shuffling at the other side of the room draws Clouds attention.

“It’s just us,” Shadow says. “Tell me what happened and pretend they aren’t there.”

“Yes, Dame Shadow,” Cloud answers. The importance of her words isn’t lost on her since the punishment for murder could be death. “I trust you will treat me fairly.

“I was turning in for the night and there were voices outside my den and she was scared and he was mad and she said she wasn’t going away with him anymore because it meant Talon would be hurt and she wasn’t going.”

Shadow looks at Talon as she clamps down her worry then refocuses on Cloud.

“There was fighting and I looked out. She shrieked and all I saw was wings hiding them and blood running down her legs and then she fell to the ground and he stepped into the shadows.

“But it was too late. I saw him and he ran at me. He said if I told I would be next.”

Cloud shakes and Talon gets his hand ready to settle her down but she bravely pushes it away and gets herself under control.

“There were voices and he disappeared so I went to her. Shadow, she was always nice to me. She showed me human things and even helped me outside once to fly.”

Oh no,
Talon’s stomach loosens.
Not her.

He knows this story, might have even looked the other way so Cloud could have a taste of the sky. An unofficial right of passage; sneaking out. Punishable of course but gryphon children had been doing it for thousands of years.

“I put my hands on her throat and tried to keep her alive. I thought if I held on until Tawny got there she would be okay.

“I tried so hard to hold on to her, Shadow. I really tried.”

It’s the same thing Shadow said about her brother. One look at his mate tells him what he can already feel. Cloud’s anguish hits too close to home. All he needs is the name and he’s going after the killer himself.

“At first I thought it worked when the bleeding slowed but then I knew it didn’t. Her heart stopped.”

“Who?” Shadow whispers. Cloud’s wings drop, displaying sadness and defeat.

“It was Torrent, Dame Shadow. Torrent killed Swift.”

In seconds the room explodes in feathers.

Sher’s bruised gryphon shouts at Shadow over the big wild cat fight between Talon and Soar. She can’t make out his words over the high pitched growling and all she wants is a moment to deal with her own stirred up grief so she can comfort the scared teen she’s started to love.

A gap between Soar’s dark and Talon’s golden brown wings gives Shadow a glimpse of Talon’s fist striking his friend’s already split lip then their wings slap stone beneath as the pair rolls across the den. Their fight is brought to an end by a stunning crash under the lone light. Soar has Talon from behind in a wrestling hold and after few tense seconds Talon’s eyes droop and he goes limp.

“Dame Shadow?” Black-Eye returns to his knee. “Is her story true?”

“It’s true,” she answers.
I thought I told you not to speak.
Sher’s two guards retreat down the hall as Soar rolls Talon to his side. Both are bloodied. Soar’s lip bleeds down his chin as his tongue explores the gash.

Her Talon has been with Swift. Not recently, but there’s no way of knowing exactly how long ago. Had Shadow’s encounter with Talon the previous summer been enough for Talon to break it off? And Swift said they’d been together a long time. Even if it ended a few years earlier Shadow can understand if he still feels responsible for her. She’d be disappointed in him if he hadn’t.

Shadow shrugs it off and focuses on Cloud. For the girl to bear witness to a murder after surviving so much death already is far too much to ask of her fifteen years.

“Talon,” Soar nudges him with his boot. “She’s with the females now. Your place is with the living.”

“Fuck.”

“Yeah, buddy. Let’s go for a walk.”

Talon accepts Soar’s extended hand and both flex their wings to straighten their ruffled feathers. There’s a bruise on his jaw and several scratches on his chest since he’s not wearing leather like Soar.

“Shadow,” he gives her the smallest nod as he speaks to the floor. “My reaction was inappropriate.”

“Talon,” she calls and he straightens with a loud sigh.

What can she say that’s not going to sound like an apology? I sorta liked your ex-girlfriend? Or go with something formal and call him gryphon? The seconds drag on as Shadow finds two words that work.

“Thank you.”

Thank you for taking care of Cloud, for being honourable and caring about Swift even when you knew there was nothing left to do. Thank you for giving me a chance to let Cloud speak and thank you for the past, present and the future. Shadow hasn’t yet thanked him for any of the complicated pieces he’s fit into her life. She’s not sure which one he understands but the tightening around his lips acknowledges her gratitude.

Soar takes his elbow.

“Dame Shadow, we’ll be stationed at the tunnel entrance until we’re certain Torrent is in custody or is no longer in the eyrie.”

But she looks away, her focus already on Cloud. Still unable to speak to Soar, she’s not disappointed to hear their steps recede into the dark tunnel.

“She was the only one who ever came close to trusting me,” Cloud shivers. “Until you came and showed me what it’s like to be trusted she was the only one who ever did.

“Sometimes I would go to her den when I couldn’t sleep and we’d talk. She knew I don’t think of this eyrie as home and promised she would help me find a good place. Maybe a human home or another eyrie. She was sad since Talon stopped coming here and when she started spending more time with Torrent it made her happier.”

As much as Shadow wants to be reassured about Talon and Swift it’s his story to tell. It would be terrible to use the traumatized teen for gossip. As Cloud finishes speaking she trembles and falls asleep, breathing deeply in Shadow’s arms. It feels like four in the morning although it can’t be much past one.

Swift was more than another gryphon in the eyrie. She’d been one of Cloud’s few friends.

Shadow smoothes worry from Cloud’s forehead with her fingers, kissing the last of it away before pulling the rough blanket up.

The scent of blood from Talon and Soar is quickly overwhelmed by Swift’s in rough red patches on Cloud’s knees and hands. Shadow tucks the blanket tightly under Cloud and disappears down the hall, hands outstretched until she’s certain her eyes can handle the blackness.

The two gryphons are perched at the tunnel opening like pigeons on a telephone line though they would probably find the analogy offensive. They kneel with their wings neatly folded at their sides, tapering tips pointing at her as she nears.

“Can you leave us alone, please?”

“No, Dame Shadow,” Soar answers. “Sire Lev is safe with the remainder of his guard. I have been ordered not to leave your den until we are certain there is no more danger to you.”

“I see you’ve left it already,” is her tight reply.

“Go, Soar,” Talon mutters and Soar reluctantly makes his way up the tunnel. He doesn’t go all the way to the den and judging by his grumbling isn’t happy she’s held him to the letter of his orders and not their spirit.

Shadow is wary of the ledge and Talon’s words about being prey so she kneels beside him as close to the drop off as she dares. Even though she’s built for flight, going over the edge is still something she never wants to do.

“I saw her the night before last,” Shadow needs to talk about Swift. “We had dinner in Jasper and she said I needed to talk to you. She reached you in Parksville and said you’d come for me the next day but Torrent got to me first.”

“What? I’ve been here nearly a week.”

“She said—”

“Nearly a week. You didn’t know you’re a royal gryphon and he would have had you punished if I wasn’t here to explain for you.”

“Oh God, it makes sense.”

Swift called Torrent, not Talon and for some reason regretted whatever put her in league with him. Talon had been on trial too and Swift wanted out rather than see him hurt. Shadow’s tail coils around his and he pushes his closer, accepting the gesture. She leans forward enough to make out the hurried movements of a few gryphons in the silver lights.

“Before Terry died I was dating someone,” she says. There’s nothing she’d dare say suggesting she understands since her loss is so different but maybe she can draw him out. The only reward for keeping it in is pain. “He was really nice, caring. He would tell me all the amazing things he’d do for me. I’d struck out a few times and he seemed different. As kind as he was on the inside I thought he was as tough as Terry on the outside.

“Then there was a day I got home alone. He was meeting me there but two other guys got there first,” Talon turns as she continues and she can’t help but feel ashamed. “My apartment was trashed and as they ran out I challenged them. I felt so brave thinking he was there beside me and I took a swing at one like Terry taught me, tagged him and broke my hand but he hit me and as I went down I saw my knight disappear down the hall like a solid coward.”