I gobbled up the jerky, then the granola bar. Feeling a little more grounded, I left Jax to brood alone and headed over to check out the gryphon carcass. The thing was even more terrifying up close. The beak alone was as long as I was tall, lined with two rows of black, razor-sharp teeth.
A fresh wave of fear barreled into me, and I turned back toward the demon. “Why aren’t they back yet? What’s taking so—”
“Um, Haley? Less talking and more…” He grabbed my shoulders, then stepped us a few feet to the left.
A heartbeat later, another dead gryphon crashed to the ground with a thud.
Two figures emerged from the trees behind it.
Hudson was back in his human form, naked and glistening with sweat, his powerful muscles rippling beneath his skin, and yes, friends and neighbors, the answer to the question oneveryone’sminds…
Those tattoos reallydidgo all the way down.
He caught me staring. Winked.
Cheeks flaming, I managed to drag my gaze away from him long enough to check on Elian, who was still wearing that same smug, victorious grin he’d had after taking out the other gryphon.
“Two for two,” he said breathlessly, stumbling toward us. “If anyone’s keeping score.”
“You’re okay,” I breathed. I scanned him head to toe, not entirely sure I could trust my eyes. “I thought you were a goner, you dick.”
“All good, sparrow. Just… just a little…” He blinked, then fell forward, collapsing into my arms.
“Jax! What’s wrong with him?”
“Fuck. He needs to feed,” Jax said. “Come on, let’s get him on the ground.”
As Hudson dressed and checked our perimeter, Jax helped me get Elian situated against a tree. We cleaned the blood from his face, then fished out a couple of blood bags from the stash, helping him feed. But even after downing two in a row, he still looked pale and listless.
“It’s not going to be enough,” Jax said. “I was afraid of that.”
“We’ve got plenty more.”
Jax shook his head. “He burned through too much energy fighting the gryphons. They’ve got their own sort of dark magick, and it takes a bite out of you just as sure as those claws and teeth. Cold blood isn’t going to cut it. He needs to feed from the source.”
“Source?” Alarm spiked in my chest. “Are there even any humans in Midnight?”
“In the city, yes.”
“Jax. That’s a two-day hike. He’ll never make it.”
“You got a plan B? I’m all ears.”
“No, but…” I bit my lip, not sure if this was a good idea or a fucking disaster-in-the-making, but at that point, I was pretty sure things couldn’t get much worse. I pushed up my sleeve and made a fist, bringing my veins to the surface. “How about a plan B-positive?”
Jax glared at me, his blue eye boring right through me. “No.”
“Why the hell not?”
“Once he starts, he might not be able to stop. If he takes too much, you’ll—”
“He won’t. You’ll keep a close watch. If it looks like he’s about to O.D. on the good shit, just cut him off.”
“Have you ever tried to cut off a starving bloodsucker mid-feed?”
“Have you ever tried to tell a Scorpio-sun, Aries-moon blood witch that she can’t do something?”
Silence.
