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Tarun held her hand out, shaking first Damara’s and then Dmitri’s hands. “It’s a pleasure to meet you both.”
Dmitri nodded, glancing at Damara who spoke. “And you as well. I’m glad you’re staying here. It’ll be nice to have another woman around for a bit. It’s testosterone city here most of the time. Oh, and don’t mind my brother. He doesn’t speak much.”
Him and Liam both, apparently. Her nose wrinkled a bit as Dmitri and Damara’s scent reached her, and she frowned. She couldn’t place it. It seemed to be a mixture of mammal and flight shifter, but that made no sense. She must be smelling things wrong.
Damara laughed lightly, drawing her attention. “I think you must be trying to figure out what animal my brother and I have. You have the same look about you that most shifters we meet get. But if I told you, I’d have to kill you.”
Tarun felt her eyes widen at the completely serious tone in Damara’s voice, then was taken off guard when the other woman laughed. She watched as she glanced at Noah, received his nod, and then turned back to Tarun.
“I joke. I know I shouldn’t, but if you’d seen your face just then, you’d understand why I say that to some people,” Damara said with another laugh. The sound was beautiful. Husky and airy, all at the same time. “Noah says you are trustworthy, but please remember this is a very closely guarded secret. One that you must never tell a soul.”
She nodded, but her mind wasn’t entirely on the discussion. She’d been distracted by Blake coming into the room and calling out to Liam that he needed a tray of breakfast for Luke and Georgie.
Like they’d spent the night together.
What felt like a knife blade plunged itself into her sternum, twisting mercilessly until she wanted to cry out. She’d thought anger was the main, dominant emotion she felt—but she was learning that while she did feel it, and strongly, it was just masking the main emotion coursing through her.
Hurt.
And that just pissed her off more. It was clear she was stuck in a cycle of hurt and pain, and she wouldn’t be free of it while she was there. She was just going to have to learn how to endure it, though. She had no intention of leaving until the threat to the Enforcers and Luke was over.
He might be the cause of her hurt and anger, but she still didn’t want to see him hurt or killed. The very thought caused agony worse than the knife to shoot through her soul, stealing her breath.
“Tarun? Are you okay?” Damara’s concerned voice cut through the emotions she was suffocating under, and she forced a smile as she glanced at her and nodded.
Dmitri and Damara exchanged a glance, seeming to have a whole conversation without speaking a word out loud. They looked back at her and Dmitri spoke for the first time.
“I can see that there is something weighing on you,” he said, his voice gravelly and his Greek accent thicker, like he didn’t speak much. “I’m sorry for whatever bothers you. But in order for us to tell you what we are, we must have your promise to never tell another soul.”
Searching first his and
then Damara’s dark brown eyes, she nodded slowly as the seriousness of their request washed over her. They were probably dragons. They weren’t the first she would have met, but the dragons kept their existence a closely guarded secret to stay alive. “Of course. You both have my word that I’ll never tell a soul.”
Damara smiled impishly. “Good, because I think we could be great friends while you’re here. And it’s never good to keep big secrets from friends.” She paused and Tarun found a genuine smile, knowing her new friend was doing it for dramatic effect. Leaning close, Damara loudly whispered, “We’re griffins.”
Tarun’s mouth popped open and she felt faint as her gaze bounced back and forth from one sibling to the other like a ping pong ball.
Griffins? The mythical half lion, half eagle creatures? Those were real? She’d never in her life met one, let alone heard they even existed outside of storybooks and legends.
Holy. Shit.
Luke fought a yawn, his eyes watering as he ran a tired hand through his hair in a half ass attempt to comb it, trying to wake up. He’d finally managed to escape Georgie’s side around noon, and he went straight to his room, took a shower, and crashed.
He’d woken up early evening, his stomach begging for food, and threw on clothes that weren’t rumpled from sleep and started making his way downstairs.
Exhaling, he tried harder to wake up before he entered the bar, which from the sound of it was already hopping. He knew Georgie was milking the situation—that she was using it to try to stay closer to him than he normally allowed.
He knew it, but he hadn’t been able to make himself leave her side. Every time he saw her rapidly blackening eye, guilt swept over him and rooted him to his chair. Still, he couldn’t keep it up. He hadn’t given her any reason to believe he was suddenly into her. He stayed in his chair and never ventured close to her. But he worried his continued presence would give her hope that he was changing his mind about starting what she so clearly wanted.
And he also just plain didn’t want to spend all day in her room with her.
He fucking missed Tarun. So much so, it surprised the hell out him, but he was past the point of even trying to deny it. Every moment he was babysitting Georgie was just another moment he was away from the woman he most wanted to be spending time with.
The first thing he did when he reached the bar was stop in the archway and search for her. Disappointment washed over him as he realized she wasn’t in the room, but it was probably for the best. She’d been pissed the fuck off at him the last time he saw her, and he knew he’d need a clear head for the confrontation bound to happen when he saw her next.
The confrontation that needed to happen.
Grabbing one of the last empty seats at the bar, he nodded at Blake as he came over. “Hey man. Can you get me a plate of whatever Liam has already done, or close to finished? I’m starving.”
