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Chapter 19
Afaint voice sounded in the distance, and it kept humming in my ears. I rolled onto my side to drown out the racket but bumped into someone in my bed. And last night crashed through me. Kahlo in my tower, us chatting late into the morning, and we must have fallen asleep. It was the first time a man had slept in my bed, and he’d been fully clothed—and no kisses had been exchanged. I wasn’t sure how to feel about that, though I loved that Kahlo chatted and laughed with me instead of going straight for sex. Our conversations were incredibly in-depth about my past, his theory on why shifters had come into existence, and how he believed people could make themselves orgasm without a single touch. Just by thought. Now that left me ultra-curious to explore.
Again, voices came from outside.
I opened my eyes to find streaks of sunlight pouring in from the gaps around the shutters on the window.
Was it Reed and Gage? And if I heard them, so did the gargoyle. My heart slammed into my ribcage. I rushed out of bed, pushing aside the sheets and my hair while Kahlo remained asleep. Gingernuts snuggled against his back.
I rushed to the window and heaved open the shutters. A cool breeze swept over me, washing away the sleep from my eyes. At the bottom of the tower stood Reed and Gage out in the open, the gargoyle lingering fifteen feet away.
Ice filled my veins. “What are you doing?” Before I could make sense of wat was going on, I clambered out the window and scaled down the wall.
“We’ve got this, honey,” Gage called out.
Got what? I glanced over my shoulder halfway down as both men picked up a huge bucket of water. It glistened and glimmered beneath the sun as if jewels floated inside. Was it the spell from Vanore? They’d found her! Despite the joy, panic dug its claws into my heart. How long had they been calling me?
The gargoyle’s wings thrashed, sending a gust of air toward me. It flew toward the shifters.
I shuddered and froze mid-decline, a scream pressing on my throat.
Moments from the stone creature slamming into them, the men tossed the water at the monster, drenching it from head to toe.
They both darted sideways as the gargoyle crashed into the wooden pail and fell to his knees.
In a hurry, I hauled my long hair, which seemed to take forever, and shoved it outside. Then I scrambled down the wall using the grooves in the stone, unable to stop staring down at the way the creature’s granite body shimmied and sparkled. My breaths spiked.
He unleashed an ungodly hiss, and I shivered when I hit the ground. No one moved. The three of us watched from a distance, my pulse racing too fast. I clasped my stomach.
The gargoyle stumbled to his feet, its face twisted into a snarl, its eyes wide, its mouth parted and its fangs exposed. But fear was etched on its expression. With wings wide, fingers reaching for its throat, it froze over. Gone were the glimmers and now only a solid statue remained. As it had been during the nights I’d gone up on the roof to work out a way to destroy him.
Unable to move, I struggled to believe the spell might have worked, not after all my previous attempts, and how Dustin had become the gargoyle when he’d killed the first gargoyle. Fear strangled my insides. Had the two shifters risked their lives? I’d intended to deliver the final blow. Not them.
Gage and Reed strolled closer, and my attention whipped from the gargoyle to the men. How long had it taken before Dustin had transformed into the stone guardian? A whisper of a moment.
I trembled all over.
Still nothing.
Emotions bubbled in my chest, ready to detonate. When Gage and Reed reached my side, I tried to speak, but it came out as a squeak. “Do either of you feel strange?”
I patted Gage’s smiling face, his chest, then turned to Reed, who refused to meet my stare. Why was he avoiding me? Regardless, I hugged him, never wanting to release him or Gage in case the spell took them. He hugged me, his embrace weak and not as strong as I remembered.
Still, the gargoyle hadn’t disintegrated. Breaking free, I took Reed’s and Gage’s hands in mine. “Are you both sure you’re all right?”
“Honey, I’ve never been better, so stop fretting. We’ve just freed you, sweetie,” Gage said.
My breaths refused to calm down, and I studied Reed, his pasty cheeks, the forced smile he offered me.
“What’s wrong, Reed?” I blurted out as I faced him.
Reed finally spoke in a soft voice, but the spark in his eyes no longer lingered. “I’m fine.”
“See?” Gage said. “We’re both okay, just exhausted and starving.”
“You both sure?” Unease nagged me that all wasn’t right. I sensed it under my skin like worms. They were hiding something from me, and it killed me because I’d asked no one to risk their lives for me. So what had they done?
“I’m ravished,” Reed said, and I nodded. “Let’s go upstairs and I’ll make a king’s breakfast.” He kissed my knuckles and climbed up my tower, while Gage embraced me from behind. His chin propped down on my shoulder.
