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By the time we’re close to being done, my body is definitely fucking screaming, and I’m not sure whether it’s sweat clinging to the corner of my lashes or unshed tears of exhaustion. Those who couldn’t withstand the pain called time earlier, and now the number of students sitting out the rest of the class is greater than those still participating. The Bishops, Leila, and I are hanging on, some better than others. More specifically, better than me.
I’m sure Fitch is about to shout another demand at the group when a thud sounds from behind me and a few screams ring out, making my heart race as I whip around to see what the commotion is.
A few students are up on their feet, running past me faster than they’ve done any part of the training today, but instead of fleeing with the rest of them, I smile.
Ari.
His golden feathers ripple with the light breeze, his claws digging into the grass as I hear Fitch call time on the class, but I don’t turn around to look at anyone. Instead, I cut the distance between Ari and me.
“Is everything okay?” I murmur, worry instantly tingling through my veins at his sudden arrival.
“As amusing as it is watching you be put through your paces, the exhaustion I could feel between us outweighed the joy. I had to make sure it was brought to an end,” he grumbles into my mind, and I huff.
“Sorry about that.” I place my hands on my hips, stretching from side to side as he tilts his head down slightly.
“Don’t be.”
I don’t really know what to say in response, so I lift my hand to stroke over his feathers and fur, in awe at where the two textures meet at his side. Touching him instantly brings a sense of serenity I’m not at all used to, but I cling to it desperately.
“What do you do all day when you’re not checking on me?”
“I’m usually trying to figure out how to help take care of my pride.”
“Your pride?” I ask, my eyebrows pinching in confusion as I tilt my head back to look up at him.
“Yes, the other griffins in my family,” he explains, and I stare deeper at him.
“It’s played on my mind a little, but I always forget to ask,” I state, and he instantly bends his back legs to lower himself a bit more.
“Speak.”
I roll my eyes at his bluntness. “When I met you, the Gauntlet was set up as a simulation, in the sense that we wouldn’t die, so how on Earth are you even real? It doesn’t make any sense for me to actually find a familiar under those circumstances.”
Rustling sounds from behind me and I glance over my shoulder to find only the Bishops remain. Everyone else is long gone and it’s almost embarrassing how much I let the world disappear for a minute as I focused on him instead.
“Raven, that was a simulation for the students, not for the griffins.”
Horror burns up my spine as I take a step back, gaping at him. I want to call him a liar, but I know it to be true. The burning sensation in my veins, although it may cause an inferno in line with my own emotions, it stemmed from him first.
“They can’t do that,” I mumble, at a complete loss.
“Why? They did it with the sirens and used them as targets for the Gauntlet for their own gain. It’s been happening since long before now, and it’s not going to change.”
Shaking my head in disbelief, I can’t figure out how to comfort him, but then what he said moments ago replays in my mind. “How is it, exactly, that you’re trying to help your pride?” I already know the answer before he says it, but as the words slip from his mind, it only confirms the terror I didn’t know existed but now requires my attention.
“They’re held captive. We all are.”
TWENTY-ONE
ZANE
Athud vibrates in my head, unsettling me from the depths of sleep and leaving me disoriented. Rolling over, my mind groggy, I pull Raven’s sleeping form against my chest, hugging her tight as my nose nestles in her hair.
She spent the entire night worried about the captive griffins, another layer of stress to the already-building pile, and we were left none the wiser on how to solve the matter. I expected her to pull away and isolate herself in her own thoughts, but when I whispered some bullshit about the handbook, she smiled softly, placed her hand in mine, and let me usher her to my room.
As much as I wanted my fill of her luscious curves and stunning body, I kept my stiffening cock at bay and wrapped my arm beneath her, softly stroking her hair until she fell asleep. I wasn’t far behind her, a rarity these days, and I wasn’t taking it for granted.
Another rapid burst of thuds in the distance disturbs me even more and I blink into the dead of night, irritation curling in my bones.
