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“If Brax goes gargoyle, it’s a physical shift and not so much a danger to Raven, so that may not help,” Eldon continues, working down the list of magic they can sprinkle in front of me to see if I can sense it.
“Creed?” Brax grunts, nodding in his direction to encourage him to help, but my quiet and observant Bishop scrubs the back of his neck with uncertainty.
“I’ve controlled her sight recently and there didn’t seem to be anything that she noticed. Besides, it’s probably not helping that she’s fully aware of what we’re doing instead of catching her by surprise with it.”
“That’s because she’s as unhinged as you, and you’re right,” Eldon points out, and my teeth instantly sink into my bottom lip at the memory before coiling into irritation at the fact that Genie had somehow managed to sneak into the woods and take advantage of a moment between Creed and me. She deserves another punch, this time to the face.
“How about you try something on someone else and Raven can see if she senses it,” Zane offers. Creed glances my way, waiting for a nod of approval before turning his attention to Brax beside him.
“Fucker,” my gargoyle grumbles under his breath, his hands clenching in his lap as he slowly blinks.
The hairs on the back of my neck stand on end and everything but the two of them fades into the background. Tingles ripple down my arms and I’m up on my knees and shuffling toward them with the next skip of my heart.
Stopping dead center between them both, the hairs on my arms are as sharp as those on my neck as I look at them. “I can feel… something,” I whisper, unsure how to label it, but I know it’s there. I’m certain of it.
Slowly, I lift my hand in the air and reach between them. Notateither of them, specifically, more at the energy I can feel zapping between them. My eyes close of their own accord as I inch closer and closer and when I softly blink them back open again, I notice the faintest blue line of what can only be described as magical particles seeping from Creed into Brax’s mind.
Holy fuck.
“It’s there,” I breathe, and everyone else remains silent as I start to eliminate the remaining inch between my fingertips and the blue glow. Just as my finger is about to sweep over the delicate strands, a thud vibrates the ground.
My heart races in my chest as my hand drops to my lap and I turn to find the culprit of the interruption.
Ari.
He looks exhausted, and the second I acknowledge it, I feel the weight of that tiredness in my bones.
I’m instantly on my feet and rushing toward him.
“Where have you been?” he asks, making my eyebrows pinch in confusion.
“What do you mean?”
“I knew you were in danger, I could sense your panic, but it was weak, like you were far away and I couldn’t get to you…” Does he mean the other day? Possibly.
“I’m fine. Is everything okay with you?” It’s clear that it’s not but I need him to acknowledge that. He dropped in here concerned about me when I’m clearly not the only one handling crap.
“Do I need to be concerned about another man here or…”
“What?” My head whips around to Eldon, who looks between Ari and me with a tense jaw and a frown.
“Tell him not to be a fool. Just because that one is a shifter doesn’t mean I am too,” Ari says into my mind, making me smirk.
“He told me to tell you that he’s a griffin through and through. No shifting involved. Is that okay?” I cock a brow at Eldon, who relents with a shrug.
“You can hear him?” Zane asks, and I nod, tapping my temple.
“In here, but currently, he can’t hear me the same way, so it’s a one-sided spoken conversation,” I explain, and a hint of guilt creeps up my spine with the fact that I didn’t mention that to them, but I quickly reason with myself. I haven’t done anything wrong and I’m learning what it means to have a familiar. Besides, I don’t need to lay out every inch of my life, right? When none of them speak up again, I turn back to Ari. “Are you okay? You seem strained.”
“That’s why I couldn’t get to you. I was recaptured with the other griffins until one of the professors recognized me as your familiar. I came straight here when I was released.”
“Released? From where?” I snap, anger coiling inside of me as Ari hangs his head.
“The compound.”
The compound? What fucking compound?
“Show me.”
