I swivel around and see holes and blood all over his golden body. He turns his backside toward me, and even as I hurry toward him, I can’t help but admire every hard line and hollow stamped into his golden skin. A part of me wishes he would turn around so I could see the other half of his magnificent body.
Clearing my throat, I gesture to the wound on the back of his thigh. “Do we need to find a doctor?”
Pain strains his deep voice. “If you can find me some clothes, I’ll work on healing myself.” Reaching back, he grips his thigh, and I watch as the muscles contract to get rid of the bullet. He pushes it out through the entry hole, and it closes a few seconds later.
He throws me a sharp glance. “Clothes?” He pauses. “My phone too.”
“Right. I’ll be back. In a second. With clothes,” I stammer like an idiot after handing him his phone. Pivoting, I shake my head to clear the vision of him in all his glory.
23
GATLIN
Sluggish from the toll of healing, I rest my back against the trunk of a tree while I wait for her to return. “Too fucking close. I barely got us out of there. They had a small army with them. Has to be a council member. Nobody else knows where we live.”
He knows I’m pissed, but I don’t tell him it was worth it. It’s been ages since I’ve flown with a rider, sharing the skies and wind with someone else. In the old days, gryphons had riders assigned to them, and I miss it.
Jamison softly curses on the other end, bringing my attention back to the call. “Can’t talk right now. Location?”
Phaedra strides into view, hair mussed from the ride, with a white plastic bag in her hand. Her long legs eat up the sidewalk as her head swivels to find me. “Hyde Park.”
“Seven,” Jamison murmurs into the phone. “Keep her safe.” He hangs up.
Her blue eyes are dark with worry as she strides up to me. “Here.” She thrusts the bag into my hands as well as one of the guns she’s still carrying. For a brief second, her worried eyes scan my naked body, but when she realizes I’m okay, she mutters something and turns her back to me.
I smirk. Shifters don’t have much modesty. Although if she’d stared longer, my reaction would have been hard to conceal. Reaching into the bag, I pull out a XXXL white t-shirt with a bright red double-decker bus on it, a pair of loose cotton pants, and canvas shoes. I wince. “Guess the park wasn’t the best landing place.”
She laughs and tucks a piece of hair behind her delicate ear. “Sorry. No military shops nearby. You’ll look like a tourist, which isn’t a bad thing.” She stops talking when a couple strolls by staring at me with wide eyes. “When you’re in your other form, they don’t see you, do they? I thought it was odd when nobody started screaming bloody hell at the sight of a giant gryphon landing in the park.”
“Gryphons were created by the Magi in ancient Persia,” I explain to her while I dress. “We served at their command. They gifted us with invisibility so we could carry out our duties. It’s only viable in our shifter form, though.”
“Wow. Ancient Persia. No wonder you’re cranky and bossy,” she murmurs with a sort of reverence. “So, you didn’t come through a portal like other shifters?”
“I was here long before most humans,” I gruffly admit. The years weigh on me heavily. Never thought I’d be alive this long. “You can turn around.”
She swivels to face me, and her face scrunches up as she tries to hold her laughter in. Sputtering, she nods several times, then manages to get a few words out. “That is one massive bus.” Laughter bursts out of her as she stares at my broad chest.
Huffing in irritation, I wait for her to find control. When she continues to laugh, I can’t help but roll my eyes at her amusement. Taking her hand in mine, I head toward the park exit, stopping only to purchase a flat cap to shove on my head. It won’t hide my hair but will help shield my face from the cameras.
“Did you know your gryphon smells like juniper and myrrh?” She muses with a side glance toward me. “In human form, though, I can only detect the juniper.”
I tear my gaze from the map on my phone to give her an incredulous look, barely resisting the urge to sniff myself. “What does that have to do with anything?”
She lifts a shoulder, but her cheeks flush. “Nothing. Never mind.” Her gaze sweeps past me to the sidewalk in front of us. “I turned off my phone. You should too.”
Keeping her hand in mine, I veer north toward “seven”—the seventh safe house on our private list. It’s about twenty minutes away, but I haven’t been there and need to doublecheck the GPS. “I don’t know exactly where we’re going, and I can’t conjure a portal.”
After a few minutes, she tugs me to a stop. “I need water and a burner.”
Suspicious, I shake my head. “We need to keep going.”
Her right eyebrow rises. Jerking her hand from mine, she backs up a few steps. “Fine. I’ll meet you at the bank in two days.”
Furious, I step into her space. “You’ve got a whole fucking army after you. There’s no way in hell you’re going anywhere without me.” I lightly tap her chest with my finger. “You’re not dying on my watch. Got it?”
She brushes my finger away and pivots away from me. “Don’t be so melodramatic. The leak is on your side. Nobody knows my contacts or safe houses. Besides…you’re not exactlyinconspicuous. I’m sure every camera in the city has picked you up. It’s only a matter of time before they swoop in and grab us.”
My jaw locks for a second, then I scoff. “I’m sure we’re both on their radar. You think you can disappear without them noticing?” In disbelief, I watch as she keeps walking. Striding up beside her, I grab her elbow.
