13. Chapter 13

Chapter 13

He looked faintly amused to be greeted with so much aggression. Not one line of his body said that he was concerned about it.

‘Hi, Bastion,' I said warmly, before any of my protectors could make a foolish move. To further demonstrate my affection, I stepped closer for a hug. As I gave him a firm squeeze, something – perhaps a tendril of my piping magic – told me that he really needed the contact so I held on longer than usual. I drew back to look at him. ‘Are you okay, lovely?'

He didn't look okay: the bags under his eyes big enough to pack for a week-long holiday and his shoulders were drooping slightly. He was tired.

I frowned. ‘Have you not had the witch's curse removed?'

When we'd rescued the kidnapped kids from the black witch, Bastion had kicked down a door and pulled down a hefty curse on himself. He'd required the blood of the cursing witch, Mrs Dawes, to lift it and he'd collected her blood when I'd killed her. He should have had the curse lifted by now.

His lips pressed tightly together. ‘No. The witches are currently refusing to help me.'

‘What? Why?' I asked, outraged on his behalf.

‘I believe Amber DeLea still holds a grudge for me killing her lover,' he admitted mildly, as if she were being unreasonable. To him, murder was just business.

I reached for my phone. ‘I'll speak to her.'

He stilled my hand. ‘No. I'll deal with her when the time is right.'

‘And when will that be?' I huffed.

He smiled. ‘When I'm at death's door.'

I looked at him critically. ‘Are you sure you're not already there?' I asked bluntly.

‘I'm a long way from it yet,' he assured me calmly. ‘Jinx has sent me here to help you, and I also come bearing a gift. I heard on the grapevine that you needed this.' He fixed me with a hard look. ‘I had to barter for it and the price was steep, so you'd better really need it, Lucy Barrett.' He pulled out a squat vial of black liquid.

‘Final defence?' I breathed .

‘Indeed.' He passed it to me. ‘Keep it with you – though with your werewolf healing, I'm not sure why you need it.'

‘A seer told me to get it.'

He nodded. ‘Then it is right that you have it.'

‘What do I owe you?' I asked, pocketing the precious liquid. I knew the potion was beyond rare: rumour was that the griffins paid a cool million per bottle.

Bastion's eyes warmed. ‘Nothing, kiddo.'

I would bite anyone else that called me a pup, Esme grumbled. But I will overlook it in this case.

‘Very gracious of you, Esme,' Bastion replied aloud. The griffin's skills transcended language; he was a coaxer, which meant he could communicate with anyone and everything. He could also encourage people to carry out any action or behaviour that they wanted to. He couldn't make you do something that was completely against your moral code, but he could make you do something that you'd been toying with. It made him a rare and dangerous commodity.

Bastion looked at Greg. ‘Manners,' he greeted him belatedly as Greg finally holstered his weapon.

‘Sam,' Greg replied, calling him by one of his many aliases. He looked Bastion pointedly up and down. ‘You look like shit.'

Bastion was amused. ‘Thank you, brother.'

Greg closed the distance between them and gave him a one-armed hug. ‘Thanks for the potion,' he murmured, not quite low enough that I didn't hear.

‘I love her, too,' Bastion said softly in response. ‘Albeit in a very different way.'

‘It had better be!' Greg shot back in a low growl.

Bastion held his hands up slightly in mock surrender. Aww: I was feeling all loved.

Jacob shifted his claws back to hands. ‘That's incredibly useful,' I said, impressed. ‘Can I do that? A partial shift?'

‘I don't know,' Jacob admitted. ‘We can do it because we've spent a lifetime shifting. It's like muscle memory; our bodies know how to do it even without our wolves still sharing our skin. I don't know if you can do it, you're relatively new to being a werewolf. But that's not the full extent of our powers.' A moment later his head shifted, and where his human head normally resided there was a wolfish one instead. Jacob opened his mouth to let me see his razor-sharp teeth. A moment later, he shifted back.

‘Awesome!' I enthused. ‘And do you have to go to Common to recharge after doing that?'

Jacob shook his head. ‘No, none of the dark seraph do. Something in our time as gargoyles has moved us to the creature side of the boundary, even though we're all largely humanoid. We no longer have need of the Common realm.'

‘That is incredibly useful,' Greg said. ‘How many of the dark seraph did you ask Reynard for?'

‘Only a few,' Jacob said. ‘For now.'

Greg grinned, looking like a siren who'd sung the perfect song. Soon he would have roof guards that didn't need to go to the Common realm to recharge their magical batteries.

Tristan was still on four legs and his wolf's mind reached out to Esme. His tone was respectful. Alpha, since we are shifted, we will patrol the grounds tonight. We hope that by doing so, you will rest easy.

Thank you, Arden , Esme said warmly. We are grateful.

I opened the door to the office and Tristan trotted out. ‘Can you teach me how to shift like that?' I asked Jacob. ‘Partially, I mean?'

‘I can certainly try.' He bobbed a bow. ‘There is no time like the present.'

An hour later, a yawn cracked my face again. ‘I believe we have achieved all we can tonight,' Jacob said. ‘Now it is simply a matter of practising what I have taught you. In the meantime, I will resume my position on the roof.'

‘I'll join you,' Bastion said lightly.

‘You're staying?' I asked, surprised.

‘For now, Lucy Barrett. For now.'

The two men left and Greg pulled me into his arms. ‘It's been a long day,' he murmured. ‘I need some energy to see me through. I propose eating some decadent chocolate cake and then I'll show you a PowerPoint presentation I prepared earlier. It's called The Art of Seduction , subtitle: All the Ways I Know to Make You Scream .'

My mind went blank. ‘Yes,' I said firmly, grabbing his hand and dragging him out of the office. ‘Let's go.'

He smirked.