Chapter 27

As soon as his griffin had allowed him to return to his human form – which had been, thankfully, after they’d returned to earth, having spent the afternoon soaring through the mountain peaks – Kieran knew he’d have to come up with the best excuse ever and the world’s most groveling apology if he ever expected Natasha to speak to him ever again.

I hope you’re happy,he told his griffin as he walked down the main street of Girdwood Springs. We’ll be lucky if Natasha ever speaks to us again.

The griffin – perhaps, to its very, very slight credit – seemed a little contrite at having let its temper run away with it.

We are back now, it said, a little quietly. I have returned us to the town.

Yeah, four hours late!Kieran snapped back at it. You know there’s no chance she’s still waiting for us, right? At all?

The griffin seemed to retreat a little in baffled silence at that. Perhaps, Kieran thought, the problem was actually twofold: the griffin clearly feeling that he’d been neglecting it for far too long, and the idea of trying to impress the concept of punctuality upon a mythical being.

Maybe it just didn’t understand things like being on time, and so, when he wasn’t able to control its actions, as he hadn’t been able to lately, it simply forgot that humans just tended to like it when you were where you said you’d be at the appointed time. Especially when the thing you were supposed to be doing was a date.

Women don’t like it when you stand them up, and quite rightly so,he lectured the griffin as he walked. I know she’s our mate, but I don’t know if humans feel the mate bond in the same way as shifters do. And even if she did, that’s absolutely no excuse for being so rude! You have to show your mate just the same amount of respect as anyone else! Fate doesn’t matter if you just act like an asshole!

Whether or not the griffin was listening to him, Kieran couldn’t tell. It certainly didn’t answer, and its presence within him had shrunk as to be almost undetectable. Maybe it was feeling embarrassed about earlier. Griffins tended to be hot-headed, acting first and thinking later. But this was the first time Kieran had experienced it losing its head quite as badly as this.

But maybe it did also have a point…

He really had been neglecting it. He couldn’t blame it for feeling that way, and wanting to be let out a little more often than it was. It was a wild, mythical creature, after all. It wasn’t meant to sit in a cage, thinking longingly of the skies but never being allowed to soar through them, feeling the wind in its feathers.

I’m sorry,he tried to offer, inwardly sighing. I know you didn’t mean it that way. And I can see why you’ve been upset.

No answer. Perhaps the griffin, stung by his words, was sulking. In that case, he’d just have to let it come back in its own time, and maybe they could have a more reasonable conversation.

Walking to the diner, Kieran checked through the front window, hoping against hope that, somehow, Natasha might have still been waiting for him. But of course she wasn’t – he was more than four hours late, and she didn’t seem like the kind of woman who liked to be kept waiting. Kieran wouldn’t have blamed her if she’d walked out after only ten minutes, let alone four hours.

Still, on seeing her nowhere in sight, Kieran felt his heart sink and his shoulders sag. He didn’t know where she was staying, nor did he have her number. And even if he did, he really didn’t know how he’d go about explaining himself, especially via text.

No, if I want to try to win her back, I have to talk to her in person. Somehow.

It was possible, he supposed, that someone in town might know where she was staying. If she was from Girdwood Springs originally then she’d have old friends here – she probably would have let them know where she could be found, or if she hadn’t they could easily find out for him, or tell him if they’d seen her around.

The thought made his heart seize up in his chest, but Kieran knew it had to be done. What were the other options, after all? Flee town and never see his mate again? And even if she wasn’t his mate, basic good manners dictated that Kieran try to apologize for his bad behavior.

But maybe I should try to really make things up to her properly,he thought, as he made his way back up the street. It was late in the afternoon but before the restaurants started getting busy for dinner, so the streets were pretty empty now, and a lot of the smaller stores had already started closing up for the day.

Would a little gift be a good idea?Kieran wondered as he looked in the window of a small knick-knacks shop – but he realized he hadn’t gotten as far as finding out what kind of tastes Natasha had, or what kind of small ornament or artwork she might like. Perhaps it would be worse to bring her something she hated than nothing at all.

As he walked up the street, Kieran suddenly caught a whiff of the most incredible scent he’d ever experienced – sweet and spicy both, delicate and yet all-enfolding, warm and soft and special… almost like the smell of home…

Oh, it’s a bakery?Kieran thought, blinking, as he finally spotted the source of the enchanting scent. But it couldn’t be just a bakery – there was definitely something magical about it. Kieran could sense it from just one sniff. Whoever had made these cakes and pies couldn’t be an ordinary human.

I should check this out…

Making his way to the shopfront, Kieran read the swooping font that covered the front window – Sylvie’s Sweets and Bakery – before taking in another lungful of that delicious smell.

Definitely the place,he thought, as he pushed open the door.

Inside, it was even more obvious that whatever was in these baked goods – or whoever had made them – was something more than human. A memory prickled at the back of Kieran’s mind, as he tried to place where he knew this specific kind of smell from – until, finally, it hit him.

A unicorn must have made this food!

He’d heard – somewhere, sometime – that food grown and tended by unicorns was more flavorful, more delicious than anything a normal human, or even another shifter, could produce. But it wasn’t just the heavenly scent that told him that: there was an indefinable whiff of magic in the air here, and Kieran’s griffin senses immediately identified it as unicorn.

But where are they? Are they the baker here?

As if in answer to his unspoken question, the baker in question bustled out from the back, a cap on her head, an apron tied across her front. But Kieran could tell immediately that she was a normal human. There was no sense of being a shifter about her whatsoever. Kieran felt a little indecisive about what to do next – it was possible, he supposed, that the person she bought supplies from was a unicorn, and this baker simply didn’t know it. But if she does…

“Welcome to Sylvie’s!” the woman said, beaming at him. “Anything I can help you with? Or would you like to try a sample to help you make up your mind?”

“Oh – right,” Kieran stuttered, pulled out of his musings about who and where the mysterious unicorn might be. “Actually, I guess I could use a little help. Though I’m not really sure what to ask about.”

“Sounds serious,” the baker replied. “But I’m happy to answer any questions you might have about ingredients, allergens, flavors…”

“No, it’s less about that as… not being sure what would be the best thing to get for the person I need to get it for. Or if anything I could do would even be any good.” Kieran swallowed as soon as the words were out of his mouth, wishing he could take them back. He didn’t really want to go into too much detail about the problem – for one thing, he knew what an ass he’d seem if he were to say why he was buying it, but he wouldn’t even be able to give the true reason he’d been an ass in the first place!

Well, unless she already knows about shifters… but even so, how can I explain what’s been going on with me lately?!

“Well, that does sound serious,” the baker said gravely. “But if I can help, I will. Want to tell me a little about your predicament, and I’ll see what I can recommend?”

Kieran sighed. Maybe he could just be a little… vague about the whole thing.

“I need to apologize to someone,” he said. “I really messed up – I had a reason, but it’s not an excuse. I’d like for them to forgive me, of course, but… well, I feel like I definitely need to go a bit above and beyond for this. So any recommendation you can make would be really, really welcome. If you have a cake that reads ‘Sorry, I messed up big time’ in six-foot-high letters, that would probably be ideal.”

The baker laughed. “Well, I can’t say I do. But I definitely have cakes and pies that’ll go a long way toward helping you get your forgiveness. Is it a man or a woman you need to apologize to?”

“A woman.” Kieran swallowed again. Maybe he should just tell the whole truth – or as much of it as he feasibly could. “I missed a date with her, even though I really, really wanted to be there. I was… uh… unavoidably detained, and I just couldn’t make it. But I’d love it if I could get a second chance…”

He trailed off as he realized the baker was now staring at him, wide-eyed and open-mouthed.

Uh, did I say something wrong? I guess no woman wants to hear about another woman being stood up…

“It was you!” the baker exclaimed a moment later. “You’re the guy who didn’t turn up for your date with Natasha!”

Kieran blinked, surprise rippling through him. How does she know about that? he wondered – but the answer was obvious. He’d been thinking about it only a few minutes before – Natasha was from here, and clearly the baker was an old friend of hers. When he hadn’t shown up for their date, she’d clearly come here to commiserate with her buddy. And Kieran couldn’t say he blamed her.

“Uh, yeah,” he said, wincing. “But please, believe me when I say it really, really wasn’t my choice to do that, and I’ll do anything I can now to make it up to her. Or even just to get the chance to try to explain myself – if I can. I came by here to try to find an apology present for her.”

“Well, to be honest, she wasn’t very happy about it,” the baker said, eyeing him skeptically. “You don’t really look how I pictured you, though. I was thinking some rich sleazebag who’d rented one of the big chalets near the ski fields. But you don’t really look like that type at all.”

“No, I promise I’m not,” Kieran said, holding his hands up. “Definitely not rich, and I really hope not a sleazebag. And definitely not staying in a chalet. I’m staying in my uncle’s old place, on the mountain. Did you happen to know Henry Holmes at all?”

The baker’s eyes widened. “Wait, the old Holmes place? You really are staying there?”

Kieran nodded, wondering why she found that so odd. Perhaps it was simply because it had been abandoned for such a relatively long time that she didn’t think it would be habitable anymore.

“Uh, yeah. Just for a little while – my parents started to do it up a bit, so it’s not too run down at the moment. It has a generator and running water, at least.” And a bunch of stuff that goes bump in the night, but that’s not a bother. Except when it is.

“Okay, okay,” the baker said, holding up her hands. “One thing at a time, I guess. First, before I decide if I’m going to sell you a pie as an apology to my friend, you better tell me why exactly you stood her up in the first place.”

Kieran hesitated. He could hardly say Because my wayward griffin took over my body and insisted on taking it up into the mountains to have a little fly around, and I was only just able to get myself back under control. She’d think he was insane.

But what other reason could possibly be good enough to justify having stood up the most wonderful woman in the world?

The truth of the matter was, short of having been kidnaped by someone who wasn’t also himself in a different form, there really wasn’t any kind of justification for that. Could he claim car troubles? Could he actually say he’d really been kidnapped?!

“I’m waiting,” the baker said, raising an eyebrow.

But… if there’s a chance she knows about unicorns, then maybe…Kieran thought – and in that moment, he really was desperate enough to risk revealing the existence of shifters to someone who might not know about them, just to secure her help in trying to win Natasha back.

“Uh – well, you see, the thing is –” he began, not exactly sure where the sentence would take him, when he was interrupted by the sound of the back door of the bakery slamming open, followed quickly by the appearance of a tall man by the baker’s side.

“Sylvie?” he said, cocking his head at Kieran and narrowing his eyes as if sizing him up. “Everything all right?”

“Uh… yes? I thought so?” the baker – apparently the Sylvie from the sign out front – said. She glanced up at the man, frowning. “But maybe you don’t think so?”

It’s this man – he’s the unicorn!

The knowledge washed suddenly over Kieran’s brain. He couldn’t always tell what kind of animal other shifters turned into, but with mythical shifters, they usually had an aura of magic around them – and that magic aura was enough to tell him that this guy was definitely a unicorn.

And – perhaps even more importantly – that the baker Sylvie was his mate.

If they’re mates, then I can be pretty sure she knows all about shifters,Kieran thought, his knees going weak with relief. I can just tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth.

“You’re – you’re a unicorn,” he blurted out, his overwhelming relief getting the better of his control over his mouth. “So you’ll understand what I’m saying!”

The man – the unicorn – narrowed his eyes a little. “And you’re a griffin – I’ve never sensed you around town before. I was… surprised, I guess. That was why I came running in here. I guess I’m used to only ever sensing Caleb around town. He’s our resident dragon, by the way.”

A unicorn and a dragon?! Kieran had to admit he was feeling a little dizzy with the revelation. He hadn’t sensed either of them around – but then, he’d barely spent any time at all actually in Girdwood Springs.

“You have to help me,” he said, leaning forward and gripping the bench. “I accidentally stood my mate up for a date, and I need to find a way to apologize for it. I swear, I didn’t mean for it to happen – it’s my griffin. It’s like I’ve lost all control over it. It just shifts whenever it wants to, and all I can do is wait it out until it decides to let me go back to human form. That was what happened this afternoon, so I couldn’t go meet Natasha at the diner, for obvious reasons. And then –”

“Wait, wait, slow down,” Sylvie said, holding her hands up. “One thing at a time. First of all, Natasha is your mate?”

“Yes,” Kieran said miserably. He realized now he’d been babbling way too fast, and hadn’t explained himself properly at all. “Only I haven’t had the chance to tell her yet – or even to tell her that I’m a shifter.”

“And… you say your griffin has been going haywire?” the man asked, exchanging a glance with Sylvie. “I can relate to that.”

“You can?” Kieran asked, as hope bloomed in his heart that someone might finally know what was going on with him.

“Yeah.” The man nodded. “It happened to me a couple of years ago – not quite the same thing, but similar. My unicorn’s powers suddenly started going wild – I couldn’t touch anything made of wood without it bursting into flower. Even doors that hadn’t been trees for decades, painted and varnished… they’d start growing leaves and flowers like they were still in the middle of the woods. I couldn’t do anything about it but just try not to touch anything wooden. Made my life difficult for a while, I can tell you.”

Kieran leaned forward, hoping he wasn’t being too intense. “But you eventually found a solution?”

“You could say that.” The man smiled, before looking down at Sylvie, a look of utter adoration in his eyes. “I found my mate.”

Kieran leaned back, swallowing. Disappointment rose within him. “I found my mate too,” he said. “But it doesn’t seem to have made any difference to my griffin.”

“But you said you hadn’t told her she was your mate yet,” Sylvie pointed out. “Gale’s unicorn powers didn’t settle down until he’d confessed everything to me. So perhaps that’s what you need to do with Natasha?”

Kieran looked down, sighing. “I guess I already knew that – and believe me, it was my intention to tell her everything as soon as I could, and not just to get my griffin under control… if that’s what really will help it. She has a right to know, of course, and I wanted to tell her. I just worry I may have blown it.”

“Well, I wouldn’t exactly say she was happy when she came to see me this afternoon,” Sylvie said, in what Kieran supposed was the best way to put it diplomatically. “But I know Natasha, and although she puts up a hard front, she’s not heartless. If you went to her with a real apology and told her the truth – all the truth – I think she’d at least hear you out.”

Hope sparked in Kieran’s heart. “Do you really think so?”

“Well, let’s just say I think these are some pretty exceptional circumstances, don’t you?” Sylvie said, with a quick wink. “Hey, it’s not every day a guy comes along and tells you he’s a mythical creature and you’re his fated mate, destined to be together for all eternity. I can tell you from experience, that kind of thing can really turn a girl’s head.”

Kieran couldn’t help but join in with the quick laugh she gave, though he still had his misgivings. “Do you think she’s the kind of person who’d… well, who’d like finding out they’re a griffin’s fated mate? It seems perfectly normal to me, but to a human…”

“I can’t speak for Natasha, of course,” Sylvie said after a pause. “But I can definitely tell you that in my case, it was the best thing that’s ever happened to me. Well, top three, anyway.”

“Stop, you’ll make my head swell,” Gale laughed, putting his arm around Sylvie’s shoulder. “And from my side – well, I can definitely say no matter how nerve-racking having to explain everything to Sylvie was, it was definitely worth it. I don’t even remember feeling scared to do it now. All I remember is the look on Sylvie’s face the first time she saw me shift into a unicorn. That was priceless.”

Kieran had to admit, they both made good points. Yes, telling Natasha what he was – or showing her what he was – might be one of the most terrifying things he’d ever contemplated doing.

But the reward…

The reward – having Natasha by his side for the rest of their lives – made the risk pale into insignificance. He’d just have to hope she’d accept his explanation as to why he’d been late, and then he could tell her the rest.

“There’s just one small problem,” Kieran said. “I don’t know where she’s staying.”

“Oh, I can tell you that,” Sylvie said breezily. “As long as you promise to take some pie with you, as part of your apology. Oh, and maybe a bouquet of flowers, too. Gale will have just the thing.”

“I sure do. I was just making some deliveries to some of the local restaurants for their displays, but I have a couple of extras,” Gale said, as he began to head out to the back of the bakery again. “Wait here. I’ll be back in a moment.”

As he disappeared out the back, Sylvie turned to Kieran, cocking her head. “Oh – I think I got a little distracted with you suddenly announcing you were a griffin, and Natasha’s mate,” she said, frowning a little. “But did you say you were staying in the old Holmes mansion? Henry Holmes was some relation of yours?”

“My great uncle,” Kieran said, curiosity stirring within him at Sylvie’s dubious expression. “Is there… some kind of problem with that?”

Sylvie pursed her lips a little, opened her mouth, and then closed it again. “No… no. No, it’s nothing. Let’s just focus on one thing at a time. Like getting you back into Natasha’s good graces. Everything else we can deal with later.”

Puzzled, Kieran was about to ask her what she meant, when Gale returned from the back room once again, having apparently gone out to his car to grab one of his extra flower bouquets.

That’s not just a bouquet, that’s… that’s…Kieran thought, blinking in amazement.

He didn’t have the words to describe it. The bouquet was unlike anything he’d ever seen before, even though he worked full-time with plants and flowers. He’d never seen roses so red, so full, so brilliant, so delicate. The scent of them filled the air, alongside the gorgeous scent of the spices and sugars of the bakery goods.

“I guess what they say about plants tended by unicorns really is true,” he murmured, as he gratefully took the bouquet from Gale’s hands. “These are… these are incredible.”

“It doesn’t seem quite fair, really,” Gale said, with a half-smile. “I have a natural advantage, after all. But if these can help you, then I don’t feel too guilty about having used my unicorn powers to corner the market around here in floral arrangements and garden design.”

“Oh please. As if you had any competition to begin with,” Sylvie laughed. “No one was selling plants and flowers in Girdwood Springs before you showed up.”

“I guess you’re right,” Gale said, shaking his head. “But still. I keep getting people asking me what kind of compost I use, what my secret ingredients are. I have to be evasive and tell them it’s a secret family recipe.”

“I really can’t thank you both enough for all of this,” Kieran said, marveling again at the incredible bouquet of roses. “Really. You’ve both been kinder to me than I deserve.”

“Hey, there’s nothing I like more than helping shifters find their mates,” Sylvie said. “Just knowing how happy I am – and how happy Kira is, with her dragon – I can’t help but wish everyone could experience the same. Oh, but, don’t forget –” She ducked down suddenly, retrieving something from the display case next to the counter. When she rose again, Kieran could see it was a small, round apple pie, with a bay leaf settled on the latticed crust. “A little pie can go a long way. But don’t be offended if Natasha doesn’t want to eat it today. She already had quite a bit of cake when she was here earlier!”

I guess that’s understandable, if she was upset about being stood up,Kieran thought as he left the bakery, armed with the apple pie, the bouquet of roses, and the address of the BB Natasha was staying at, scribbled down on a piece of paper by Sylvie.

He was still nervous about what he had to do next, but he had to admit, listening to Gale and Sylvie – and seeing how obviously deliriously happy they were together – gave him heart. Surely, once Natasha understood the truth, they could be at least that happy together too?

And maybe there’s just something about Girdwood Springs that attracts shifters,Kieran thought as he walked. It seemed a huge coincidence that both a unicorn and a dragon had chosen to settle here, not to mention that Kieran’s Great Uncle Henry, himself a griffin shifter, had lived here for years and years.

Natasha’s BB wasn’t a long walk from the center of town – Girdwood Springs, no matter how much it might have changed since Natasha had lived here in her childhood, still only took about fifteen minutes to walk through, and the BB stood on the outskirts of town, just before the forest completely took over the mountainside again.

It was a cute little place, Kieran thought as he stood looking at it – the kind of place he would have liked to have stayed at, if he hadn’t already had somewhere to stay. A little brick building, with a small, neat garden out the front, and a garage out the back. A paved path that wended its way through the flower beds to the front door.

Well, Kieran thought, taking a deep breath, here goes nothing.

Before he could have any second thoughts, he marched up the path and knocked on the door, hoping that Natasha would be inside rather than out sightseeing.

But he was in luck – after only a couple of moments, the door cracked open, and Natasha’s – incomparably beautiful – face appeared.

And she did not look happy to see him.

“Natasha,” Kieran blurted, before she could slam the door closed in his face again. “I’m really sorry – please, if you wouldn’t mind giving me just a couple of minutes of your time, I swear I can explain.”

He held his breath, willing himself not to say anything more as Natasha’s eyes traveled from his face to the roses in his arms, to the pie box tied up with a little ribbon that Sylvie had very kindly made up for him. He could see her reluctance – but he could also see her thinking things over.

“You stood me up,” she finally said, raising an eyebrow as she turned her gaze back to his face.

“I know,” Kieran rushed in. “And I’m sorry – I really am. But I swear I have a good explanation. It’s, uh, a little complicated though. Would it be possible for me to come inside?”

“I don’t know about that,” Natasha said a little dubiously, and Kieran had to say he couldn’t blame her. Her face was still cold – but then, after a moment, she visibly relented. “But if you like, we can talk in the back garden, and you can give me your explanation.”

Kieran thought that was a fair compromise. Natasha opened the door wider and stepped out, closing it behind her before leading him around the side of the little brick house, and into a surprisingly expansive garden. It was only just now beginning to sprout again after the long, cold winter, but Kieran could tell just by looking that it would be spectacularly beautiful in spring and summer. Whoever had designed it had put a lot of thought and care into it, clearly.

“So,” Natasha said, gesturing to a wrought iron garden seat, next to a matching table. “Take a seat, and tell me what you have to say.”

Again, Kieran hesitated. He knew what he had to do – and yet, how to explain this?

This would be much easier if she knew about Sylvie and Gale, he thought, but Sylvie had told him before he’d left the bakery that no one in Girdwood Springs except her, Kira, and Kira’s mate Caleb, the dragon, knew about shifters and mates.

“Natasha…” he started, before, gritting his teeth, he decided to just come out with it. “The truth is, Natasha, that I’m not really like a normal human being.”

Natasha’s eyebrows shot up and her mouth opened, before she closed it again. Then, she shook her head. “Okay, well, that’s at least original. In what way are you different, then? You don’t own a watch?”

Kieran swallowed. Not a great start…but I don’t have much choice but to continue.

“No, that’s not it,” he said. “I swear, usually I’m very punctual. But what I mean is… I’m actually not really human at all. I’m what they call a shifter – that is, a human who can take on the form of an animal. In my case, a mythical creature.”

As he talked, he could see Natasha’s expression growing more and more confused, her eyebrows drawing closer and closer together.

Well, who can really blame her for that? he thought, as he tried desperately to come up with something more to say.

“I’m not the only one in the world,” he hurried on, without stopping to think about what he was saying. “There’s a lot of us around – some of us turn into mythical beings, like me, and others turn into regular animals, like cats, dogs, bears, even insects sometimes.” He thought for a moment about telling her that she already knew at least one person who could turn into a unicorn, but in the end, he decided against it. He hadn’t gotten Gale’s permission to reveal that he was a shifter, after all. “You wouldn’t know it to see us on the street, but I swear we exist. I know it sounds a little farfetched, but…”

“Uh, more than just a little,” Natasha interrupted him as he began to run out of steam, shaking her head. “So… instead of telling me you had car trouble, or that you got an emergency phone call, or literally any other even slightly plausible explanation, you’re saying the reason you couldn’t make our date was because… you’re a mythical creature, actually?”

“I know how unbelievable that is,” Kieran said, feeling desperate. This wasn’t going well at all. “But I swear, it’s the truth. Would I really say something so ridiculous if I couldn’t back it up?”

For a moment, Natasha hesitated, seeming to think over what he’d said. “I guess you make a point there,” she said, shaking her head. “And to be honest, I thought I’d heard it all, but this is definitely a new one.” She looked up at him, her dark eyes piercing. “So, you said you could back it up. I guess you’re going to offer to… what was it you said? Shift? In front of me then? Or are you going to say your mythical form is too secret for human eyes, or something like that?”

She’s still not convinced at all,Kieran thought worriedly. But that’s okay – I can in fact show her I’m telling the truth.

“No – no, I can definitely show you my griffin form,” he said quickly. “In fact, there’s nothing I’d like to do more. Can I put these down on the table?” he asked, gesturing with his chin to the roses and pie, which, he couldn’t help but notice, she hadn’t asked him to give her.

“Uh, sure,” Natasha said, giving him yet another bewildered look. “So, uh, just so we’re clear – what you’re going to do now is… turn into a, uh, a griffin?”

“Yes.” Kieran took a few steps back from the table, wanting to give himself plenty of space. His wingspan was pretty wide, after all, and his griffin form was a lot bigger than his human one. “Don’t be startled – it’s still me in there. No matter what I look like.”

“Okay then,” Natasha said, her tone turning a little curious. Was it possible she was actually starting to be won over a little? “I’m ready to see it. Go ahead.”

Kieran nodded. “Okay. Here goes.”

Taking a breath, he reached out to his griffin, calling it forward.

And was met with complete silence.

Um. Wait. Let me try again.

He closed his eyes, seeking his griffin where he usually found it, nestled inside his chest, waiting for him to call upon it. But now, when he searched inside himself he found… nothing.

Nothing at all.

What the hell is happening?!

Panic lanced through Kieran’s chest, not only at suddenly not being able to find his griffin where it had always been inside him – but also because he was very aware of Natasha’s eyes on him as he stood in the garden, very much not turning into a griffin.

“Does it usually take a little while?” Natasha asked, her tone still more curious than annoyed – but Kieran knew that wouldn’t last much longer.

He had to find his griffin!

Come on, please, he begged it, searching frantically within himself. I’m sorry I was angry before – I’m sorry I was treating you as if you weren’t an equal, as if you were something I wanted to keep hidden. I’m trying to reveal you now, and not treat you that way anymore. Won’t you come out and show yourself to our mate?

But there was no answer. Kieran recalled earlier in the day, when the griffin, apparently ashamed of its behavior, had retreated inside him, until he could barely sense it anymore. Since then he’d been too busy trying to figure out how to win over Natasha to have thought much about it. But apparently, it had decided to really make itself scarce now.

After weeks of coming out at the worst possible times, now you’ve just decided to disappear altogether?!

Kieran could feel desperation bubbling up inside him – desperation, and hopelessness. If he couldn’t get his griffin to appear, then he knew he would have blown it with Natasha forever. He wouldn’t blame her for not wanting to see him again, after he’d told her what appeared to be such a stupid, ridiculous lie.

“Okay, I’m not really sure what’s going on,” Natasha said after a further few moments of nothing happening. “Are you really going to turn into a griffin?”

“It’s… it’s not working right now,” Kieran said, knowing how ridiculous he sounded even as he said it.

“It’s not working, you say.” Natasha’s voice was as flat as her stare.

“No, it’s not – but I swear, everything I said was completely true,” Kieran said, knowing how desperate he sounded – but he was desperate. This had been his one chance to show Natasha what he was – to tell her what she was – and he was in the process of blowing it big time, just because his griffin would either appear or refuse to appear whenever it was the worst possible moment for either.

I can’t believe this,he thought, raking his fingers through his hair. This has never happened before – why now? Is my griffin that mad at me that it’d sabotage its own happiness just to ruin mine too?

“Right. Well. I think I’ve seen enough,” Natasha said tartly. She glanced at the flowers and the box containing the apple pie on the table. “You can take these with you if you like, too.”

“No,” Kieran said miserably. “I brought them for you – please, keep them. At least you’ll get some nice pie and some beautiful flowers out of this. But I promise you, Natasha, I’m not lying. I would never lie to you. You’re my –”

He stopped himself just short of saying mate. It would be just one more thing she probably wouldn’t believe him about. And right now, he thought he’d be better off just keeping his mouth shut.

“Please, Natasha. Can I try just one more time?” he asked, but even as he said it, he knew it was hopeless. There wasn’t a single stirring of his griffin within him. It definitely wasn’t going to show itself to her. For whatever reason, it had decided that Kieran was on his own.

Natasha bit her lip, looking at least for a moment like she might be thinking things over, but then she shook her head.

“No, I think it’s best if you just go. Look. You really need to just… own up to things if you make a mistake. If you’d just told me your car broke down or even that you just forgot, I might have been willing to give you a second chance. But coming here and saying… what, that you turn into a magical animal? How exactly did you think that was going to go? Or did you just think I’d believe it when you said it ‘isn’t working’ right now?”

But it’s true!Kieran felt the howl of protest welling up inside him. But he knew at the moment it’d just make things worse. There was nothing else he could do or say right now to make Natasha believe him – and to be honest, if their places had been reversed, Kieran knew he’d be thinking the exact same things as she was.

“I’ll go then,” he said, utterly dejected. “And I promise, I won’t bother you again. I’m sorry to have caused you all this trouble.”

For a moment, a flash of something that could have been remorse flashed across Natasha’s face, but then she looked resolutely away. “Thank you for the pie and the flowers, anyway,” she mumbled. “If you’d just told the truth, I might have been impressed.”

Kieran could only nod. There was no point in arguing further. Everything in him was screaming at him to take Natasha in his arms, to kiss her, to show her somehow that they were meant for each other – that she was his and he was hers – but he shoved the urge away, knowing it’d only make things worse.

Ignoring the searing pain in his chest, Kieran made his way back around the side of the house, and out onto the street.

The walk back to Great Uncle Henry’s house was nothing more than a vague blur in his mind – the overwhelming ache in his heart made it difficult to concentrate on anything else. It was lucky he knew the way fairly well – he had a good sense of direction – otherwise Kieran wasn’t sure that he wouldn’t have just ended up wandering aimlessly into the forest, not looking where he was going and getting hopelessly lost in the growing darkness of the early evening.

Which would have been an easy problem to solve if I had my griffin,he thought listlessly, as he made his way up the overgrown path that led to the front gate of the house. Is it gone for good then? Or will it come back at the least convenient time?

Despite how annoying it had been lately – to put it mildly – Kieran felt a pang of anxiety at the idea that it might never come back.

He didn’t think that was the case – right now, it was probably just sulking and trying to punish him. But still, the idea that he might, even temporarily, have lost it sent a terrible shiver down his spine. He was a shifter, after all – without his power to shift, what was he?

It’ll come back,he told himself as he made his way up the front steps and unlocked the front door of the house, toeing off his muddy boots when he got inside. It has to. And maybe, when it does…

Maybe then he’d have the chance to show Natasha that he wasn’t lying, and that everything he’d told her about himself was the truth.

And that she’s my mate. My beautiful, glorious mate.

But Natasha was only in town for a month – what if his griffin didn’t come back before that time was up? Why was it that he now had the opposite problem to the one he’d come here to try to fix? And how come –

Kieran’s thoughts were suddenly cut off as an incredibly loud thud sounded from above him – the same sound that had echoed through the house just the other night. It reverberated through the entryway, loud and insistent, as if someone were hurling breeze blocks down onto the floor from the attic above.

Not again…Kieran thought, as even more crashes and bangs suddenly tore through the air, loud enough that the beams of the house should have been shaking with it. But there was no movement – just the sounds, like a herd of elephants stampeding overhead.

“I don’t know what’s going on, but I really can’t tell you how much I am not in the mood for this right now!” Kieran bellowed up into the empty house, feeling very foolish even as he did so – but the anger, frustration and despair that were churning furiously inside him needed some outlet, and mystery house sounds seemed as good an outlet as any.

To Kieran’s surprise, the sounds cut out immediately – as if the herd of elephants had simply vanished mid-rampage.

Kieran waited, expecting that they might start up again at any moment – but no. The silence reigned.

Letting out a long sigh, Kieran muttered, “Well, at least that’s one less thing to worry about,” before dragging himself dejectedly into the house.