32. Talon

CHAPTER 32

Talon

“Fuck me,” Ash groaned, his breath picking up, his unscarred cheek flushing with desire from the shadow’s allure while Quill moaned softly and leaned into me, his lips seeking mine.

“Get your shadow under control,” Rider growled, his body tense, affected as well.

Movement over his shoulder caught my attention and the new arrival with the red hair who I’d seen with Rider the other night — and who everyone in the Garden was talking about — materialized on the grass by the pool across from the bench.

Rider’s gaze jerked to her as if he was suddenly aware of her presence and so did Ash’s.

Was she the one they’d been looking for every time they glanced in that direction? Had Rider been expecting her to show up? And why the hell would Rider be waiting for a woman? He didn’t want a mate. Isemay’s death had broken something inside him and he’d been adamant that he was never going to go through that again.

My shadow froze, its attention snapping to the redhead. She was… confusing. There was something about her that?—

Realization swept through me. Except it wasn’t my realization but my shadow’s and I had no idea what it had figured out. It recognized something about the redhead and that filled me with a churning mix of confusing emotions I couldn’t identify. Then it snapped back under my skin, curling into a tight ball in the heart of my magic and taking its allure with it. The others sagged with relief but I continued to spin, confused by its sudden withdrawal.

What the hell? I asked it.

But its response was more churning, confusing, hopeful, desperate, angry emotions that made no sense.

Ash shuddered and squeezed his eyes shut but couldn’t seem to make himself turn away from the woman.

“Thanks a fucking lot,” he ground out. “I still have four days before the novices can go to Lehyrst.”

And because he was scarred, he thought no one in the Garden would be with him and he had to wait until Lehyrst.

“If you need—” I offered.

His discomfort was my fault. Ash wasn’t particularly interested in men and we’d never been intimate before, but sex was sex for me. With the exception of Quill — and Rider a long time ago — sex had been a means of survival for me and my shadow, nothing more.

“No. I can’t—” He bowed his head and squeezed his eyes tighter as if he was tempted to open them and continue staring at the woman.

He was the most magically sensitive of our group and could probably sense the power in the redhead’s marks. Even now their glow was strong enough for me to see from across the garden. With the way he magically connected with women, seeing that power and thinking she’d reject him had to be painful… probably as painful as my shadow’s desire for Sawyer.

“We need to figure out what’s going on with your shadow,” Quill said, his voice soft, his body still pressed against mine. “Just hearing about Sawyer in danger set it off. It’s never done that before.”

“We can’t afford to have you leave,” I replied.

And not just because I wanted him near, but because it looked like there was going to be trouble with this year’s group of novices and Quill was the best one to help Sawyer since I couldn’t trust myself to be anywhere near him .

“We can’t afford to have it burst free again while you’re at the Tower,” he insisted.

“I can keep Sawyer safe,” Ash ground out as he started to turn into smoke.

“Hold up.” Rider sucked in a ragged breath, his attention still on the redhead. “It might not be your shadow that’s the problem but the boy.”

Ash resolidified but didn’t look up at Rider, just kept his head down, not seeing that the redhead rose, glanced around then ran down the path away from the courtyard. Which was really strange since women who’d yet to find their first mate usually headed straight for the courtyard.

“Talon’s shadow attacked the boy in a way we’ve never seen before, and now a shadow dragon just so happened to be flying near the Tower during the day,” Rider said. “What if it’s the boy, not your shadow? You said he’s twice fae-touched.”

“You think he has a magic that somehow attracts shadows?” Quill asked.

“Well, that would suck,” Ash said through gritted teeth. “But come on. There’s never been anything like that before, and the shadows are already acting strange. The boy wasn’t around when a pair of big cats attacked Frost’s team, and there have been more shadows out during the day.”

“We can’t risk it,” Rider said. “Until we know what’s going on, Sawyer can’t be beyond the Tower’s barriers without at least a full Guardsman present.”

“Then we’re going to need to cut climbing holds in the ravine’s edge.” Ash’s eyes flickered open then squeezed shut again and the muscles in his jaw flexed. “I doubt Mikel and his friends are going to stop ambushing Sawyer at the log bridge anytime soon, and the rest of the Guard will be pissed if you assign someone to watch the boy when he’s running the trail.”

Which was the biggest problem with Sawyer. He hadn’t earned the Guardsmen’s trust, and I hadn’t done him any favors by attacking him yesterday and making him miss training. And as much as I usually agreed with Rider’s philosophy of letting the men work it out among themselves, my shadow was pissed that Sawyer’s life had been in danger and that he’d been hurt, not to mention been forced to run the trail while injured.

“And speaking of watching. I’ve really got to go.” Ash vanished into a puff of smoke before we could confirm that we were meeting again tomorrow night.

A few yards away, two men materialized near another group of stone benches — since it was considered rude to materialize anywhere other than the lawn. They stepped onto the closest path heading to the courtyard, their attention locked on Rider, their expression a mix of fear and that same “lucky bastard” expression the other men had had .

“What the fuck is wrong with everyone?” he snarled. “I’ve been getting weird looks all night.”

Quill shot me a questioning look, but I shrugged. I had no idea what was going on, either.

“I should go, too, and check the history books in the Black Tower’s library tonight,” Quill said. “I doubt I’ll find anything, but it’s worth a check. Tomorrow, I’ll go to the White Tower and see if Briar has any new research on shadows.”

“Also see if you can find out if there are any types of magic other than Talon’s that might attract shadows,” Rider added.

Quill nodded then vanished in a puff of smoke and Rider leveled his hard, silvery glare on me.

“Do you need to feed your shadow?” he asked, his wolf darkening his voice, and I couldn’t tell if he was going to order me to find someone to fuck, or attack me and fuck me himself.

The thought sent a shiver rushing through me. I loved Quill, loved how we fit so perfectly together, but every now and then I missed Rider.

In the early days when I’d first been infected, Rider’s ferocious, violent passions, had helped fuck my shadow into submission. But then he’d met Isemay and his love for her had shattered him.

And there wasn’t anything I could do about it. He’d sworn he hadn’t bonded with her, couldn’t because she was human, but the way he reacted to her death told a different story, and most fae men never recovered from a broken soul bond with their female mate.

“It’s not hungry,” I said, making Rider raise his eyebrows in disbelief. “It’s not. It’s…” I had no idea what was wrong with it. “Sawyer has a lot of whatever it needs and its concerned about the boy being in danger.”

“It needs to get over itself,” Rider commanded. “The boy is a Guardsman. He’s always going to be in danger.”

But that only made my shadow more determined to protect him… which was going to be a serious problem when I had to leave the Gray and resume my post as Captain of the Gold Tower.