Chapter 18

Hendrix

Coming into town was a bad idea.

I knew the witch and her growing merry band of men were still sniffing around, but everything in me screamed that the treasure I hunted was in town, and there was no way of knowing if they'd discover it first. Things could get messy when people got between a gryphon and their treasure.

The vibrations pulling at my chest took me the long way around the town, partly to keep my presence hidden from those who might exploit my ability, but mostly because… ugh. People.

I trekked along the river and came out on a grass clearing that overlooked the ocean. It would have been a lovely spot to get some sun in my gryphon form if it wasn't already occupied.

The witch—Harlow, she'd told the dog—stood toe to toe with yet another man. I couldn't make out their words, but she seemed irritated. When she slapped him for kissing her, I had a moment of confused vindication before they came together in an explosion of lust I swore I could feel from where I stood. It was raw and borderline violent, and the longer I watched, the lower my mood dropped. Still, I couldn't look away as they shed their clothes and rutted like animals out in the open for anyone to see. I pointedly ignored the fact that I was the anyone in this case.

The polite thing to do would be to leave them to it, appreciate their distraction, and continue with my hunt. Instead, I stood transfixed as her supple body moved under him. My mind conveniently overlaid the soundtrack I'd heard the night before with her current state of undress, sending bolts of arousal straight to my dick. I'd used my hand to take the edge off before, but I refused to repeat the pathetic act and turned away as the sound of her completion drifted to me on the breeze.

Without much thought to direction, except to escape the scene behind me, I barreled into the woods. The woman kept showing up. Taunting me. I raked a hand through my hair, grimacing as my fingers caught in the unruly curls. I'd thought about cutting them more times than I could count, but…well… I liked my hair. It made me feel like I could keep my mane, even in human form. The twittering of birds and a low murmur of voices nearby kept me company as I moved without purpose, trying to use momentum to puzzle out the unwelcome feelings inside of me.

"Take care, if you're heading that way."

Startled from my thoughts, I swung around to find a dirty blonde man elbow deep in moss at the base of a nearby tree.

"What?"

"About two hundred yards farther in, directly on that path, is a nasty creeper that will burn through anything it comes into contact with. My friend lost a pair of sneakers yesterday because of it. Zero out of ten, do not recommend."

"What are you…?"

A heavy hand landed on my shoulder, and I cursed my lack of attention as the dog brushed past me with a cheeky smile.

"Choose a different direction if you want to keep stomping around. You smell stressed. And turned on. What have you been up to?" His white hair hung in long, straight sheets to his pecs. I bet he never had to deal with tangles. He didn't even seem to care about the ridiculous sequined cat t-shirt he wore.

"What are you doing here?" I asked instead of dignifying his intrusive line of questioning with an answer.

"Looking for plants with Kylen. Wanna help?"

No .

"Yes." My mouth formed the agreement before I processed what was happening, and just like that, I found myself kneeling right alongside Kylen in the dirt.

The nature witch was calm and engaging, explaining his research with a confidence I couldn't help but admire. In return, he was vocal in his interest in history, and while I wasn't about to tell him I was treasure hunting, my secondary passion was something I could lose hours talking about. I had a particular interest in supes and the crossovers between reality and fiction when it came to the myths and legends, but with the abandoned spaces of the world that I'd seen treasure hunting, I'd learned about those hidden spaces, too.

"So Atlantis?" Kylen asked, feathering his fingers through the leaves of a low-lying bush.

"Real. The whole underwater thing was a hoax, though. They had a coven of sea witches take over the government when the monarchy died and left the island destitute. Gambling debts, you know. So they raised a wall of water and used a masking spell to sink into the waves. Island gone, debt cleared, and everyone went back to business as usual. It was disappointing to find out the rumors of gold were just a myth."

Ranto snorted in his sleep, curled up at the base of a tree much like he had when he'd shared my camp the night before last, only this time he was still in human form.

I would never have admitted it out loud, but their company was…nice.

Maybe because they were both so connected to the earth that neither of them was likely to fall into the pit of empty consumerism and brainless gullibility that the masses overindulged in.

"What's the deal with the witch?"

I glanced around, hoping to find another person who had decided to speak up and ask the question that had been plaguing my mind. Nope. Apparently, it was me. Kylen glanced up with a small smirk that made me want to curse myself for showing weakness.

"Which witch?"

"Funny."

He shrugged, brushing dirt off on his ass as he straightened. "She's Harlow. We all kind of fell into this quest of hers, but between you and me, there's definitely some hinky fate thing going on here."

"There's no such thing as fate."

"Yes, there is," Ranto argued without opening his eyes.

"What would you know about it?" I'd traveled the world and never found definitive evidence of the existence of fate. Only anecdotes and starry-eyed believers whose stories seemed more serendipitous, like the discovery of penicillin, than the machinations of higher beings.

"Acts of fate guide my profession every day. An heiress's driver misses a turn and drives past her husband and his mistress on the street. A CEO's financial report file is corrupted, and he finds inconsistencies with his paperwork. A police officer asks a friend to help investigate an MC chapter, and he finds his mate along the way. Tangled webs, sure, but they always lead somewhere. You can't tell me all of these connections happen out of chaos."

That was exactly what I thought, but I'd learned a long time ago that it was useless to try to change someone's mind.

Kylen grunted beside me. "So you're investigating an MC, huh? Does that mean…?"

"Yeah, about that. If you could keep Bruin in the dark about it, I'd be in your debt. I didn't exactly mean to say that bit."

"Maybe it was fate?" I snarked.

Ranto didn't take the bait. He just let a slow smile spread across his too-perfect face.

A scream tore through the air, causing Ranto to spring to his feet as Kylen and I shared a look.

"Harlow and Bruin were hate-fucking on the cliff before. Maybe they went for round two?"

Kylen's face screwed up into a bewildered look, but before he could ask what the hell I was talking about, the sound came again.

"Okay, that was close. In town, maybe?" I said, trying to pinpoint where the noise could have come from.

Ranto and Kylen shared a look.

"Addie."

They bolted toward town, legs pumping hard as I stood alone among the trees. Whoever Addie was, it wasn't my business. I could just go back to my treasure hunt and enjoy the space the emergency would grant me. Away from everyone else.

Without making a conscious decision, I trailed after the men I'd voluntarily shared the afternoon with.

To…help?