Page 24 of Urn My Love

My lungs began to burn and my muscles grew weak, warning me I was running out of time. But my battle ended a moment later when my head impacted against a boulder with a sickening crack. My body went limp as death claimed me.

The only thing worse than drowning in a river was regenerating underwater to find you need to fight for your life. Again.

Without my wings pulling me down, I kicked hard and managed to break the surface.

Just in time to catch a beautiful view of the golden hour sun turning the river gold as I toppled over a waterfall.

Iolani’s cry echoed through the valley and sent ice water through my veins. Before the sound stopped, I’d already shifted and taken to the air. Jazriel shifted and, using his wings, he ran across the river’s surface below me.

Fear weighed heavily in my stomach, a sensation I hadn’t experienced before meeting Iolani, but was becoming a common companion these days. Trouble seemed to follow the blue-haired bombshell wherever she went, and I was considering tying her to me just to get through a day without chaos.

My gryphon’s eyesight allowed me to see Iolani stumble from the woods that ran along the river. Crimson marred her skin, but I couldn’t understand what had caused the injuries. Not until she turned to run, and a large mountain lion jumped on her back. It tore into her wings and skin with claws and fangs.

I shrieked, alerting the stallion to the situation. We both pushed ourselves to reach her before our delicious mate became a literal snack.

Iolani glowed, then the cat dropped to the ground, buying us time to close the distance. Or so I thought.

My heart stopped beating as she staggered, falling down the steep embankment and splashing into the river where she disappeared.

Jazriel was foaming at the mouth at how hard we were driving ourselves. Still, I watched in shock as he dug deeper, lowering his head, his form seeming to dissipate into wispy shadows as he streaked across the river’s surface.

Surging forward, I hurried after him, all the while my eyes scanned the rapids, searching for any sign of Iolani. Her head burst from the churning water, but just as quickly, she was gone again.

My eyes caught a flash of blue under the water, but it disappeared as fast as it had appeared. No, no, no. She had to be okay.

I shrieked with relief when her head resurfaced again, but it turned to a pained cry when she fell off the side of the earth.

A waterfall.

Jazriel didn’t slow, launching himself over the edge. Together, we tucked our wings, diving toward the jagged rocks below, all the while searching for any sign of her. We hovered over the rocks at the base of the waterfall, thinking maybe she’d gotten hung up on one of them.

From the corner of my eye, I caught another flash of blue down the river from us. Turning, I stared in shock as Iolani crawled onto the riverbank.

My wings went weak, and I nearly dropped into the river myself. By some freaking miracle, she was alive and appeared to be unscathed.

Jazriel’s furious battle cry had me searching for the cause of his hurry. That’s when I spotted the large grizzly bear barreling toward the tiny female, who was still on her hands and knees, spewing up water.

The bear roared, and she finally looked up.

Rather than screaming in terror, she groaned as though she was facing an inconvenience rather than imminent death. “This day can go suck a duck.”

Jazriel reached her first, standing over her body and bracing for the bear’s impact.

I went straight for the bear just as his claws cut through the air toward Jazriel. Sinking my talons into his back, I hauled him into the air. Fury and fear warred inside me, and I struggled with how to handle my rising emotions.

“Don’t hurt him!” Iolani shouted, crawling out from beneath the pegasus.

I hovered mid-air, unbothered by the angry, six-hundred-pound animal swiping at my underbelly. What did she want me to do with him? Take him back to camp for a tea party? This wasn’t a teddy bear.

“He’s just a bear doing bear stuff.” She stood, wobbling on her feet.

Yeah, so? I was a killer gryphon doing angry gryphon crap.

“Please, August. Just set him down a little way from here. We can leave before he comes back. This is his home. We crashed it.”

Pinning my ears against my head in annoyance, I caved and flapped my way a half mile from Iolani and gently dropped the livid grizzly on the ground.

By the time I returned to Iolani, Jazriel had coaxed her onto his back and, with a soundless beat of his wings, he joined me in the sky. Rising above him, I glided just over Iolani’s head, studying her for signs of injury. I was still in disbelief that she’d survived.

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