Page 44 of Urban Gladiator

As much as my wolf wanted to kill him for thinking he could touch my mate, he was a pathetic creature, and I didn’t have the heart. At the end of the day, he was rather harmless. But at least I knew where Ember was headed. She’d flown off with the griffin.

A fucking griffin.

Those smarmy bastards were always wheeling and dealing. They cared about riches and status. And someone like Ember was a diamond among the rank and file. No matter what she might think, the griffin was not her savior. I doubted he had taken her to the border between our lands and the human world. The most likely scenario was the griffin had taken her to his lair. But he wouldn’t kill her. He’d either take her for himself or ransom her off to the coven.

Either way. “I’m going to kill him.”

“Tomlin is harmless,” Simon scoffed.

Determined to find Ember, I marched toward the cave exit. “Not him, the fucking griffin.”

“I’ll help you take him down as long as I get a bite. Griffins have extremely potent blood. I’ll be high on it for weeks.”

“Fine by me. We’ve got their scents. But it will take some time to track them down once we get to griffin territory.” But I knew what that fucker smelled like. The thought of tearing the bastard limb from bloody limb filled me with purpose.

“Not like I’m doing much else. Let’s go. Or would you rather let her go and save yourself the headache?”

My wolf snarled and snapped at him. Simon held up his hands. “Backing way the fuck up. Won’t happen again, old friend. Never let it be said that I stood between you and your mate.”

The only reason I didn’t take a chunk out of him was because we were friends. Anyone else would already be dead. “Come on.”

Simon could move through the day only because he’d lived so long. Vampires couldn’t tolerate sunlight until they were at least a thousand years old. We raced through the forest. But it was tough going with all the mountains we had to climb. It made the trek take twice as long. We spent the remainder of the day and another night traversing the landscape.

At midday, we crossed the border from giant territory into griffin territory. Griffins were communal creatures, but they were also hoarders of gold and luxury items they didn’t want anyone near, much like the dragons. Villages were scattered throughout the territory. But each griffin’s home was leagues away from the village because they valued privacy in order to protect their hoards.

We searched through the first five villages we came upon. But we didn’t find a trace of the griffin’s scent and came up empty-handed. The sun was beginning its nightly descent when we reached the sixth village and I caught the griffin’s scent.

“Smell that?”

“Yes. There’s not much, but it’s there. It’s older, weeks old, by my reckoning.”

“We follow it. It should lead us to his home.”

“Agreed.”

“And when we arrive, I will deal with the griffin. Once I’m done with him, you can have all the blood you want.”

“Understood.”

With my snout near the ground, we followed his scent for miles. The route twisted and turned through the forest. Then climbed in elevation on the side of a mountain. It was one of the big ones too, a fourteen-footer.

“There.” Simon pointed ahead when we reached the top of a ridge. All that stood between us was a small meadow. Ember would be mine before the sun set tonight.

The griffin’s lair was a stone home that had been carved into the side of the mountain. As homes went, I respected his ingenuity and defensible position. But that didn’t absolve him of his sins. He would pay for touching my mate.

“Let’s go.”

“Once I know you’ve got her, I’ll head home and leave you alone. I’m sure the two of you have plenty to discuss.”

I jerked my head. The woman had earned herself an epic spanking. And my wolf needed to dominate her in the worst way. He was foaming at the mouth as if he had rabies.

We raced the remaining way to the front door. Simon reached it before I did, the sneaky bastard. But then, he had a way with doors. All vampires did. It was a myth that they couldn’t come into your home unless invited. They tended to fixate on individuals they wanted to feed on. And the whole not able to come inside myth was to give the people a false sense of security. That way, when they woke in bed with the vampire hovering over them, the fear made their blood sweeter. Or so he said.

Inside, I finally caught a hint of Ember’s scent and followed it. On my trek, I noted all the luxury. This guy was as bad as a dragon with his hoard. He even had a few televisions in the rooms we passed, along with weaponry that was centuries old and goblin made. They crafted the best weapons in the realm. And things from Avalon were interspersed with stuff from the human world.

The sirens had a way out of the barrier. They always had since the barrier had been erected. But their ability to move between worlds proved useful and necessary for observing the outside world, for understanding exactly what the passage of time had done for humans. Not that I cared overly much about humans. I found them a panicky lot with questionable morals and laws. And there was no such thing as divorce once a pair was mated.

We twisted and turned down halls. Griffins were notorious for planting booby traps and false halls to confuse visitors attempting to steal from them.

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