He bowed his head at the Gryphon. “We’ve met. I watched him tear a demon to pieces with that beak you just held like it was the remote control for a monster.”
Griff folded his wings back in, giving me a smug expression. If anyone had asked me before today to describe what smug looked like on a bird face, I would have said they were nuts. But he definitely looked haughty as Nate mentioned his kill.
Then he nudged me toward the bed, and I laughed, climbing into it. He grabbed the blanket in his beak, dragging it up over my body and tucking it around me. Then he left and came back with more blankets and pillows clutched in his beak. He placed them down around me, then left, getting more.
“What’s he doing?” I asked, with another yawn.
Milo shrugged, and surprisingly, it was Nate who answered. “He’s making you a nest.”
He was cut off by Griff returning, pushing pillows up around my body, nudging them under the heavy mound of my stomach. That was really freaking sweet.
I closed my eyes, actually exhausted, and sighed happily. Was it weird that I could sleep while a giant beast made me a pretty nest? Who cared? My life was weirder than fiction now.
Something ticklingmy nose woke me later, tempting me from sleep. Blinking groggily in the darkness, I realized I was lying beside a naked Teron. And I was surrounded by feathers. Dozens of them. The walls of my “nest” were at least half a foot high and went right around the edge of my bed, except right at the foot. And in between all the blankets and pillows were golden feathers.
Did he even have any feathers left?
“He’s pretty damn proud of his work,” Teron said groggily, stretching. Naked.
Did I mention he was stretching naked?
I looked up at the ceiling, my cheeks so red that I was happy the room was shadowy with the falling light of dusk. “He should be. This is a beautiful nest.”
Teron nodded. “It’s one of the courtship rituals for the Gryphons. They make their proposed mate a nest, but it’s up to you if you accept it or not.”
How could I not accept this? He’d gone to so much effort to create this for me, for my comfort. To keep me safe and warm.
“I accept it, of course.” I looked down at the man beside me, keeping my eyes on his. “Teron, he’s amazing,” I breathed. And he was. He was the most beautiful thing I’d ever seen in my life.
Teron laughed, his eyes closing. “He said the exact same thing about you.” He opened one eye to watch me. “You have questions?”
I scoffed. “So manydamn questions.”
He dragged me closer, and the heat of his skin felt like it was searing my own. However, the only parts of us touching were ourarms. There were things I needed to know. Things we needed to talk about before we could take this any further.
“Do you still want this? Want me too?”
He didn’t answer with words. Instead, he leaned forward and kissed me with so much passion, I felt like I was going to burn.
I was going to take that as a yes.
Chapter 38
WREN
With the attack on the compound, I knew that going home would probably be a long shot, so I threw myself into creating a nursery here, in Amourgeles, with the help of the guys. Right now, it was Nate who was building furniture as I sorted through everything again.
I needed to talk to him about all this. I needed him to know that he could go home if he wanted. I hated the idea that he’d been torn from his home, from his friends, just because he was tied to me and my bullshit.
But I was scared that he would want to go. So scared he’d leave me.
“Mo stóirín,you’re thinking way too hard over there. What’s wrong?”
Sighing, I moved toward him, unable to help myself. I wanted to be with him all the time. When he pulled my back against his chest and held up my stomach for me, I sighed, immediately relaxing against him. Nate knew me, knew what I needed without me voicing it.
And I loved him. It was so obvious to me now. And that scared the shit out of me too.
He kissed the spot behind my ear. “What is it, Wren?”