Page 12 of A Single Thread Of Hope

I honked again, and dogs skittered out of the way, making Milo laugh. He was clearly enjoying having the dogs around as much as Wren. They did liven the place up—there was never a dull moment when you had nearly a hundred dogs running around.

The basement of our building wasn’t huge, but it was enough, with careful organization, to store all the food we’d bought. I’d thought about storing it in town, but if Amourgeles fell, then the Greeks would be able to starve us out of our compound. It wasjust one part of my plan to prepare for anything, though I hoped none of it was necessary.

Tryp appeared with the forklift he’d borrowed from the villagers, and I winced as he drove it around and around in circles, like a kid with a new bike. Milo rolled his eyes, but climbed from the truck, groaning with relief. Néit climbed out too, walking round to open the back.

Walking over to Erus, I watched Milo try and direct Tryp on how to pick up the pallets with his forklift. “How is she today?”

Not taking his eyes off the trainwreck in front of us, as Tryp clipped a tree and then the door of the truck, he replied, “She’s good. She seems to have sorted her problems out with Demke, though I think he is walking on extremely thin ice.”

I had a feeling we were all on thin ice, and my Gryphon huffed at how badly we’d all fucked this up. How badlyI’dfucked up.

But I was going to make it up to her. I was going to be the best doctor, provider, confidant and—hopefully one day—lover that she’d ever had. I wasn’t going to mess this up again.

About time,the Gryphon grumbled, and on that, we could agree.

Chapter 7

WREN

Alarge hand reached out to me, trying to swipe those acid-dripping claws through my torso, and I couldn’t move. My feet were stuck, my whole body frozen as I just stood there and watched death lunge at me in slow motion. I screamed and screamed, but nothing happened; no sound came out.

“I’m really sorry about this.” The face of Ekhidna switched to that of Demke, looking resigned. The hands became huge talons that had inky blackness pouring from them. “But I can’t let them die, and they mean more to me than you.” Demke’s voice echoed around like thunder from far away, and I wanted to beg him to stop, to rethink what he was doing. “I can’t love you.”

I saw my parents crawling from the hole in the ground, their faces hazy, but their voices clear. “It was your fault we died. If we hadn’t been trying to escape your bratty teenage behavior, we never would’ve gone on that godforsaken cruise,” my dad thundered, before my mom’s hand slipped on the rocks and she tumbled back into the portal to Hell.

“No!” I screamed, but it came out just as a strangled gasp.

Wren.

My dad looked at me like I was a fuck-up. “You’ll ruin your children the same way you ruined us. Nothing follows you but death and destruction,” he said, disappointment thick in the air between us.

I was shaking my head, trying to tell him I would be better, that I was sorry, but my lips wouldn’t even part anymore. My dad let go and fell back into the pit, and I silently screamed once more.

Wren, wake up.

I stumbled to the ground, and Ekhidna was back, a giant knife in her hand. “We can make this all end now. Wouldn’t you like to be happy? To be free from this pain?” she crooned.

MATE! WAKE NOW!

My eyes snapped open at the sound of Griff’s shout in my brain, and he was there, nuzzling my face with his own feathered one. The coolness of the early morning air on my cheeks let me know I’d been crying in my sleep.

It is okay now, my mate. It was just a dream,Griff purred, and a sob I didn’t realize had been trapped in my chest burst past my lips. Even as the specifics drifted away from my waking mind, the way it made me feel stuck with me like a dagger in the heart.

Wrapping my arms around the Gryphon’s neck, I held tight as he made the comforting thrum in his chest, his words in my mind soft and soothing. His huge head was across my chest, weighing me down in the here and now, and slowly, the thundering of my heart calmed to a dull ache.

Griff didn’t move the whole time, his huge body half in the nest with me and the rest on his haunches on the floor. He must’ve been uncomfortable, but he didn’t shift even an inch. I stroked my hand down to the point where his feathers turned to fur, and his chest vibrated with a happy noise.

“Thank you,” I whispered.

You’re my mate. It is my job to keep you happy and safe. There’s nowhere I won’t protect you, even in your dreams.He let out an aggravated sound that would have freaked me the hell out two weeks ago.It irks me that you have to suffer through them at all.

I huffed out a watery laugh. “Some places I have to take care of myself, Griff, and in my brain is one of them.” I gently pushed at his head, which was massive, and he lifted it slowly, his shining gold eyes looking down at me. I wasn’t sure I’d ever get used to the humanity in those eyes. I had a feeling that if he didn’t think I was ready to leave the nest, he’d just plop his big head back down and keep me here until he was satisfied.

You are correct,he told me, making me laugh for real this time.

“You’re kind of bossy—you know that, right?”

He rubbed his cheek on mine once more.My flight is full of unruly Godlings, and my cubs will be the chosen Fates. You need someone to keep everyone in line.

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