Page 54 of Riding A Cock-Horse
Her words break my heart.
This poor human woman will never realize that her sweet baby is perfectly normal and not a monster. I quirk a smile at his name. Of course, Belle would want to name the griffin ‘Gryffon’. The baby makes me think of my mate, and I hope that she's ok. But I know Jude and Nestor won't let anything happen to her. In return, I’ll do my damned best to make sure nothing happens to these women. Belle did what most people probably wouldn't have—she saved Gryffon's life as well as the other women's lives by ensuring they joined us. She wasn't leaving anyone behind. I won't have her sacrifice be in vain.
I don't have the lights for the boat turned on because I don't want to alert any Watergaurds, but it’s still dark out. Soon it will be dawn, but the moon does nothing to show me my way. I've often traversed from North Ireland to the mainland UK by ferry. It never took more than forty minutes, but I've never done this from the Isle of Man. I live in constant fear that I’ll misjudge the distance and shipwreck us all. Even still, I push the boat to go faster while remaining cautious. The water’s placid at the moment, but our speed is causing it to become choppy. I waffle between getting to the mainland quickly or slowing down for a smoother ride. I don’t want to cause any more pain for the pregnant women or Elise.
Minutes go by, and eventually, I hear the tweet of a bird. I sigh in relief—that sound is always a good sign. Birds mean land.Just as long as it's not a predator.But the sound is too sweet and high-pitched. It gets closer and closer, and I see a familiar bird circling the boat. She swoops down and shifts into Sian. Elise nearly drops the baby griffin in her joy.
“Where did you gethimfrom?!” the Welsh shifter demands.
“It's alongstory,” Elise chuckles. “Can you take him, though? My arm really hurts.”
Sian takes the baby shifter from Elise, staring at him curiously.
“What is he?”
“He’s a griffin, and we’ve named him Gryffon—well,Bellenamed him Gryff,” Elise explains, making Sian laugh.
“Of course, she did. He’s a cute little guy.”
Gryff opens his beak to squawk at Sian before promptly trying to bite her fingers.
“Is he hungry?”
“We think so,” I comment, “but his mom wants nothing to do with her. Besides, she's not in any condition anyway. We need to get her to a hospital immediately—not to mention the four other women aboard as well as Elise.”
Sian’s eyes widen when she takes in the other women, understanding the magnitude of the situation and just what the Tershes have done.
“Oh god, this is a disaster,” she breathes in horror.
I snort.
No—it’s a fucking nightmare come to life.
One second, I'm cheering on Nestor for eating the sharks; the next,I'm swimming with them.
The water is dark, cold, and salty. It's a hell of a lot different than riding on Nestor's back, I can tell you that. Anxiously, I try to make my way to the surface, but the thrashing around me keeps pulling me under. Nestor's creating a riptide with his movements. He doesn't realize I'm in the water, too. If he doesn't stop, I'm likely to drown.
I feel something tug at my foot, and foolishly, I scream, forgetting that I'm underwater. I get a mouthful of salty brine as my punishment. I clamp my lipa shut and push out my nostrils forcibly.
If I don't get air soon, my death certificate will read ‘drowned to death’—and not because of too much cum.
The thing on my foot clamps down harder and tries to drag me away. Dammit, Nestor didn't get all the sharks, and now, one of them is surely going to eat me. I'm not even going to die of drowning. I really don't know what's worse or which death I would prefer—eaten by a shark or drowningnot in jizz. If I *had* to choose, I would pick neither. Both are absolutely sucky options, and I want nothing to do with them… unless it changes to drowning on jizz.
The gods of emergency birth control must hear my prayers, though, because whatever is eating me is also pulling me toward the surface.At least, I won't drown while being eaten.
I once read that ants have a sour taste when they're afraid, making them less likely to be eaten by predators, and I wonder if that's what I'm like. Perhaps the shark wants to get me back to the surface so I'm a little less panicked and more flavorful.
Makes sense.
We burst out of the water, and I've never appreciated air as much as I do in this moment. I gulp it up greedily while coughing—it's hard to breathe when you're still choking on water—but I try. Every cavity in my sinuses burns like hell. I harness that anger and shift—but cats hate water.
Chimeras are no different.
Plus, the added weight of my billy goat really doesn’t help. So, I shift back into human form and swivel around with my fist ready to punch the shark prepared to eat me.
Because everybody knows you punch a shark in the snout to get it tonoteat you.
When I turn, I see that it’s Jude! I throw both my arms around him, nearly sending us back under the water again.
