Page 60 of Riding A Cock-Horse
Irock the sweet baby boy to sleep as Jude sets Elise’s broken arm. She won't be able to shift any time soon—not at the detriment of rebreaking her wing. I watch an imperceptible wince of pain flash across her features before her face becomes placid and stoic once more. Elise is a lot like Jude—all her battles are kept hidden on the inside. It's easier for her to contain her feelings that way. My feelings are on my sleeve: messy, loud, and in your face—like the tears streaming down mine because I can't stand the pain the love of my life is in.
The whole situation turns my stomach. Watching that woman die for no reason, holding her newborn baby that she didn't want because she thought it was a monster, and seeing the four other women fear that their fate will be the same. I gaze down at the poor, sweet, innocent babe in my arms. Gryff never asked for any of this to happen to him. I place a gentle kiss on his soft brown curls.
“Little Gryffon, I love you,” I whisper in his ear.
All babies need to know that they're loved unconditionally, no matter how they were brought into this world. Jude finishes with Elise, and she comes over to stand by me. I show her Gryff, asleep in my arms, knowing she wishes she could hold him. But until she's in a better location and seated, she can't. We simply can't afford to do any more damage to her arm, especially without any x-rays. But Jude is one of the top doctors in the central UK. He definitely knows what he's doing, and we're lucky to have him. Talk turns to the four pregnant women and what to do about them. My stomach rolls when it's decreed they need a C-section, or they'll die.
Our options are extremely limited.
Nobody says it out loud, but the chances of them surviving are slim to none anyways. Are they all pregnant with more griffins? Or are they different animal hybrids? The little guy asleep in my arms seems to have similar traits as the others of my species—he shifted into human form within hours of his birth.
But who's to say he can't shift back?
Who's to say anything?
We know nothing about what he is. All I know is we need to get him to safety. My thoughts are interrupted by the scent of something predatory on the wind. I smell him before I hear him—a Tertiary of epic proportions—but every time I’ve finally become attuned to a nearby Tersh, it’s always been too late.
This time is no exception.
When a monstrous creature comes crashing through the brush, I know it can only be none other than the dean who did this to Belle. Moments later, a man in human form comes sauntering behind the shifted dean. I can tell that he is a shifter, as well. There's a familiarity about him that sets me on edge. When I sniff the air, I realize I recognize the scent—it's the bird of prey that chased me, that hurt Elise, and that I hit with the branch! Even this close, his scent is faint, making me wonder if he’s masking it somehow. And of course, fate would decree that the bastard broke Elise’s wing, but I hit him with a massive tree branch and he’s perfectly dandy.
“Give me the baby,” he demands.
I clutch Gryffon to me even tighter. Over my dead body is this monster taking my sweet baby from me. Elise edges closer to my side. Normally, she would stand in front of me. She's always been the more protective bird of our pairing, being so much taller than me, but with her broken arm, she’s not nearly as strong as usual. Of course, it's Belle—our kind, brave Yank— who confronts the man. I don't know why I'm surprised since she has no idea of the laws in our world nor any true clue to who she's standing up against.
Or maybe she just doesn't care because that's the type of person she is.
She's always standing up for what's right, and right now, she's standing up against the biggest and the baddest wolf in all the land.
For us.
For Primaries.
One second, Belle is arguing with the shifter who broke my wing and the next, Nestor has shifted into his Tertiary form. He collapses to the ground and snaps out with his teeth, but the weight of animal form is crushing him.
Gravity's a bitch when you're a two thousand kilogram monster meant to live in water.
In his great pain, I don't know if Nestor can shift back into human form, but if he doesn't do it quickly, he'll die. His long tail comes thrashing out, and I shove Sian and the baby to the ground. We hit hard, and I hear Griffin crying. I pray that I haven't hurt him in any way. An ear-piercing scream rends the air, and I realize it's Belle. I quickly stand up in time to see the dire wolf take her in his mouth and run away with her.
The world around me is utter bedlam. Arthur and Jack are yelling at Nestor to shift back into his human form while Jude, Harry, Theo, Phineas, Dageus, and Alalstair are trying to calm down the pregnant women. Suddenly, a familiar shriek echoes in my ears, and I see the doctor fly off into the early morning light, leaving this shitshow behind him. As if things can't get any worse, the woman who had been moaning before now cries out in great pain, and I know she's about to give birth. The other three women start wailing in panic, and Gryff, still scared from what happened before, joins in. Tears are leaking from Sian's eyes, too, and I wish I could do something to soothe her.
Everything around us feels like total pandemonium, but by some miracle, Nestor finally shifts back into human form. He takes large gulps of air before passing out. Jack checks his pulse while Jude helps the woman in labor. He's gently coaching her on what to do when a sickening, ripping sound sounds around us. From between the woman's legs drops a creature larger than most overfed, household cats. It rolls over, and to my horror, I see it has three heads—all different breeds of dog.
Rottweiler, Doberman, and German Shepard.
I realize the mad scientist and the dean have created something from Greek fiction—their very own Cerberus. The woman who just gave birth collapses to the ground. Jude and I watch helplessly as she bleeds out. For the first time in my life, I despise my kind. I hate who we are—that someone could do this to another human being—to another shifter.
We’re the monsters that humans write about.
“Where is my mate?!”
I hear Nestor roar this behind me and feel a margin of relief that the bloke is ok. But I have my hands full with the pregnant woman who surely is about to give birth. It would make the most sense as to why the doctor had them all in the same room. Unfortunately, the odds are not looking great for the remaining three given the first two women’s experience. Quite frankly, I'm terrified to see what they'll give birth to.
Our problems are compounded when, minutes later, the bizzies show up. They have us surrounded, and I know it doesn't look good. I see my dad and uncle looking around wildly for escape, but Nestor just appears deadly and ready to strike. His mate is missing, and he'll do anything to get her back—which makes him very dangerous. I think about what Belle said, and I take a deep breath knowing that what I'm about to do might be the last straw for my father and uncle.
“Listen, I’m Arthur—and I'm a Shifter,” I announce to the cops. “Specifically I'm a horny toad—it's the type of animal I change into. All of us here, change into different animals. I know this sounds crazy, and I'll show you in a moment, but first, you have to know that we're only trying to help. Some of our kind have been hurting human women—human women like these ones right here. You can see two have already passed,” I pause to point out the two dead women covered in blood and the three-headed dog shifter.
The group of sweenies1recoil in horror.
