Page 25 of Bound to the Minotaur
The goon at the door didn’t hesitate. “We’re all good here, Sheriff. You can head on back.” He even settled his shoulder against the warped door panel, as if he intended to physically keep the sheriff on the other side out.
But this man, Jackson, didn’t leave. “Afraid I need a visual. Protocol and all that,” he called, casual as anything. I could almost see the shrug in his voice. That was brazen, or it was stupid, but if he was anything like Gregory… maybe he had something extra up his sleeve that gave him that kind of casual confidence.
My pulse beat against my ribs like a war drum. Romano didn’t look at me, but I felt the air tighten around him, theinvisible weight of authority clamping down. He didn’t like being challenged, and Jackson had just lit a fuse.
I edged back half a step and felt the press of cold steel against my spine. “Don’t,” Luca whispered beside me, breath hot near my ear. I hadn’t even seen him move. His fingers curled over the pistol resting just beneath my ribs. “Smile for the sheriff, bella. We wouldn’t want him to get the wrong idea.” His eyes glinted, and something flickered there, brief and reptilian. Serpentine. My skin crawled.
A hiss from the window caught my attention, and I tilted my head away from Luca with relief. It was Avis. Perched on the sill like some judgmental gargoyle, his silver-gray fur fluffed against the breeze, blue eyes sharp. Watching. Waiting. My heart surged. He was alive. That meant Gregory knew. That meant I wasn’t as alone as I felt in that moment.
The man at the door—massive, blank-eyed—looked back at Romano one more time. A silent question. When my father gave the faintest nod, he straightened away from the door and pulled it open with a creak.
Sheriff Jackson strolled in like he owned the place, his boots dusty and worn, badge gleaming, posture relaxed. His gaze swept the room like it was all perfectly normal. “Evenin’,” he said with a tight smile. “Sorry to bother y’all. Got a call about some gunfire out in the woods, just wanted to check it wasn’t anything… untoward.”
He was too calm. Too practiced. The kind of calm you wore only when you knew you were already in the lion’s den and had to pretend you’d brought the tranquilizer gun.
Then he saw the man in the pinstriped suit against the back wall. His stride faltered—just for a second—as his gaze landed on the olive complexion of the man’s face. I saw it. That flicker of recognition. Of surprise. Jackson recovered quickly and cleared his throat.
“Didn’t know we had visitors from out of town,” he said mildly, nodding toward the unknown man who remained perfectly still, hands folded before him like a model in a funeral ad; watching. It was clearly a question meant to fish for answers, the sheriff’s curiosity fully piqued.
“Old family friend,” Romano said smoothly, his voice like silk over steel. “Private gathering. Nothing to concern the law.” It was a sharp cutoff from further questions, his expression closed to discourage the curious gaze of the invading officer.
Jackson’s eyes ticked to me then—just a glance, then a wink. Fast enough that I almost thought I imagined it. Then, with a smile still in place, he tipped his hat and turned back toward the door. “Well, I can see everything’s fine here. Apologies for the interruption.”
My breath caught in my chest when he turned, his uniform stretched tight over his shoulders. I hadn’t expected him to acquiesce like that, to just leave. But there he went, without another backward glance, striding from the derelict cabin like there was nothing wrong at all. Hadn’t he seen the gun prodding into my ribs or the way Luca was holding my arm so tight it made my fingers tingle?
The door closed behind him with a soft snick, and I didn’t know if I wanted to scream or cry. That wink; was it reassurance? A plan? Or just a bluff to keep me alive long enough to make one?
My father’s hand slammed down on the armrest of his chair, making me jump. “You will end this farce.” He rose, and the space between us vanished in two quick strides. His hand seized my upper arm, his grip bruising; a mirror of the grip Luca still had on my other arm. “You will stop pretending you have a choice. You are my daughter, and you will do what is required of you.”
His face was inches from mine now, his breath sour with coffee and rage. My voice locked behind my teeth. I didn’t want him to see me break. I didn’t want him to know how much he scared me and how much I loathed what he had become since my mother died when I was little.
A rustle of fabric. That man again, the stranger in the pinstriped suit. He moved with the unbothered grace of a jungle cat as he stepped away from the wall. “Romano,” he said, his voice light, almost bored. “I came here to discuss business, not to watch a domestic spat.”
Romano’s jaw clenched. He didn’t let go of my arm, not yet. He smiled at his guest, but his eyes stayed cold as ice. “You forget yourself, Kiran. Or perhaps you forget whom you asked to assist you.” The air in the room changed, tightened like a string pulled taut between them. “We all have our roles to play. Let’s not waste my time.”
For a second, I thought Romano might actually raise his hand and hit him, this Kiran. From the look in the guy’s amber eyes,he saw it too, almost relished it. But instead, my father released me, sharp and sudden, like I’d burned his hand. He stepped back, smoothing the front of his suit, like that would restore order.
Luca’s gun vanished, tucked away again with slow menace, but my skin still felt the ghost of it. Inside me, something had shifted. There was a ray of hope now, a crack in their control. A breath of space. And with Jackson gone, Avis watching, and Gregory somewhere out there, I knew the game was far from over.
They thought they had me cornered, but I wasn’t done yet. I just needed to stay on the lookout for my opening, and then I’d leap at the first chance. My dad didn’t realize that I had allies here, that Gregory wasn’t your average man. The maze had only proven that to me. All I needed to do was stall.
Locking eyes with the stranger, Kiran, I saw something in his tigerite eyes that made me wonder if I did have another ally right here. But that might be wishful thinking on my part; he had to be criminally connected, or he wouldn’t be here with my father, after all. I couldn’t trust him, but I could trust Avis, and I’d just seen the cat shimmy his way through a cracked windowpane. Now he was inside with me. Yes, things were going to work out; I just needed to hold on.
Chapter 17
Gregory
Jackson halted me just as I came out of the treeline behind Grandma Liz’s cabin. Shifted into his other shape, he took up far more space on the narrow lane than I did. His wings spread wide, his lion paws dug into the dirt, and his hawk’s beak lifted high and proud. A griffin was a sight to behold, but in a tussle, my strength against his agility would level the playing field. Ducking my head, I aimed my horns his way and pawed the ground with one hoof, letting him know that if he didn’t move aside, I’d charge.
He opened his sharp beak and let out a piercing shriek that made me wince back instinctively, hands clamping over my sensitive ears. Then he was shifting—a flash of golden light—and his shape melted away, back into that of a man. His uniform stretched over his muscled frame, the gold star of his calling gleaming on his chest. Blond hair, cut with military precision, hinted at his past.
“Change, Gregory,” he demanded, with none of his normally laid-back manner. I snorted at him, not in the least intimidated by the command and not planning to obey. Sure, Jackson had earned my trust, like many of the men who still remained at Hillcrest Hollow. Jackson had also gained that quiet aura of confidence and command from his stint in the army. That did not mean I’d let him stand between me and my mate.
“Listen to the sheriff, you bull-headed fool,” Grandma Liz snapped sharply from her porch. She stood with her hands braced on her hips, her shawl fluttering down from hershoulders to the worn but lovingly maintained hardwood planks. She flung a bangle-covered wrist into the air, and the many metal loops clattered together. “He’s got news you should hear. You can’t storm in there; we need to plan this carefully.” The statement was followed by a sharp grin that hinted at the wolf hiding beneath the surface of the kindly older woman. Sharp and feral, a little mean when it came to protecting those under her care.
My instincts rebelled, the bull in me, it was stubborn, but it was as loyal as she was. It recognizedherauthority, and I found myself backing down. The pull of need inside my gut was fierce and painful, greater than any I’d ever felt before. Kess was in grave danger, and the desire to charge to her rescue was as fierce as the pull to listen to what Liz had to say.
The shift was neither easy nor light, not the smooth transition it normally was. It was a flash of explosive light, a wrenching of muscle and bone. Then I stood there, in my boots and the coverall I’d pulled on after making love to my pretty Kess that morning. Ah, Gods, had it only been that morning?
