Page 14 of Taken for Granite
Tas tensed at the name of the male, a probably former mate. His wing twitched and spiked down his spine. He decided that he hated the male.
“Mick!” His female sobbed and cursed. She threw something that clattered to the pavement.
Definitely hated.
Tas pushed himself to the edge of the roof, ready to leap down, but he hesitated. If he revealed himself to her, she would attempt to recapture him. That did not concern him so much. He was injured but not so badly that he could not break free from one female.
But her child was held hostage.
The female had food and water, which he needed. The flaking iron he had scrounged that day had been inadequate. If he took the supplies she offered, he would be honor-bound to repay her and rescue her Chloe.
More than just repaying a debt, though, he found himself wanting to help her and that was dangerous. He did not believe that she worked for the Syndicate but if a Syndicate agent discovered how sympathetic he felt to the female, they would use that against him.
Trap him.
He escaped once thanks to coincidence and sloppiness. He could not rely on such luck a second time, at least not while he was still injured. With food and the necessary minerals, he should be able to shift into stone form, intoduramna.
The amateurs held the female’s young hostage. He would take the female’s food and drink in exchange for his own freedom. It seemed a hard bargain to allow himself to be led obediently into another cage, but he would be strong enough to fight his way out, especially if his captors proved to be amateurs.
Resolute, he stretched his one good wing and pushed off the building. Falling into a one-winged glide, he landed heavily with his knees taking more of the impact than ideal.
The female gasped. He growled, overcome with the desire to lick her neck and feel that delicate pulse flutter under his tongue. His mouth watered.
Not now. He ignored his body’s reaction to the female’s proximity.
“Female,” he ground out. “I believe we can help one another.”
6
Juniper
The creature—the gargoyle, her half-terrified mind supplied—landed in front of her with preternatural grace. His flat gray eyes swung toward her, but she had the distinct impression that he did not see her, not in the sense of seeing as she understood it. He knew her location and strode toward her with purpose, pausing just out of arm’s reach.
“Female.”
She had to tilt her head back to look at him and briefly wondered about his height. Tall, probably close to six and a half feet. More than just his height was thesizeof him. Wide shoulders spoke to a large frame, made to be filled with solid muscle, but at the moment those shoulders were sharp.
Her eyes drifted down, noticing the line at the bottom of his ribcage and the concave slope of his abdomen. He was gaunt—starved, even.
And completely naked.
Juniper averted her eyes but not before she got a gander at his thick cock, again standing at attention. That bit of him didn’t seem emaciated. It looked robust, healthy, and definitely not human.
“What kind of help did you have in mind?” Blushing at the forwardness of her own words, she didn’t meanthatkind of help. She hadn’t flirted in years and the first thing she said to the gargoyle was awkward, clumsy and so, so flirty.
And he was still naked.
She should have taken the time to stop and buy him some damn pants. It’s not like she had anything in her closet that would remotely fit him. All she brought was a throw blanket from the back of her sofa, grabbed at the last moment when she thought her gargoyle might be cold.
“Are you hungry?” She held out an apple. Starved and naked, feelings of pity for the gargoyle shoved out thoughts of her awkward flirting. She should be ashamed of herself for creeping on the gargoyle and using food to coax him back into the van. Whatever he was, he was a thinking, feeling person and deserve to be treated with respect, not like an animal.
A fine time to develop moral principles now. Morals were a luxury she couldn’t afford, not until she got Chloe back.
She gave the apple a shake, as if to encourage him to take it.
His nostrils flared and his cock bobbed, but he said nothing. She gulped nervously. He was hungry for something.
“It’s safe.” She took a bite to demonstrate. “See,” she said around a mouthful. Juice trickled at the corners of her mouth.
