Ranger Griffin Read online

  Gabriel opened his beak wide and screamed in fury, rising to his hind legs, his wings spread wide. His brilliant golden eyes fixed on her. She knew he longed to fly up and fight the dragons, but was afraid to leave her alone in a burning forest.

  The moment he had bitten her, she’d felt that she was different. A sense of power and wildness had filled her, as if she could do anything... and just might.

  Burning leaves were falling all around them, fluttering to the ground to blaze for a brief moment, then gutter out into black ash. Water also rained down in uneven showers, from snow and icicles that had clung to the burning trees. When a drop struck Emily’s upturned face, it slid down her cheek as warm as a tear. The air was hot and choking, filled with acrid smoke.

  She closed her eyes and sought within herself for her new power.

  How do I become a griffin?

  A new voice spoke in her mind, female as Emily’s own but deeper and with a hiss. She immediately knew that it was the voice of her own inner griffin. Nothing to it. Just stretch our wings.

  Heat flashed through her body. The air in front of her began to sparkle and glint like sunlight striking dust motes. The sparks were gold, like Gabriel’s, and like his they gathered and multiplied. Soon she could see nothing else. But it was different being inside the whirlwind than watching it from outside. She could feel her body changing, but it wasn’t painful. In fact, it was pleasant, like a good stretch.

  The sparks vanished. Emily glanced down at her powerful taloned front feet, then twisted her head to see the rest of her body. Her lion’s hindquarters were sleek and muscular, and her black-tipped tail was held daintily out of the snow. She stretched out her wings, and was amazed to see them extend out on either side, black-feathered and wide and full of grace.

  Gabriel screamed a warning. Instinctively, Emily leaped into the air. A massive tree crashed down behind her, followed by another. Trees were toppling all around them.

  Emily dodged around them, and around the trees that were still standing. It was like an obstacle course. The forest was too dense for a dragon to fly within it, and a tight fit even for a griffin. Gabriel too had taken to the air, but his griffin was bigger than hers and was having even more trouble flying.

  *We have to get out of here!* It was Gabriel’s voice, but sounded in Emily’s mind rather than in her ears.

  *You never talked to me like that before,* Emily thought.

  *I didn’t know I could,* Gabriel replied.

  He couldn’t, remarked Emily’s inner griffin. You weren’t a griffin before.

  *My griffin says,* Gabriel began to say to Emily, but she interrupted him with, *So does mine.*

  They shared a mental chuckle. Then, without having to say anything at all, they flew together out of the burning forest.

  Emily was hugely relieved when they finally emerged into the open air. But her relief turned to fear—and then protective fury—when the red dragon darted down and breathed fire at Gabriel.

  He dodged the flame burst, flying upward and to the side, but the red dragon twisted to make another try.

  *Get away from my mate!* Emily screamed at the red dragon.

  She had no idea if the red dragon heard or understood. It didn’t reply. Instead, its chest expanded to breathe flame again. She flew toward it, her beak opening to let out a piercing shriek and her talons outstretched to slash at the enemy threatening her mate.

  *Drop!* Gabriel shouted.

  Emily didn’t hesitate. She trusted her mate. She folded her wings and dropped like a stone.

  A huge billow of flame erupted in the space where she had been. The black dragon had come up behind her.

  Gabriel left the red dragon to fly at the black one as Emily flung out her wings again, arresting her fall only ten feet above the ground, and was carried along by her own momentum before she could begin to fly upward once again.

  *We have to work together,* Gabriel called to her. *Let’s plan our attack.*

  Hoping the dragons couldn’t overhear, Emily replied, *You take one and I take one? Or shall we pick one and gang up on it?*

  Before Gabriel could reply, the black dragon breathed flame at him. He dodged. The red dragon, which had been moving in to attack him, also dove away before it could be caught in the same blast.

  *Let’s make them fight each other,* Emily suggested. *Like that...*

  She didn’t have to explain any more. Gabriel got the picture. He flew in close to Emily, as if he meant to shield her. She started to fly to the left, then pretended that she saw the red dragon approaching and fled from it, turning to fly in the opposite direction. Gabriel followed her as she maneuvered into position. The two dragons pursued them.

  Emily’s wings were tiring, and her breath burned in her lungs. If she and Gabriel didn’t time their plan exactly right, they could be badly burned or killed. But she was as determined to protect her mate as he was to protect her.

  She gave a scream like a battle cry, and flew at the black dragon. Gabriel flew at the red dragon. Both dragons’ chests expanded to flame at them. At the last minute, Gabriel darted upward, and Emily dropped down. The dragons instinctively moved their heads to breathe at their targets, not noticing that the other dragons were now in the line of fire. Just as each dragon breathed out a huge burst of flame, Emily and Gabriel veered out of the way.

  Fire enveloped both dragons. They gave piercing shrieks of pain and surprise, and tumbled out of the sky. With an immense crash, they struck the ground, then lay still.

  Gabriel and Emily descended, then landed a cautious distance away from the fallen dragons. As sparks gathered around Gabriel, Emily pictured herself as human again and willed the change to happen. Golden glitter whirled about her, and she felt her body shrink. A moment later, she was a woman again, standing beside her man.

  He caught her up in his arms and kissed her. She responded ardently, full of the joy of flight and love, of protecting and being protected.

  “Oh, no.” Gabriel let out a groan. “Not again!”

  She followed his gaze up to the sky.

  And saw another pair of dragons.

  Chapter Ten

  Gabriel

  Gabriel stepped in front of Emily. He knew that now that she too was a griffin, she was just as capable of taking on a dragon as he was. But his instincts and his heart screamed at him to protect her, even at the cost of his own life.

  Just as he began to transform into a griffin to fight this new set of attacking dragons, a voice called out to him:

  *Wait!*

  The voice spoke inside his mind, like Emily had been able to do once she’d become a griffin. But it wasn’t Emily’s voice. It was male, and completely unfamiliar.

  “Did you hear that?” Emily asked.

  As Gabriel nodded, the voice spoke again. *We don’t mean you any harm. In fact, we came to rescue you.*

  A new voice, this one female, added, *But it looks like you rescued yourselves.*

  *May we descend?* the male voice inquired.

  “It must be the dragons,” Emily said, pointing to the pair circling in the sky. “What do you think? Should we trust them? Or is it a trick?”

  What do you think? Gabriel asked his inner griffin.

  With the mental equivalent of a shrug, his inner griffin replied, Well, they haven’t tried to set us on fire yet.

  Not as reassuring as you think, Gabriel shot back. Then, seeing that Emily was still waiting for his reply, he said, “Let’s try talking to them.”

  He looked up at the dragons and sent his thoughts to them, as he had sent them to Emily earlier. *Who are you?*

  *We are the Talons of the Law,* the male voice replied.

  *We’re cops,* said the female voice. *Dragon cops.*

  “She definitely sounds like a cop,” Emily remarked. “I think they’re for real. Are you okay with letting them land?”

  “I am if you are,” Gabriel replied. “If they wanted to attack us, they’ve had plenty of chances.” Indicating the two
fallen dragons, he added, “And I’d way rather have them cuff those two than try to do it myself.”

  *Come on down!* Emily called.

  The dragons flew down. When they got closer, Gabriel could see that they were similar in shape and size to the dragons who had attacked them, but one was sapphire blue and one was silver. He watched them warily until they landed and transformed in a cloud of blue and silver sparks.

  The blue dragon became a woman with intense green eyes and hair that matched her dragon’s scales, and the other became a tall man with hair that Gabriel first thought was white or gray, and then realized was the same glittering silver as his dragon.

  The woman immediately strode toward the fallen dragons, briefly examined them, and then took a small vial from her pocket and shook a drop of liquid on to each dragon. They transformed into a pair of men lying unconscious in the snow with their clothes in singed tatters. The woman and the silver-haired man then knelt to handcuff them.

  “Easiest arrest I ever made,” remarked the woman. “You two ought to be griffin cops. If griffins have cops.”

  “Surely they must,” said the man. “All beings are in need of law and order.” To Gabriel and Emily, he said, “On behalf of dragonkind, we apologize for the crimes of these two. They will be punished. You need never fear them—or any dragon—ever again.”

  “Why did they attack us?” Emily asked.

  The woman gave the young man who had been the black dragon a nudge with her foot that was almost a kick. “This idiot liked to fly visible to scare the humans. Apparently he thought it was funny.”

  “It is illegal to reveal oneself to a human without a good reason,” added the man.

  “Surprise, surprise, the humans who saw him kicked up a fuss,” the woman went on. To Emily, she said, “You started investigating it, and he got worried that the whole thing would come out and he’d get in trouble. So he decided to get rid of you and cover it up. His first try didn’t work, so he enlisted his older brother to help him. That’s this idiot.” She gave the black dragon a nudge-kick.

  “Winter—” the man protested.

  “That’s the least of what they deserve,” the woman said. “Anyway, the older brother was as bad at keeping his mouth shut as his little brother was at staying out of sight, and he told a friend the entire thing. The friend tipped us off. So we came flying out to bust them and save you.”

  “And arrived in time to find that you had already saved yourselves,” said the man with a smile.

  “Thank you for coming, though,” Gabriel said.

  “Hey, we haven’t introduced ourselves,” Emily said.

  Gabriel was habitually reserved, especially with strangers. Especially with strangers who were the same type of shapeshifter as the ones that had tried to kill him and his mate. But Emily stepped forward as confidently as if they’d all been introduced at a party.

  “I’m Emily Green. And this is Gabriel Allen, my mate.” Emily held out her hand.

  The blue-haired woman shook it. “Winter Cerban.”

  The man, who had started to dip forward in what Gabriel belatedly realized had been a bow, caught himself and awkwardly stuck out his hand. “I am Florin Dobrescu.”

  Gabriel shook Florin’s hand, and then Winter’s. “You don’t seem surprised that griffins exist. Do you know about any others?”

  “Certainly,” replied Florin. “Do you not know others of your kind?”

  “No. When I was a baby, I was found by... by humans.” It felt strange to Gabriel to talk about humans as if he wasn’t one. Strange—and false. He was human. Like Emily said, he was a griffin and a man, not a griffin rather than a man. “That is, by people who couldn’t transform into anything.”

  “We call it shifting,” said Florin. “And all of us are called shifters, whether we are dragons, griffins, wolves—”

  “There’s werewolves too?” Emily said excitedly.

  “There’s were all sorts of shifters,” remarked Winter. “Name a creature, it’s someone’s shift form.”

  Emily’s eyes brightened. “Platypuses?”

  “Oh, sure. I never met any myself, but I know they exist.”

  “Octopuses?”

  Winter scratched her head. “Florin, you ever hear of octopus shifters?”

  “I believe so,” Florin said, after a pause. “Though I may be misremembering. Perhaps they were kraken-shifters.”

  “What’s a kraken?” Emily asked.

  “A big squid,” said Florin.

  “How big?” asked Emily.

  “Big enough to envelop a ship in its tentacles and drag it down to the bottom of the ocean.” Florin illustrated his words with an alarming gesture using both his long-fingered hands. After a brief silence fell, he added, “Of course, no law-abiding shifter would do any such thing.”

  “Let’s see. I’ve run out of puses.” Emily snapped her fingers. “I know! Pterodactyls?”

  “Not sure about dinosaurs,” Winter admitted, as Florin gave a “got me” headshake. “But you never know.”

  But as amused as Gabriel was by the banter, he had something more important than were-velociraptors on his mind. “Where can I find the other griffins?”

  “Which ones?” asked Winter. “They’re rarer than dragons, but there’s griffins scattered all across the world.”

  But Florin was smiling. “But there is only one set of griffins I know of that lost a baby—quite literally lost—twenty-nine years ago. How old are you?”

  “Twenty-nine. Are my parents still alive?” Gabriel’s voice cracked. He’d never imagined being able to meet his parents. He’d always thought they were dead.

  Emily’s soft hand stole into his and gave him a comforting squeeze.

  “I believe so,” said Florin. “But though I know of them, I don’t know them personally. Let us remove these miscreants—” He gave a slightly more gentle prod of his foot at the man who had been the red dragon. “—and then I will look into the matter and return to you with more information.”

  “And a home address.” Winter turned to Emily. “Ready to meet the parents?”

  “Guess I’d better be,” Emily replied, looking a little nervous. Then it was Gabriel’s turn to give her hand a reassuring squeeze.

  “See you,” said Winter.

  “Till we meet again,” said Florin.

  With no further ado, Winter and Florin became dragons, grabbed their prisoners in their claws, and flew away.

  Gabriel and Emily watched until the dragons vanished from sight. Then they were alone once more, standing in the snow. The mellow golden light of early evening gave Emily’s skin a beautiful warm cast and shone as sparks in her lovely brown eyes.

  “I have a family,” Gabriel said. He could still hardly believe it. “I have people—and I always did. I was never a freak.”

  “I told you so,” said Emily with a chuckle. Then she shook her head, and her eyes lit up with the same amazed wonder that Gabriel felt. “And now I’m a griffin too! I can fly! Though I was so focused on fighting those dragons and protecting you and saving my own life, I barely remember what it felt like just to fly.”

  “It feels wonderful,” said Gabriel. He kissed her, then traced his fingers along her back, where her wings would be. “Let me show you the sky.”

  He stepped back and transformed.

  Shifted, corrected his griffin.

  Gabriel smiled inwardly. He obviously had a lot to learn.

  Shifted, he agreed. And took flight.

  Chapter Eleven

  Emily

  Emily stretched out her wings.

  My wings, she thought, marveling at it.

  Her powerful wings caught an updraft and sent her soaring above the trees. She circled, enjoying the feeling of the cool wind ruffling her feathers, then rose to join Gabriel.

  *How do you like flying?* Gabriel sent.

  *It’s wonderful!* Emily returned. *I feel so free.*

  This is our world, said Emily’s griffin. Look around. Look
all around.

  Emily looked down at Blue Oak National Park, around at the horizons and the brilliant orange globe of the descending sun, and finally up at the vast expanse of blue.

  The sky, said her griffin. The clouds. The sun and moon and stars. This is where we belong.

  And then they flew. She gloried in her strength and speed, at the changing colors of the sky as the setting sun spread flaming red and pearly pink light along the horizon, and at having Gabriel with her. It was pure magic.

  They kept flying even after the sun set, reveling in the beauty of the black velvet sky, the enormous harvest moon, and the brilliant stars. Emily lost all track of time. But finally Gabriel dipped his wing, indicating his cabin far below. They arrowed down and landed in front of it, so close together that their sparks mingled when they shifted.

  In that brief moment, a wave of love and desire broke over her. She and Gabriel had fought together and survived together, flown together and shifted together. He was her mate, her fairytale prince, the other half of her heart. At long last, they’d found each other. She’d never let him go.

  The moment they were human again, they moved together like a pair of magnets, locking tight. Gabriel’s hands roamed over her body as if he couldn’t bear to leave a single inch of skin untouched, and his mouth closed hungrily over hers. Emily was instantly hot and desperate, clit throbbing and wet between the legs. She wriggled against him, trying to pull him as tight to her body as was humanly possible. If they weren’t outside in a snowy winter, she’d have ripped off her clothes and his, and had him then and there.

  “Inside,” she gasped. “Now, Gabriel.”

  He yanked the door open, scooped her into his arms, kicked the door shut behind him, and entered the bedroom in almost a run. Usually so gentle, this time he practically threw her down on the bed. She lay there, breathing hard, her heart pounding, and watched him yanking off his shirt and pants. In mere seconds, he stood over her, nude and magnificent, his muscles gleaming in the moonlight coming in from the window, his cock huge. She arched her back involuntarily, longing to have it inside of her, filling her.