“There’s some shampoo and soap on the edge of the tub,” he told her. “That’s all I have right now. I haven’t been living here very long myself.”
Cela nodded.
Tyr looked like he wanted to say more, but all he did was take a step back. “I’ll have something for you to eat when you’re out.”
“Thank you,” Cela said, but she said it to the closing bathroom door.
No! Our mate should stay and enjoy our bathing pool with us!
Cela didn’t bother trying to explain the situation to her griffin. Instead she began digging into the bags to see what Tyr’s former bondmate had given them. The clothes wereincredibly nice, and there were some baby things as well. But it only made her more aware that she was a castaway in a strange land, with nothing except the kindness of strangers to sustain her.
Once more, tears prickled her eyes, and this time she let them come.
TYR
She had beenin the bathroom for an awfully long time.
Faced with the prospect of cooking for someone other than himself, and worse, someone he wanted to impress, Tyr had managed to unearth some groceries from his recent shopping expeditions that were at least something of an improvement over half-thawed pizza: spaghetti, sauce, and frozen hamburger patties that could be pressed into service for meatballs in a pinch. He wondered if she’d even like spaghetti. She probably hadn’t had it before. Did she know how to eat it? When he had first gone out in the human world, something as simple as a frozen microwave burrito had been a marvel to him. His griffin’s increasingly urgent insistence on going out to hunt a rabbit or some other delicious prey for her was seeming like a better and better idea.
But no, this couldn’t be her first time off the island. She was well past the usual age for walkabout, when young griffins went out to explore the human world on their own before coming back to settle into their adult lives. Nearly every young griffin was done with that by their mid-twenties, and she was late twenties at least, maybe early thirties.
She seemed so unsure of everything, though. She hadn’t even known how a seat belt worked. It was possible, he thought, that she was from one of the reclusive clans who didn’t do walkabout.
Which made him all the more furious at whoever had inflicted this fate on her, throwing her out in the world with two infants.
But she knew to look for me by name. How?
“Tyr?” said Cela’s quiet voice from the kitchen doorway.
Already he had come to hear that voice chime inside his soul. With his griffin perking up inside him, he turned.
Her hair was damp from the bath, turning it from silver to dark honey. The dress she wore was one he had never seen on Paula, which was a relief; he wasn’t sure how he would have handled his mate in clothes he had admired on a different woman. But of course, Paula must have many things he’d never seen in the near-decade they had been apart. This was a flowered summer dress which made him think of the flowers in the yard. It was slightly too big for her, but he would have admired her if she had been wearing a burlap sack.
For the first time, he was able to see her tattoo. It twined up her left arm, swirling from wrist to shoulder in shades of blue and a silvery ink that was barely visible against her pale skin tone. When she moved her arm, it caught the light. Like his own, it was slashed through the middle, and rage stirred in him to see the pink, healing scars on her smooth arm.
Seeing him looking at it, she raised a self-conscious hand to cover the mark.
“You’re from Covert Silvershell,” he said without thinking.
“Was,” Cela murmured, dropping her gaze, and Tyr could have kicked himself in the face and then fed himself his own foot.
“I’m sorry,” he said. Useless apologies. His griffin hissed its fury, wanting to avenge itself on those who had hurt her. “If you need first-aid supplies, I have some in the upstairs bathroom, I think.”
“No.” She lowered her hand with a visible effort, exposing the place where her tattoo had been marked by her clan’s claws. “I—I fed the twins and found a room with a bed. I laid them down there. I hope that’s all right.”
“Yes, of course, it’s fine. Please make yourself at home.” If it was the bedroom right next to the downstairs bathroom, then it was probably the room he’d meant for Austin. But that was fine. None of the rooms had anything other than basic bedding and furnishings yet. The kids hadn’t even seen them.
“Their names are Aven and Ayra. I don’t think I told you that.” As she spoke, she circled the kitchen, looking at everything. Her gaze was keen and quick, full of sharp intelligence. If she was from Covert Silvershell, then there was a good chance this really was her first time off the island. Tyr guessed she was seeing most of the kitchen appliances for the first time.
“I, uh—I made spaghetti. It’s probably something you haven’t had before. If you hate it, there are other options.”
She turned to look at him. Her eyelashes were also pale, giving her eyes an almost naked look. He was abruptly, intensely aware of the delicate lines of her face, the curve of her shoulder. “I’m happy to eat anything you make, Tyr.”
“You don’t have to be.” He was furious at the people who had made her act like this, his own people, leaving her so glad for crumbs of kindness that she felt she couldn’t argue or push back. “Please—you don’t have to pretend to like something you hate. Not with me. There are probably going to be a lot of new things for you in the next few days.” Weeks. Months. Years. From the claw marks slashing through hertattoo, her exile was permanent. “So let’s not get off on the wrong foot with you having to fake enthusiasm for my cooking.”
She still looked very tired, blue shadows showing beneath her eyes, but she gave him a hesitant smile back. “I’ll agree to that, but only if you make me the same promise in return. You’re being very kind, letting me stay with you. So if I do anything that bothers or offends you, please tell me.”
“Okay, I will,” Tyr agreed, and was rewarded by her smile growing warmer and sunnier. “But it’s not kindness—I mean, I don’t want to argue if you want to call me that, but you’re my mate. I would do anything for you.”
