Rhys felt as if a little of his sense of stability, his sense ofself, had been taken from him, and he wasn’t sure when – or if – he’d get it back. The realization that he couldn’t even enter the building unless someone else decided to let him in hurt almost as much as the wyvern venom had.
The office was dark, but it was after hours, after all – through the long windows that ran along the far wall, Rhys could see the view of Sydney Harbour they overlooked, the city lights sparkling on the water, the opera house lit up from below, traffic streaming across the bridge.
You really wouldn’t know it was half-destroyed by a water monster a couple of years ago,Rhys thought, as he looked at the Opera House. Well, he guessed only he and his teammates really knew about that. Everyone else thought it had just been a freak weather incident, and Rhys hoped the truth wouldnevercome out. And thanks to some passing helpful alicorns, it seemed it wouldn’t.
Rhys frowned as he stared out at the gloomy evening. There were so many things about this whole situation that just weren’t sitting right with him. But right now, with his head feeling like it was packed full of foam peanuts, he knew he couldn’t do much about any of it – he had to get somewhere andthink.
And he knew that he couldn’t sit around here. Technically, he wasn’t supposed to be here at all. Robb would probably appear at any moment, still aware of his presence with his all-seeing eye, and tell him to get the hell out.
Sighing, Rhys turned and went to the lifts. He supposed he could do worse than go home and get a good night’s sleep and hope things seemed a little clearer in the morning.
The night air was fresh on his face when he emerged from the front entrance – but Rhys could also smell impending rain.
After about thirty seconds, the rain became a lot less impending and a lot more present, bucketing down from the sky with a suddenness that Rhys, after having lived in Sydney for several years now, really should have been used to and yet somehow wasn’t.
Great,he thought as he ducked his head beneath the onslaught.The perfect end to a perfect day.
But then, he guessed, rain never hurt anyone – hell, maybe it’d help him clear his head.
From outside, the building that housed the Agency’s offices looked deeply unimpressive, but that was by design, since it wasn’t supposed to seem like anything out of the ordinary was going on inside – just a regular Sydney office building, maybe even a little run down. But that hid a world of secrets.
Secrets I won’t get to be a part of anymore if this shit doesn’t get sorted out,Rhys thought glumly as he started walking along the footpath.
His griffin was evidently still sulking for some reason, too – it hadn’t appeared to voice its often-unwanted opinion for some time now. So Rhys supposed he had that to deal with now as well.
I guess I can’t do anything about it,he thought.Maybe I’ll go make that phone call to Evie after all—
“Hey!Hey!Heyyou!”
It took Rhys a moment to realize the voice that suddenly broke out through the night was talking tohim.
He swung around, squinting through the pouring rain. Thelastthing he needed right now was some rando trying to start a fight.
Or it’s the last thing some rando needs,Rhys thought with a growl, although really he knew he couldn’t actually take out his temper on randos, whether they accosted him or not.
But the person storming toward him now wasn’t exactly what he’d been expecting – though, now that his head had cleared a little, he realized ithadbeen a woman’s voice he’d heard.
But the particular woman now marching across the footpath, not seeming to either notice or care how wet she was getting, was… well, she was a little short, for starters, but she didn’t seem to notice that from the way she was barreling toward him. And she was wearing hospital scrubs. And she wascute– a fewstrands of her honey blonde hair had escaped the bun the rest of it was pulled back into, and she had freckles dotted across her nose, and big blue eyes that right now were blazing with a kind of fiery fury that took Rhys aback.
Had he… done something to offend her, he wondered – though honestly, he’d never seen her before in his life.
He didn’tthink?
A memory started jiggling away in the back of his mind.
A memory of pain, and falling, and then… warmth. A kind of soothing, healing warmth that had overtaken his whole body, pulling him back from the brink of some kind of cold, terrible darkness that had been trying to envelop him.
What the hell?Rhys thought, as the woman, puffing a little, stood before him, her cheeks flushed, her hair disheveled.
“You!” she said again, raising her finger to his face. “I want a word with you!”
Rhys stared at her, uncertain what to tell her – and at that moment, his griffin reared up within him, opening its beak in a mighty screech.
Mine! She is mine! Ours!
Rhys’s mouth dropped open as once again the woman started speaking to him, but her words were completely drowned out by the realization that thundered through him.
Oh my God. She’s my mate.
