He heard Maisie’s delighted gasp when she saw what he’d already seen, and her fingers gripped his feathers tighter.
“Oh, wow,” she breathed… and, as much as Rhys liked to think that he was a worldly guy who had been there and done that, he had to agree that the sight was pretty amazing.
Far below them, an enormous humpback whale powered up through the surface of the ocean, bursting up into the sunlight and seeming to hang in the air for several seconds before plunging back down again, sending up a giant wall of water in its wake.
The sheer size of the creature was extraordinary, and he watched, entranced, as the whale came back up to swim at the surface – and this time he noticed the baby humpback by its side. It looked tiny in comparison to its mum, but he knew that it could probably eat him for breakfast. He was suddenly very glad that humpbacks didn’t have a taste for human – or, presumably, griffin – flesh. These guys were massive!
He continued to circle for a while even after the whales departed, simply enjoying the sight of the ocean below and the sky above with Maisie, before, regretfully, he turned back toward Burr Island once more. As much as he was enjoying himself, and as much as it seemed like there was no one else for miles around, he knew that any time spent in griffin form was a risk. While they had left just as the sun was starting to appear over the horizon, the sky was rapidly lightening.
Not too much later they landed at the Burr Island lookout point – which was still thankfully deserted at this early hour – and Maisie slipped off his back before Rhys shifted back into his human form. He barely had a moment to get his bearings before he was practically knocked off his feet, Maisie throwing herself at him for a kiss.
“Thank you,” she said after she finally pulled back, looking up at him with shining eyes. “That was incredible.”
Maisie kissed him again, and the two of them headed back down toward the resort, Maisie pressed against his side. Sheseemed to fit there perfectly, her head resting against his shoulder as they wandered along the path.
It almost seemed a shame to finally reach the resort again, with its rich bozos and its manicured gardens and its peacocks and its damnbutlers. All he really wanted was to be somewhere quiet with Maisie.
Speaking of the butler, he wondered what Bee had thought about them disappearing for a day and a night. Had they missed any activities or restaurant bookings?
… Whatever. He didn’t care. He wouldn’t have missed the past day for the world.
“I guess we’re here,” Maisie said as she pulled out her keypass. She sounded as reluctant as Rhys felt.
Well, they didn’t have tostayhere. They could do whatever they wanted.
They rounded the corner to their room, and…
“Wait.”
He held up his hand, signaling to Maisie that she should stay back.
Because they had definitely locked the door when they left… and now, it was sitting slightly ajar.
Adrenaline pumped through his veins. His griffin was awake in a flash, and while it didn’t seem to be sensing any actual immediate life-threatening danger, it was on high alert, scanning the area for any sign of enemies.
Rhys cursed the fact that he didn’t have any weapons, unless he counted an empty champagne bottle. The griffin wasn’t exactly built for combat within enclosed spaces, and shifting would have to be an absolute last resort.
Still, he didn’t want to just leave the room without finding out what had happened. If nothing else, if there was someone dangerous lurking in there and some innocent resort staffmember came along to clean the room and ended up getting harmed, he would never forgive himself.
He took a slow breath in and out, keeping his heart rate steady, and peered in through the gap in the door.
The room had been trashed, that much was obvious. But he couldn’t see anyone, and, more importantly, his griffin still wasn’t picking up on any danger.
I believe that it is safe for us to enter.
He gently pushed open the door and entered the apartment on silent feet, making his way into the main living area.
The room looked like a bomb had gone off in it… or like some cockatoos had come in through the open verandah door and trashed the joint in search of Pringles, which was far from impossible.
His griffin seemed satisfied, however, that the only thing in danger was Michael’s credit card once the resort got around to charging them for the damage that had been done to the room.
“It’s safe to come in,” he called out to Maisie. “But lock the door behind you.”
“You don’t have to tell me twice,” Maisie replied as she entered. She blinked. “Wow. This seems a bit extreme.”
“Yeah,” Rhys said grimly. Of course, he couldn’t be sure – but it seemed like onehellof a coincidence that some guys would come after him only a couple of days ago, and now he’d returned to his luxury hotel room to find it trashed. And he didn’t really believe in coincidences anyway.
But how did they know I was here?he wondered. No one had known where he was going except Michael and Shaz. This had been a totally unplanned, last-minute move. Who could have known?
