Baz just smiles and shakes his head with amusement.
“Alright, let’s go,” Griff says. He looks at me, “Neith, you’re with me.”
I nod. Message received loud and clear. I am being carried and not using my wings. That’s fair enough, they’re pretty unique, and if Griff would rather I didn’t use them, then I’m going to trust his judgment, especially since this is his territory.
Plus, I’ll never say no to being carried by Griff.
“Whoa,” Lachlan mutters as Coen transforms, and those of us who can’t fly jump on, along with the bags that they’ve gathered from the boat. “I was not expecting that.”
Griff chuckles, but doesn’t say anything as he launches himself up into the air with me in his arms.
After a moment of flying, and with Lachlan at the front flying next to Coen and talking to Van on his back, asking a million questions, I figure that it’s safe to ask Griff a question.
“Is there a particular reason that I should know about why I can’t show my wings? Is it just my wings or my other shifted thingy’s too?”
Griff looks down at me, his eyes full of mischief as he replies, “Oh, there is no reason. I just wanted to hold you for longer.”
I burst out laughing and then kiss him, trusting him to keep us in the air and not to let us crash into anything.
When I pull back, I ask, “Okay, so just to clarify, if the opportunity arises again for me to fly, then I’m okay to do so?”
Griff nods, “Yes, you should be, but trust your instincts. I’m not home enough to be able to say one hundred percent that it's safe for you to do that here, and would rather that you were more cautious than not.”
I nod, “Understood. I like being carried anyway.”
“Good,” he replies with a happy smile before he kisses me again. “I have no intention of stopping carrying you, and I know that the others don’t either.”
I quickly get distracted from our conversation when we fly over the gargoyle village. It’s beautiful, consisting of all stone buildings of various shapes and sizes, and with the wisps of smoke rising up from chimneys, and the freshly fallen snow, it all looks rather magical. The village is bigger than I thought, and judging from the number of houses that are here, there are actually a lot more people living here than I thought too.
This is not a small place, but that makes sense. Griff’s clan has been living here for hundreds of years, and from what I’ve gathered,they weren’t a small clan when they decided to settle here in the first place. I also learned that most gargoyles are quite happy to live and work here, preferring to be around their own kind, and with a good distance between them and humans. There’s a fearful cautiousness that surrounds that part of their history.
Despite the number of houses below us, there aren’t many people around, either in the air or down below, and that makes sense too because the sun is beginning it’s decent, and the chill in the air that was pretty brutal anyway has upped the ante.
Damn, it’s fucking cold.
I turn my face into Griff’s chest, even more grateful that he’s carrying me, and I’m not trying to fly while this cold. Despite the fact that he’s flying, he hasn’t completely shifted, and he’s radiating heat. Blessed heat.
Chapter Eighteen
Neith
“It’s not much further. The Chief's house is on the edge of the village, it’s the biggest house in town, but it needs to be since all of the meetings are held there and the monthly feasts as well. The whole town attends both,” Griff explains.
“That’s pretty awesome actually,” I reply with a sniff. My nose may have fallen off by this point because it’s so fucking cold, but I’m too scared to actually check, so I continue talking. “There must be a real sense of community. Like the meals at the compound.”
Griff nods, and I see his lips tilt up into a smile before I bury my head again, this time I manage to get close enough to get my cold nose on his neck, and he jumps.
“Shit, your nose is cold. Yeah, it’s pretty similar actually. It’s like one big family. It’s great, but it did get a bit much for me, having everyone know my business all the time, it’s like small-town livingamplified by ten. It’s not necessarily bad, but I never planned to live here forever.”
I nod, “That makes sense. I don’t think I would like to live like that permanently. The compound was a bit like that but not quite as extreme as you’re describing, and I even found that too much sometimes.”
“Yeah, I think the compound has the right balance to be fair,” Griff replies thoughtfully.
It doesn’t take us too much longer, and we land in front of a big stone house. It’s gorgeous, and kind of reminds me of House, it’s built in a similar kind of stone. It’s massive, but as Griff said, it needs to be to accommodate the clan.
“We’ll just follow your lead, man,” Coen says to Griff, back in human form.
Griff nods.
