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“Prince?” I croaked, tasting a metallic tang that told me I must have bitten my tongue or lip. Turning my head hurt, but I could see that the impact caved in the passenger side where it wrapped around the trunk of the tree. “Quinn? Bel?”
“Cordelia,” came a harsh rasp from the front seat.
“Quinn!”
He struggled for a minute to unlatch his seatbelt and crashed onto his head and shoulders when he succeeded. He coughed a wet-sounding groan before righting himself. “Are you hurt?” There was blood dripping down his face from the right side of his head, probably from hitting the window before it broke.
“Not bad, I don’t think. I’m stuck.” I tugged on my seatbelt to show him.
He nodded, pulling up the hem of his tee to wipe the blood out of his eyes. “Just sit tight until I can help you. Check Ric.” He shook Bellamy’s shoulder while I reached for Alaric, who was hanging limply. Panic lodged in my throat, cutting off my air supply.
“Quinn, I don’t—he’s not—”
“Eyes on me, foxglove.”
I tore my gaze away from Alaric’s still form and sank into Quinn’s golden pools. Calm suffused me as I let go.
“Keep breathing. Good girl.” He held me captive until my lungs fully relaxed. “Bellamy’s okay. He’s going to come around and help you. Nod for me, sweetheart.”
My head wobbled, absorbing his words. I noticed then that Bellamy was no longer hanging from his seat and was instead working to crawl through the broken window of his door. Quinn dragged himself into the backseat and pressed two bloody fingers to the side of Alaric’s neck. After the longest ten seconds of my life, he exhaled.
“He’s alive,” he said as Bel wrenched my door open. “Let Bellamy help you.”
“Hey, you.” Bellamy stole my attention and forced a smile like it could hide the fear behind his eyes. “Let’s get you right side up.” He slid an arm under my shoulders and lifted. With his other hand, he gave the lap belt a fierce tug that ripped it clean through. I thumped down onto my butt, upper body saved by Bel’s strength.
“Are you alright?” I pressed my hand to his chest, right over his heart, needing the assurance.
He carefully maneuvered me out of the car, avoiding the pebbles of glass from the shattered window. “Just fine.” Shuffling back a few feet from the overturned SUV, he sat me down against a tree and crouched in front of me. His hands went to my face, brushing back my hair, checking for injuries. I didn’t fight him.
When he shifted to the side to check my back, what I saw behind him made my blood run cold. At the top of the ravine, the black van had pulled off the road. Six figures were spread out and making their way down the sharp incline, intending to surround us.
“Bel.” His name was a tight squeak. His attention returned to my face, and he followed my terrified gaze over his shoulder.
“Fuck.” He swiveled his crouch to face the intruders but kept a hand pressed to my sternum. “You stay right here, Blue. Don’t move.” Very slowly, he lifted his hands in a non-threatening gesture and stood. “What do you want?” he called.
Laughter cackled from the group, sounding like a pack of wild dogs. “We want the girl.”
Fear wrapped around my heart. They ran us off the road to get to me? Why? What the hell was going on?
“Sorry,” Bel replied, widening his stance. “We had her first.”
That hideous laughter rang out again. I tilted my head to peer around Bellamy’s leg just in time to watch one of the six conjure a swirling mass of darkness between their hands and lob it in our direction. I was too scared to move, but fractions of a second before that crackling black energy reached us, Bel had crouched back over me. He pulled me against his chest, and a loud crack like a whip made my ears pop. He rocked forward like he’d been struck, and I waited for him to crumble.
Instead, he straightened, and I knew then that I must have died in the crash. Because as Bellamy stood and turned to face our attackers again, all I could see was a massive flurry of speckled brown feathers.
All I could see were his wings.
36
CORDELIA
Wings. Bellamy had…wings. And they were breathtaking. Caught in a trance, I reached out a hand, but before I got anywhere close to his shining feathers, the wonder continued. He didn’t stop at sprouting wings. His body blurred with an ephemeral glowing aura, and his shape…changed. He expanded, dropping down to all fours. When the haze receded only moments later, what remained put me in a stupor.
The creature stood at least eight feet tall, from the razor-like talons on its feline paws to the tips of its long, feathered ears. There was a brutal curve to its powerful beak, and when it snapped in our attackers’ direction, I knew it could tear through flesh like butter. Its wings now spanned three times its height, and its shriek was like a pressure wave.
I knew what it was. No. Not ‘it’. Bellamy. This was Bellamy, with a glorious eagle’s head and winged lion’s body. I knew what my eyes were seeing, but my brain was having a hard time accepting it. Lycans and vampires, sure. But this… How was I supposed to accept that Bellamy had just turned into a gryphon?
He tucked his wings close to his body, readying to pounce. The demons—because what else could they have been?—hadn’t closed in any further. They seemed just as surprised by Bel’s transformation as I was. However, they recovered more quickly while I was still sitting on the ground in shock. The air was too thin. No matter how much I gasped, I couldn’t get enough of it into my lungs.
