Pigeon rolls her eyes, but I feel a trickle of amusement break through the hurt she’s feeling.
A roar fills the cave, and Zeph springs for Treno. Pigeon’s and my focus immediately goes back to the guys, and I groan and throw my head back in frustration. Pigeon jumps between them and snaps at Zeph and Treno each in turn. They back off immediately, but sorrow washes through Pigeon when Treno and Zeph proceed to yell shit at each other, their insults skimming over our feathers like razor blades. I watch as it dawns on her that this mating situation isn’t the happy gathering she hoped it would be.
I gesture internally at our yelling mates and sigh. “Welcome to the shit show, Pidge.”
6
I can feel when the shock ripples through her. She really thought they would accept each other and everything would work out. To Pigeon, the mate call was instinctual and had to be answered. They now belong to her and, in her mind, should happily accept that they now belong to each other too. She doesn’t understand all the other complications and nuances that make all of our connections tenuous and strained. She doesn’t get the human side of things.
I’ve been mad at her for not explaining our gryphon side and how it all works, but I’ve clearly been doing a piss poor job of explaining the human aspects that layer these relationships too. Things like mortal enemies and war don’t seem to trump things like instincts and mate in Pigeon’s eyes. She clearly thinks we should all be shacking up and getting our orgy on.
Elation rushes through me, and I study the misplaced emotion for a moment, trying to figure it out. What the hell is she so excited about?
Before I can so much as question her, we’re jumping out of the cave and out into the night. Panic slams through me as we streak through the air. I don’t know how far away we are from Kestrel City exactly, but from what the guys said earlier, it’s not far enough, and there are definitely patrols out looking for us.
“Pigeon!” I shriek at her, completely freaked out. We cannot get caught by Lazza. I don’t care how excited she is to be doing whatever the fuck she’s doing right now. “Pigeon, go back right now!” I order, but she completely ignores me.
I don’t want to force her or fight for control. I think back to the battle we had for control when Pigeon wanted to take out Ryn. It was brutal and did so much damage to our already troubled and wounded relationship. I don’t want to go there again, but I’m not sure what else to do. I want us to figure out how to be together, to listen and trust each other, but we can’t get caught, and she’s not listening.
My instincts tell me to get rid of this beat up bird cage around me and shove Pigeon out of the way. I can try to help her understand later when we’re safe. But that’s the kind of shit I’ve been pulling with Pigeon from the beginning, and I need to show her that I can change.
“Pigeon! You have to listen to me right now, or you could hurt not only us, but your mates too!” I shout at her.
I can feel her focus shift from whatever it is that she’s searching for to me.
“You have to land now!” I urge her, panic and worry bleeding out of every word. “Please just trust me, land and I will explain everything. If you still think it’s safe to be flying around, that’s fine, I’m not going to fight you. Just give me five minutes now on the ground, preferably somewhere we can’t be spotted from the sky.”
I’m not going to lie, I’m a little surprised when Pigeon folds our wings and then drops us toward the ground like a missile. I try to listen and feel the currents around us as we shoot down, checking to see if we’ve been spotted or if there is danger nearby. It’s hard to hear over the wind rushing past our ears, but I don’t feel any indication that anything is headed our way.
That does make me wonder where the hell Zeph, Ryn, and Treno are though. I figured they’d be right on our ass, ready to lay into Pigeon about being so reckless.
The ground comes screaming up at us in no time, and about fifteen feet away from crashing like a bug on a windshield, she spreads our wings, catches the air, and lands gracefully on the pine needle covered forest floor. I’m once again completely taken with her agility and grace, and I can sense Pigeon preening and feeling smug as fuck at my appreciation.
I put my knuckles out, expecting a wing five or a talon bump, but Pigeon just eyes the gesture like we’re not there yet.
Fair enough.
I quickly explain to her that we can’t fly and all the reasons why it’s a super bad idea, and once again I’m surprised by her ready acceptance. She flashes me an image of her walking through the forest. I’m nervous about that option and feel like we should just head back for the cave, but there’s no mates around us demanding that we need to do that, so I’m torn.
I take a deep breath and say fuck it. “We can’t get caught though, Pidge. So, whatever it is you feel the need to be out here doing, we need to be very careful,” I warn, and she just flashes the word obviously at me.
I snort, and Pigeon starts stalking through the trees.
“What are we looking for?”
Pigeon harrumphs as if she thinks that’s a dumb question, but I feel anxiety pool in our stomach. Pigeon flashes me what I’m pretty sure is a bird’s nest, and I stare at the image confused and try to sort out what it all means.
Why would a nest make
