*Pol, listen.* Harrison’s mind was racing. *I need you to do something for me.*
*Shoot, boss.*
Harrison explained his plan. He could almost feel Pol shaking his head. *You sure I’m the right person to do this? People like me, sure, but let’s be honest, I’m not great at the serious stuff.*
*Sorry, Sparky. You’re the best I’ve got right now. Good luck.* He paused. *Talk to Tessa, if you can. If there’s anything else she knows that could help…*
*You got it, boss.*
Harrison waited until he heard the front door close downstairs, and then sagged against the door.
If only this was the end of it. Save the girl, and win the day. I wish it were that simple.
***
Half an hour later, Lainie was sitting at the kitchen table, wrapped in Harrison’s warmest robe and with a half-eaten plate of grilled cheese in front of her. Harrison was keeping his hands busy making them both mugs of hot lemon and honey drink, but he couldn’t help the way his gaze kept landing on her.
His whole body ached to hold her. His griffin was complaining. Its aggravation was so strong, it was making Harrison’s skin itch: What are you waiting for? Take her to your bed. Surround her with pillows, and blankets, and keep her warm with your body. Why are we still here in the kitchen?
He couldn’t put it off any longer.
“Lainie, there’s something I have to tell you.” Harrison closed his eyes. There. He’d done it. Step one—and no turning back now. “I wanted to wait until I had the perfect way to tell you, the right words, the right moment—but now I know that moment’s never going to come, and the longer I put it off, the worse things will be.”
Lainie looked up at him. Out of the rain, warm from the shower and with a hot meal inside her, she no longer looked on the verge of collapse. But there was still a careful wariness in her eyes as she said quietly, “Things are pretty shit already, to be honest. But go on. What is it?”
“It’s to do with what happened at Caro’s earlier. And—”
Harrison stopped just short of saying It’s about us. Lainie’s mouth had gotten that pinched look the moment he mentioned the meeting. Damn it.
“You know, I’d really rather not talk about that,” she said quietly, staring at the table.
“I understand. God knows if I was in your position I’d feel the same way.” Harrison sat down opposite her. “But I think this will help you to make some sense of why Mrs. Sweets and the others are behaving the way they are. And…why your grandparents were forced to make you leave.”
That got her attention. Lainie’s eyes flicked up. She stared hard at him for a few breaths, as though trying to find something in his gaze. At last she took a slow breath. “Okay,” she said. “Go on. I’m listening.”
This is it. If you do this, you’re setting yourself up to be kicked out of town, too.
Harrison thrust the treacherous thoughts aside. Better to leave Hideaway, and have a chance of staying with Lainie, than stay here, knowing that I took part in the lie that drove her away.
Harrison pushed
his chair back from the table. He hadn’t bothered to get dressed. Despite wrapping Lainie in his thickest robe and pushing as many blankets at her as he could find, Harrison himself was still only wearing a towel wrapped around his waist. That would make this easier.
“The only way you’re going to believe this is if I show you,” he said, and reached deep inside himself for his griffin form.
Heat rushed through him, a fire that started in his heart and flared out. It filled his chest, his limbs, and then there was that heart-stopping moment where, just for a heartbeat, he felt as though the fire would burst out of him. Instead, his body changed to fit it.
His bones creaked, changing shape and size. Claws stretched from the end of his fingers, and he dropped to all fours. Two sets of razor-sharp talons, and two heavy paws. Thick, dark-gold hair covered the back half of his body, transitioning to sleek feathers from his chest forwards.
The only part of his body that did not change were his eyes. They stayed the same bright hazel as they were in his human form.
It took Harrison a moment to focus on the room. Things were always a bit hazy for a few seconds after he shifted. When his vision cleared, he immediately looked around for Lainie.
She was standing half-out of her chair, frozen mid-action. Her eyes were wide—but there was no trace of the horror Harrison had been afraid he would see in them.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
LAINIE