Her heart skipped a beat as she noticed that he’d casually put his full weight on his left leg, without a hint of a wince. There was something looser, easier about his movements. She hadn’t realized before just how constantly he’d been in pain.
Until now, when that pain had finally ceased.
Did I do that? Hope rose in her soul, sparkling light and effervescent as champagne bubbles. Is it permanent, or will it wear off? Not that I mind if we have to keep doing this…
Griff’s gaze heated, roving over her body hungrily. “Me neither.”
“Okay, that really is unfair.” Hayley pouted at him, crossing her arms. “I wish I could tell what you’re thinking.” Of course, from the growing bulge in his pants—seriously, already?—she actually had a pretty good idea at the moment, but still.
“Well…” Griff hesitated, the playfulness in his expression turning more serious. He shot her a sidelong, strangely shy glance. “You could, actually. If…you wanted to. Eventually. One day. You see, if we were fully mated-”
And then he collapsed.
CHAPTER SEVEN
Griff
There was no warning. One moment his inner beasts were sprawled happily in separate corners of his soul, smug and satiated—and the next, they were lunging at each other, screaming in rage.
Relaxed by pleasure, he was caught completely off guard. The eagle’s claws and the lion’s teeth tore into his unprepared mind as if it was the soft, unprotected underbelly of a rabbit. Griff doubled over, every nerve in his body abruptly aflame with agony.
Our mate! his lion roared at his eagle, mane bristling and teeth bared. Ours!
No! Our mate! His eagle folded its wings and stooped on the lion, talons outstretched and deadly. We will kill you!
“Griff! Griff!” Hayley’s voice sounded as if it was coming from very far away, drowned out by the storm of snarling and shrieking in his head. Dimly, he was aware of her hands on his shoulders, shaking him. “What is it? What’s happening?”
“I—don’t—know!” he managed to gasp out. His bones twisted sickeningly under his skin as his body instinctively tried to shift in response to the sudden assault. The kitchen floor hit his knees, cold and hard. “They just-!”
WHY? he shouted futilely at his raging animals. Nothing’s wrong! No one’s threatening our mate! WHY ARE YOU DOING THIS?
“Look at me!” Hayley’s face swam before him, through the red haz
e of pain. She pressed her forehead against his, her hands on each side of his skull as if trying to forcibly hold his dissolving mind together. “I’m right here. I’m here, Griff!”
Desperately, he tried to focus on her, to anchor himself in her steadfast presence. But this time, the sight of her just seemed to enrage his beasts further. They were each still filled with the drive to protect her, to worship and cherish her…but added to that was a new, fiercely burning possessiveness that could only be satisfied by the utter destruction of any rival.
Including each other.
Our mate! Not yours! His lion sank its teeth into the eagle’s powerful wing. Griff convulsed, phantom fangs plunging into his shoulder. Ours to claim!
You will not have her! His eagle’s talons gouged great gashes in the lion’s tawny hide, each one slashing across Griff’s own back. We will claim her, we alone! She is ours! Die!
“Oh God, why isn’t it working?” Hayley sounded frantic. She released him, jumping to her feet. “Griff, I’m calling an ambulance.”
“No!” He grabbed at her ankle, stopping her. She cried out in surprised pain, and with horror he realized that his fingernails had already sharpened into claws.
That had only ever happened once before, at the very height of his worst uncontrolled shift. That episode had cost him his leg. If the claws were coming now, right at the start of the seizure…
STOP! he roared at his animals. Or we’re all going to die!
It was no use. They ignored him utterly, and he didn’t have the strength left to separate them forcibly. His eagle and lion tugged on his body like two dogs fighting over the same bone. If he didn’t do something, they’d tear him limb from limb.
There was only one thing he could do. The last, desperate resort that he’d hoped never to have to use.
“Hayley.” Griff fought to keep his throat and tongue human enough to speak. His voice came out somewhere between a lion’s snarl and an eagle’s shriek, monstrous and distorted. “My coat. Hallway. Now!”
Thankfully, she seemed to understand his slurred words. She dashed off, her bare feet slipping on the tiled floor in her haste. Griff locked his jaw, curling into a tight ball as another wave of pain wracked his muscles. Only the thought of waking Danny up kept him from screaming.