Under His Wings(7)

Her eyes, hazy with release, widened in awe and delight.

She reached out and her fingertips grazed the white feathers of his underwings. Pleasure careened through him at the trembling caress. He leaned forward, opening his mouth over the slim column of her neck, and allowed ecstasy to crash down, hauling him under.

And as he dove into the crazy, wild free fall, he clasped his arms and wings around her, dragging her with him.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

So close. He was so close.

Evander paced the length of the living room like a hamster on a wheel. Although the laceration scoring his lower torso had already started knitting together, it pulled and ached with each stride. The cramped apartment caged him. A growl rumbled in his throat. Nicolai had brought him to this—running, hiding like a rabbit.

He was a warrior, not a coward.

But this was only temporary. The rinky-dink living quarters, the hit ’n’ miss skirmishes with Nicolai and the rest of the krinos, the killing…well… The corner of his mouth quirked. He enjoyed that part of this little game. He’d acquired a taste for the hunt, the tearing of human skin under his claws, the gush of their warm blood in his mouth, over his hands. It was…addictive.

And had been for the six months he’d been slaughtering the weak, spineless mortals.

The first kill had been an accident.

He’d been home visiting Gregor and, as had been their tradition since childhood, they’d gone soaring above their homeland, flirting with the sea and racing each other across the dark sky. As they’d tumbled to the ground, shifting, laughing and shoving one another, they’d noticed too late the human woman who stood gaping at the sight of them. All three had been shocked but when she’d turned and fled across the empty field, her action had snapped his and Gregor’s paralysis.

Animal instinct had seized him, propelled Evander after the female. He’d reached her first and pounced. The audible snap of her neck reverberated in the silence. Staring down into the female’s lovely features forever frozen in a mask of fear, Evander hadn’t experienced the expected horror or guilt.

Exhilaration and excitement had raced through his blood, lighting him up inside like the blazing Grecian sun. And the fierce thrill had made him want to throw back his head and roar to the night sky that shamed him.

At first.

Soon he created situations where he convinced himself the taking of a human life was necessary. This woman had seen him do a partial shift—she had to die to preserve the secret of their existence. Or that woman had witnessed him without his gyges—she must be executed for the good of their society. But eventually he didn’t bother with an excuse other than he liked it.

Of course, Gregor had discovered his activities. He’d begged Evander to stop before Nicolai found out. If there was anyone Evander would sacrifice for it was Gregor. In a society where twins were rare and therefore revered and cherished, his and Gregor’s childhood had been hell meted out by the two people who should have protected and treasured them. Passion and love had brought his parents together, but their desire had eventually waned and the adoration had soon tarnished into bitter, resentful hatred—hatred they’d taken out on their twin boys. Separation wasn’t unheard of in the hippogryph society, though it was frowned upon. The simplest—kindest—action would’ve been to part ways, but the narcissistic, selfish creatures who had given Evander and Gregor life would never concede failure. Never admit their pairing was a monumental mistake. So instead they rained hell on their young. Through the beatings, cruelty and neglect, he and Gregor had clung to one another, depended on one another.

So when his brother asked him to quit his behavior, Evander had promised he wouldn’t continue. But he’d lied. He’d yearned to stop for Gregor’s sake, but by then it was too late—he couldn’t stop. To never feel the splitting of a woman’s flesh under his claws, to never savor the flow of her precious blood over his tongue—blood still warm from her beating heart, to never see the knowledge of her death darken her eyes even as the light of her mortality faded…

He didn’t want to give that up. Not even for his twin—the person he loved most in this world.

And it had been his twin who had paid the ultimate price for his pursuits. Evander had become careless and neglected to cover one of his kills with his usual precision. As identical in hippogryph form as they were in human form, Gregor had been mistaken for him and labeled “rogue”. No one had questioned it—of course a member of the Dimios’ krinos could not have been guilty of such savagery.

So Gregor had been executed, innocent of the crimes that had been committed by his brother.