Gryphon cut a look at Orpheus near the door. His brother’s arms were crossed over his chest, his eyes as hard and cold as Gryphon had ever seen them.
Oh yeah, his brother was pissed at him. And with good reason.
He looked toward Titus, leaning against the wall behind Theron, a toothpick sticking out of the corner of his mouth. Luckily, the Argonaut had healed from his wounds. Which was about the only good news right now. Even so, a burst of remorse trickled through Gryphon’s veins.
“Nick’s ready to have you skewered,” Theron went on, pinning him with a look. “He’s banned you from the colony.” His black eyes narrowed. “Are you listening to any fucking thing I’m saying?”
No, actually, Gryphon wasn’t. All he could think about was Maelea. “Where is she?”
“Safe from you, finally,” Theron said with dead calm.
Gryphon’s heart cinched down tight. And panic slid through his veins. “You have to let her stay. She can’t go back to the colony. She won’t stay there, and Hades is hunting her.”
“Why the hell would you care?” Theron asked. “You fucking kidnapped her.”
His pulse pounded hard in his chest. Yeah, he had, but he’d also found something in her he’d never expected to find anywhere else. Something he now knew he couldn’t live without.
“Well?” Theron asked.
Before Gryphon could answer, the door opened and Cerek stuck his head in the room. “Um, Theron. Sorry, man. I need you for a minute. We have a…situation downstairs.”
“What kind of situation?” Theron asked.
“A Council situation.”
“This is all I need,” Theron muttered. He looked to Gryphon. “You. Stay put. We’re not done.”
As he left, Gryphon couldn’t help but worry that the Council had found out Maelea was in their realm. They’d never allow that. Not the daughter of Persephone and Zeus. His stomach tightened.
Titus pushed away from the wall. “O? Can I see you outside in the hall for a minute?”
Gryphon’s wariness kicked in as he watched the two leave. Now what the hell was going on? As the med tech continued to bandage his shoulder, he tried to listen to what was happening beyond the door. Couldn’t hear anything but that voice echoing in his head. It was there, but not strong, which meant Maelea had to be somewhere in the castle. If she were outside the castle walls, the voice would be a blaring roar in his ears.
The door pushed open again, but instead of his kin, Callia stepped into the room. “I’ll finish that for you,” she said to the tech.
The female nodded, then slipped out of the room without a word.
Callia glanced at the bandage job, then pressed her fingers all around the outside of the wounds on his shoulder, using her healing gift to feel for problems. “It’s not as deep as it could have been. You were lucky.”
“How is she?” he asked, knowing Callia had to have seen Maelea. “Is she going to be okay?”
“She’s fine,” Callia answered as she continued to wrap his shoulder. “She has a slight concussion from hitting her head. Nothing more. Skyla’s with her now.”
Skyla. Gryphon’s eyes slid closed, and he drew in a breath, let it out slowly. Just hearing from someone that Maelea was okay eased the pressure on his chest.
“She seems quite worried about you,” Callia said.
The space around his heart warmed. “I—I need to see her.”
“I’m not sure that’s a good id—”
The door pushed open, but instead of Theron and the others, Orpheus came back into the room alone. The anger was gone from his eyes. In its place was shock and…confusion.
“Orpheus?” Callia asked as she applied the last bit of tape. “Are you okay?”
“Yeah. I’m fine.” He ran a hand down his face. Then nodded Gryphon’s way. “Are you done with him?”
“Yeah. He’s done.” She set down her supplies, handed Gryphon a new shirt from the counter at her side and said, “Put this on.”
“Good,” Orpheus said. “I, uh, need to talk to my brother.” When Callia glanced at each of them curiously he added, “Alone.”
“Sure.” Callia cast him a weak smile. “I’ll just be outside.”
Gryphon pushed off the bed and tugged the shirt over his head as the door snapped closed behind Callia. Every muscle in his body hurt, but he couldn’t relax until he saw for himself that Maelea was okay.
As he pulled the shirt down, he looked toward Orpheus, who was staring at him with a freaked-out expression. He dropped back onto the side of the bed, bent down to tie his boots. “I know you’re pissed at me. Just lay into me already and get it over with.”
“I—” Orpheus shoved his hands into the front pockets of his jeans. “When did you figure it out? That she was your soul mate?”
Gryphon froze. Looked up. How the hell did Orpheus know that?
His brain spun. And then he realized…Titus. He must have thought it when Titus was standing in the room.
No wonder the guardian had pulled Orpheus out into the hall.
He braced his hands on his knees, pushed up. Blew out a shaky breath. “Not soon enough.”
Anger raced back over Orpheus’s face. “Did you—”
“I didn’t hurt her,” he snapped, hating the burst of jealousy he felt at Orpheus’s obvious concern. He knew his brother was head over heels in love with Skyla, but there was a connection between Maelea and Orpheus. One that rubbed Gryphon the wrong way. She was his soul mate, dammit.
Still…he’d really done a fucking good job protecting her, hadn’t he? How many times had she almost been killed because of him? His anger dissipated. Morphed to guilt.
“I didn’t hurt her,” he said again, gentler this time, more for his benefit than Orpheus’s. “I… I…”
Shit. What could he say that would make any kind of logical sense? He’d kidnapped her, made her his prisoner, dragged her halfway across the country, then fallen for her. If he said that, he’d sound more insane than they already thought he was. And the longer he sat here trying to explain something he couldn’t, the longer it would be before he could see for himself that Maelea was in one piece. That she wasn’t hurt. That she truly was okay.
“Did you know before you left the colony?” Orpheus asked.
This one, he could answer. “No. I’d wanted to leave for weeks. Getting out of my room was easy, but I didn’t know how to get past the tunnels. I’d been watching her for a while and I knew she’d figured it out. So I intercepted her. I only planned to use her to get away, but then the tunnel crashed in and we ended up underground, and then…”
“Then what?”
His heart cinched down. “Then I figured out she was more than I thought she was.”
“Skata,” Orpheus said in a stunned voice. “She’s not just your soul mate. You’re in love with her.”
When Gryphon’s eyes snapped to his, Orpheus added hesitantly, “Does she feel the same way about you?”
Gryphon thought back to their last night together at the beach house. And his heart warmed when he remembered Maelea’s words. Words he was pretty sure he was going to remember for the rest of his life. I love you, Gryphon. Nothing else matters to me. Nothing from before can change that. This—you and me together now—this is all that matters.
“Yeah,” he said, unable to fight the curl of his lips. “She does. Crazy, huh?”
Voices echoed from the hallway before Orpheus could answer. They both looked toward the door. “Where is he?” One voice rang out above the others. “I want to see him.”