I guess that’s understandable, if she was upset about being stood up, Kieran thought as he left the bakery, armed with the apple pie, the bouquet of roses, and the address of the B&B Natasha was staying at, scribbled down on a piece of paper by Sylvie.

  He was still nervous about what he had to do next, but he had to admit, listening to Gale and Sylvie – and seeing how obviously deliriously happy they were together – gave him heart. Surely, once Natasha understood the truth, they could be at least that happy together too?

  And maybe there’s just something about Girdwood Springs that attracts shifters, Kieran thought as he walked. It seemed a huge coincidence that both a unicorn and a dragon had chosen to settle here, not to mention that Kieran’s Great Uncle Henry, himself a griffin shifter, had lived here for years and years.

  Natasha’s B&B wasn’t a long walk from the center of town – Girdwood Springs, no matter how much it might have changed since Natasha had lived here in her childhood, still only took about fifteen minutes to walk through, and the B&B stood on the outskirts of town, just before the forest completely took over the mountainside again.

  It was a cute little place, Kieran thought as he stood looking at it – the kind of place he would have liked to have stayed at, if he hadn’t already had somewhere to stay. A little brick building, with a small, neat garden out the front, and a garage out the back. A paved path that wended its way through the flower beds to the front door.

  Well, Kieran thought, taking a deep breath, here goes nothing.

  Before he could have any second thoughts, he marched up the path and knocked on the door, hoping that Natasha would be inside rather than out sightseeing.

  But he was in luck – after only a couple of moments, the door cracked open, and Natasha’s – incomparably beautiful – face appeared.

  And she did not look happy to see him.

  “Natasha,” Kieran blurted, before she could slam the door closed in his face again. “I’m really sorry – please, if you wouldn’t mind giving me just a couple of minutes of your time, I swear I can explain.”

  He held his breath, willing himself not to say anything more as Natasha’s eyes traveled from his face to the roses in his arms, to the pie box tied up with a little ribbon that Sylvie had very kindly made up for him. He could see her reluctance – but he could also see her thinking things over.

  “You stood me up,” she finally said, raising an eyebrow as she turned her gaze back to his face.

  “I know,” Kieran rushed in. “And I’m sorry – I really am. But I swear I have a good explanation. It’s, uh, a little complicated though. Would it be possible for me to come inside?”

  “I don’t know about that,” Natasha said a little dubiously, and Kieran had to say he couldn’t blame her. Her face was still cold – but then, after a moment, she visibly relented. “But if you like, we can talk in the back garden, and you can give me your explanation.”

  Kieran thought that was a fair compromise. Natasha opened the door wider and stepped out, closing it behind her before leading him around the side of the little brick house, and into a surprisingly expansive garden. It was only just now beginning to sprout again after the long, cold winter, but Kieran could tell just by looking that it would be spectacularly beautiful in spring and summer. Whoever had designed it had put a lot of thought and care into it, clearly.

  “So,” Natasha said, gesturing to a wrought iron garden seat, next to a matching table. “Take a seat, and tell me what you have to say.”

  Again, Kieran hesitated. He knew what he had to do – and yet, how to explain this?

  This would be much easier if she knew about Sylvie and Gale, he thought, but Sylvie had told him before he’d left the bakery that no one in Girdwood Springs except her, Kira, and Kira’s mate Caleb, the dragon, knew about shifters and mates.

  “Natasha…” he started, before, gritting his teeth, he decided to just come out with it. “The truth is, Natasha, that I’m not really like a normal human being.”

  Natasha’s eyebrows shot up and her mouth opened, before she closed it again. Then, she shook her head. “Okay, well, that’s at least original. In what way are you different, then? You don’t own a watch?”

  Kieran swallowed. Not a great start… but I don’t have much choice but to continue.

  “No, that’s not it,” he said. “I swear, usually I’m very punctual. But what I mean is… I’m actually not really human at all. I’m what they call a shifter – that is, a human who can take on the form of an animal. In my case, a mythical creature.”

  As he talked, he could see Natasha’s expression growing more and more confused, her eyebrows drawing closer and closer together.

  Well, who can really blame her for that? he thought, as he tried desperately to come up with something more to say.

  “I’m not the only one in the world,” he hurried on, without stopping to think about what he was saying. “There’s a lot of us around – some of us turn into mythical beings, like me, and others turn into regular animals, like cats, dogs, bears, even insects sometimes.” He thought for a moment about telling her that she already knew at least one person who could turn into a unicorn, but in the end, he decided against it. He hadn’t gotten Gale’s permission to reveal that he was a shifter, after all. “You wouldn’t know it to see us on the street, but I swear we exist. I know it sounds a little farfetched, but…”

  “Uh, more than just a little,” Natasha interrupted him as he began to run out of steam, shaking her head. “So… instead of telling me you had car trouble, or that you got an emergency phone call, or literally any other even slightly plausible explanation, you’re saying the reason you couldn’t make our date was because… you’re a mythical creature, actually?”

  “I know how unbelievable that is,” Kieran said, feeling desperate. This wasn’t going well at all. “But I swear, it’s the truth. Would I really say something so ridiculous if I couldn’t back it up?”

  For a moment, Natasha hesitated, seeming to think over what he’d said. “I guess you make a point there,” she said, shaking her head. “And to be honest, I thought I’d heard it all, but this is definitely a new one.” She looked up at him, her dark eyes piercing. “So, you said you could back it up. I guess you’re going to offer to… what was it you said? Shift? In front of me then? Or are you going to say your mythical form is too secret for human eyes, or something like that?”

  She’s still not convinced at all, Kieran thought worriedly. But that’s okay – I can in fact show her I’m telling the truth.

  “No – no, I can definitely show you my griffin form,” he said quickly. “In fact, there’s nothing I’d like to do more. Can I put these down on the table?” he asked, gesturing with his chin to the roses and pie, which, he couldn’t help but notice, she hadn’t asked him to give her.

  “Uh, sure,” Natasha said, giving him yet another bewildered look. “So, uh, just so we’re clear – what you’re going to do now is… turn into a, uh, a griffin?”

  “Yes.” Kieran took a few steps back from the table, wanting to give himself plenty of space. His wingspan was pretty wide, after all, and his griffin form was a lot bigger than his human one. “Don’t be startled – it’s still me in there. No matter what I look like.”

  “Okay then,” Natasha said, her tone turning a little curious. Was it possible she was actually starting to be won over a little? “I’m ready to see it. Go ahead.”

  Kieran nodded. “Okay. Here goes.”

  Taking a breath, he reached out to his griffin, calling it forward.

  And was met with complete silence.

  Um. Wait. Let me try again.

  He closed his eyes, seeking his griffin where he usually found it, nestled inside his chest, waiting for him to call upon it. But now, when he searched inside himself he found… nothing.

  Nothing at all.

  What the hell is happening?!

  Panic lanced through Kieran’s chest, not only at suddenly not being able to find his griffin where it had always been inside him – but also because he was very aware of Natasha’s eyes on him as he stood in the garden, very much not turning into a griffin.

  “Does it usually take a little while?” Natasha asked, her tone still more curious than annoyed – but Kieran knew that wouldn’t last much longer.

  He had to find his griffin!

  Come on, please, he begged it, searching frantically within himself. I’m sorry I was angry before – I’m sorry I was treating you as if you weren’t an equal, as if you were something I wanted to keep hidden. I’m trying to reveal you now, and not treat you that way anymore. Won’t you come out and show yourself to our mate?

  But there was no answer. Kieran recalled earlier in the day, when the griffin, apparently ashamed of its behavior, had retreated inside him, until he could barely sense it anymore. Since then he’d been too busy trying to figure out how to win over Natasha to have thought much about it. But apparently, it had decided to really make itself scarce now.

  After weeks of coming out at the worst possible times, now you’ve just decided to disappear altogether?!

  Kieran could feel desperation bubbling up inside him – desperation, and hopelessness. If he couldn’t get his griffin to appear, then he knew he would have blown it with Natasha forever. He wouldn’t blame her for not wanting to see him again, after he’d told her what appeared to be such a stupid, ridiculous lie.

  “Okay, I’m not really sure what’s going on,” Natasha said after a further few moments of nothing happening. “Are you really going to turn into a griffin?”

  “It’s… it’s not working right now,” Kieran said, knowing how ridiculous he sounded even as he said it.

  “It’s not working, you say.” Natasha’s voice was as flat as her stare.

  “No, it’s not – but I swear, everything I said was completely true,” Kieran said, knowing how desperate he sounded – but he was desperate. This had been his one chance to show Natasha what he was – to tell her what she was – and he was in the process of blowing it big time, just because his griffin would either appear or refuse to appear whenever it was the worst possible moment for either.

  I can’t believe this, he thought, raking his fingers through his hair. This has never happened before – why now? Is my griffin that mad at me that it’d sabotage its own happiness just to ruin mine too?

  “Right. Well. I think I’ve seen enough,” Natasha said tartly. She glanced at the flowers and the box containing the apple pie on the table. “You can take these with you if you like, too.”

  “No,” Kieran said miserably. “I brought them for you – please, keep them. At least you’ll get some nice pie and some beautiful flowers out of this. But I promise you, Natasha, I’m not lying. I would never lie to you. You’re my –”

  He stopped himself just short of saying mate. It would be just one more thing she probably wouldn’t believe him about. And right now, he thought he’d be better off just keeping his mouth shut.

  “Please, Natasha. Can I try just one more time?” he asked, but even as he said it, he knew it was hopeless. There wasn’t a single stirring of his griffin within him. It definitely wasn’t going to show itself to her. For whatever reason, it had decided that Kieran was on his own.

  Natasha bit her lip, looking at least for a moment like she might be thinking things over, but then she shook her head.

  “No, I think it’s best if you just go. Look. You really need to just… own up to things if you make a mistake. If you’d just told me your car broke down or even that you just forgot, I might have been willing to give you a second chance. But coming here and saying… what, that you turn into a magical animal? How exactly did you think that was going to go? Or did you just think I’d believe it when you said it ‘isn’t working’ right now?”

  But it’s true! Kieran felt the howl of protest welling up inside him. But he knew at the moment it’d just make things worse. There was nothing else he could do or say right now to make Natasha believe him – and to be honest, if their places had been reversed, Kieran knew he’d be thinking the exact same things as she was.

  “I’ll go then,” he said, utterly dejected. “And I promise, I won’t bother you again. I’m sorry to have caused you all this trouble.”

  For a moment, a flash of something that could have been remorse flashed across Natasha’s face, but then she looked resolutely away. “Thank you for the pie and the flowers, anyway,” she mumbled. “If you’d just told the truth, I might have been impressed.”

  Kieran could only nod. There was no point in arguing further. Everything in him was screaming at him to take Natasha in his arms, to kiss her, to show her somehow that they were meant for each other – that she was his and he was hers – but he shoved the urge away, knowing it’d only make things worse.

  Ignoring the searing pain in his chest, Kieran made his way back around the side of the house, and out onto the street.

  The walk back to Great Uncle Henry’s house was nothing more than a vague blur in his mind – the overwhelming ache in his heart made it difficult to concentrate on anything else. It was lucky he knew the way fairly well – he had a good sense of direction – otherwise Kieran wasn’t sure that he wouldn’t have just ended up wandering aimlessly into the forest, not looking where he was going and getting hopelessly lost in the growing darkness of the early evening.

  Which would have been an easy problem to solve if I had my griffin, he thought listlessly, as he made his way up the overgrown path that led to the front gate of the house. Is it gone for good then? Or will it come back at the least convenient time?

  Despite how annoying it had been lately – to put it mildly – Kieran felt a pang of anxiety at the idea that it might never come back.

  He didn’t think that was the case – right now, it was probably just sulking and trying to punish him. But still, the idea that he might, even temporarily, have lost it sent a terrible shiver down his spine. He was a shifter, after all – without his power to shift, what was he?

  It’ll come back, he told himself as he made his way up the front steps and unlocked the front door of the house, toeing off his muddy boots when he got inside. It has to. And maybe, when it does…

  Maybe then he’d have the chance to show Natasha that he wasn’t lying, and that everything he’d told her about himself was the truth.

  And that she’s my mate. My beautiful, glorious mate.

  But Natasha was only in town for a month – what if his griffin didn’t come back before that time was up? Why was it that he now had the opposite problem to the one he’d come here to try to fix? And how come –

  Kieran’s thoughts were suddenly cut off as an incredibly loud thud sounded from above him – the same sound that had echoed through the house just the other night. It reverberated through the entryway, loud and insistent, as if someone were hurling breeze blocks down onto the floor from the attic above.

  Not again… Kieran thought, as even more crashes and bangs suddenly tore through the air, loud enough that the beams of the house should have been shaking with it. But there was no movement – just the sounds, like a herd of elephants stampeding overhead.

  “I don’t know what’s going on, but I really can’t tell you how much I am not in the mood for this right now!” Kieran bellowed up into the empty house, feeling very foolish even as he did so – but the anger, frustration and despair that were churning furiously inside him needed some outlet, and mystery house sounds seemed as good an outlet as any.

  To Kieran’s surprise, the sounds cut out immediately – as if the herd of elephants had simply vanished mid-rampage.

  Kieran waited, expecting that they might start up again at any moment – but no. The silence reigned.

  Letting out a long sigh, Kieran muttered, “Well, at least that’s one less thing to worry about,” before dragging himself dejectedly into the house.

  Chapter 7

  Ugh. Stupid. Stupid, stupid, stupid. Wait, why am I the stupid one?!

  Natasha stomped over the muddy path, the wet dirt squelching beneath her angry tread. She wasn’t the one who’d stood someone else up for a date, and then, instead of just being honest about it, had concocted some ridiculous lie about being a… a…

  What did he call it again? A shifter?!

  She shook her head, anger shooting through her. She’d barely been able to sleep last night from her agitation about what had happened after she’d – foolishly, as it turned out – allowed Kieran to try to explain himself to her.

  If he’d just told the truth, like telling her he’d had car problems or that he’d forgotten the time while he was working on the place he was staying in, or even that he’d gotten his days mixed up and had thought they were supposed to be meeting at some other time, she probably would have given him a second chance, despite her swearing at Sylvie’s that she wouldn’t.

  When he’d turned up at her B&B, though, with his apologetic face and his frankly amazing bouquet of flowers and his thoughtful gift of pie, she’d found herself reluctantly melting – for some reason, her heart had told her to at least listen to what he had to say.

  Life happened, after all, and she didn’t have a heart completely made of stone. He’d seemed so genuinely like he wanted to apologize that she found herself almost hoping he’d have some kind of explanation, no matter how lame, just so she’d have an excuse to forgive him and suggest they could go out for dinner instead.

  But I wasn’t expecting… that!

  Why had he made up such a stupid, obvious lie? Just to mess with her?! He had to have known that he wasn’t going to be able to turn into a mythical creature right in front of her eyes, so what had been the point in any of it?!

  Maybe he was just some weirdo who got his kicks playing pointless practical jokes on people – maybe there’d been some hidden camera somewhere, and he was trying to go viral on social media or something, doing pranks or trying to get attention in order to sell something. Natasha worked in marketing so she was obviously aware of these things, but she had to say she didn’t really agree with the ‘all publicity is good publicity’ maxim – she never advocated for any client to do whatever it took to go viral, no matter how stupid, ridiculous or cruel.

 

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