Chest heaving, Gryphon pushed himself up. Two arrows stuck out of the side of the dead hellhound. His gaze shifted out over the beach, to Titus and Skyla killing what was left of the hellhounds. Then to the water, where Orpheus was hauling a soaking wet and bloody Maelea to her feet in the waist-high surf.
She sputtered, coughed, held on to Orpheus as he lifted her into his arms and walked toward the beach.
She was alive. Relief poured through Gryphon like a tidal wave. He pushed to his feet. Needed to touch her. To hold her. Blood gushed from his shoulder. A wave of dizziness dropped him back on his ass. Water sprayed around him.
“Shit,” Skyla said. “Orpheus! He’s hurt. And, uh, boys? Look up there.”
Gryphon looked toward the cliff Skyla was pointing to. The cliff was covered in seething, glowing green-eyed daemons.
Holy fuck, they’d been found by everyone.
“We need to get them both back to Argolea,” Skyla said. “Like now.”
Argolea? No. Gryphon tried to push up again. A wave crashed into him, jostling his body against the sand. “Maelea—”
“I’m all for that,” Titus said, stalking Gryphon’s way at a fast pace. “Is she okay?”
“I don’t know,” Orpheus said somewhere close. “Let’s get the fuck out of here before those daemons figure out how to get down that cliff.”
“Relax, Gryphon,” Skyla said at his side, kneeling beside him. “We’ll get you home.”
He didn’t want to go home. He just wanted Maelea. He struggled to see past Skyla, but Titus stepped in his way. Then looked down at him and shook his head with a you’re such a dumbshit expression.
Before Gryphon could ask where they’d come from or what the hell was going on, Titus brought his fingers together and opened the portal. A burst of light blinded Gryphon’s eyes. And then he was flying.
***
“I’m fine,” Maelea said for the hundredth time. “I’m not hurt. Stop fussing over me.”
She tried to get up, but Callia pushed on her shoulder, keeping her prone against the bed. “You hit your head and have a concussion. You’re not going anywhere just yet, missy. Relax. You’re safe here.”
Maelea wasn’t worried about being safe. She was worried about Gryphon.
She hadn’t seen him since they were brought to the castle in Argolea. The Argonauts had whisked him off somewhere as soon as they came through the portal, and every time she asked what was going on, she’d been told not to worry.
Not worry? That wasn’t possible. She knew the Argonauts hadn’t been happy with Gryphon before he kidnapped her. Likely were even less thrilled with him now. She needed to find them. To set things right. She’d seen the anger in Orpheus’s eyes when he hauled her out of the water. Had seen the way he cut Gryphon a bitter glare, as if her falling in the water and hitting her head was his fault. He couldn’t be more wrong. It was her own stupid fault. She knew now there was some sort of hidden power in her, one she’d called on out there on that rock. One that vibrated from her into the ground and caused it to shake. And it was that power that had knocked her off her own feet and tossed her into the waves.
All of them couldn’t be more wrong about Gryphon. She had to get to him. She had to make them understand…
She pushed up again. “If you’ll just let me—”
The door whooshed open, and Skyla stuck her blond head inside the room. “Is it okay for me to be here?”
Skyla. Relief pinged through Maelea’s chest. Yes, Skyla would help her.
Callia glanced toward the door. “Actually, you have good timing. I need to go check on Gryphon. Can you stay with Maelea?”
“Sure.”
Callia looked back at Maelea. “You, stay put.”
Maelea’s nerves bounced in her stomach as Callia left. When she and Skyla were alone, she focused on the Siren’s green eyes. “Tell me how he is.”
“He’ll live. Getting patched up. I’m a little surprised at your concern, though.”
“He didn’t do anything to me.”
“That’s not what it looked like when we got there. It looked like you were trying to get away from him and those hellhounds showed up.”
Maelea blew out a breath of frustration. “That’s not what was happening at all. I was looking out at the water, trying to get my head on straight when those hellhounds appeared. Gryphon was in the house packing to leave. He wasn’t anywhere near me. And even if he had been near me, I wouldn’t have been trying to get away from him.”
Confusion crossed Skyla’s face as she eased down on the side of Maelea’s bed. “Maybe you’d better tell me just what happened while you were with Gryphon these last few weeks. Because when Orpheus saw you with him in the caves beneath the colony, just before the floor broke open, getting away from him was the only thing you—or we—wanted.”