Clanless Read online

  How could she, in only a few days, have forgotten how attractive he was? Dark brown hair framed his chiseled jaw. Heavy shadows rested beneath his golden brown eyes. Such kind eyes. His Ram nose had a knot at the bridge from being repeatedly broken, but even that added to his rugged charm. “You’re alive.” It needed to be said. Shouted. Over and over again. That knowledge alone made everything bearable, as if a boulder had been lifted from off her chest and she could finally breathe again.

  “What happened to your hands?” he asked, taking one up and kissing her palm. Zo closed her eyes at his touch and sighed. Joshua and Tess would be so happy.

  “Joshua!” said Zo. “We need to get to the Allies. Joshua and Tess think you’re dead.”

  “No I don’t,” a familiar voice approached the tree and Joshua dropped down to his knees, a ridiculous grin plastered to his face.

  “I don’t understand.” Zo looked back and forth between the two. “Tess?”

  “Safe with Stone and Eva and the rest of the Nameless. By now they will have made it to the Allied Camp. Joshua came with me to get you back. We’ve been tracking you.”

  “Oh, no.” Zo remember the Kodiak and the blood oath she’d made. Ikatou would stop at nothing to find her. She was his only hope of freeing his family. If they discovered she wasn’t really kidnapped, that she didn’t leave with Gryphon and Joshua against her will …

  She looked down at her hands and grimaced. How could she tell him about her promise? Especially now.

  “Your hands, Zo,” he said, mirroring her thoughts. “What happened?”

  The truth would ruin everything. She wanted nothing but to reach out to him. To take his weathered face in her hands and brush away the deep shadows beneath his eyes. To trace the strong lines of his jaw and smooth the wrinkled concern from his brow.

  “Can you still run?” asked Joshua. “Once those Kodiak discover our tracks, it won’t take them long to find us.”

  This was an opportunity to escape her promise to Ikatou and the others. They’d have a difficult time finding the Allied Camp on their own. She could be free of her blood oath! No more Barnabas. No more leaving loved ones. Gryphon was alive! This was a second chance to have him in her life, and she refused to squander it.

  She looked down at her mutilated hands. She shouldn’t be held responsible for a promise made to those men. Barnabas would have tortured her for information and then killed her if she hadn’t escaped Boar. She’d been desperate. It wasn’t her fault that Ikatou’s clan was raided. She hadn’t forced the Kodiak from their homes, starved their children to the point of desperation …

  “Zo.” Gryphon took her by the upper arms, bringing her back to the present. “What’s wrong?” He tucked her wild hair behind her ears and let his fingers slide down her neck. Her body responded with fire. A craving she never experienced with Gabe. How could she live without this man?

  Zo sat up and scooted away from Gryphon. She cradled her wounded hands to her stomach, afraid she might be sick. “We need to go back.” She couldn’t push her voice past a whisper.

  “To those Kodiak animals?” Gryphon thundered. “Not a chance.”

  Zo blinked, startled by Gryphon’s resolve. “They saved me from Boar. I’ve promised to take them to Commander Laden and the Allies in return. I can’t go back on my word.” Not a complete lie, but not a complete truth either. She wasn’t ready to tell him about her blood oath. Not yet.

  “What happened to your hands, Zo? Did they do that to you?” Gryphon’s expression darkened into something dangerous.

  “Gryphon? Did you hear me? I have to help these people.”

  One of Ikatou’s brothers shouted in the distance. “Fresh tracks. To me! To me!”

  “Sorry, Zo.” Gryphon gathered the blankets and tightened the straps of his pack. “I’m not taking any chances with you. Run with me, or be dragged. But I promise you I will fight every Clanless wild man that comes near you.”

  “We’ve got to go now,” hissed Joshua.

  “Zander and my mess are in these woods, somewhere between here and the Allied Camp. They’ll have an easy time tracking those Kodiak. You’re safer with me and Joshua.” Gryphon’s hand cupped her cheek with such reverence. “Please run with me.”

  How could she refuse him?

  Chapter 29

  Somewhere, repressed deep in the folds of his mind, Gryphon knew running was crazy. Seeing Zo—no, feeling Zo—altered all reasoning. He should have taken her back to the camp. It’s what she wanted. Leave it to Zo to find someone to save while she herself was in mortal danger.

  But the idea of entering a situation outnumbered, without control, with Zo under his protection, simply wasn’t acceptable.

  They ran for hours. Zo checked him if he varied from the southerly course. Both Joshua and Zo asked to stop, but Gryphon refused. Too many hunters in the forest. Everyone was against them. The whole world, it seemed.

  Only when Zo tripped on a fallen log and collapsed to the ground in an exhausted ball did he come to his senses. He knelt beside her and lifted her from the ground onto his lap. Even after the run her body was cold, her skin pallid and sickly.

  “I’m sorry. I just—”

  Zo covered his mouth with bloodied fingers. “I feel it too. The urgency.”

  They’d cheated death. All three of them. “I can’t lose you again,” he said.

  Joshua dropped wearily beside him. “You’re going to lose us both if we don’t stop to rest.” The boy’s teasing bordered too close on truth to be funny.

  Zo nudged for Gryphon to set her down and he grudgingly obeyed. They wouldn’t rest here long. Not enough cover.

  “Tell me how you escaped,” she whispered, easing down to lie on her side. Days of trekking the mountain with little food showed in her prominent cheekbones.

  “Barnabas decided to let Zander and his men sit out in the rain for a night. Ajax and Gabe helped me escape.”

  Zo sat up. “Gabe? That’s not possible. He told me—”

  “He lied, Zo. He wanted us both to believe the other was dead.”

  Zo shook her head. “He wouldn’t do that.”

  “But he did. He came back with me to warn the Raven. He let me believe that Ajax, my best friend, killed you.” Gryphon grabbed a soggy pinecone and ground it in his fists. “If I hadn’t run into Talon and Raca, I would never have found you.”

  Zo stared into the distance, still shaking her head. “Gabe wouldn’t do such a thing. It doesn’t make sense.”

  Gryphon threw the crumpled remains of the pinecone and barked, “Of course it does!” Didn’t she understand? They both loved her. They both wanted her. This was Gabe’s way of keeping Zo to himself.

  Joshua voiced what Gryphon was too angry and too afraid to say. “Gabe doesn’t want you to choose Gryphon instead of him.”

  Gryphon looked away, not daring to see Zo’s expression. He knew she cared for him. But could that affection trump years of friendship, and maybe even love, between her and Gabe? It didn’t seem possible.

  “Where is he now?” whispered Zo.

  Gryphon’s throat wouldn’t relax. “On a boat sailing south with the Raven. They’ll approach the Allied Camp from the south to avoid the Ram.”

  Gabe had saved his life more than once. The Raven would have killed him in that field if Gabe hadn’t shown up. How could he hate and admire someone so thoroughly?

  “I hope he’s alive,” said Zo. “He’s going to pay for this.”

  Gryphon whipped around, needing to see her face.

  He didn’t have the chance before she tucked her body into his side for warmth. The cold tip of her nose pressed gently against his rib cage. He draped his arm around her, drawing her even closer to him and lifted his other arm for Joshua to do the same.

  “I’m good,” the boy said, even though Gryphon saw him shiver.

  “I didn’t ask if you were ‘good.’ Now get over here.” He pulled Joshua over by his coll
ar and tucked him close to his side. The two people he cared for most.

  “Thank you for saving the Raven,” Zo mumbled into his shirt.

  He squeezed her to let her know he’d heard.

  Gryphon woke to the feel of cold steel pressed against his throat. He stared down the blade to find Zander with the rest of the mess surrounding them.

  “Get up.” Ever the soldier, Zander kept his voice neutral, adding pressure to the sword until Gryphon had no choice but to rise. Zo and Joshua had fallen asleep resting on his shoulders. When his arms fell away, they stirred awake.

  “Gryphon?” Zo gasped beside him. Joshua attempted to stand, reaching for the dagger he kept on his belt.

  Ajax stepped in and kicked the knife out of the boy’s hands before he could so much as point it in someone’s direction. He pushed Joshua to the ground and planted a foot on his chest with enough force to make the kid groan.

  How could Gryphon let this happen? He never fell asleep on watch, especially not in the middle of the day. He only meant to give Zo and Joshua a chance to rest, to have both of them huddled against him in total contentment. Gryphon didn’t even remember closing his eyes.

  The cycle was starting all over again, always coming back to the undeniable theme that he couldn’t protect the ones he loved most. Zo would have been safer with the Clanless. Joshua should have stayed with the Nameless refugees. Everyone would have been better off if Gabe’s lie were true—if he had died.

  Why didn’t he kill Zander when he had the chance?

  “Dispose of the boy and keep the healer.” Zander turned a cool look at Ajax. “Since she’s still alive, I’d like to handle her personally.”

  Ajax’s scowl didn’t fit him, his mouth better suited to laughter. “You know the orders, Zander,” he said without moving to obey. “Barnabas wants Gryphon and the girl alive. The Seer believes she has information about the gathering of the clans.”

  Gryphon and the other brothers of their mess gawked at Ajax. All their lives they’d been programmed to accept a higher-ranking officer’s word without question. Ajax publically reminding Zander of Barnabas’ orders bordered on sedition.

  Zander’s neck and cheeks flared red. His hand trembled on the sword still pointed at Gryphon’s throat. His eyes were sunken and his skin a pallid gray. “I know our orders, Second.” Zander’s nostrils flared, his chest pumping. He turned back to Gryphon.

  “Second?” Gryphon raised an eyebrow at Ajax, earning a stern glare from his best friend.

  “Someone had to take your place, Gryph,” said Ajax. He dug his boot harder into Joshua’s chest, as if to prove a point. Gryphon couldn’t decide if it was an act or not. He’d like to think his friend was on his side, but Ajax had a family to consider inside the Gate. He couldn’t overtly help Gryphon without risking his wife and newborn son.

  Gryphon watched Joshua from the corner of his eye and made sure to keep Zo behind him when he turned back to Zander. “I’ll come quietly if you let the healer and the boy go free.”

  “I’m not leaving you,” said Zo quietly. Her hand gripped the back of his calf where she knelt.

  Zander laughed. “For once, I agree with your little pet.” He sidestepped Gryphon and bent down to speak to Zo. “He should have kept you at his farm with the other animals. Now he has to share you with the rest of us.”

  Gryphon’s fist flew without his permission and landed squarely on Zander’s cheek. Bone shattered beneath his knuckles and Zander hit the ground hard. Gryphon’s mess brothers converged. Zo rushed into his arms. He held her for one fraction of a moment before strong hands pulled them apart amid Zo’s shrill protests.

  Joshua fought free of Ajax and charged in to help, but one of Gryphon’s brothers threw an elbow into his face. Ajax caught him and dragged him away from the chaos. The boy hung limp in his arms.

  “Don’t touch him!” Zo cried at Ajax. “How can you do this?” she yelled. “How can you betray your best friend?”

  “Shut her up,” yelled Zander as he climbed to his feet.

  Noah, a tall, lean man with light hair and a thin mouth, grabbed Zo’s wrist. She whipped around and clawed at his face before he caught her other wrist and kneed her in the stomach. Doubled over in pain, her moan reverberated in Gryphon’s ears.

  Zander pressed his fingers to his cheek and winced. “You’re cowardly enough to hit a man when he’s not looking? I taught you better.”

  Red tinged the corners of Gryphon’s vision. He had to draw Zander’s attention away from Zo and Joshua. He leaned forward, away from the arms that bound him, and spat, “You’re afraid of me, Zander. You always have been.”

  Zander wiped his bloody lip on his sleeve and stepped toe to toe with Gryphon. He schooled his features and kept his sword hand loose at his side.

  Fear wasn’t Zander’s problem, but pride was another matter.

  “Not once, in all of our training sessions, did you spar with me. Why is that? Even now, you need the whole unit to subdue me so you can obey orders like an obedient, shoe-kissing grunt.”

  “Gryphon, please don’t,” Zo whimpered.

  Everyone watched Zander as color rose up his neck. When he finally spoke, his voice was ice, every word crisp and cutting. “You’re no better than the Clanless who roam these mountains. You fight only for yourself. You belong to nothing and so you are nothing.” He signaled to his men by patting the air at his hip. A signal to stand down no matter what followed.

  The hands holding Gryphon dropped away and the Ram fanned out in a ring around him and Zander.

  “These men are my brothers.” Gryphon looked around the circle at the men he’d long admired. Only Ajax met his gaze. He’d expected as much, but hoped for more.

  Zander gritted his teeth and tightened his grip on his sword. “You. Are. Not. Our. Brother.” The metal of Zander’s blade caught and reflected sunlight as he reared back to strike. Gryphon knew the attack was coming and dodged, just catching the tip of the sword on his boiled leather vest.

  Scrambling backward, Gryphon fingered the tear in his armor with one hand while drawing his own sword with the other. “What about your orders?” he said, adjusting his stance to keep a safe angle and distance from Zander. “It’s not like you to think for yourself.”

  Zander attacked again. Gryphon deflected three rapid strikes but missed the fourth, earning him a long cut on his left bicep. He wasn’t used to fighting without a shield to protect his weak side. If it was a test of throwing spears or fighting hand to hand, Zander wouldn’t stand a chance against him, but swords were another matter, and Zander—being his captain—knew it.

  Zander pushed Gryphon back. Metal clanged. Each strike Gryphon blocked vibrated all the way up his arm. Zander lunged, driving him back further still. Gryphon’s heel connected with a large rock, and he fell onto his back. Before he could get up, Zander had the point of his sword pressed against Gryphon’s exposed chest.

  “I taught you everything you know, traitor. You never had a chance.”

  It was true. Not with swords. Not surrounded and outnumbered with Zo and Joshua’s lives to consider.

  “Drop the sword.”

  Gryphon didn’t have a choice. The unhelpful weapon clinked on rock as it hit the ground. One of Zander’s men collected it and stepped back to his place in the ring. “You deserve this,” said Zander as he pushed the tip of the sword into the skin over Gryphon’s heart. He shifted the grip so both hands shared the hilt for leverage.

  “Barnabas wants him alive!” Ajax yelled.

  “There was a struggle,” Zander said panting, his lips curving upward in wicked pleasure. Sweat ran down the side of his nose. “Accidents happen.”

  This wasn’t happening. Not after all they’d endured to get here. Adrenaline like fire coursed through Gryphon. It filled his shoulders and arms, down to his fingertips.

  He had to save them. He had to find a way. Zander said he was Clanless, but even if the Allies never accepted him
, that wasn’t true. He might not fight for a chief, but he certainly fought for something.

  Zander reared back. His sword cut through the air, parallel to the ground, toward Gryphon’s neck. A piercing cry rent the air.

  Gryphon closed his eyes and in a translucent moment of time imagined little Tess cupping his cheeks, whispering, I don’t want you to die. Then Sani. My life is linked to yours. And lastly, Zo. Her eyes communicated everything words never could. A hope for something more. A chance to see if a Ram and a Wolf could have a life together. If they could prove it possible, Gryphon couldn’t help but hope that others would follow their example. Set aside differences and find peace.

  Just before the blade could split his skin, he lay back and swept Zander’s legs out from under him. Gryphon sprang from his back to his feet in one motion and charged Zander, weaponless.

  He wasn’t that good at swords anyway.

  Gryphon jumped on Zander. He landed a punch to Zander’s kidneys and another to his face before Zander retaliated, hitting him so hard in the nose that lights exploded behind Gryphon’s eyes.

  They both staggered to their feet. Zander charged. His sword hacked down toward Gryphon’s weak side. Unthinking, Gryphon raised his shield arm. The blade bit into his flesh, connecting with bone. Lodged there. He pulled away, crying out in agony, and Zander’s sword stayed fixed to the bone below Gryphon’s elbow. The pain was so blinding he couldn’t even hear Zo’s screams and sobs.

  They stood facing each other, panting and stunned. Then panic exploded across Zander’s face as he realized his attack wasn’t enough.

  They collided, two immovable forces connecting in the air. Gryphon’s powerful hands surged with adrenaline as they clamped down on his mess leader’s head. Years of worshipping this man conflicted with the need to end him. All his training, all his beatings, had prepared him for this bittersweet moment. His hands did what Zander had trained them to do. Zander’s neck bone cracked as Gryphon severed it from his spinal cord. The bone popped under Gryphon’s hands, the cracking sound both heard and felt.