Andrew

He sat perched on the mountainside. His hind legs were squatted down behind him, wings tucked in tight against his flanks as he looked out over the landscape in front of him. The rocky mountain fell sharply down and away in a nearly vertical descent for hundreds of feet.

Lower down it began to smooth out, shrubs and bushes appearing, turning to trees the lower he looked, until the mountain flattened out into the plains beyond, including the little odd-shaped hub of Cloud Lake.

He’d promised his gryphon that he’d take it out and let it stretch its wings, but he hadn’t intended to do it so soon. But after the night before he’d needed some time, and some space, to think things over. To puzzle out if he was making the right choice or not. Karri needed some time to herself as well. She’d made that very clear. The worst part of it wasn’t the hurt he’d felt at her words, though they had stung deeply, cutting him in a way he’d never felt before.

No, the worst part was the knowledge that she was right. That it was his fault. That he had ruined her life. Maybe not intentionally. But regardless, he had fucked up. Big time. He had to fix it. Somehow. He’d been up there all night, having run to the edge of Cloud Lake to where he was able to shift freely, and then taken to the skies, beating his wings hard until he’d landed at his current position, where he now was trying to figure out how he could fix things. If he could fix things.

So far, the results of his thoughts weren’t good. As a shifter, he was always going to be what her father hated. It angered him that he’d been so stupid, that he hadn’t made the connection between Karri and her father as being Mr. Kirttle. If only he’d known! Then he could have avoided this entire thing by distancing himself from her. It would have meant a life of loneliness for him, but if it allowed Karri to fulfill the dream she’d been working so hard to achieve, he would have done it in a heartbeat.

I still would, if I thought it would make a difference. But the damage is done now. I don’t see how I can fix it, even if I leave her alone and promise never to come near her again. Her father won’t even talk to me to accept that offer.

So that left him pondering the question of just what the hell it was he did next. Karri didn’t want to see him. Her father hated him. And now they hated each other. Oh, and not to mention the tiny little thing where he’d gone and gotten her caught up in Al’s crazed revenge scheme. There was that little tidbit too!

His wings shot out to the side suddenly in dismay as he realized what he’d done. In his haste to leave her alone, to try and distance himself from her so that she could think clearly without his interference, he’d gone and done just that. Left her alone. Unguarded. With a shriek of anger that echoed loudly through the mountains, he coiled his muscles and leapt free from the mountainside.

Almost immediately he began to fall, and his wings angled backward as he sped downward in an arrow shape. The wind began to bite at him, flicking his feathers around wildly as his eyes narrowed to slits. His speed continued to increase as the ground rushed up at him, but well before that point he spread his wings wide and shot out and away from the mountain, angling on a downward course toward the outskirts of Cloud Lake.

The sudden change of direction wrenched on his wing muscles, and he knew he’d be sore for several hours, but that was the least of his worries. Speed was of the essence now if he hoped to get to Karri in time. He could only hope that he wasn’t already too late. That he hadn’t fucked up.

Again.

***

He shot through the air at his best speed, his insane wingspan powering him forward relentlessly. In minutes he crossed over the city limits, never once bothering to stop. The rules be damned today. Karri was in danger and that was all that mattered. Not his personal safety or reputation. He would take any and all consequences as they came, intent only on getting to Karri as quickly as he could.

Using the long narrow parking lot of her workplace as a landing strip, he spread his wings wide to slow himself a bit and then dropped to the ground, running forward on all fours as he braked, coming to a halt in front of the entrance just as he finished shifting back into his human form as well. Forcing himself to keep his power restrained, he opened the door gently instead of ripping it from its hinges.

“Where’s Karri?” he asked the lady working the reception.

After a moment’s hesitation at his entrance and appearance the woman stammered out a reply. “Ms. Blaine isn’t here today.”

There was something about her voice that made Andrew ask another question. “Was she here at some point?”

The woman—he forgot her name—nodded. “Yes, yes she was. It was most odd, you know? She came in like any other day, except she was upset and—”

He didn’t have time for a long winding story. “Cut to the chase. What happened?”

The woman looked surprised, but thankfully didn’t put up a fight. “She came in and packed up a couple of boxes of things and then left. Like…like she’d been fired. But that doesn’t make any sense, does it? Why would her father fire her?”

Andrew turned to leave, his teeth grinding against one another. “I have a few ideas,” he muttered.

Seconds later he leapt into the air once more, streaking low over the city in a straight-line course to her house. There was no more time. If Al was going to strike, this was it. Andrew had to make sure he got there in time. Below he could see pedestrians crane their necks, heads looking upward as he soared overhead, wings beating frantically, trying to coax every last bit of speed that he could.

Approaching her house, he dove down and shifted in mid-air. His feet slammed into the pavement, crunching it beneath him and indenting her front walkway a good six inches where he landed, dropping to one knee to absorb the force of his landing before leaping up and to her front door.

“No…” he breathed in dismay.

The front door was ajar, ripped free from one of its hinges and now hanging askew.

He was too late.