SkyFall (Taken on the Wing Book 2) Read Online Free Page B

what
I have to offer, don ’ t be there. ”
    “ You, ” she sputters.
    Soar doesn ’ t wait for an answer and drops the key on
the stone floor before leaving to clear things up with Hunter.
    As Soar steps from her den he hears the
scrape of metal on stone as Cloud picks up the key.
     

Chapter Four

     
    Cloud finds Soar ’ s van nestled in the darkening Tennessee woods. She ’ s seen it before; part camper, part van
and more cramped than any den she ’ s slept in and she isn ’ t sure why he bothered to drive all the
way here. While long, the flight from Vancouver Island can be done in a few
days and without rest if one were up for punishment.
    The van is old, as far as she ’ s concerned, but it ’ s clean and well maintained. Soar bought
it new in 1970 .
    She doesn ’ t bother going inside and has a restless
night curled up in the nearby trees followed by half a dozen aborted trips
home, each time returning to the key she left on the roof.
    Her second night is spent on Soar ’ s mattress above the cab with all the
doors and windows open to keep his scent to a minimum. Even the breeze isn ’ t enough to clear the air and it drives
her out at dawn for another forty mile round trip back to the van.
    Now she sits, tired and hungry on the
roof, debating whether or not she will leave the key behind one last time and
fly home. It ’ s nearly dark and she expected
him to turn up already.
    She shoves the key in her pocket and
jumps to the ground before stomping off to the matted down brush she slept on
two nights earlier. There ’ s no way she ’ ll be waiting for Soar in his bed. Lesson
learned.
    As she beds down, he arrives from upwind,
his feather light landing preceded by the rich aroma of deer. Cloud curls into
a tighter ball to silence the holes in her stomach and her heart.
    “ Still here? ” he asks like he doesn ’ t give a crap. Whatever.
    “ What do you want, Soar? ”
    “ Hungry? ” He stops halfway between her and the van,
a thick deer leg slung over each shoulder.
    “ No, ” Cloud sits but her stomach disagrees. The
deep rumble rises to a whiny plea for food. One leg lands at her feet as Soar
squats and starts in on his.
    “ You going to eat all that? ” he asks.
    Cloud found her old human-made folding
knife in the trash at the Jasper Eyrie where she was reared. The chipped and
dull blade sharpened up nicely. As long as she keeps the edge against meat and
away from bone and hair it won ’ t dull.
    Each mouthful settles her stomach more
than the last. With Soar ’ s arrival, her decision to
take on his assignment has been made. It would be even more shameful to run
home right in front of him.
    “ What do you know about Calgary? ” Soar
asks.
    Cloud reaches for her bag and pulls out
her precious leather folder. It holds maps that once belonged to Shadow ’ s brother, Condor. When Shadow learned of
her interest in geography she insisted Cloud take them. She unfolds one of Canada and the US. Its curled edges are marked with Condor ’ s
tiny print and crude drawings of naked women, dragons and gryphons having sex
in impossible positions.
    “ Besides what ’ s on the map, ” he adds.
    “ Nothing, ” she
doesn ’ t take her eyes from the
age-softened paper as her fingers skim the path from Tennessee to Calgary. Her uncanny and infallible sense of direction makes the map unnecessary once she ’ s memorized the landmarks and
incorporated the route into detail she remembers from other trips. Once she
flies off, she can find the city with her eyes closed.
    “ Lev believes the rogues who attacked Welch Peak and our eyrie are associated with the Calgary Eyrie. It ’ s a democratic eyrie run by a gryphon
named Cooper. Doesn ’ t use his gryphon name any
more. ”
    “ Oh, ” Cloud raises her eyes from the map and
considers what she might do with the gryphon who did so much harm.
    “ Forget it, Cloud, ” Soar tells her. “ I doubt very much the trouble
came from Calgary but Lev ’ s