Under His Wings Read Online Free Page A

flirting
with the sea and racing each other across the dark sky. As they’d tumbled to
the ground, shifting, laughing and shoving one another, they’d noticed too late
the human woman who stood gaping at the sight of them. All three had been
shocked but when she’d turned and fled across the empty field, her action had
snapped his and Gregor’s paralysis.
    Animal instinct had seized him, propelled Evander after the
female. He’d reached her first and pounced. The audible snap of her neck
reverberated in the silence. Staring down into the female’s lovely features
forever frozen in a mask of fear, Evander hadn’t experienced the expected
horror or guilt.
    Exhilaration and excitement had raced through his blood,
lighting him up inside like the blazing Grecian sun. And the fierce thrill had
made him want to throw back his head and roar to the night sky that shamed him.
    At first.
    Soon he created situations where he convinced himself the
taking of a human life was necessary. This woman had seen him do a partial
shift—she had to die to preserve the secret of their existence. Or that woman
had witnessed him without his gyges —she must be executed for the good of
their society. But eventually he didn’t bother with an excuse other than he
liked it.
    Of course, Gregor had discovered his activities. He’d begged
Evander to stop before Nicolai found out. If there was anyone Evander would
sacrifice for it was Gregor. In a society where twins were rare and therefore
revered and cherished, his and Gregor’s childhood had been hell meted out by
the two people who should have protected and treasured them. Passion and love
had brought his parents together, but their desire had eventually waned and the
adoration had soon tarnished into bitter, resentful hatred—hatred they’d taken
out on their twin boys. Separation wasn’t unheard of in the hippogryph society,
though it was frowned upon. The simplest—kindest—action would’ve been to part
ways, but the narcissistic, selfish creatures who had given Evander and Gregor
life would never concede failure. Never admit their pairing was a monumental
mistake. So instead they rained hell on their young. Through the beatings,
cruelty and neglect, he and Gregor had clung to one another, depended on one
another.
    So when his brother asked him to quit his behavior, Evander
had promised he wouldn’t continue. But he’d lied. He’d yearned to stop for
Gregor’s sake, but by then it was too late—he couldn’t stop. To never
feel the splitting of a woman’s flesh under his claws, to never savor the flow
of her precious blood over his tongue—blood still warm from her beating heart,
to never see the knowledge of her death darken her eyes even as the light of
her mortality faded…
    He didn’t want to give that up. Not even for his twin—the
person he loved most in this world.
    And it had been his twin who had paid the ultimate price for
his pursuits. Evander had become careless and neglected to cover one of his
kills with his usual precision. As identical in hippogryph form as they were in
human form, Gregor had been mistaken for him and labeled “rogue”. No one had
questioned it—of course a member of the Dimios’ krinos could not have
been guilty of such savagery.
    So Gregor had been executed, innocent of the crimes that had
been committed by his brother.
    The guilt, shame, horror and grief Evander should have
suffered from that initial kill had consumed him with Gregor’s death. His
brother hadn’t uttered a word, but accepted the accusation and resulting
punishment of a rogue rather than betray his twin.
    Evander had begged Nicolai to spare Gregor…had pleaded with him not to destroy his brother. But Nicolai hadn’t listened, hadn’t
granted mercy on behalf of the soldier and brother-in-arms who had served him
loyally for over seven hundred years.
    Grief had turned to hate.
    Hate for Nicolai who’d destroyed his twin. Hate for the
hippogryph society that had failed