Free WingSpan (Taken on the Wing Book 1) by Elizabeth Munro

Mark walks toward the door. “You don’t eat meat.”
    Jenn crumples sideways to the floor as the door quietly snaps shut behind him.

    The street in front of Jenn’s apartment is empty except for a lone male gryphon standing on the solid yellow line. Talon pretends not to notice since no human eyes will see his silent observer. Three floors above him Jenn starts crying; a strangled lonely wail that makes him feel like a justified jerk. He’s an idiot thinking that mating and love are the same thing. She loves him, he’s sure, but he’s not the only one and she didn’t bother to hide it.
    If she’s half as broken hearted as he is she deserves every empty sob.
    Doesn’t matter how genuinely happy she was to see him again. The apartment belongs to a male. Talon’s eyes still burn from the male’s scent but of course he had to stick his nose in the closet for a good whiff either to be certain or to rub it in his own stupid face. He’s not sure which.
    Yeah, that’s why they were watering and explains your hitching lungs too.
    Screw off.
    The driver of a speeding car doesn’t slow his vehicle as he passes, oblivious to the fully shifted gryphon in the middle of the road. Its wake stirs fallen rain into his long black hair and heavy dark brown wings. Soar holds his tail perfectly still to say he means no threat.
    Soar, grandson of Master Sky and as much a recluse as Lev, the Royal Sire of the Vancouver Island Eyrie, since he was recruited as Master of Sire Lev’s personal guard squares off with Talon. Jenn’s apartment didn’t smell of Soar so he’s not the other male in her life. Soar wouldn’t share a female anyway. Soar wouldn’t mate with a stranger. Soar wouldn’t let his dick talk him into bonding with the most precious female he’d ever met.
    Sure Soar would. He’s as open to a broken heart as the next gryph.
    He’s here for something though. Maybe to tell Talon he’s being watched and she’s not as alone as he thinks. Or to give Shadow his best shot, unaware she’s committed to another.
    “She’s mine, old friend,” Talon says softly into the breeze, well aware Soar’s hearing clearly catches each word. “Do fifty years of friendship count for nothing?”
    Soar mirrors Talon’s impassive expression. If this was about friendship Soar would be straight with him. His silence says he’s under orders to be quiet and the only one who’d give him those orders is the gryph’s Sire, Lev.
    Soar stands shirtless, wearing only the rough linen trousers of the eyrie so he’s not dressed for battle yet he doesn’t approach or speak. A screech from above reaches them and Soar’s head snaps up, centering on Shadow deep inside the building. He turns and in a few running steps is airborne. His powerful wings drive him deep into the low cloud.

Chapter Eight

    “Dis da las’ one, miss?” Ambrose asks.
    Jenn’s fingers smooth and reroll her list of M. Williams.
    “Yes,” she sighs. “If this isn’t it I guess I’m going to see Winnipeg for the first time.”
    Ambrose’ heavy French-Canadian accent talks about his Maude as the second to last Saskatoon address disappears behind them. The taxi is warm and Jenn’s eyes close, picturing his wife of forty years as young and beautiful. The old man’s reverence for her is overwhelming. Maude is eighteen and pregnant, running off with him to Niagara to elope. Ambrose is much younger, whispering dirty things to her as the Falls thunder in the distance.
    Mark whispered to her like that. Minutes pass as her breathing slows and the dark taxi hides the heat in her cheeks. Pain in her hips and bad leg from days seated on buses and in taxis makes sex unthinkable anyway.
    Don’t get your hopes up, Jenn. If he wants to see you then take it slow.
    The old cab driver laughs. Steadily thickening snow completely covers the road.
    “Why you look for dis trucker?”
    “We had a misunderstanding,” Jenn explains. The radio squawks and she pauses. “I was too upset