CHAPTER 11: A Different Point of View

AN: Behold, the longest (and most poorly written, if you ask me) of any chapter so far! Bear with me on this one; if the story is getting to mushy or corny during my sad attempts at writing 'romantic' scenes, please warn me. I'd hate to have my story decline in quality the further on a get, but trust me, this chapter leads up to something big. Plus, the next chapter will be much more interesting: Gryphon's past (and why he has anger issues) will be revealed! So stay tuned and read on! Now for my fabulous reviewers:

Lina Marie: Aw, you're review made me shed a tear, it was so cute :')

old chuck: Ya, it could happen! They're probably not in good terms with each other at the moment.

hermonine: Haha thank you, I wanted to shake things up with the love triangle! I don't even know how I'll make Grace choose...I love both Gryph and Cas, I don't want to cast one of my characters out!

cartec677: Thank you, thank you, thank you! I'm thrilled that you like it! :D

Dustchu: Lots of mistakes, whoops! There'll probably be a lot in this chapter...I finished it at one in the morning! Thank you so much for your input! Haha, love cube xD

Gryphon's POV

My emotions were a swirling mass of insanity inside my body. I couldn't sort one out from the other: confusion, rage, sadness, longing...

Zakkon was missing, along with Cleo. Why they hadn't made it back to the nest yet was an unsettling thought. On this island, you could never be to sure as to what might be lurking in the shadows.

Finally I couldn't stand it. When I was far enough away from camp, I let out a fearsome roar that frightened even myself. I raked my claws along the bark of the nearest tree, gouging deep marks in the wood. An unlucky compsognathus darted past me, but it didn't get any farther. In one swift movement I snapped the creature up in my jaws and crushed its tiny head. Just to be sure it was dead, I shook it violently and sent it flying into a nearby tree. In no time there was a swarm of compys devouring the fallen creature. I snorted and exited the area.

After I had satisfied my emotions in one mighty roar, I sniffed the air, trying to pinpoint Zakkon or Cleo's scent. Caspian had reported that the two had raced off in the opposite direction of the camp to evade the spinosaurs. The smartest thing to do at this point would be to circle back to the site of the hunt and try to follow a path of footprints or scents from there.

A few minutes passed until I made it to the hunting clearing. It was the same one that the pack always used; the herds of hadrosaurs that grazed here were to dim-witted to notice that my pack hunted in this location almost every day. The field here was also one of the safest-at least, for a velociraptor-on the entire island. It was too small for a T-rex to include in its territory, and it was entirely surrounded by the dense, tropical jungle, making it hard for larger predators to even make it here. So why would a spinosaurus come here in the first place?

A herd of gryphosaurs was milling around the edge of the clearing, clearly avoiding the fallen tethyshadros in the center of the field. Instinctively I licked my chops. My name derived from the title of these dinosaurs, and they were my favorite kill.

"No," I reminded myself. "Another time. There are more important matters at hand."

I made my way over to the hadrosaur carcass, the herd of gryphosaurs paying no attention to me. Upon inspection of the corpse I determined that it was definitely killed by the earlier hunting party; the slashes along its ribs and throat suggested the work of Grace's strange, handheld claw.

I sniffed the air again; the scent of my human and my fellow raptors began to course through my nostrils. I also caught sight of several raptor and human footprints, along with larger spinosaurus tracks. I followed the trail to the tree line, where the prints became extremely faded and almost impossible to trace.

"Damnit!" I cursed my luck out loud. I had to keep my snout pressed to the ground in order to see the tracks, which was a risky procedure, even for a predator. You could never be to cautious, so I constantly lifted my head to inspect for any danger.

The faint trail of prints led me to one of the peculiar human creations that Grace called a building. The scents of Zakkon and Cleo were unmistakable by now; they were without a doubt inside this human nest.

I approached what appeared to be an entrance and stepped through the threshold and into the vicinity of the building. Even I couldn't have anticipated my own reaction when I beheld the interior.

The walls were filled with images of every single type of predator and prey on the island, from the mighty spinosaurus to the flittering archaeopteryx. I spotted a pack of velociraptors towards the center of the mural, and to my pleasure it depicted us chasing after a hadrosaur, preparing to bring it down. I immediately recoiled though, remembering the creature that had created this piece of artwork and how its kind was responsible for my previous captivity. The moment of respect I had for the human artist turned into one of malice.

I delved deeper into the facility, passing rooms that confused me as much as they fascinated me. The humans were certainly intelligent; but their intellect was clouded by the idea of their superiority. If they could see that, they would have realized that keeping my pack and I locked up was futile from the very beginning.

However, if not for the humans and their cages, I would never have met Grace. I secretly thanked the humans for that aspect.

The smell of fresh blood swirled around me, clogging my nose to anything but the iron-like scent. I picked up my pace until I was sprinting through the long halls. I skidded to a stop when I reached the site of the blood smell. I kicked down the barrier of wood between the source and me and charged into the room.

Spread out on the floor was Cleo, the golden scales on her side streaked with blood. Zakkon sat by her side, helping to lick the dried blood away. When I entered the room, neither one of them lifted their heads.

"Zakkon? Cleo?" I asked. They both remained unresponsive.

"Zakkon, how did you get here? What happened to Cleo?"

Nothing.

"Report, Zakkon!"

Zakkon shook his head. "We don't know what it was."

I stared at him in disbelief. "Excuse me?"

He turned his gaze on me and repeated in a firm tone: "We don't know what it was. We had just escaped the spinosaurus when out of nowhere something swooped down and attacked Cleo. It was gone before either of us could see it."

I remained silent. What could possibly have been responsible for this? It couldn't have been a T-rex or a spino, or even an allosaurus; they were all too large to inflict damage then flee like that. Could it have been a dilophosaurus? Or even another raptor?

No, none of those options fit the bill. I shuddered, imagining what could be capable of this.

Cleo coughed, blood staining the floor as she moved. Even from this distance I could tell she was in no shape to move tonight. The sun had already fallen below the tree line, and some stray stars poked through the darkening sky. We would have to camp here for the night.

I curled up next to the female raptor, who scooted closer to my body despite what appeared to be painful movements. I tolerated her being so close due to the circumstances.

"Don't move," I whispered in her ear, trying to calm her. "It'll only make the wound worse."

Cleo chuckled under her breath. "It's already worse," she replied. "I feel like my body's on fire."

Zakkon spoke up. "I've already licked most of the blood away, and the saliva seems to be clearing up the slash. As long as it doesn't get infected, she should make it."

I nodded. "Thank you for looking after her Zakkon." I would never have any feelings of love towards Cleo other than sibling love; she was like my sister. It would be torture to see her go, even if I complained about her 24/7. But Zakkon said she would be ok. She would survive this.

"We should stay here for the night; if you're strong enough the leave in the morning we'll go then," I instructed. The two raptors under my command bobbed their heads in agreement.

"Zakkon," I called on my brother. "Grace lost her 'shirt' during the episode with the spino. I'm sure you'll be able to find one around here somewhere."

He stood up and, without a word, exited the room, leaving Cleo and I alone.

An awkward silence fell upon us for too long. We laid there together, unmoving, each of us unwilling to break the hiatus. Finally, Cleo decided to speak.

"I'm glad you found us," she cooed, nuzzling my snout fondly. "I don't know what we would have done. Zakkon couldn't have brought me back to the den by himself. I could have died, but now you're here." She nestled deeper into the black and orange scales along my stomach.

"Don't be ridiculous," I scoffed. "Zakkon would have gone back to the den and gotten help. I'm no hero; stop being so dramatic, I'm not in the mood."

I pushed myself away from her and placed my head on the cold floor. It was extremely uncomfortable; I already longed to be back in my nest with Grace.

Cleo slid across the tiles towards me and once again attached herself to my side. "Anyways, I'm thankful that we have some alone time together. I never get to talk to you anymore, my alpha."

Probably because I'm the one avoiding you, I wanted to say. But instead I sighed: "Just get some sleep, Cleo. It will help your wound." As much as I wished to ask her about the creature that caused this, I decided not to trouble her about it. She had had a rough day. But Cleo insisted on continuing our tedious conversation.

"How do you feel about me?" she asked, feigning an innocent tone.

"You're like family to me," I answered monotonously.

"Could you expand on the term 'family'?" she questioned, her tone escalating into one that could only mean one thing: she wanted answers, and answers that pleased her nonetheless.

"I think of you as more of a sister than anything else." I turned my dark eyes to face her own. "Sorry to disappoint."

She looked appalled. "You'd never even consider me as...as your mate?" she asked, her voice a small whimper.

"No."

"Not even-"

"No."

"But-"

"No."

Cleo abruptly got to her feet, hissing under her breath when the pain in her side shot through her whole body due to her movement. Despite the pain, she extended her neck and roared at me.

"You selfish son of a bitch! I've shown nothing but gratitude, and this is how you treat me?! You think I'm no better than one of the omegas, don't you? That's why you won't acknowledge my attempts at admitting my feelings for you!"

"What are you talking about?! You've been trying to get my attention since we were chicks! What has changed?"

"Grace, that's what! That little bitch comes along and all you can do is fawn over her!"

I was taken aback. I stood up and crossed the room, roaming as far away possible from Cleo as I could get while trapped inside this small enclosed area. It was like being stuck in the humans' cages all over again. "Don't you ever say that about her."

Cleo glared at me furiously, her gaze piercing my vision like knives. "Say what? That she's a-"

I sprinted over to Cleo (which only took a fraction of a second in this human cave) and hissed in her face to cut her off, angrier than I had ever been in my entire life.

"If you say one more word about her, I will personally rip the lungs out of your chest and leave your corpse here to rot," I spat, my voice dripping with venom. Cleo backed off, ducking her head in fear. Although I could still catch a glimmer of her trademark smirk plastered on her face. She knew she had hit me deep.

But she wouldn't stop there.

"Temper, temper," she mused. "Don't you ever think its scares Grace that you're always like this? I mean Caspian is always so kind and forgiving around her."

That really got under my skin. "What are you talking about?"

"You know that you're not the only one that Grace has her eyes on you know."

A thousand imaginary insects crawled under my scales. I shivered, unresponsive.

Cleo kept her steady gaze on me, her voice calm as she continued. "You think you're special to her? Think again."

I'd had enough at this point. "You know nothing about us!" I bellowed, displaying my alpha feathers menacingly. "Watch how you speak to your alpha, Cleo."

Said raptor snorted pretentiously. "Why can't you get it though your thick skull? Grace is using you to keep herself alive. She doesn't care about any of us, and you're no exception."

"Quiet!" I roared. But I couldn't help the minuscule voice inside me that screamed that she was right. I pushed the thought aside; the last time I'd had doubts about Grace I had almost killed her. Never again would I question myself with her. Whatever choice she made, I would respect it.

"And Caspian, as I mentioned earlier, also has feelings for her," Cleo chattered. "Don't blame him; she's trying to tear you two apart, you know. She can't be trusted!"

"Enough!" I screeched firmly, ending the conversation. "This discussion is over."

"Can't you tell? Caspian and Grace are probably together right now, discussing how to get you out of the-"

Zakkon entered the room, a shirt dangling from his jaws. He placed it on the floor with a confused look. I'm sure the scene before him looked peculiar; both Cleo and I stood in defensive postures, fanning out our feathers and hissing harshly.

"Did I miss something?" he asked.

"No," I answered.

"Nothing at all," Cleo replied

Looking skeptical, Zakkon nodded and settled down in a separate corner. Cleo and I took opposite sides of the room while I grumbled, beyond annoyed, beyond furious.

Zakkon shot me a questioning look, which I decided to ignore. I flipped over to face the wall, beginning to regret going to look for Zakkon and Cleo alone. If I had taken a partner, we may have been able to manage carrying Cleo back to the camp tonight. Unfortunately, I was now stuck here with my awkward brother and an enraged Cleo.

Things just couldn't have gone any better, I though sarcastically as I drifted off into a dreamless sleep.

Zakkon's POV

I cracked one eye open, checking to see if Cleo was asleep or not. Her chest moved rhythmically up and down, and a light snore escaped from her nostrils, so I assumed her to be sleeping.

"Gryphon," I called softly. "Gryphon, we need to talk."

I got no response. "Come on, Gryp, I know you're awake. What were you and Cleo talking about? I can tell you're upset."

Nothing.

I snorted and stopped my fruitless attempts at getting my brother to speak. I would try again in the morning. But for now I brooded over what I had heard from Cleo while I had eavesdropped: Caspian and Grace.

I'd had my suspicions earlier, but now that they were confirmed and shared by another member of the pack, I was positive that it meant only trouble between Gryphon and Caspian.

They both had their hearts set on Grace, that was clear. But I knew that Grace wouldn't be able to pick one over the other, as much as her two suitors would want her to. She was the kind of person that hated to disappoint. The situation spelled out only one thing: chaos.

AN: Well, what do you all think of Zakkon's POV at the end? I'm thinking of adding his and Caspian's POVs to the storyline to shake things up a bit. Maybe I'll add Cleo or Lorcan's (who has a bigger part later) POVs in the future, or maybe not if people think it'll get to complicated. I'm leaving it up to you guys: should I add more of Zakkon and Cas's POVs? Leave an answer as a review! :D All of you guys are amazing for the reviews so far!