“I’m fine,” he grunted as he turned his back, and I noticed him trying to sheath his wing.One solid, black feathery wing shook, but it didn’t move, almost as if it was stuck.His back tensed, his shoulders tightened, and I could see the faint hint of a grimace in his jaw.
“You are not fine,” I told him as I picked up my pace, my own wings fluttering behind me.Grace lit me up like a powder keg, and it felt...so good.
Powerful.
“I can assure you, I am?—”
I grabbed hold of his feathers, pulling him back, and he yelped, unable to hide the pain.He stopped immediately, his breath coming in rapid pants.
“The fuck, Val, I–”
One glance at my hand and I had to note the contrast of his dark feathers, his crimson blood against my pale skin.
It was so...startling, but yet...beautiful.
Like a piece of gothic art.
Grace flowed through me without a second thought, tendrils of bright, nearly white golden light stitching lines between his feathers, shimmering against the deep black of his feathered wings.My gaze fell, transfixed on the threads of grace as they stitched his broken wing, until the threads disappeared, like fireflies into the forest on a dark, summer night.
Mercy shifted in his arms, but she didn’t stir.
When the light disappeared, all that could be heard was the sound of our breathing and the slightest rustle of feathers.
Endor’s wing softly tickled my forearm as he retracted it from me, and it was only a flash of a second before his full wingspan popped out, flexing as if it had been dormant too long.
“You didn’t have to do that,” he said, his tone strangely vulnerable.He didn’t look at me, but he didn’t have to.
He turned, giving me his back as he headed for the entrance to the station.With our wings on display, no one could see us, but it was hard to ignore the crowd of people, nonetheless.Even if they couldn’t see us, we could see them.
“I know,” I said as I followed him through the crowd to a bench inside the terminal.He settled there as Mercy stirred in his arms.
Funny how the girl could sleep through jolts of energy and flying, but the moment we stopped moving, she woke up.
It reminded me of children who could only fall asleep when their parents rode them around the block in their car seat.
“Wh...what...”She rubbed her eyes, which went wide when she saw Endor.Then she turned to look at me, and I could see her excitement.
“It’s okay, you’re safe,” Endor said, his voice steady, strong.
Mercy turned to him, swallowing nervously.
“The wolves, Randy, I?—”
“Shh...”I took a seat next to her and she turned to look at me.“It’s okay, they...are okay...I think.”
Mercy sucked in a deep breath.
“The important thing is those fucking monsters are gone and you’re safe and?—”
Mercy’s gaze fell and I felt the shift, sensed it—the tension, the drop in the air—before it happened.
And before I knew it, the familiar vacuum wanted to drag me down into the abyss of memory once more.
Without thinking, I settled my hand on Mercy’s thigh.Something squeezed my hand, the warmth seeping into my skin as my palm against Mercy’s thigh heated like a flame.I had all of two seconds to look up and see Endor’s shimmering eyes, before the world bled into darkness once more.
CHAPTER3
Endor
