Page 101 of Gift from the Wing

“Thank you, Gaster,” I sniffle before giving him my first real smile since this whole shit show started.

“It is my pleasure. Now go bring my other granddaughter home to me. She is in deep shit when I get my hands on her.”

My jaw hits the ground, and I stare in astonishment. Honestly confused about what just came out of his mouth. “Gaster, did you just cuss?”

“I did. That’s how bad that girl has me riled up. You missed some not so pleasant words come from me as well when you were being rescued.” He gives me a sassy wink as he leads me back over to my men and I watch as each of their shoulders drop in relief.

It isn’t just them, though. As Tillman’s deflate, I swear the entire small army waiting for his orders does as well.

“Sorry about that. Got a little murderous.”

“More than murderous,” Caspian says as he grips my jaw and turns my face so he can peer into each of my eyes. Obviously the darkness had been leaking much, much closer to the surface than I realized. “Good, now we can focus properly. How one little fierce Primary can have an army of highly trained men ready to tuck tail and run.”

“I wasn’t that bad.” I argue when he shakes his head at me.

“Primary, your abyss is almost as black as mine. I was beginning to question if we were ever going to be able to get you out,” he says sternly, letting me know how serious he feels about this.

“I’m sorry,” I whisper.

“Don’t be, but next time you’re close to the edge, call for me. I’ll come,” he whispers before pressing his lips to mine.

Wordlessly, he passes me to each of my other men and they all shower me with the same love and devotion.

It’s very scary to realize how in these last view moments, I was able to become nothing but mindless in my pursuit to get what I want and my readiness to do whatever necessary. Everyone else be damned.

Maybe I take after the Summum-Master a little more than I’d like to accept.

“No.” Tillman turns to me and harshly barks. I can’t help but straighten at the tone he used, and he doesn’t break my eye contact until I give him a nod of acceptance. Once he finally looks away, I blow out the breath I was holding.

Fuck, he’s intense when he wants to be.

“Listen up. We’re transporting to Pyra. Everyone, meet on the decimated side to stay out of any line of sight. We’ll maneuver around fromthere. We have no other information than that. Be ready for anything. Move out in sixty seconds,” he orders.

I use those quick sixty seconds to send Aurora and the remainder of my Patera-Nexus a reassuring nod. I tell Tanith I’ll watch over Keeper and at the sign of trouble, I’ll reach out to her.

I look at both Nikoli and Jamie. I give them my best reassuring smile and their shoulders sag. I should’ve known better than to let my anger take over. They were looking to me for guidance and reassurance their Primary is going to be okay, and I let them down.

I vow with only my eyes that I won’t do that again.

My brother, Aria, Lennox, Kyan, and Zane stand strong to our right. There’s no hint of hesitancy in any of them and the seriousness in their expressions makes my chest swell with pride. I’m so thankful that despite the new position Lyker holds, the small amount of spare time he has, he, his brothers, and Aria are always ready to step up for our family.

My fingers lace their way through Tillman’s as Corentin’s mental countdown reaches twenty, and I squeeze his hand both for his grounding and my own.

Closing my eyes, I take a deep breath, preparing myself for what I’ll see when they open again.

The heat that caresses my face the second I’m guided out of the transport is suffocating. It’s at least fifteen degrees hotter than in the Central, add that in with the sight in front of me as my eyes open, and I can barely breathe.

Standing probably one hundred or so feet away, covered in a thin veil of shadows, my eyes travel up and up until my neck is craned back, looking for the top of Pyra. It’s a beautiful, intimidating sight and why it took Nikoli and his team as long as it did to locate the crimson root now makes a hell of a lot more sense.

The obsidian black seems to stretch endlessly both in the sky and across the land. It’s a wall of a rock that gives me no sight to the other side. From my studies, there’s two sides to the volcano that everyone refers to.

The facial side. It’s the view everyone in Pyrathia sees when they gaze at Pyra. There’s a large distance between the nearest town to the volcano’sedge, but supposedly, it doesn’t matter where in this territory you are. You can see Pyra and all her glory.

The other, the one we came in on, is the decimated side.

Craning my neck around and peering through the scatter of E.F. members, I figure out quickly why it’s referred to that. As far as my eye can see is nothing but black volcanic rock that’s hardened over the countless millennia of her existence. There’re no homes, trees, grass, bushes, just nothing. It’s gorgeous in an intimidating sense. One that reminds you of how powerful this beast of nature truly is.

“What do you see, Will?”Tillman asks.

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