Page 15 of Devastation
"Let's go home," she murmurs with adoration in her gaze.
Without warning, Thanatos surges forward, shifting Lana to one arm and grabbing me with his other. I'm engulfed by his large arm as his wings propel us up and away from the portals. His wings beat a soothing rhythm, and I stare at Lana across from me.
Reaching out to grab her hand, I hear Thanatos mutter, "Don't get all lovey dovey while I'm holding you. I'm liable to vomit on you both."
I can definitely see the similarities in personality, making the family tie so clear.
Smirking at her, I whisper, "Soon."
We drop hands as Thanatos flies at a swift pace toward an approaching body of black water. We pass over a forest of dead and rotting trees and, within a few minutes, he's touching down on a dock, setting us down gently.
Lana smooths down her wind blown hair as she gapes at Thanatos, "Why couldn't you just have flown us over the forest to begin with?"
He shrugs his broad shoulders nonchalantly, "We had to make sure the line of souls hadn't backed up that far or we could have missed him."
As they're talking, I watch a boat appear from out of a fog, a skeletal looking man standing on the back of it. With ease and precision, the boat glides to a halt and the man holds out his hand.
Thanatos quickly reaches into his pocket to pull out three silver coins and hops into the boat to place them in the man's hand. Lana heads for the edge of the dock and descends down to the boat. Trailing after her, I use the ladder once she's off and make my way down quickly.
There isn't much room in the boat, but I'm glad for the excuse to tuck her in closely next to me. Her head naturally falls onto my chest and she whispers, "Thank you for coming back."
Brushing my lips against the top of her head, I place a kiss there before whispering back, "I don't deserve your love, but I'll try to be the mate that you deserve every day moving forward. No more secrets."
She nods against me and asks, "Pinky promise?" while sticking out said finger.
Bringing my right hand up, I lock mine against hers like we all did when we were little. To my knowledge, none of us has ever broken such a sacred promise before, and I'm not about to start now.
Chapter Six
Lana
The journey across the river is quick, and I find myself standing on the dock once more, looking at Ash with trembling excitement in anticipation of reuniting our family. Reaching out to grab his hand, I give it a squeeze and smile at him. "Let's go back."
He gives me a soft smile back, but I still see the nervous energy clear in his eyes. Hopefully, as soon as we're back with the other guys and he sees that weallwant him with us, he'll relax a bit and allow us all to heal moving forward.
Without preamble, Thanatos claps his hands, and I instantly feel the pull of my soul into the oblivion of the in-between. Darkness consumes my vision, and I force myself to remain calm, knowing this is part of the process and that I won't be trapped here.
I repeat those words in my head as the return trip stretches out, seeming to take far longer than the initial trip did. A panic starts to set in the longer it takes, and I fear that somehow Thanny has lost his grip on my soul.
Blessedly, I start to feel a tingling sensation running through my arms and legs, making me feel like I'm coming into my physical body. Slowly, but surely, the tingling intensifies until it leaves a burning sensation in its wake, as if my whole body is numb and has to be shaken awake.
I become aware of my eyelids and flutter them open immediately, needing to ensure that I'm back in my own body and with my mates. As I'm blinking repeatedly, trying to adjust to the light, my hearing starts to fade in.
I hear what sounds like muffled laughs and cheers, and I strain to make sense of it. A loud ringing sounds before everything suddenly becomes clear.
"Fuck, we missed you man!"
"Welcome back, brother."
"Puppy pile!"
“And that’s my cue to leave,” Thanny mumbles before disappearing.
The only two voices that are absent are Zedd and Ash, and a pit forms in my stomach. Their last encounter with each other was absolutely horrid with the way Zedd was hurt in the training battle, and the way Anshar had taken over and spoken such terrible words to Zedd.
Not to mention, Zedd had kept Ash's struggling a secret in an effort to stay true to his promise to his brother, but in the end, that decision had hurt us all.
Sitting up slowly, I rub my eyes gently before peering over to where the voices came from. They're on my right side, and I see the guys in a huge group hug, which makes my heart swell. Even Zedd is in on it, and I hope that I am overthinking their reunion being strained.
