Best to be prepared for anything.
I glided over the trees, my eyes scanning the areas both below and above me for anything out of the ordinary. I saw shifters running around through the occasional clearing, and other animals grazing by the dark waters. I saw giant lizards grab the water grazers by their throats and drown them. Eritopia was beautiful and cruel.
Eat or be eaten.
I widened my search perimeter until I heard hissing noises echoing from several miles away to the east. I saw flocks of Destroyers flying in the opposite direction, away from our perimeter. I was too far away for them to even notice me, and I watched as they disappeared beyond the horizon.
My stomach churned as I flapped my wings and moved upward to check the distant skies better. Black dots moved here and there, but none close enough to constitute an immediate threat. Something caught my eye, however, several yards in front of me-a swarm of tiny green fireflies moving around chaotically.
I wondered what they were doing out there during the day. I slowly descended and turned to head back to the mansion, when the little green buggers flew right into me. They buzzed and glowed as they frantically flew around me to the point where they became a nuisance. I swatted them away and increased my speed to get rid of them.
I left them behind and moved farther down, till I felt the tree tips brushing against me.
My mind drifted to Aida. She'd managed to set me on fire, and I was still recovering from our kiss. How had I not seen her in this way before? Had I been that blind, so hung up on Maura that I hadn't even been able to look around me?
I'd watched Aida grow from a rowdy little wolf-girl to the gorgeous young woman I'd been fortunate to feel in my arms the other day. Her curves ignited my every instinct. Her lips begged for my attention and utter devotion. How had I not seen it before?
I'd always found her fascinating, ever the brave and fearless fighter, standing up to GASP boys just so she could prove that she was as strong and capable as any of them. And she'd certainly proven herself over and over again during training. I'd been around for long enough to know a good fighter when I saw one, and Aida had the potential to become one of GASP's most valuable assets.
I could only imagine what she'd been going through with her Oracle transformation, and I'd spent plenty of nights thinking about how it could possibly affect her. As our days at the mansion went by, I found myself unable to take my eyes off her. Something pulled me closer to her. I drifted toward Aida, watching as she cried, frowned, fought, and laughed her way through each Eritopian sunrise.
Her determination gave me strength when I felt the pressure of doubt, when all seemed lost or heading toward disaster and death. She was ahead of her years. I'd seen glimpses of that in the past, back in The Shade.
When Jovi and Phoenix told me about her feelings for me, my stomach had dropped. I'd seen the looks, but I'd never paid attention. It wasn't until Maura walked out of my life that I was able to truly see Aida. When I first got injured in my scuffle with the shape-shifter, she was raw and trembling as she touched me, forcing me to open my eyes. I was floored and felt utterly stupid for not having seen it sooner. I'd been missing out on the most extraordinary creature I'd ever laid eyes upon.
///
It took me hours to stop reprimanding myself for being such a fool.
And then I kissed her, and something clicked inside of me. Suddenly it all made sense. She made sense. We made sense together. I had to be near her. I had to feel her and smell her and kiss her. I had to tell her that everything would be okay. That I'd never leave her. I couldn't leave her.
The moment I felt her lips on mine, I knew I had to find out more, to discover every facet of Aida and let it flow through me and fuel me higher into the sky.
Her insecurities had once been adorable, like when she was younger, unsure whether she'd ever fit in with her wolf hair and boyish demeanor. Little did she know that it was that very nature that had set her apart and made her special. These insecurities were becoming a nuisance. She was beautiful, strong, and resourceful, no matter what the Oracle transition threw at her. I didn't care. I just wanted to see her safe and happy.
I'd made it my mission to brush her doubts away. She'd been so frightened, so candid, so sweet and hot against my body. How could I not do my best to see her smile?
Aida had become extremely important to me very quickly. But with all that was going on around us, with our lives on the line as a mad monster wreaked havoc and death throughout Eritopia, there wasn't enough time to worry about how fast things were evolving between Aida and me. There was only time to make the most of it.