Sapphyra [Adult Superhero Progression]

Noa

“Are you going to talk?”

Again, silence was my only friend.

I groaned and stood up near the city limits, dusting myself off.

“Look, Wy, I know you need some time. And we have plenty of time, you know, until the baby arrives. After that, I need you to get your ass in gear. As a matter of fact, no, I need your ass in gear before then. I’m not missing the birth of our second child.”

I knew he could hear my words, and I hoped that reminding him about our pup would make him try to buck up, but no such luck.

I tried reaching into our mind and talking to him, but he put up a wall. I could hear him moving around behind the wall, so he wasn’t just sitting on his ass. Which was great, but it didn’t mean little to no good right now.

“I’m hungry. I’m going to get us some food.”

Something dropped behind the wall. Not heavy, but heavy enough for me to hear it.

And then a single word.

“Shit.”

As I crept around on the outer edge of Cyran City, a smile crept up on my face. If I know Wyatt like nobody else does, not even our mates, then I know he’s working on something that can help.

I located a deer. Young, slightly juicy, and agile.

That’s good. I didn’t want to make it too easy.

I shifted, letting my bones move beneath my skin, groaning at the freedom it brought me. Chasing after that deer was simple, primal, exactly what I needed right now.

It’s hard enough being cut off from your other half when they need you. But it’s another thing entirely to be right beside them and feel like you’re a thousand miles away.

When I caught up to the deer, I cornered it and growled, drinking in its fear. I’d always dreamed of going on hunts like this with Wyatt when we were growing up. Becoming one with my brother, with nothing but nature at our backs.

I used to get so jealous of Dante when he would tell us stories about our cousins in the woods up near the mountains. But looking into the eyes of this frightened deer, this fawn, it didn’t bring me any joy.

I snapped its neck quickly, not wanting the thing to suffer any longer than it had to. I know we needed to eat, but biting into it didn’t make me feel full. It made me disgusted.

Wyatt suffered so much, and I couldn’t do anything to help him.

The capture was his fault, but that didn’t make me feel any better.

I finished with the deer and tossed its remains, but then I thought better of it. I dug a hole, letting my claws tear into the ground as the memories of his torture flooded through me.

A whine ripped through my throat, and my body nearly collapsed from the strain. I buried the deer bones, and my tears littered the dirt, leaving a soft reminder of what this hole represented.

“I’m not going to let this be the end of us,” I told him softly in my mind.

Of course, there was no response, and right now, there didn’t need to be.

He was just like my mate. Just like Sapphyra. Always working, never healing.

Because to them, working is healing.

At least, that’s what they like to tell themselves.

A familiar scent caught my attention. At first, I went rigid, teeth and fangs elongated as I waited for them to escape the shadows. But then the scent got clearer, and my body visibly relaxed.

“Well, it’s about time I found you out here. You know I circled this place three times already?”

I shifted back and ran over and hugged him. My mate. My Guy.

“Well, if I could have put up a smoke signal for you, I would have. Trust me.”

His arms wrapped around my shoulders, and he buried himself in my neck, taking in my scent. That soothed me. I wish I could get lost in the moment, but it just wasn’t the right time.

“So, how’s he doing?” Guy asked, taking a seat on a stump near us.

“He could be better, but he could also be worse. That’s about the best way I can explain it.” I scratched the back of my head, trying to give him the best update that I could. “So far, he’s working on something, but he won’t let me see.”

I continued on.

“He’s put up a wall in our mind. He used to do that when we were younger, but it was involuntary. This one has his whole soul behind it, I swear.”

Guy nodded, eyes full of understanding as always.

“I can understand that. Still, he knows he’s not alone in this, right? And that he has two people looking for him, and I don’t just mean you and me.”

I grunted, letting my fangs elongate just a little bit.

“Oh, no way. You got a little something on your fangs there.”

Guy blushed.

I licked my chops, tasting it, and I blushed.

“Whoops. Sorry about that.”

“Oh, no need to feel sorry. Everybody’s got to eat.”

We sat in a comfortable silence for a few moments before I opened my mouth and tried to contain my excitement.

“So how is she? How’s the baby?”

Guy leaned back on his stump and let out a deep sigh.

“She’s trying to adjust. She wants to be there for him, and I’m afraid she’s not going to know what to do without him for the long term.”

“What do you mean?” I asked, interrupting.

“She feels guilty, for one.”

I scoffed. “Guilty? What does that have to do with her?”

“Yeah, you and I know that,” Guy continued, “but try telling her that. She was mad at him. She tried to carry on about her day, only to realize that he had been kidnapped.”

“Okay, yeah, that makes sense. She tried to spend time thinking that he would be fine without her, and of course, the one time she does that, he’s not fine without her. Okay. I see what’s happening here.”

“So, where does that leave us now?” Guy asked, standing up and walking over to me.

He wrapped his arm around my waist and placed his hand on my shoulder.

“I don’t know,” I admitted softly. “I’m so used to those two leaving us.”

I let the silence sit for just a little bit longer when I felt the wall in my mind start coming down slowly.

My ears perked up, but I tried to hold my excitement.

“Wyatt?”

On the other side of the wall, Wyatt stood in front of a wall covered in papers, equations on sticky notes, and other things that I just couldn’t understand.

“I’m assuming you’re going to explain what all this is?” I asked, standing next to him.

“This is how I get to Barbie. And this is how I finally get to have peace with my family again.”

I narrowed my eyes on him, then looked at the board, and then looked back at him. I knew the confusion was written all over my face.

“Okay? You know we share a brain, but you definitely have the higher cognitive functions. So I’m just going to go along with it.”

“Well, that’s good,” he mumbled, stroking his beard. It had grown raggedy over the past few hours, but I didn’t say anything.

The last thing we needed to worry about right now was personal grooming.

“Wy, we still need to talk about—”

He cut me off.

“Let’s go find a monolith.”

He said it so casually. Did he not realize how heavy those words were?

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