“Get back,” he rasps.
I crawl away and tuck myself under his shield as far as I can get without burning myself on the metal. The Titan closes his eyes. His brows knit. He growls a note so low it makes my heart shudder. An unfamiliar desire, hot and powerful, stirs in my belly.
The Titan uncurls the wing around me and smashes it into the ground, the metal feathers biting in like anchors. Then, from the torrid desert, another metal wing bursts into the air, flinging dirt into an opaque cloud. Gravel and dust rain down over us.
He groans as it teeters overhead.
It falls heavily in a wide arc beside us. The sigh that leaves his lips is one of immense relief.
“Please.” He looks up at me. I don’t think he has the energy for much more.
The Titan’s eyes close. “Please.”
His wings are spread in a massive, slumped dome around us, making him look like a fallen—broken—angel.
I keep digging. I know what it’s like to feel abandoned, forgotten, and hopeless. He hasn’t given up even after being buried for heaven knows how long. So I’m not giving up either.
I know he’s a machine like Evo, the Titan that the Solcrue corrupted. But I can’t help replaying the desperation I saw in Armor’s eyes when he pleaded with me as I continue digging. It’s something I feel now as I watch the sun sink lower toward the horizon.
Mutant wolves are most active at dusk. If the Titan doesn’t close up his shield, I’ll be out in the open. He will be, too.
My arms burn from scraping and chipping at the dirt by the time I’ve got his shoulders freed. I stop for a second as the sun touches the distant mountains. After a drink of water from my small emergency bottle, I return to work.
Distant howls of a pack make me pick up my pace until my hands shake from exhaustion and my grip wanes. I get the Titan freed to his elbows as the last beams of sunlight fade out.
“Hey. Can you get out now?”
He opens his vibrant eyes to a pale shade of blue-violet that knocks my breath back into my lungs. When he looks over at me, I slink away from him and adjust my goggles so I can watch.
His nose wrinkles. He looks down at his arms, twists with a violent jerking motion, and breaks them free. Lifting his hands, he studies them as if it is the first time he has seen them.
“Are you okay?” I cautiously ask.
He plants his hands on the desert floor littered with rocks and mounds of dirt I’ve displaced and slowly hauls himself out of the soil. It rains from his massive, muscled frame. As he rises to his feet and stretches his wings, I inch back from him. He is by far the largest Titan I’ve ever seen.
Makes sense since he has huge wings to support.
Howls in the distance get me to my feet. I zip up my pack and tighten it against my back, preparing to run for the shelter I made in the forest cave up the hillside.
The Titan brushes a hand over his chest, revealing a glowing digibadge.Armorshines on his proud left pec.Helooks down atmenow. My head doesn’t even reach the height of his digibadge. He is a monstrosity of a Titan, all hard muscle and hot metal man.
Fuck me.
My core tightens. He is stunning, and the longer I look up at him, the more I want to let go of my other priorities just so I can savor this sense of awe forever.
Armor takes a step and crumples to his knees. “Too long.”
His wings slump.
Wolves howl closer.
I can’t leave him here. I have to get him to the cave I found up the mountainside. “Come on. I have a place we can safely rest.”
“Brothers.”
“I know. They’re still in the area. But you’re not going anywhere, let alone returning to battle until you’re powered up again.” I move closer and draw my handgun, keeping my eyes trained on the forest.
“No. Can’t...leave.”
