Reborn (Shadow Beast Shifter, #3)(101)

Lucien zipped around super-fast, his vampire strength and speed allowing him to pummel into the shields, searching for weak points, and when Dannie winced more than once, I knew that he was finding targets. Galleli still didn’t speak or make any sounds at all, but he was flapping his wings above Dannie, staring down with a look of complete focus on his face.

Everything okay? I quickly asked, worried that he might have spotted something.

Her mind is strong, he replied. But I will continue to try to break through to take control of her.

Awesome. Good luck.

Mentally, I pulled away, allowing him to focus, all the while having a minor freakout that he could take control of minds. As handy as it could be in this situation, there was always the worry that one day he might use it against us.

But, I mean, all of us were powerful, not just Galleli. We were the checks to each other’s power, and that was why our group was so strong and well-balanced. Which meant I had nothing to worry about. On that front at least.

“The shield is falling,” Shadow roared, and his flames were near twenty feet high as he continued to dig at the barrier around the phoenix. At first, I thought he was talking about that shield erected by Dannie, but unfortunately, I was wrong.

It was the mist shield.

Dannie had just been protecting herself long enough for her army to break free. Damn her and her intelligent battle-ready mind. Next time we fought an arch-nemesis, I wanted one who was stupid. It was only fair.

The army raged at us en masse and we all fell under the assault. Dannie added to that by offensively blasting her power into us, sharp and powerful assaults that penetrated into the center of my power. It hurt, and I cried out as I struggled to cut the tie she’d created by tethering her attack directly into my energy.

I expected the others would be doing the same, only to break free and find all of them were being crushed under the fire army and Dannie’s attack. Our mists were holding back what they could, but it wasn’t enough.

“Stop!” I screamed, shooting myself into the air, blind rage at my loved ones being attacked driving me. Shadow roared at me too, and I knew he was working to save our friends and get to me, but he couldn’t do it all.

The power inside of me exploded, a nuclear blast that shot me into the sky, my fire wings flapping powerfully as breaths sucked in and out of my mouth in loud rasps. It was pure rage fueling me since I was exhausted and broken, but maybe rage would be enough.

Dannie and I collided in the air, and that was the first time anyone had been able to touch her. Her feathers were icy cold under my clawed hands, despite the heat she was channeling in her flaming tail and power. “You feel empty,” I screamed in her face, digging into her with all my strength. “Your soul is gone, Dannie, and there’s no way to come back from that.”

Those flaming eyes flashed at me. “You know nothing about souls, child. Or sacrifice. You have been a selfish brat from the first moment I saw you in Torma. A disappointment. But I decided to give you a chance to grow into a being worthy of the legacy you carry.” Even on a bird face, her disgust was obvious. “You continue to fail. You continue to be unworthy. Your parents thought it, your true mate thought so, and so do I.”

Her words hurt. She knew how to use them as weapons, hitting at my soft, vulnerable belly. But there was one truth she couldn’t take from me: Shadow Beast was my true mate, and he had not rejected our bond. He’d fought for it.

We both had and I was no longer that poor pathetic pup from Torma.

“You can’t take me down like that,” I said softly. “A few months ago, it would have worked, but I’m not the same being as I was then. I did best your mind control, and I will best you again now.”

I’d been building power in my center, every ounce I had, in preparation for the attack that she was about to send my way. Only she once again went for my vulnerabilities and continued to use her power against my friends. The tethers she held to them, the ones they couldn’t break, were killing them. At least the ones who were easily killable, and the others would soon have their energy stripped away until there was nothing left.

I tried to stop her, sending out my power in a bid to break those tethers as I’d done for myself. But it wasn’t enough. I couldn’t take her on alone, and my small attempts were just delaying the inevitable. Dannie was powered by a stone that could build and destroy worlds. Its power was near never-ending. Our attempt to best her had always been a long shot, and dammit, we’d given it all we had.

“You know you can’t win.”

She saw it in my face, and I schooled my expression, unwilling to admit defeat yet. I had to hold on to hope, for it was the strongest motivator that there was.

“It will not hurt, and you’ll all be together,” Dannie told me softly, and there was a warmth under my touch finally. She still felt something, even if it was crushed beneath the ice in her soul. “Don’t fight any longer.”

This approach worked differently to her last attack because this time it was true. My family was hurting. They were broken and bloody and burning alive. I couldn’t allow that to keep happening, and if I couldn’t beat her or save them, what was our other option?

Never stop fighting her, Sunshine.

His voice was in my head, his love and strength surrounding me, and I squeezed my eyes closed for a beat knowing that Shadow was right. Fuck. I did not lie down and die on command under a bully hurting me. I’d never done that, and I wasn’t about to start today. Torma had unknowingly been preparing me for this fight, and I would not waste their training.