Reborn (Shadow Beast Shifter, #3)(55)

Shadow’s expression didn’t give a lot away, but his eyes were as brilliantly gold as the light around him. “As the worlds’ evils grow stronger, it weakens them. Then there are the wars. Dannie is not the first we’ve had to go up against when it comes to those who believe they deserve more than their share of the power. This might be the worst, but there have been many before. Angel’s entire family was killed in such a battle, and it’s only her pure strength, tenacity, and the inherited power she got from each member that allowed her to break free and return to the Honor Meadows before she, too, was claimed.”

“She told me that saving their family power is the most important part of their culture.”

He nodded. “Yes, nothing else stands above it. Each family here has a unique power. It’s why the balance is growing further and further off-kilter, as more of the family lines and abilities are lost.”

Poor Angel. My heart still ached for her tragic story, and knowing she was out there alone again, thinking she had no family left, was a weight pressing me into the ground. “We have to find her,” I said, spinning on the spot, like she would appear with that movement. “Can you feel her here?”

Shadow breathed in deeply, the mist tattoos on his arms moving, as they often did when he channeled his power. “This land is so imbued with her energy, it’s impossible for me to tell her specific location. We’re going to have to push through the magic, peel off the layers, and see if an Angel falls out.”

I gulped. “That kind of seems like a great way to get attacked. I mean, have you seen her curved blades? I really like my insides to stay inside. For aesthetic reasons.”

Shadow drew me along with his power, low chuckles spilling from his lips. “She will never hurt you, Mera. Angel might not remember you, and I might not be able to penetrate the magic of her land to release her memories, but when she sees you, your connection will remind her. I’m sure of it.”

He sounded sure, but then again, he always was confident. Maybe if I channeled some of that confidence, I’d feel the same way. With that in mind, I forced my anxiety down and followed him across the land.

When he ground to a halt, I ran straight into his back, but he must have expected that since he was already twisting to catch me before I bounced onto my ass.

“There’s a break in her power grid here,” he said as he set me on my feet.

Before I could ask what the fuck that meant, he reached down to the golden land, and as he ran his fingertip along a small section, it sliced open, like a knife through paper.

Was he shitting me right now? “Peel away the layers” had been a literal statement.

He was going to take us into the beating heart of Angel’s world.





30





There was no adequate way to describe the sensation of stepping through the fabric of a world, and when we emerged under the first layer of Angel’s territory in the Honor Meadows, I was basically speechless. Again.

A rarity that amused Shadow to no end.

“In time you’ll come to expect that much of what you see is an illusion,” he said, chuckling at the gobsmacked expression I wore. “We all wear masks and use power to disguise parts of ourselves.”

I swallowed roughly. “Yeah, I mean, I know that in theory, but to see a world turn from a twilight expanse of golden fields into a sunlit realm of clouds and waterfalls, after you cut through that golden field layer, is not really an everyday occurrence. I mean… how in the actual freaking illusion are they doing this?”

It was as if Shadow had peeled a layer of a painting away to reveal a completely new scene below. Or maybe it was like peeling an orange to find a pineapple below. This layer looked, felt, and smelled different to the one above, and I was really starting to understand the many layers of Angel herself.

“It’s just magic,” he told me. “Your eyes see what you’re told to see, and it’s only if you look closer that you’ll notice the delicate edges waiting to be peeled away.”

I thought on this as I followed Shadow along a white fluffy expanse of cloud, marveling at how we weren’t plummeting through it. “Would my wolf have seen the edges?”

He looked back at me. “Not when you were first here; you were resistant to the truth. But today, you could see it all if you allowed the true power within you to rise up.”

“Part of me is still weakened by my wolf side, isn’t it?”

We’d never spoke explicitly about it, but I’d pieced it together from what Dannie had said, and what I also felt inside. I was a hybrid—that much was true—but I could be so much more than. I could be like Dannie; I just didn’t know how to take that step to becoming that Nexus-born being. I wondered if I might have to figure it out to before this battle was done.

“No part of you is weak,” Shadow said gruffly, “and your potential knows no limits. Continue to evolve, and you’ll be the strongest of us all.”

I couldn’t imagine that ever happening, but it was a nice thought.

Shadow picked up his pace, and I noted that the waterfalls around us seemed to stream from above the clouds. The way the light sparkled off the teal-tinted water made it look so damn enticing. Right up until a few unfamiliar creatures splashed through the strands, looking like a hybrid of a unicorn and shark, with a sparkling gold-tinted horn, pearlescent skin, and very sharp fangs.