Reborn (Shadow Beast Shifter, #3)(70)

What Shadow did to me went against the laws of nature.





38





It took both of us a long time to come down from the high of sex among the stars. Even after Shadow slid from my body, he continued to hold me. We were both a mess of cum and all the aftermath of a good fucking, and honestly, before actually having sex, I’d never imagined I would enjoy the sticky mess that followed.

If anything, I wanted more of it. “I won’t let Dannie take this from us, either.” I reiterated what he’d already said, ensuring the fates knew I would fight them every step of the way.

I finally had the sort of happiness I’d been desperately seeking for years, and fair warning to any who thought to take it from me.

Shadow breathed me in, and I loved that there was so much shifter within him. “She underestimated us,” he continued. “Our power and strength together… and our bond. She doesn’t understand having a pack or family, and this is what will give us an advantage.”

“An advantage is good, even if I’m still hoping we can reason with her.”

He didn’t knock my hope down, but I knew that he believed Dannie was too far gone for reasoning. Maybe my hope came from all the books I’d read where the main characters went through some super bad shit, but there was always a happy ending to look forward to. Sure, this was real life, but so far, my journey had been a classic paranormal romance, so maybe I’d get my happy ending as well.

Shadow ran his hand over my body slowly and far more intimately than was probably necessary to clean us up. When he was done, we settled into one of the chairs, watching the stars. I was starving, but there was no way I’d drag myself away from this moment. Not even for food.

Shadow was quiet behind me, cradling my body against his. “What universe is it?” I asked sleepily.

“Mine,” Shadow replied, the burr in his words stronger than usual. “The one I created to form the Solaris System. This is what connects all the worlds and powers the library. It’s from here I drew energy to reform the pathways. Thankfully, I managed not to destroy this in my rage.”

That woke me and I turned to see his face. “Does anyone know that this is what lies behind the power of the system?”

He shook his head. “No one comes back here to the center of my ‘machine,’ so to speak, and I have never trusted anyone enough to share this secret with them.”

Well, if that wasn’t enough to make a girl feel… loved.

I returned my gaze to the stars, still not really sure what was out there. It was clearly a power beyond anything I comprehended, a magic of universes, and the delicate balance of it was on the verge of destruction thanks to Dannie.

“You can’t use this in our battle against Dannie, either, can you?”

Shadow’s breath released slowly, pushing against me as he sighed. “This is the sort of power that the sunburst stone contains, but if I were to utilize it in a way that could defeat Dannie, I would risk all of the Solaris System, and the worlds, since I decided to connect them into this energy. And there’s also a risk that I might lose myself, just as Dannie did.”

He had started to call her “Dannie” instead of “Mother,” and it felt a lot like he was distancing himself from her already. Preparing for the inevitable.

I ran my hands up his arms, savoring in the touch of our skin together. “You already feel so much more powerful with your full energy of the realm. Will you be able to keep this power if you are no longer planning on being the Supreme Being?”

His expression was hard to read, but I didn’t miss the flash of grief in his eyes. “I will have to pass the mantle on at some point. They’ll have their own stone, though, since it’s unique to the being it chooses. So, no, I won’t lose my powers.”

“You didn’t really need the boost,” I said, my eyes closing briefly as exhaustion pressed into me. “But how will you choose the right one to pass it onto?”

“It will be difficult,” he said. “If they’re not worthy, then that could be as catastrophic to the realm as what Dannie is attempting to do. As we discovered with Ixana.”

It was a lot of pressure for him. Generally, the realm chose, but in this case, it might have to be Shadow himself who selected the next Supreme Being and if he chose wrong, he could condemn his people to being ruled by someone who might use the stone against them.

“Don’t worry about it tonight,” he said, sliding his hands into the long strands of my hair. He tightened his grip, pulling me up to meet his lips. I went willingly, letting out a soft breath when we kissed.

Our kiss deepened, as always happened, and without thought, my body twisted into a more comfortable position. I straddled Shadow, my already wet center pressing into him. His fire filled my core first, and then he entered me in one hard thrust. There was resistance. There was always resistance with someone Shadow’s size, but no lie, that was almost my favorite part. That first burning stretch.

Kissing like our lives depended on it, I let my body move on instinct against him, going with what felt good. In this position, it basically all felt good, and even though there wasn’t a huge range of movement, I got into a rocking rhythm. Shadow’s hands cupped my breasts, his thumbs playing with the hard peaks of my nipples, stroking over and over, sending shivers through my already over-aroused body.