Reborn (Shadow Beast Shifter, #3)(72)

A lesson my former alpha, Victor Wolfe, should have learned. Our pack had lacked a true heart because of him, and his son looked set to continue the tradition.

When we entered the dining hall, the noise hit me first, and I actually stumbled. Or would have, if Shadow didn’t wrap his arm around me, keeping me on my feet.

“You’d have to be the first clumsy wolf,” he said with a shake of his head.

I growled at him. “I’m not clumsy; I’m just easily startled.”

He raised both eyebrows, looking like a smug fuck. So of course, I had to add, “If there’s a flaw in the wolf design, you should take it up with the creator.”

Mic. Drop.

He didn’t take offense, though, because he had no chinks in his armor. He just ruffled my hair and led me along the rows of tables toward our pack. As soon as that table came into view, the noise in here made sense; Shadow’s friends were riling everyone up.

“Len ingested so much of the poppy flower,” Lucien said with a snort of laughter, “that he thought he was in his garden, but he was really running naked through his family’s celestial moon party. His mother chased him with a chailis cane. She meant business.”

Everyone laughed, even Len, after which he shrugged. “Look, I wasn’t even five hundred years old at the time and I have regrets. I have many regrets about how I chose to spend my youth.”

Not even five hundred. Youth? Like that was a damn teenager.

Many other beings had gathered around to bask in the glow of the “gods” who ran this world. They filled all the chairs, except for the few around Angel. Maybe it was the way she glared at any who tried to slither into her personal space, or more likely it was the intense glow she emitted all powered up that warned them not to mess with her.

This was how it had always been with her in this dining hall. Separated. Alone. Untouchable. Everyone had heeded her warnings except for me. I’d fucked that up from the first moment I met her, but my mistake turned out to be the very best thing I could have done.

“You’re looking very relaxed,” she said when I dropped in beside her, Shadow taking the seat on the other side of me. Angel had managed to keep two spots free for us.

“You’re not,” I shot back, noting how her hands clenched, as if she wished her blades were in them.

“These lugheads had to choose my section of the dining hall to set up camp,” she seethed. “I told them to move on, but at risk of wasting my energy, I can’t literally move them.”

It was a large dining hall. They could have sat anywhere, but they had chosen to crowd into her spot. Not just crowd, but bring in dozens of other beings, all of whom would normally give Angel a wide berth.

“Whose idea was it to sit here?” Shadow asked her, leaning back in a relaxed manner, watching the antics of his idiot friends.

Angel glared daggers at him, even though he wasn’t looking her way. “Reece, of course. I thought we’d given up on this stupid dance years ago, but apparently, he still has a need for punishment in his system.”

Shadow finally met her gaze, his stare as hard as hers. “You should consider yourself lucky that he ignored you for the last few millennia. You know how long his memory is. He rarely forgives and never forgets.”

She scoffed. “I did consider myself lucky. But what has changed? I was perfectly content with the ‘pretend we don’t know each other’ thing we had going on. He’s messing with the status quo.”

Shadow turned his gaze toward Reece, who was sitting at the farthest table from Angel. “It’s your power,” Shadow said. “It reminds him of long-ago events. Lives lost. Hearts shattered.”

Angel went super pale. Super, super pale, and I elbowed Shadow quickly so he would shut up and give her a break. Then I threw an arm around my best friend, maneuvering the hold so I didn’t crush the feathers of her wings. “Don’t worry about Reece,” I said. “If he wants to be a petty asshole about shit that happened millennia ago, that’s on him. You’re above that, especially while we have to focus on saving the damn world.”

“I can hear you, Mera Callahan,” Reece shot out, his voice hard and clipped. “And you should not speak about what you don’t know.”

Shadow slowly got to his feet, and the noise died off near instantly. My beast didn’t have to say a word because the flames that sprung to life, followed by the darkness in his expression, did all the talking for him.

Reece stood slowly as well, and for a moment, his fury faded into sadness. “Sorry, old friend,” he said formally. “I did not mean to speak in such a tone with your mate. It’s just…”

Shadow’s flames lessened. “I understand,” he said. “But understand or not, if you ever speak to Mera like that again, I’ll enjoy making you regret it.”

Reece gave a short, sharp nod. “As it should be.” He turned to me. “Apologies, Mera. I’m not myself today. I think I’ll seek some mental guidance before we depart tomorrow.”

Without a glance at Angel, he turned and walked off, never looking back once.

The room felt smaller and emptier without his large frame and even larger energy presence, but some of the tension eased at least, and that was worth the trade.

Angel even seemed happy, ordering food with me when the robot servers rushed by. Shadow didn’t order anything, but he did smile at the six dishes I requested.