Reborn (Shadow Beast Shifter, #3)(74)

My head snapped toward her. “Seriously?”

She nodded. “I feel this is the best time to give human food one last chance.”

Great, so she had that ominous feeling too.

“You’re right, there really is no better time,” I said.

Shadow waved a few of the robots over. “We need chocolate,” he told the closest one. “Bring everything you have that’s made from the chocolate of Earth. Cake, bars, drinks—all of it.”

If robots could get excited, this little one was doing it, lighting up and squeaking as it hurried off. “Everyone who can eat chocolate and not die will be trying it,” I said with a laugh.

Lucien leaned back in his chair, hands behind his head. “I heard chocolate was deadly to dogs. Are you trying to knock Shadow off?”

My lips twitched. “Look, I know firsthand that chocolate doesn’t kill shifters, but no lie, I did consider testing the theory on Shadow, especially when I first arrived here. Unfortunately, the bastard doesn’t eat.”

“Oh, I eat,” Shadow replied seriously. “My favorite meal is right here in this room.”

It took me a second. An embarrassingly long second.

“That shade of red is nice on her,” Len said. “Matches her hair.”

I wasn’t red from embarrassment, despite Shadow all but talking about eating me out in front of all of his friends. If anything, this public claiming of his was far better than love words, though I wanted those as well.

I was greedy.

The red in my cheeks was the heat of my arousal. It had hit me hard and fast, and with enough intensity that I was barely able to stop squirming in my chair. Shadow knew that because he knew the scent of my arousal.

Before I self-combusted or embarrassed us all, about twenty servers reappeared at our table, their arms full of dishes.

Wow. Shadow might have gone a little extra on dessert, considering half the beings here would probably have one taste and throw up or die. These immortals with their “energy transference” instead of food lifestyle were so dramatic.

The only ones at our table now were the main pack, all their hangers-on having disappeared back to their worlds. Which left just the seven of us to be involved in this dessert taste test.

Humans adore these? Galleli asked.

I nodded. “Oh, yes, chocolate is well loved. We have it in many different strengths and styles, but it’s always a hit.”

I leaned in and breathed deeply, savoring the scents from the closest plates and sighing at the rich cocoa that invaded my nostrils. “Looks like we have cake, mousse, dipping sauce, ice cream, and dark, milk, and white chocolate in an array of styles.” I lifted my head to see more. “Cookies, dough, crumble, and… oh my freaking god, they have doughnuts with chocolate sauce and Nutella filling.”

Since my arrival here, more and more human food had appeared on the menu. Shadow’s doing, of course, since he was the one controlling this space, and I couldn’t help but feel completely touched by all the little extras he gave without asking for thanks or acknowledgement.

Ordering one of everything had no doubt been for me as well, and I needed to do better in letting him know how much it meant to me.

“Thank you,” I whispered, turning my head to meet his gaze. “I see what you do. I appreciate it. I appreciate you.”

For a split second, he looked completely taken aback. Not just taken aback, but… lost.

The Shadow Beast had no idea how to handle gratitude.

No one had ever noticed the good in him, and granted, they’d have had to look closely since he so effortlessly embraced the darkness. But these slivers of light that filtered through the cracks in his shadowy soul were so blindingly beautiful that they took my breath away.

“There’s nothing I won’t do to make you happy, Sunshine,” he told me, his eyes holding flickers of fire. “You only have to ask.”

I was going to be seriously spoiled if he kept this shit up, which would only make me all the more insufferable. Maybe I should do some charity work to even it out; I was fairly certain it worked like that.

“What should I try?” Angel asked, distracting us as she leaned over to sniff at a few of the dishes. “Give me the absolute best.”

I leaned over with her, weighing them up before I started to rearrange the plates into one long line down the middle of our table. “This is my favorite,” I said, pointing to the rich devil’s food chocolate cake. The sort with thick, creamy frosting, and a cake so moist, you could see it glisten before you had a taste. People could hate on the word moist all they wanted, but when it came to cakes, there was no better descriptor. “And I’ve lined the rest in my basic order of preference, but to make myself very clear, there are no bad choices here.”

Next to the cake was the chewy cookie sandwich, with smooth vanilla frosting in the center, then a chocolate crumble cake, with a gooey mousse filling, followed by a triple deck chocolate block, showcasing the best of dark, milk, and white chocolate.

Angel lifted one of the utensils provided and scraped off the smallest sliver of the first cake. She cleverly knew to take an even distribution of frosting, cake and cream. Overloading on one aspect destroyed the full experience, in my expert opinion.

When she lifted the sliver to her lips, she smelled it first, her face crinkling. “It’s an odd scent,” she said. “Almost earthy.” Her tongue darted out, and why the fuck I was holding my breath, I’d never know, but this felt like a pivotal moment in our relationship.