Reborn (Shadow Beast Shifter, #3)(92)

I leaned in and pressed my lips to the right corner of his mouth. “Thank you, mate.”

As I went to pull away, he tightened his hold on my waist, and when I lifted my gaze, expecting another possessive warning, I instead got a slow, sexy smile. “I love you, Mera Callahan,” he said without hesitation, that smile softening as he gave me another piece of himself.

“I love you too,” I choked out. “For what it’s worth, considering how you feel about that overused word.”

Now he chuckled, finally releasing me. “I’ve decided that it’s not the word, Sunshine, it’s the depth of emotion behind it. When we use the word ‘love,’ it becomes ours. We will claim it.”

I had to laugh. “Arrogant Beast.”

He wasn’t wrong, though. Love was ours to claim.





51





Angel held me with the same force Shadow had. The same desperation. The same sense that neither of them had expected to see me again. “I’m so sorry,” I said over and over. “I didn’t mean to hurt you.”

She wasn’t talking. She was just clutching me, her head buried near my neck as the simmering strength of her energy rocked into me. Our powers didn’t merge like Shadow’s and mine, but the bond between us was stronger than ever, energies frolicking like old friends.

After some time, she pulled away, her eyes haunted. “I can’t do it again,” she said, her voice barely heard. “I can’t lose another member of my family.”

I swallowed roughly, holding on to her biceps. “Well, I have some excellent news for you.” I looked at Shadow, who was just behind me. “For you both. I can’t really die. It appears those born of the Nexus can be reborn of it if they choose.”

Angel choked out a sob. “What if next time your soul is tired and decides that it’s time to truly rest?”

Shadow’s rumbles filled the air. “There’ll be no next time,” he snapped. “No more chances. We end this once and for all. Today.”

Angel stopped him with a shake of her head, her spectacular amber wings wrapping around her protectively. My own wings moved into a similar position without any real thought from me. “It might not be today,” she said. “We have to recharge our power, and there’s no better time than while the fortress is draining her.”

“Wait!” I said, whipping around to Shadow. “You said before that there was an issue with releasing the cage and removing the stone? What issue?”

“It’s best if you come see for yourself,” he told me, and now I was rocking some full-blown professional-level anxiety. Rebirth had clearly done nothing to help with that.

Coming back from the dead really should include a slight reprieve from the drama.

For five minutes at least.





*



Shadow took us through a pocket of energy, and when we stepped out on the other side, we were once again in a familiar, burned-to-a-cinder outlier island. I noticed a few new cracks in the ground to go with all the ash, but thankfully everything else appeared to be intact.

Including our friends.

“Look at you,” Len said, clapping his hands together, a true smile on his face. “Reborn into the fiercest of beings. Powerful and beautiful. Shadow has his hands full.”

None of them showed any sign of concern that they’d almost died via one raging beast. Instead, they hurried forward and hugged me tightly, their only visible heartache from the way I’d almost gotten myself killed.

“We failed you.” Reece’s voice was low as he dropped his head.

“No, you didn’t!” I said in a rush. “Not even a tiny bit. I had a choice to make, and I’m really sorry for hurting you all.”

“You achieved what we couldn’t,” he replied, finally meeting my eyes. “Dannie would have destroyed us all, so we should be the ones thanking you. Your sacrifice was what we needed to best her.”

“We didn’t take Shadow into account, though,” Lucien added with a laugh. “He just about achieved the impossible and dismantled a fucking world in his fury. Not that any of us were surprised; we were ready to ride out the storm and hope that whatever emerged from the destruction was salvageable.”

I didn’t like the sound of that, but unfortunately, I couldn’t make grown-ass gods promise not to take risks like that again. The bastards got to make their own decisions—bad management, if you asked me. And that was maybe a little hypocritical considering what had happened with my last solo decision.

Potato potahto.

“What changes did your rebirth bring?” Alistair circled me, my flaming wings bright in the near-night dark sky, catching his full attention. Wondering if I could tuck them away like I had my wolfie-phoenix side, I imagined them fading into my back, and with a small pop, they disappeared.

“Whoa,” I said, not even remotely answering Alistair since we were all discovering my new abilities in real time. “Wings,” I murmured, and with the thought of needing wings again, they were once again on my back.

“Utterly fascinating,” Alistair whispered, shaking his head, my fire reflecting off the blue-green pigments in his curls. “You’re part phoenix.”

My smirk was instant. “You haven’t seen anything yet.”