Reclaimed (Shadow Beast Shifters, #2)(20)

Be safe, my bonded one. I’ll come the moment you need me.

That made me feel better, like I had a guardian angel. Well, a second one after Angel.

And don’t fear this world. It’s different, but you are more than capable of handling it. And it needs you. It hasn’t been easy in the realm since the Supreme Being disappeared.

Nodding, I swallowed hard, forcing the fear down. Logically, I knew the realm was a lot like Earth, and it smelled good, and I had already adopted more than one creature born from its energy, but logic had no place when it came to irrational fear.

It was home to Midnight, Inky, and Shadow. I was also fairly certain that Angel had been there before at some point, too. I was the only one about to step into the unknown. The fear of that was far stronger than I’d expected.

Midnight sent one last burst of comforting warmth into me, and I sucked it up, feeling a strange sense of melancholy about being parted from my mist. A mist I’d been bonded to for all of an hour. It was the oddest sensation, the feeling that I’d known Midnight forever, and yet… I hadn’t.

I wouldn’t be selfish, though. Keeping Simone safe in this unknown world was worth whatever discomfort arose in my separation from the mist.

Shadow caught my eye as he reached down, his hands wrapping around my waist so he could haul me up and over his shoulder. He was so strong that he threw me around with no effort, and the control with which he held me was both terrifying and incredibly sexy. I was into it, no denying, but I preferred to walk.

In this situation, though, he was the one who controlled these doors, so I didn’t fight. No point getting my ass dumped off in an in-between spot, leaving me stuck.

It could happen. Literally could happen, according to some of the books I’d read.

These pathways were tricky, and one needed to be very sure of what they were doing before they stepped into them. A fact I hadn’t known my first day with Shadow when I’d tried to escape into Faerie.

My wolf howled as we strode into the darkness, but it wasn’t from fear. She was excited for this adventure, and that could only mean one thing: she was going to get me into trouble at some point.

Shadow ran a hand along my spine, and almost like he was stroking the wolf in that movement, she calmed. It was growing clearer as time went on that she loved Shadow. Her capitulation toward him was concerning because her moods definitely influenced my own, and I didn’t want to completely give ourselves up to him. He was too domineering, and I sensed that if I gave in to him, I’d lose a large part of myself forever.

Try telling that to my wolf, though, who continued treating Shadow like he was our beloved and trusted alpha.

I supposed he was our god, so it made sense… while also being frustrating.

Focusing again on our journey, I noted that the darkness hadn’t lifted yet, but the sweeter-than-honey scent grew stronger. Shadow remained calm, no sign of his flames or any surge in his energy, so I remained calm as well.

Still…

Why was there no freaking light?

I’d seen this world through Midnight’s memories, and it had been just as bright as Earth, with a sun-like illumination in the sky. So far, the reality was far from that… Shadow Realm was living up to its name.

“It’s always the darkest right before the sun shines,” Shadow murmured.

I stilled, my pulse the only part of me racing.

“Is there a hidden meaning in that statement?” I shot back, louder than intended.

His hold across my hips tightened. “Just wait for it, Sunshine.”

I used to hate that nickname; my chest tightening every time he said it, bringing bad memories to the surface. I’d always been “Sunny” to my dad, and Sunshine was close enough that it had hurt to hear.

It had burned.

At some point, that changed, and now when the rumble of my nickname left his lips, caressing my ears with his deep baritones, the burning I felt was of a completely different nature.

My eyes closed, and then I remembered I was about to see a new world and forced them open again. The darkness slithered away in a similar manner to the first time I’d seen Shadow in Torma. His mere presence had caused all light to fade into misty energy, until Shadow had sucked that darkness back into himself.

It felt like something similar happened here as a whirlwind whipped around us, gathering up the shadows of this world, and then we were in the light.

The “sunshine,” so much brighter than I’d expected after such an eternal night, was blinding and warm. For a brief second, I felt my bond with Midnight, my love for Simone and Angel, and the burning ache Shadow caused inside of me.

All the good things in my world burst to life in a single, brilliant drop of light. The scent made sense then, even as it faded once we were here. A scent of home and love.

“Don’t let it fool you,” Shadow whispered, his voice rebooting my senses into their normal semi-cynical setting. “The darkness of the realm exist above and below the light. In some way, this entire world is an illusion.”

I looked to where Inky was drifting along beside us. “Our mists are not the same,” he added. “Being bonded changes them. They absorb what makes us exist, and they feel when we do. The leicher and ether mists feel nothing and act only as a pure power. They will not consider your circumstances or hear your pleas. They will take and destroy if that suits their purpose.”