Reclaimed (Shadow Beast Shifters, #2)(23)

There was a low rumble in my chest, and I barely managed to hold on to my wolf. It was truly fascinating how my beast alternated between wanting to roll over for a belly scratch from Shadow and trying to literally tear his face off.

“My freedom better always be guaranteed.”

He shot me a cocky smile. “Can’t promise anything, Sunshine. Only time will tell how you and I end up. Where our pieces will fall. There’s also that little topic of a bet you lost that we need to discuss.”

Fuck, I was hoping he’d forgotten about that.

Needing a distraction and taking full advantage of the fact that touching him without his permission didn’t shock me any longer, I jabbed him right in the side. “No. Just no, beast. You can’t take people’s freedoms. It’s not okay and you’re deliberately missing my entire point.”

Angel was staring at us with her jaw slightly unhinged. No doubt she’d never seen anyone treat him with such little reverence, except maybe his friends, and even they still approached him with a certain degree of respect.

“Listen up, wolf—” he rumbled, and then strangely, he cut the rest of his words off.

I was about to jab him again when I focused on his expression. It was the same look he’d worn when we were about to be attacked by a creature.

Something was close by… watching us, and Shadow was on full alert.

Angel, too, twin blades appearing in her hands, the impressively curved weapon her clear favorite. She twirled them, and I tore my gaze away. No point in focusing on the two I knew weren’t a danger to me.

My wolf rose up and I used her senses to discern the threat in our vicinity. If I wanted to survive this, I had to start relying on her. My wolf was not to be underestimated; she’d been able to touch the Shadow Hunters, she’d given me boosts of power so I could burst into flames and call on the mists—she’d gotten me through a lot of shit.

There was a hidden strength and destiny tied to my wolf and me, and in a life-or-death situation, I liked having her there as backup. I’d happily shift into a wolf covered in flames who could call the dark mists, if it meant saving my friends.

“Keep moving,” Shadow said, and he looked visibly calmer. “The mists are curious about a new power in their lands—it’s been so long since that happened that we briefly caught their attention. It’s not any concern for now.”

The mists… Great. My wolf remained restless in my chest, pacing back and forth, searching for an opening so she could burst out of the human skin.

“Don’t release her yet,” Shadow warned me, feeling the tension wrapping insidious tendrils around my insides. “We still don’t know what will happen the first time your wolf is freed here. In this land that has been calling her. Let’s hold off as long as possible.”

I heard the rest of what he hadn’t said. Maybe even he couldn’t control me here.

“I don’t know how much longer she’ll stay in her cage,” I warned him.

Shadow stared into my damn soul, as was his way. “We’ll deal with it when it happens, but I know you’re strong enough to lock her down now. Do it.”

My chest rumbled again, and I patted my right boob in a comforting gesture for my wolf. It was weird, but fuck, what part of my life wasn’t now? We will be free soon, I promised her. We will find out our truth.

If it was the last thing we did.





12





The cliff we’d arrived on had had white wildflowers scattered underfoot, contributing to the sweet scent that filled the wind, but the farther we got from the water, the more desolate the realm became.

The air still smelled clean, a slightly tangy taste on my tongue, but the flowers soon died off, making way for what resembled black tar. “Is this what all of The Concordes looks like?” I asked, grimacing as I lifted my boot to find dark sediment clinging to it.

Shadow, whose jaw was set, brow furrowed, looking down as well. “This is rocky leftover from a lava flow, but… when I was here, it was only around the chasm. I’ve never seen it so widespread.”

“Excellent,” I muttered. Shadow didn’t have the answers about what was going on in this world, not after being exiled for so long. We’d just have to discover it together.

“How does it feel being back here?” I asked when the endless expanse of the same parched land lost my interest. “I mean, you must have thought of this moment a million times over the years.”

My question even had Angel easing up on her warrior focus of the land around us, as she tilted her gaze toward Shadow.

“It’s odd,” he said slowly. “My energy is returning now that the shackles of my expulsion are fading, but my inherited power is still missing. I worry that without it, this battle against my family will be harder than anticipated.”

It was so odd to see him unsure about anything. His confidence basically followed him around like an entourage. Inky and Shadow’s ego were his constant companions. Being out of his element was going to take some getting used to, but I thought it was smart of him to be wary about what he was walking into.

Might keep all of us alive.

“You expected that once the spell on the door was broken, you’d be gifted the full range of your power again?” Angel asked.

Shadow’s chest rumbled, like the memories were swelling his anger. “Not all of it, since the ceremony bonding me to my position still has to be performed, but I was hoping for a good chunk. Right now, I’m probably at sixty percent of what I expected.”