Reclaimed (Shadow Beast Shifters, #2)(24)

In a flash, he faded out, smoky mists twirling around him. Then he was a few hundred yards away from us. Then he was back at our sides. “I have gained some new gifts.” He sounded energized, his voice vibrating with energy. “My ability to move through the shadows of worlds was a power lost. I can’t go too far or someone will feel our presence, but it’s nice to know it has returned.”

I blinked. “So, technically, you could zap into the library right now without a doorway?”

He shook his head. “The library is protected from this power, but I could go straight to Earth or Brolder. I no longer need the Solaris System pathways.”

Angel cleared her throat, her brow furrowed. “I finally understand why you created the portals of the Solaris System now. You wanted the ability to world jump again, and that was the closest you could get.”

He shot her a sardonic stare. “I shared the power, didn’t I? Be grateful.”

She wrinkled her nose at him but didn’t bother to comment on her “gratitude.”

“What other powers have returned?” I asked him.

He shrugged. “A few others, but mostly it’s my strength. I’ve been drawing from my shifters for years, as your mate pointed out. But no longer do I need their energy to boost my own.”

The way he’d said mate was the same way I said fuck when I stubbed my toe. Shadow hated that alpha, and if I was Torin, I’d be sleeping uneasily at night, knowing there was a beast out there stalking my ass. If Shadow hadn’t been busy with his few-thousand-year-old revenge right now, Torin would be fucked.

“You definitely don’t have the power of a Supreme Being,” Angel said, examining him like she could feel his energy.

Shadow growled, a howling rumble that reminded me of my wolf. “Only the death of the one who usurped my position, and the ceremony, will give me my full power.”

“They should not have been able to utilize the power,” Angel said, shaking her head. “Only the one born to the position can play with the mists.”

Shadow’s flames appeared, and they were so much stronger than I’d ever seen or felt from him that I had to jump back or risk being barbequed. Inky swelled larger as well, seemingly absorbing the energy from its master.

He wasn’t kidding about sixty percent of his true strength reappearing here. His powers had been impressive before, but now… they were scary.

He was scary.

There was no reflection of humanity in his face. Instead, it was pure and unadulterated fury. This was our devil. The god of shifters who had created an entire race of beings—and literal pathways between worlds.

He was lost to the new surge of energy, and I knew that someone had to pull him back, but I wasn’t sure I could get any closer. Taking the risk, I stepped into the flames, but the burn was instant, and when I pulled my hand away it was red and blistering. It healed fine, but it was enough for me to know that I couldn’t run in headfirst and take him down.

Shadow was literally untouchable to me.

What about my wolf?

Dropping my heavy backpack, I shed my clothing, knowing I’d need them again since we were on limited supplies. When I was naked, standing with a light breeze blowing my hair all around me, I allowed the chokehold on my wolf to ease—she was more than a little excited to finally have freedom. Just as she started to surge up, Shadow’s gaze snapped to meet mine.

I paused, the change hovering on the edge, my fingers rippling into claws, even as the rest of me remained human. Shadow didn’t move, neither of us did. One covered in flames, the other naked with flaming red hair dancing around. Both of us locked in his power.

“Shadow,” I whispered. There was no way he should have been able to hear me over the noise of his fire—it sounded like a jet engine, the ground near shaking from the decibels, but somehow, he did.

He heard me.

When he took a step forward, I shivered. Not from the cold, but from the sheer force of his stare. Holding me in place. Turning my body into one that would literally die for this beast if he just continued to look at me like that.

“Shadow,” I choked out again. “Come back to me.”

This was a reversal of what he’d had to do in Torma with me, and the irony wasn’t lost on me. I also wondered what would happen if both of us lost it at the same time… who would call us back then?

He took another step toward me, and I was dragged further into his forcefield. My trembling legs drove me toward his fire. The heat was intense, and not only was my body responding, but so was my energy. That connection—path—I had to this realm sprang to life.

As flames burst across my skin, rough hands hauled me up and against his body. I wrapped my legs around him, not caring that not only was I naked, but we had a witness in one of my best friends.

“What are you?” Shadow rumbled. “That you make me feel…”

He trailed off, and I was desperate to hear more. Made him feel what?

He said no more, though, and it took me a few moments to understand that what he meant was feel in general.

My gaze dropped to his lips and I desperately craved a taste of him. It was a frantic need that had my breath raggedly escaping in huffs. Kissing him was a bad idea. We’d never kissed before, not even when his tongue had been buried deep in my pussy, making me come until I saw stars.

That night, he’d stopped me from touching him in any way, but today… today he wasn’t stopping me at all.