Reclaimed (Shadow Beast Shifters, #2)(27)

“Woot,” I shouted. “You go, girlfriend.”

She shot me a small smile before she floated herself down to the ground.

I patted Inky. “I can walk too, buddy. Please put me down.”

And what do you know… it did.

Angel and I didn’t delay again, hurrying off along the rocky terrain. Inky stayed with us, directing us toward Shadow. As my boots kicked up the rocks beneath our feet, I noticed that the shiny black had threads of silver and bronze veins bisecting it. A rock bed filled with minerals, which went on as far as I could see.

“It’s truly odd for the lava fields to be this far from the main chasm,” Angel said, shaking her head as she peered into the horizon. “I mean, there have been geysers that popped up over the years, randomly blasting areas when the mists were acting out of character, but this is weird.” Angel was playing tour guide, and I wondered if there was any world she didn’t know well.

“So this land is kind of built on a huge volcano?”

“Not the same,” she told me. “It’s the heat of the mists here that cause the lava flow. But it’s a similar concept.”

The mists were always spoken about with a combination of fear and reverence, but for me, I was mostly curious about them. Maybe it was my bond with Midnight that made it so I couldn’t fear this entity. At least not yet.

It took us what felt like days to catch up to Shadow, who was waiting on another elevated section of rock, a blackened and dead-looking tree beside him. I huffed in a lungful of air, thankful for the light, clean oxygen. I had no idea what the literal chemical composition of the atmosphere here was, but it seemed to be doing the same job as oxygen. Thankfully.

The beast didn’t turn as we approached, and since I wasn’t sure how he was going to react, I moved cautiously as I got closer. Thankfully, when he finally turned my way, he wore a neutral expression, and it was clear we weren’t discussing what happened.

I didn’t particularly want to hear about his soulmate, so I didn’t push the issue.

“We should rest here for the night,” he said shortly. “The light is going to fade soon, and we don’t want to cross the rest of the land in the dark. Too easy for us to be ambushed.”

I stepped closer to where he stood. “Shadow…” I trailed off as I noticed that he hadn’t just been staring off into the distance. There was a village below us, down a jagged side of this outcropping.

“This is your home?”

He shook his head. “No, this is Wenberton, an outer-lying city of the royal compound of Fraple. We’re still a few days walk into Trinity, and then it’s even farther to the edge of my home: Darkor.”

I paused. “That’s your name?”

He let out an aggravated sound. “When a Supreme Being is born, we’re named after the royal city our family rules from. The heir could be born into any of the royal families. I’m the second chosen heir of Darkor. It’s more of a title than a name.”

“Shadow suits you better anyway,” I said, not even joking. “That and Asshole. You’re both, so it works. “

He didn’t bite back, but there was a smile. So brief, but I caught it, and fuck, that was nice.

“How will we get through this town undetected?” I asked, looking across the vast section of land, filled with buildings and no doubt a ton of inhabitants. From what I could see at this distance, the houses weren’t like Earth’s, most of them a combination of futuristic and ancient. Built of stone and rock, with clear bubbles of glass around the structures, almost protectively guarding each house.

He didn’t seem worried. “We should be able to just take the long way around. I’ll assess further in the morning. Most villages will be the same, and our true test will come when we reach the great forests that surround Darkor. Then we’ll have to plan the attack.”

Lots of damn planning.

“With that in mind, I need some sleep,” I declared. “Not to mention food, water, and a place to wash up.”

Shadow finally looked at me. The first real look since we’d kissed. A lot passed between us in this one look, but no words.

“Come with me,” he finally said.

Like I had another choice.





14





Shadow was never exactly chatty. Yeah, understatement of the year. But I did have this recurring daydream about the two of us. We’d be sitting back on the couch, the magical fire burning nearby, and I’d ask him all the questions… and he would answer them. Every single one.

Just thinking about all the knowledge he held, it’d be like talking to my own personal library. Did I say daydream? Yeah, I meant wet dream.

Funnily enough, since I’d turned into a fireball myself and busted open his realm, Shadow had been more open with me. Even playing tour guide as he led us away from the ridge over the village, and back down into what almost looked like a long-ago dried riverbed. “What truly differentiates Shadow Realm from Earth,” he said, “is the age of its inhabitants. The royals, the freilds, creatures, and many other subspecies have been evolving here for millions of years. We’re more powerful and we live longer than humans and shifters. The mists give us an advantage Earth does not have, at least not in the short time humans have been on it.”

“Earth has a similar energy to the mists?” I asked, reading between the lines. It was there; we just couldn’t utilize it.