Reclaimed (Shadow Beast Shifters, #2)(31)

If only there hadn’t been a constant hot blast of his energy from behind, and those snaking tendrils in my gut, from the Shadow pull.

As I wolfed—pun intended—down the bars he’d packed for me, I felt an easing of the pressing anger that had been riding me for a while. Hmm. Odd.

“She was hangry,” Angel said, her voice behind me as well. Sounded like she was standing near Shadow. “I’ve heard of that with humans, but that was my first time seeing it.”

I shot them both a glare over my shoulder. “I was not hangry, you immortal assholes.”

Both Shadow and Angel cracked smiles, and I found myself laughing as well, realizing I had been a bit of a hungry-angry bitch.

“Sorry about pushing you in the water,” I said to Shadow. “I might have overreacted a touch.”

That was as much as he was getting from me.

The beast took a step forward, his power blasting into me, and I had to close my eyes at the delicious sensation of his fire. Within seconds, it had dried my clothes and boots. “You feel stronger,” I told him.

“It’s been a long time since I felt my energy charged up like this.” His laugh was dry. “I’d actually forgotten what it was like to partake of the energy of Shadow Realm.”

“You were very young when you were kicked out,” I reminded him.

He nodded. “Yes, twenty-two is young, but it’s also a big milestone here. Especially for a royal. We open our energies to accept the power of the mists, we control our first creature, and we learn how to step into a leadership role.”

“You missed it all,” I whispered sadly.

His features darkened. “Every milestone was stolen from me. If I hadn’t torn at the mists as I was leaving, I wouldn’t have had Inky, either, and there is little doubt in my mind that without its energy, I would have perished on my own.”

Which had probably been his sister’s aim. To send him out so young, defenseless and without energy.

“Now I want to kill your family.”

His laughter brushed over me, and I found it hard to remember being mad at him before.

“Killing my sister is my right,” Shadow reminded me.

Fair enough. He deserved it more than any, and I would do my best to help him achieve his goal.

It was almost amusing how much our relationship had changed. Would it morph again just as fast? Especially when the true mate came back into the picture?





15





At some point, I fell asleep, resting better than I had in a long time. I woke just as the light returned to the sky, sending the blanket of mists into the background.

Rubbing my eyes, I yawned and sat, looking around to figure out where everyone was. Shadow was awake, leaned against a large tree, watching over us. A tree that had not been there yesterday, but clearly, this oasis he’d unlocked by releasing the water was continuing to evolve.

“Oh, hey,” I said, pushing myself up. “No drama through the night?”

He leaned forward, his legs slightly bent, and as the heavy muscles in his thighs tensed, I was briefly confused about why I was all the way over here, and not between—

“Outside of your snoring,” he drawled, interrupting my horny-girl thoughts, “it was all quiet.”

I choked on my next yawn, blinking at him. “Oh my god, dude. You’re supposed to politely pretend you didn’t hear me breathing like a freight train through the night. Don’t you know the rules?”

My outrage was mostly faked, even though no one wanted the hottest being in the fucking worlds to hear you snore all night. Had I farted, too? Just to get the full range of embarrassing noises in.

Shadow laughed as he pulled to his feet. “I’m just fucking with you. You slept like the dead, and I had to check more than once to make sure you were actually breathing. The water settled well in your system.”

“I feel great,” I admitted, my body heating at the thought of Shadow touching me throughout the night. How could I have slept through that? Usually, whenever he was in close proximity, every nerve ending came to life, and I was all twitchy, my energy sparking like I’d been plugged into a socket. But instead, I’d slept like the dead?

Maybe the water in the realm had some free Valium in it.

“So, what’s the plan today?” I asked, needing a subject change. I looked around. “And where’s Angel?”

“She’s scouting out the landscape from above,” Shadow said, “and we’re just continuing on toward Trinity. If you want to wash up first, though, the lake is as you left it.”

His gaze, which had been on my face, slowly traced down to where my tits heaved as I sucked in a breath. All I could think about was swimming with Shadow again. This time, though, we wouldn’t fight.

It took me a split second to make the decision.

This was it, my last chance to give it a shot. If I was losing Shadow to this mate of his, I was going to enjoy every second I had before that happened. It was time for me to step up the plan I’d made with Angel long ago to lose my virginity to him. He was an experience I wanted, and my time was running out.

“I think I will clean up,” I said, getting to my feet so I wasn’t on the ground, staring up the long length of him. Was it weird that I had the random wish someone would get this guy a pair of grey sweatpants? I needed that experience. Like, bucket list needed.