Reclaimed (Shadow Beast Shifters, #2)(35)

Shadow smirked. “I know what you’re thinking, and trust me, when the unbonded creatures make it to our lands, they carve a path of destruction second to none. You don’t understand because you can control their energy, as can I, but for the regular citizen of the realm… there is nothing but blood and guts left by the time the creature is done.”

I wasn’t convinced. If it was anything like Earth, the reason that land was dying would be totally due to something the royals had done. And of course, as their land died, the creatures would have to search farther afield for nourishment and shelter. It wasn’t their fault.

The creatures I’d met over my time with Shadow had held a true intelligence and pure energy, and I’d grown pretty fond of them. Even the creepy ones with poison sap.

“I know some fault lies with the royals here,” I said, my disgust seeping out even when I tried to hold it inside. “I know it.”

Shadow didn’t argue, and I wondered if deep down, his personal thoughts on the creatures were more aligned with mine than with the royals’. In truth, Shadow had lived here for twenty-two years, and out of the realm for a thousand plus. How much of him still thought like the royals?

I sincerely hoped not a lot.

Since this world’s issues were not going to be fixed today, we started on our journey. Our path was the same as yesterday, and when we left the slowly growing oasis, we were back on the harsh black rock. I settled into the monotony of walking, feeling thankful that Shadow found a way around the first village, leaving us free and undetected to continue on.

And we did. On and on and on. Thankfully, Angel and Shadow both remembered my frailties, allowing me water, food, and a pee break more than once. Neither of them seemed to require anything, and as the day slipped away again, we had made our way around two more towns that stood between us and the royal compound. I saw quite a few of the inhabitants from a distance, and not all of them looked like Shadow. He was an overly enhanced, super fucking hot, giant version of a human. But some of the regular folk, the freilds, were quite different.

“Blue skin?”

Shadow turned to where I was looking at a small family having… a picnic? “Subspecies of the freilds,” he said. “Mixed with water sprites. They call themselves ‘fronds.’”

In my head, I was keeping a running tally of what beings I’d learned of here. Creatures, royals, and freilds, which included the Shadow Hunters, and now fronds. “How many other different races and subspecies are here?”

His lips twitched. “We also have the clordees, who are a mix of shadow creatures and freilds.”

I paused. “Uh, are you saying some of the freilds had sex with the creatures?”

Angel and Shadow both laughed, probably at the absurdity of my question, and possibly the look on my face. I hurried on. “I mean, I know that shouldn’t be weird to me. I’m a wolf and I’ve heard of more than a few having a go at fucking in their beast forms, but it feels weird.”

Shadow’s smile was slow and contemplative. “What did you think of the Brolder inhabitants?”

“Oh, yeah.” I nodded. “They didn’t seem unusual, but I guess there was some… interspecies breeding going on there?”

I really needed to get my judgy hat off.

“We don’t procreate in the exact same way as humans,” Shadow told me. “But you’re also not wrong. The different creatures all have varying levels of intelligence, and some are on the same par as freilds. Once you learn to communicate with them, it’s really not as… depraved as you’re thinking.”

I held both hands up. “Seriously, no more judgement from me. I can hardly talk when it comes to living an alternative lifestyle.”

I mostly hoped to see these clordees at some point so I could experience this particular mesh of two different species. It was an interesting concept, and as long as no creatures were taken advantage of, I was all for diversity.

This strange protectiveness I had for the creatures was growing with time. And now that I was here, seeing the beings of Shadow’s world, I could no longer ignore the urge to wrap them all up and keep them safe from those who would hurt them.

As we continued on, there were no more encounters with any of the realm’s inhabitants, and Shadow ended up creating another oasis for us to sleep in when night fell. I’d been worried that someone in this world was going to notice these sanctuaries, but Shadow reassured me that it was fairly common to see them pop up from those who crossed the lands. The oases would die over time, without nourishment, until eventually the black rock claimed them again.

None of us rested particularly well, especially not after Shadow told us we were basically on the border of Trinity and would soon be crossing into his family’s territory. Our days of moving undetected were numbered.

“Do you ever sleep?” I asked him when he settled in against another new tree.

“Someone has to keep watch,” he told me.

The sentiment was very noble, but at least half the times I opened my eyes that night, he was staring at me.

He made me feel safe. Safe and uneasy at the same time, the dual nature of my emotions toward him intense.

It was ironic that the beast who had starred in my nightmares for so long was now the one to bring me safety and peace. Life was funny like that.

“Sleep, Sunshine,” he said to me when I tossed and turned for the twentieth time. “Tomorrow we face the royals.”