Reclaimed (Shadow Beast Shifters, #2)(40)

Shadow was standing, watching silently, Inky at his back, swelled right up to a huge curtain of black.

“What was I hit with? And how did you get it off me?”

Midnight had already told me it had been a mist weapon, but I wanted to hear the rest.

“It was a weapon built from the leicher mists,” Angel said. “I have no idea what the exact translation is, but it roughly works out to be ‘scourge’ or ‘sludge.’”

“It’s designed to suck the life from any that it touches,” Shadow added. “And then whoever controls the weapons will be powered from it.”

“The creatures killed him,” I said softly, trying to wrap my head around it.

Shadow shook his head. “No, they just killed the one who was on the frontline. The one who controlled that weapon is safely in the compound. My sister is the only royal nearby who has the power to create such a destructive force.”

I sucked in some air. “Did she steal energy from me?”

The last thing I wanted was to assist Shadow’s sister in any way, shape, or form. Fuck no. But I was drained… completely wrecked, so it stood to reason she had absorbed my power.

“I don’t think so,” Shadow said, his gaze tracking across my features. “You’re exhausted from fighting against the scourge, but I can’t sense that you gave any energy to your attacker, and if anything, you will have stolen their power as they fought to keep you contained.”

Good. That was very good.

“And how did I get free?”

“Shadow dumped you into the lava,” Angel said shortly, fine lines of stress appearing on her face at the memory, “and then into an icy bath that he created in the rocks.” She tilted her head and I saw the pond behind us. I had no idea how he’d made it icy, but apparently, Shadow managed the impossible on the regular.

“How did you know to do that?”

He looked grim. “We learned about creating these weapons when I was young, and thankfully, some of the information came back to me. I knew that to have a hope of disrupting the membrane of the power, I needed extremes. Usually by the time you start the process of breaking the outer shell, the leicher has already stolen their victim’s life. Thankfully, this wasn’t the case, and I could weaken it enough for you to find your fortitude to fight and break through.”

“It should have killed me before you could break it?”

He nodded. “Long before.”

His expression was haunted. He’d been fighting for me, but he’d expected that I’d be dead by the time he’d gotten me free. That was…

“The mists are scary,” I said softly, trying to catch my breath again after my most recent near-death experience. “I’m finally starting to see that.”

Angel shook her wings out, once again looking like her calm and collected self. “Yes, that’s why Shadow’s position as the Supreme Being was so important. Only he would have the ability to communicate with and somewhat control the power of the mists.”

I swallowed hard. “How is the realm still standing if no one has truly had that power for thousands of years?”

Shadow crossed his arms, looking resigned. “The mists for the most part just exist. They don’t attack for no reason, but they also can be unpredictable. I have no idea what they’ve done for the past thousands of years to keep the balance here. I don’t know who performed the ceremony to keep leicher and ether from clashing. I don’t know why the land is strangely drained and desolate when it never was before.”

He clearly hated having so many unanswered questions. An emotional setting I could strongly relate to.

“You’ll find your answers when we make it to the compound,” Angel reminded him.

Shadow’s face settled into dark lines, his frustration leaking through. “They know our location now, and if I can predict my sister’s actions, they’ll be amassing everything they have to throw at us.”

Shit! And it was all, just maybe a tiny bit, my fault.

Whoops.





19





It wasn’t like Shadow and Angel stared accusingly at me, but there was a tension in the air. Everyone knew I was the one who’d thrown this not so minor wrench into our plans. I had to say something. “Yeah, so, sorry about that. I swear I never planned for my wolf to escape and cause havoc.”

Shadow grumbled in his usual way. Angel patted me on the shoulder. “We know. Your energy is stronger here, and so is the wolf’s. Hopefully now that you’ve let her out, she’ll be satisfied until we can figure out what your tie to the realm is and how to counter her strength here.”

I nodded. “If any positive could come from this, she is calmer now. I had her locked down for too long. My shifts have been sporadic since I was yanked out of Torma.”

Shadow let out another rumble. He was going back to his old grouchy self, and I didn’t have the time or energy for it. I was barely standing.

“Do we have any food?” I asked shortly. “Or is my backpack gone?”

Inky swirled forward, swelling up into a large smoke cloud before it birthed a bag again. “You gotta stop doing that,” I croaked. “It’s creepy.”

It grew even larger, jiggling away. Midnight joined in, and despite my exhaustion, they managed to make me smile. “Are you staying now?” I asked Midnight. “Is everything okay back in the library? Simone was fine when you left?”