Reclaimed (Shadow Beast Shifters, #2)(53)

His muscles rippled under my palm. “They’re not like anything I’ve ever seen before, but their power is different from a regular creature’s. I won’t risk you.”

Midnight had said the same thing about them being odd, or outside its knowledge, but I still thought it was worth trying my ability to call and control them.

“Get inside. Now!” Shadow snapped. “I will take care of them.”

I shook my head, even though he couldn’t see me.

“Sunshine, you will get your fucking ass inside, or the next time I have you naked, the punishment will be so much worse.”

Punishment? I hadn’t even realized I’d been punished, but maybe he meant when I was pinned spread-eagle against the wall while he’d eaten me out? Did I maybe want to find out what the next punishment would be? I mean… for research purposes, of course.

“Don’t push me,” he growled.

“I’m not leaving you to battle alone,” I said stubbornly. “At least not until the mists arrive.”

“They’re not going to make it in time,” he said quietly. Then he launched forward, leaving me squinting through the waterfall, trying to assess the situation.

For fuck’s sake. Shadow was off the edge of the cliff, wrestling with Mr. Invisible in the air. Pushing myself as far forward as I could on the outdoor deck, I tried to figure out a way to help. For all my talk about not leaving him alone, I was literally useless when I couldn’t fly out into the middle of an open space.

If I stepped off, I’d plummet straight into the water below.

I briefly considered if it would be worth doing that, simply to distract them and give Shadow a chance… The water looked hectic, but I’d survive. That could be Plan B.

I just needed an A now.

The urge to shift into my wolf flooded my veins, pulsing along with her howls in my chest. She’d been quiet during the entire sex session, but now she was chomping at her leash, trying to take control.

We’ll follow, Midnight said, but the words were breaking up and staticky, like our connection was being interfered with. They’ve transported you, and we keep losing your location.

Sorry, what?

Transported us? No, we’re in the same spot. At the treehouse.

There was no reply this time, just white noise in our connection. Were we actually moving? That would explain why the mists, who had been close enough to communicate, hadn’t reached us yet. They were chasing a moving target, and if the current lack of connection was any indication, we were racing ahead.

Shadow was still fighting one of the beings, and it looked like he had another one torn to pieces, a few visible fragments floating around them.

“Shadow,” I shouted, over the raging winds. “We’re not at Kristoff’s any longer.”

“I know!” he roared back. “They’re moving the entire fucking structure, and I can’t figure out what energy they’re using.”

I could barely see Shadow, and my wolf had had enough, forcing the shift on me. It was scary how easily she could do that. Super freaking scary. I had no weapons to fight the change, so I didn’t. Nothing worse than being attacked between shifts.

Once I was in my wolf form, we shook off the lingering pain, a nice little surge of energy filling us. We were stronger here, like the wolf was plugged into a Shadow Realm power outlet, getting a boost directly from the source.

Not only that, but I could see the spy through her eyes. It was a ghostly specter, exactly how I imagined a poltergeist would look, with a large, swirling hole where the face should have been. Not to mention the multiple arms around its body. Arms that were filled with deadly silver weapons.

There were no visible legs, just trailing cloth as it flew around. It continued to try to slice at Shadow with the blades, but he was adept at avoiding the attack. The beast transformed his hands into the long-clawed version, swiping at the specter, tearing into it like he’d done with the other.

My wolf, over waiting, leapt off the edge of the stone. I had no idea what would happen once I made the jump, considering a lot of what lay out here might be an illusion. It still looked like there was water below, but we were apparently moving, so what was real?

My wolf sailed through the air for a long time, far too long for the force of my jump, and somehow, I landed on the back of the third creature. I expected to sink through it, but it was solid, and my claws wasted no time tearing into it. My jaws clamped down as well, as we’d done with the hunter back in the library, slicing through cloak and body.

Between Shadow and my wolf, we got this one torn into pieces in seconds. When the final sliver of it fell beneath us, Shadow caught my wolf around the center, hauling us both back to the stone pathway. The water was still streaming across it, but the house we’d walked out of—Kristoff’s—was no longer in sight.

That part of the illusion was gone, leaving behind just the stone we stood on.

I shifted back, my bones screaming at me briefly before the pain faded, but at least my wolf didn’t fight. I sensed that she was trying to play nice because she knew she’d fucked up forcing the change on me again. We were going to have words soon, but it would have to wait since today was already fully booked with drama.

When I was standing on two shaky legs, I moved toward Shadow. “Where are we?” I asked, hoping he might have figured it out.

He arched an eyebrow, his gaze drifting out toward the misty surroundings. “I’d thought they were taking us to the royal compound, but… I was wrong.”