Reclaimed (Shadow Beast Shifters, #2)(56)

Big yellow eyes blinked at us, the blue fur rippling beneath Shadow’s grip. The body was humanoid in shape, wearing natural hessian-type clothing, over the top of its… fur. Similar blue fur to what lined its face, only a little shorter.

And there were ears. Cat-like, point-tipped ears.

He opened his mouth, this man-cat, and spat out some words I didn’t understand. I had no fucking idea how I was supposed to react. Should I pet him…? Maybe throw some catnip his way?

Was I being super ignorant here thinking of this being as a cat-man? Probably, but it was the only way I could categorize him in my head, and that was how my brain functioned best. When shit was labeled.

Shadow answered it, switching from English to his melodic language, and Cat-man reacted, a scowl crumpling his feline face. Human expressions on a cat face freaked me out, but at least I could somewhat read what he was feeling. Since I still hadn’t learned to speak Shadow Realm.

Cat-man replied to Shadow in a rush of melodic words and the beast paused in his attempt to shake a fur-ball free from our attacker. “Their queen wants to see us,” he said, sounding surprised. I pressed closer to the heat pouring from Shadow’s skin.

“See us or me?” I asked.

The cat’s eyes shot to me, and he stared almost… hungrily. It was more than a little disconcerting.

Shadow shook it again, a harsh jerk that had a cat head snapping loudly. “Eyes off her,” Shadow warned before switching to their native language, and despite the melodic words, it was clear that he was still ripping this cat a new asshole.

“So what do we do?” I asked. “I’m less inclined to want to meet with a queen when she forcibly brought us here. Not to mention that little net that was just sent our way.”

It felt a lot like she’d attempted to make us her prisoners, and that was not cool with me. Not cool at all. As I’d told Shadow many a time, if you wanted to capture me, you had to buy me dinner first. It was only polite.

Shadow’s chest shook as his darker side tried to break free, and I knew the fire was only moments from appearing. Singed fur was in this Cat-man’s future if he didn’t come up with a way to appease the beast.

He must have figured that out as well, his feline features calming as he said something else, looking between Shadow and me. There was a gleam in his large yellow eyes I didn’t like.

“They will assure our safety for this initial meeting,” Shadow translated, “and from what I’m sensing around us, there are a lot of its kind close by. Could be easier to save the fighting until we know for sure they’re a threat. Our mists are on their way here, so we have backup coming.”

I nodded, feeling better about that.

“Okay, yeah. Let’s do it.”





27





Cat-man was set on his feet, and Shadow made sure to stand between me and the creature. Maybe he’d seen that look the cat had bestowed on me before, or maybe he was remembering all the times I’d been the target. Either way, I didn’t mind having a buffer.

A possessive, shifter god of a buffer. Could do worse.

Shadow barked out some words at Cat-man, and while I couldn’t tell what they were, I knew it was a command. The cat’s claws briefly appeared on blue-pawed hands. Baby claws compared to Shadow’s, and the cat seemed to know that, choosing the smarter route and not attacking.

When we stepped off the side of the stone platform onto snowy ground, I was surprised at the sudden bite of cold in the air. The Concordes had rocked a moderate temperature, not too hot or cold, so this new chill was almost refreshing in its intensity. My energy buzzed beneath my skin, and as astonishing as it was—fire and ice shouldn’t exist together, right?—there was a part of me that felt complete. Like another piece of my puzzle was slipping into place, and maybe, just maybe, one day soon, I’d have the entire image.

Shadow must have felt me slow as I looked around, relishing in the energy flowing up through the soles of my booted feet to the top of my head.

“I feel strengthened by this land,” I said quietly when he slowed near me. “I don’t understand why, though. Fire should be my thing, right?”

Cat-man turned as well, and even though I was fairly certain he hadn’t heard me, and most probably didn’t speak English, I shut up. There was already too much going on here that scared me, and I didn’t want to add to that by giving these beings additional ammunition to use against me.

“It might be the mist connection,” Shadow murmured. “It’s strongest here where they converge.”

I nodded. “Yeah, that makes sense. But why are we here? What does this queen want with us?”

His lips thinned as his face darkened. “I have no idea, and that rarely happens to me. This entire situation is sending my warning systems into overdrive.”

“Mine too,” I whispered back.

It wasn’t that Shadow looked rattled, because he didn’t, but the knowledge that he was uneasy was enough to have my stress levels sky high.

The chill in the air became more pronounced as we moved further into the winter wonderland looking city. The beauty here was awe-inspiring. Every house and dwelling was shaped like a snowflake, and just like a snowflake, each of them had a unique pattern that spanned the exterior of its icy structure. I had no idea how the interior worked with such odd structural shape, but the outside was nothing short of spectacular.