Reclaimed (Shadow Beast Shifters, #2)(76)

My energy flowed from me as I drew them forward, having not a fucking clue what I was supposed to do, but working on instinct anyway. Seemed instinct was all I had these days.

“Mera!” he snapped. “What the hell are you doing?”

I couldn’t tear my eyes from the line of abervoqs, but I did manage to answer him. “We want this dealt with as quickly as possible, right? Well, if I can control them, then we’ll have the strongest at our disposal for the rest of the journey.”

Maybe this was a blessing in disguise—if these guys were the baddest of the bunch, might as well start with them. I didn’t like the thought of bonding them when I wanted their freedom above all else, but for now, there was no other option. This was step one in securing their freedom. I sensed it deep inside, in the energy of the realm.

“You have no idea what you’re doing,” Shadow bit out, trying to grab hold of me. Midnight got in his way, swelling up into a massive cloud of mist. I heard more curses, but I could no longer see the beast.

Midnight remained at my back as I strolled forward alone—the others blocked by my mist, which was sparking like crazy in its huge cloud form. Angel wasn’t happy about it, if her shouting was any indication, but I was already on this path, instinct still pushing me forward.

My wolf surged to the surface, and as we dropped our head back and howled, I felt a partial shift come over me. The howl continued, even as my jaw elongated, and when that happened, the tone of my cry changed. Power flowed with it, and I remembered clearly howling this exact same way back in Torma… when I knocked the wolves down.

The creatures cowered before me, and it was a powerful, heady feeling to stand above such strong beings who feared me. Caught up in the power, I didn’t flinch as they knelt before me; instead, I walked between them, pressing my hands to each of their bull heads.

The moment I touched them, there was a zap between us, and I knew they were mine. Mine to control. Mine to protect. Mine to save. I just had to figure out how to restore what had been lost in this land. And how to stop the royals from using the creatures for their own gains. Ironic, yes, when I had to use them at this minute, but I would not hold them forever.

They would walk free here again, if it was the last thing I did.

It felt like a mission I’d never known existed, but now that this realization had hit me, it was clear and strong: there was no other destiny for me. My mind was consumed in a way I’d only felt once before, when I’d touched the spelled door to the Shadow Realm. When the darkness had crept into my being, and while I’d expunged most of it, it had left this small crack in my soul—the only way I could think to describe it. Like a sliver of space, waiting to be filled so I would once again be complete.

This was what had to take its place, my destiny as protector of the shadow creatures.

Protector. Guardian. Mother.

The abervoqs brayed before me, and I threw my head back and joined them, my wolf still riding across my skin in our partial shift. Nothing was going to interrupt this bonding session, or so I thought until a flaming beast smashed through Midnight’s shield and landed snarling on the ground before me.

“Holy fuck,” I breathed, the words garbled around my wolf jaw.

I’d waited what felt like an eternity to see Shadow’s true form, and now that I had, there was so much, I almost couldn’t take him all in.

A monster shrouded in darkness.

He had a huge wolf head, humanoid-shaped body, with thick, curved legs beneath him, and the entirety of his being was on fire. A flaming wolf, but like the ancient god version of it, and when those black orbs of eyes met mine, he stalked forward.

He stood at least six feet taller than I did, at the largest size I’d ever seen from him, but even when he moved closer, I felt no fear.

A connection sprang to life between us, like it had been waiting for us to meet in these forms. Shadow and I were alike, in so many ways, and only now, as his power reached for mine and he attempted to wrest me back from what he believed was the darkness here, did I truly see our similarities.

The abervoqs rose, ready to defend me against a beast whom I knew could destroy them all. Shadow was still the ultimate power and had very little to fear here, except for his true mate. Now that I was connected to the power of this land, I saw her darkness. She had been stealing from the land and creatures for years to power her own world, and whatever her game was now, I was going to figure it out.

This army was not hers. And I would be using it to ensure that no creatures ever had to be prisoners again. Shit was going to change around here.

I was the reckoning the royals had never seen coming.





37





“Mera,” Shadow rumbled, his voice even deeper in this form. His accent was slightly stronger too.

I examined the wolf god, finally realizing whom he reminded me of. The most epic version of Anubis, the Egyptian god, and I wondered if maybe Shadow had been rocking around Ancient Egypt to spread some rumors back in the day. God of Death would be kind of appropriate for Shadow, especially before he invented shifters and technically became a god of life.

“Mera!” he snapped this time, since I had spaced.

“Shadow!” I shot back. Dude better find some more words if he wanted me to understand.

“What are you doing? Why did you block me out?”

It felt a little like hurt threaded his anger; I’d shut him out and he’d not reacted well to it. He’d had to delve into his deepest energy to break through Midnight, and for me, he’d done that.