Reclaimed (Shadow Beast Shifters, #2)(78)

This time, I didn’t bother to argue with her. “Now that I’m here, I feel a potential that has been locked away. Waiting for me to become what I was always meant to.”

I didn’t understand how it all worked, or how I could still be a shifter and have a true mate in Torma pack. Two worlds had collided in a way that had formed whatever I was. And yeah, I didn’t know how, but maybe the Nexus would hold answers.

Shadow was quiet, but he never took his eyes off me as we continued on through the land. It was a depressing journey, and I was furious when I saw the abervoqs near starving, having to dig into the dead ground to try to find sustenance. How many of them had perished this way?

“Can they die from starvation?” I asked quietly when we stopped to let them forage. “Like, a lack of nutrition or water?”

“No,” Ixana said. “They will be weakened, but it’s not going to kill them.”

Even better, they got eternal suffering.

“We need to find sustenance for them,” I said with enough force in my tone that they knew I would not be swayed. “Is it blood they need?”

Shadow looked between the creatures and me again. “They’re sustained now through you,” he said slowly, his gaze drifting along my body before he followed the ground between me and the creatures. “It’s a clear connection.” There was a flash of fire in his eyes. “You must not let them take too much and drain you.”

I was feeling a little exhausted, but I’d thought that was a normal part of this journey. It had been lingering on and off since I’d made it to The Grey Lands.

Ixana scoffed. “She won’t. It’s a relationship that goes both ways, a circular bond. Mera will gain as much as she loses.”

“She should lose nothing,” Shadow snapped, and Ixana was taken aback. Pretty sure he hadn’t shown her his more growly side yet, and if her expression was any indication, this was an unwelcome introduction.

I didn’t care about some loss, if my creatures were okay. And sure enough, as time went on, their color started to darken up until they were all in shades of blue-black. It was then that I understood that the browner tones had been weakness.

When we finally reached our campground for the night, we rolled out small padded mats on the ground. It felt good to rest, and I spent my time snacking on a few cocoa flavored energy bars, drinking water, and watching as the others did their “absorb energy” thing.

In a land already dying, it wasn’t ideal, but they had no choice.

Maybe by the time I was done with them, they’d find themselves a lot closer to humans in how they recharged their energy. Unless all of them could bond to the mists, like Shadow had.

Which made me think… Are you helping sustain me and the creatures?

Midnight drifted down from where it had been up high. Always floating above the land, which made sense for an ether mist. Of course. I finally understand why we’re bonded. You called me because you needed my strength. And now it is yours.

Thank you. I’ve taken your strength for granted, but I am so grateful for you and our bond.

Warmth traveled along to me, and I knew that was the closest a mist could get to human emotions… It made me feel loved.

Sleep came quickly, and since Ixana felt fairly certain we wouldn’t be accosted by creatures here—still too close to her city—I slept solidly. At least I did until I felt a hand brush across my body. It was a familiar touch, one that had woken me in a garden in Faerie what felt like a million years ago.

This time, I opened my eyes in an instant, looking for Shadow. Pushing myself up, I saw Angel in her stasis-like sleep beside me as she recharged. Other than Angel, I was surrounded by a circle of abervoqs, who slept in a wall of protectiveness between me and the outside world.

They hadn’t been like that when I’d gone to sleep, and to see it made me a little emotional. Once I moved past my new buddies, with their bullish snores, I found myself searching for him again. It took more than a minute, probing the semi-darkness that had fallen across The Grey Lands. Not a true night, but some sort of twilight, which I’d been told would last a few hours.

Finally, I found the beast himself, standing in a mist of shadows. It wasn’t Inky. It was the literal smoky energy that formed Shadow. Carefully stepping over the creatures, I crossed to where he was, and even though his true mate was sleeping nearby, I couldn’t help but meet him in the middle when his mouth descended to mine.

He swallowed my moan as he jerked me up against him, my legs wrapped around his body, and we kissed like it was the last fucking time.

Again.

It was dangerous, kissing near his true mate, and I’d feel bad about it, but he’d been mine when he’d gotten here, and that hadn’t seemed to lessen yet. There was one thing I had to know first…

I wrenched my mouth away, my lips feeling bruised. “Have you fucked her?”

“No,” he murmured, his lips on mine again. “I told you, this time with Ixana is so I can figure out what her game is, and more importantly how to get my fucking stone back.” His smile was brief as it curved the corner of his lips. “Even if it wasn’t, there’s no room for her in my head when a certain redhead is dominating every damn thought.”

My pussy spasmed. Like legit tried to jump out of my clothing and onto Shadow’s cock.

But there was apparently one more thing I had to know. “Will you help me save the creatures?”