Reclaimed (Shadow Beast Shifters, #2)(88)

I mean, we all knew that wasn’t strictly true. She’d been in The Concordes when Shadow had been born, and she’d been on Earth. Clearly, we weren’t up to that part of her story, but it better get there soon.

No one interrupted her as she continued. “Eventually, I grew strong enough to leave the Nexus for short periods of time while still maintaining the power balance. When I saw the way the royals treated my creatures, I had to figure out a plan to save them. Only, there was so many being controlled that it would have destroyed the entire balance of the mists if I just took out the royals.” She looked between all of us. “The balance is so important.”

She’d mentioned it enough times by now, that I was sure we’d all gotten the point.

“So you decided to take them out from the inside?” Shadow finally spoke up, his voice a dark mist of anger and confusion. “Change them by taking your place among them?”

Dannie’s face crumpled as she forced a sad smile. “I did. And here’s another truth you’re owed: Cristell is not my child. She was adopted from another royal family, after they were killed in a lava blast.”

Shadow’s expression didn’t shift. If anything, that was probably welcome news, after what his sister had done to him.

“How did I come to be born?”

Solid question from the beast himself.

Dannie cleared her throat. “I fell in love with your father. I got to know the royals and figured out pretty quickly that a lot of them weren’t the monsters I’d expected. They also didn’t treat my creatures badly, for the most part.”

She’d been Stockholmed. Couldn’t blame her. Shadow had basically gotten me in the exact same way.

“So you eventually wanted a royal child of your own?” I asked, unable to swallow down my worry that I was about to find myself in the same family tree as Shadow. “Please tell me Shadow and I are not related.”

“You’re not related,” she said without hesitation.

Thank. Fuck.

“You are what I am, which is a creature born of the Nexus.”

I blinked at her. “I’m sorry. What did you just say?”

A creature born of the Nexus.

She continued on like she hadn’t just dropped a fucking bomb on my head. “It took me near two thousand Earth years to figure out how to do it; I had to come close enough to death that the Nexus believed it needed to create another mother. You appeared right when I was giving up hope.” She smiled at me. “You can call yourself Mother Junior of the Creatures. You and I are born of pure creation.”

I was on my feet, and I wanted to scream. I wanted to tear my skin off, turn into a firebird and leave, never to have to see these beings who were ripping at the foundation of who I was.

“How?” Shadow bit out. “How did Mera come to be on Earth then? In my shifters?”

This distracted me from the volcano of emotion about to explode from me because I needed that question answered.

Dannie sighed. “There’s no easy way to say this, but… I kind of destroyed her first form, which freed her from the confines of having to stay at the Nexus. I sent the remaining energy into the shifters, through my connection to you, Darkor. It’s complex, but basically my bond to you and your bond to the shifters allowed me to bypass the spell on the door, and then I could place Mera where I needed her. She was always going to be the one who would open the Shadow Realm door, since her energy was destined to return home. This Nexus would call her until she returned.”

“Did you make Shadow and me have feelings for each other?” I choked out. Nothing I hated more than being manipulated, and it appeared she had done it with every part of who I was.

Ixana lost it at that point and tried to push me into the river. “I knew you were trying to steal my mate,” she screamed, only to be stopped by Shadow’s huge-ass hand shoving her away.

“Do not touch Mera,” he warned the ice bitch.

Dannie got between us, her half-smile reminding me of her knowing look I’d seen a hundred times. “I did not manipulate any emotions. You and Shadow are both powerful beings, with the mists of creation in your veins. It makes sense that if they didn’t kill each other, you’d do something else…”

Ixana stormed off in the direction of the gate, and for a brief moment I thought I caught sight of a smile on her face, but I must have been mistaken.

Shadow didn’t bother to follow, his focus on Dannie. “How did you get to Earth then?” he snapped. “Since Mera had to bypass the spelled door in energy form.”

“Mera called me the day her father died,” she said softly. “She allowed me to leave this world, and in our absence from the Nexus and mists, the land perished to what you see now.”

I’d called her…?

“Not literally of course,” Dannie assured me, “but your pain was so strong that I believe it was the first doorway you opened between the worlds. I took advantage and stepped through.” She eyed me closely. “Thankfully, because you needed someone on your side in the years that followed.”

“I am still part shifter, then?”

She nodded. “Of course. That’s the reason you have a shifter mate and can turn into a wolf. The reason you can be without the Nexus and not fade, like I would eventually. I’d been growing weaker on Earth, hence why your pack mates were able to hurt me. You have a true dual soul, and one day these two sides will collide in a spectacular manner. You’ll be reborn into the Supreme Being with the power to rule both worlds.”