Reclaimed (Shadow Beast Shifters, #2)(96)

What? She was freaking insane.

“The Nexus falls, so does Shadow Realm.”

Inky was trying to get me closer to Ixana and the creatures, but her power was too great. I was about to wolf out again and hope that made a difference, when I felt Angel closing in through our bond.

Relief smashed through me when she burst into the underground, Shadow right behind her, covered in flames. He didn’t stop for a beat, tearing through the lava and crashing into Ixana. The pair disappeared behind another flowing wall of lava, gone from sight.

Inky took off after its bonded master, and I sent a quick hope and wish into the universe that I wouldn’t lose both of them to this insane bitch.

There was nothing I could do to help him. Well, not directly, but indirectly… if I freed the creatures, some of her power would be voided.

Angel reached my side, and without words, she knew what I needed. I needed my creatures. Even as Ixana had destroyed so many, there were thousands still trapped. “We can’t get through that,” Angel shouted, her gaze darting down the fall of lava. “It’s lava born of the mists. And Ixana has been powering it for years.”

She had, by throwing living, breathing beings into her fucking sacrifice pool.

“She said she had the power to keep this world running even if the Nexus fell,” I told her in an angry snarl of words. “How? How could she possibly manage that?”

Angel paused, and I could tell that she was running her computer brain through every possible scenario of how that would work, cataloguing the most likely scenario. Before she could spit out her results, a new energy filtered through the space. More than one, actually, and the only reason we didn’t panic at power like that racing toward us, was that I recognized it.

Shadow had called in extra backup; we just had to pray they weren’t too late to save their best friend. “Let’s get you some clothing,” Angel said, her energy weaving together a shirt and pants. They were different to what Shadow created, the clothing rougher, as if they’d been pulled from the raw materials that existed here, but at least my ass was covered.

“Mera!” Len shouted, the first one to appear just as I finished getting dressed. His skin glowed silver as power surrounded him in the same manner as his cloak. “Where is Shadow?”

He stopped at my side, and right behind him were Alstair, bringing a sense of calm with him. He wore a full armored outfit this time, brandishing deadly gold-and-bronze, long-bladed knives. Then there was Reece, the dry winds of change coming with him, and the desert deity had never looked larger or angrier as he did storming forward, literal dust flying around him. Gallilei was last, silent and deadly as always, and I felt the caress of his energy in my mind as he greeted me.

No Lucien, and I was grateful that not only had they arrived to help us, but they were still taking my request to protect Simone seriously.

“Shadow is fighting his mate,” I said in a rush, pointing to where they’d disappeared. “In the lavafalls.”

Alstair placed his hand on my shoulder, and against my will, I calmed. “He’s alive, and he’s fighting strongly like the warrior he is. You do not need to panic.”

Thank fuck.

I was about to say something else when Len froze. It was noticeable because he always moved fluidly, with the sort of grace that only the fae had, but this had been a jagged, jarring movement.

“What is it?” Reece snapped, picking up on the distress on his friend’s face.

“My stone,” he breathed, his skin ashen. “It’s here, and it’s brimming with power.”

“Fuck.”

We all looked at Angel as she breathed out a human curse, her eyes wide and shiny. She met my gaze and in that second, I knew exactly what Ixana had that gave her confidence to keep this world running even without the Nexus.

The sunburst stone.

She had the sunburst and the bloodstone, and between the two, she was going to take all the power for herself. She wanted to be the next Nexus. The next goddess of all.

Len grabbed at me, and I could have sworn that Shadow let out a raging bellow from somewhere in the depths. It was so nice to hear that sound. “What do you know?” Len demanded, uncaring that his friend was going to beat his ass for throwing me around like this.

“Ixana has your stone,” I confirmed, hurrying to explain what I’d learned from Dannie about Shadow and me, and the ice queen herself.

“Ixana had this entire elaborate illusion set up to trick Shadow and… well, me. Once she felt us return to her realm, she knew she could use our power to fulfill the goal she’d been working toward for thousands of years. Destroy the Nexus and become the only true power here.”

“That’s why the land is so drained,” Angel said, her voice shaking. “She’s been gathering as much power, sacrificing as many as she can, all on this quest.”

Len lifted his hands then, his eyes closed as he called power to his being, and my mouth went dry at the wash of energy that felt as ancient as the worlds themselves. A high-pitched, ringing sound started low before picking up intensity.

A beat later, the stone came into view. It was suspended over the lava pit, above the sacrifice pool, and it was the most brilliant gem I’d ever seen. About the size of two fists, the bright yellow orb twinkled and spun, visible energy trailing up to it from the sacrifice pool.

Len took a step forward, his arm shaking as he lifted it, twirling his hand like he was feeling for an energy in the air. “She’s been hiding it; the stone’s natural energy has been meshing to the mists so no one could tell it was here.” He sucked in a deep breath. “It’s so powerful. Enough power to destroy this world… even create new worlds. The mists are the power of creation, and this stone is now that as well.”