Rejected (Shadow Beast Shifters, #1)(28)

Just thinking about that had my chest rumbling as well, and when I met the Shadow Beast’s eyes, I shrugged. “You might be a scary bastard, but I fucking hate this pack.”

His pain had lasted a few seconds, while this pack’s had been a lifetime.

“He rejected me,” I added, “so there’s no tie you need to worry about. My mate did not accept the bond.” Making his claim null and void.

“Mera!” Jaxson yelled, sounding panicked and furious. My name was a warning to shut up, but I’d never been good at heeding those. I did flip him off, though.

Torin let out a rumbling howl, his features shifting as he partly wolfed out. “I didn’t even have time to think about the bond,” he argued. “Maybe I would have changed my mind before I fully severed the bond.”

I snorted, twisting my face toward the scariest fucker in the world. “I’m ready to go with you now,” I said. “Anything to avoid staying here with this pack of weak-ass bitches.”

More howls filled the air at my insult. Torma was so used to being the “strongest” pack that anyone thinking they were weak was the worst slur of all.

Shadow Beast cocked his head, staring at me again, almost as if I’d surprised him in more ways than one. Personally, I enjoyed surprising demon creatures—it was one of my strongest skillsets.

With a shake of his head, he dropped me back over his shoulder, striding away from the pack. I couldn’t see the direction we were heading, but I had a very clear view of the inky smoke swirling around us, coating his lower half almost completely. As it reached his heavily muscled shoulder, my body also started to disappear into the darkness.

I was about to be engulfed in shadow and I couldn’t even be upset about it—I was way too freaked out for that.

“Sunny,” Jaxson called, his voice hoarse. “Fight him.”

I chuckled, the smoke caressing my arms in cool strokes. “I couldn’t even fight you bastards when we were kids. You think I can fight the creature of darkness?”

Shadow Beast snarled. “Darkness is not my calling card, mutt. You would do well to remember that.”

Mutt. Charming.

It kind of was charming in his almost-Scottish accent.

“Stop them!” Victor shouted, sending his wolves after the Shadow Beast, even as he remained behind in relative safety.

Or so he thought.

We stopped moving, the beast turning as flames licked up and across his arms, the heat so intense that I actually wondered if I was going to burn alive. Those flames obeyed the will of their creator, flinging from his fingertips and engulfing Victor completely.

“Only a weak alpha sends his pack out to do his job,” Shadow Beast murmured. “Torma is too strong for one such as you to control it any longer.”

Victor’s screams as he burned to death would be heard across Torma, followed by his son’s howls as he lost control and shifted into his wolf, trying to get to his father. Jaxson held his clawing, fighting best friend back, and the pair of them were the last thing I saw as the Shadow Beast stepped into darkness—or… shadows? And we both disappeared.





16

Ihadn’t really thought my bravado through. At some point, I fell in with the Shadow Beast being the lesser of two evils.

The. Motherfucking. Shadow. Beast!

What was wrong with me?

“I can walk, you know,” I said, sick of hanging over his shoulder like a bag of potatoes.

There was no reply as he continued moving through darkness… darkness that faded as we ended up in a white hall. Like, one minute it was dark and then there was light.

I blinked a few times, adjusting my sight, only to find this hall was basically empty of anything interesting. “What do you want from me?” I pushed.

“Just shut the fuck up,” he growled. “You’re already a problem I don’t want to deal with, but a creature like you can’t be left to its own devices.”

Rude. “Most women don’t like to be referred to as a creature,” I told him huffily.

His chest rumbled, but he didn’t respond, and I had a strong feeling that his whole silent brooding thing was going to continue for a while. But, on the plus side, he wasn’t killing or torturing me . Yet.

“Can I call you ‘Shadow’?” I asked a few minutes later. The silence was getting to me, and apparently, I was a lunatic with a death wish. “‘Shadow Beast’ is such a mouthful.” I paused, but he made no response. “Do you have another name you go by? Or was momma beast really into… uh, darkness.”

Still no response.

“Okay great,” I chirped, having gone too far to stop now. “‘Shadow it is!”

Chest rumble. No response.

Great. We were making some real progress.

After some time, I started to notice that this hall wasn’t as devoid of life as I’d expected. Or at least not life, but doors. They were quite well hidden, with each one almost seamlessly blending into the wall. They were as white as their surroundings, dozens scattered on each side.

Weirdly, the more attention I paid to the doors, the stronger they felt, until I was completely enthralled with the heady feeling seeping from beneath them.

“What is this place?” I whispered.

This time, he answered. “It’s a pathway between Earth and the other worlds.”