Rejected (Shadow Beast Shifters, #1)(42)

23

Once I was suited up in jeans, a thick jacket, gloves, and a wool hat—ninety percent certain those clothes had not been in my closet earlier—I walked through the library with Shadow.

Inky was close to us again, slinking around its master, but I kind of felt good that it was there. Like an extra backup against these shadow creatures. Just the name itself invoked fear, and I wasn’t sure I’d be able to see them and not freak out.

“How does it all work?” I asked as a distraction when we were nearing the hallway to Earth.

“The way you throw out random words and think they form sentences is appalling,” Shadow said, his accent a little stronger than usual.

I shrugged. “Maybe you’re just not smart enough to keep up with me.”

He shook his head but was stopped from replying when someone from Karn stepped closer—not touching him, as was apparently his preference—and whispered to him.

The water beings were still some of the most unusual I’d seen, and that was saying something, considering the demi-fey and Brolder inhabitants. But still, the almost translucent nature of their bodies and how they appeared boneless as they slipped through the smallest of spaces was absolutely fascinating.

“What did they say?” I asked.

Shadow tilted his head in my direction, and since he was back to being eight feet tall, I craned my neck to keep him in my line of sight.

“What makes you think that’s any of your business?” he asked. No growls or grumbles, though, so I was counting that as a win.

I shrugged. “It’s not, I’m sure. But you’re keeping me prisoner, and I’m curious about this place, so I’m going to ask questions.”

His lips actually twitched minutely and for a beat, it appeared he was amused by me. “Learn to ask the right questions, pup, and you just might survive.”

Oh, great. Very reassuring.

He took off then, long-ass legs sending him through the shimmery veil directory and into the Earth hallway. It looked the exact same as last time, a white expanse of hall littered with multiple doors.

“Do these lead to other worlds as well?”

He’d told me something about them the first time, but for the life of me, I couldn’t remember what it was. Fear no doubt had me blocking out those hours.

“No. The true worlds are all off the library,” he said, surprising me by being forthcoming with information. “These doors lead to other areas.”

And the information had dried up.

There was no more time for questions; he was moving so fast, I basically had to sprint to keep up with him. I hadn’t caught the way he’d entered this hall the first time, when we’d left Earth for here, and it became obvious why when the white walls just tapered off and then we were standing in a forest. A very thick, snow-covered forest, the early evening air temp dropping dramatically in a split second.

As an icy breeze cut through me, I shivered, thankful that I at least had as much clothing on as I did. Wolf shifters didn’t feel the cold like humans, but when temps were this low, we still suffered without protection.

Shadow paused his overachiever walking pace, lifting his head and closing his eyes as he breathed deeply.

“L-Lost it al-already?” I chattered, my body taking longer than expected to adjust to the rapid temperature change.

He shot me a dark look, and in the exceptionally low light, the fire in his eyes glowed like a million fireflies. “Creatures from the Shadow Realm are not easy to track or contain, but if they’re left to roam free, they’ll raze the Earth, along with its many resources, to the ground in a matter of months.”

I internally flinched. Fuck. I’d done that… freed these creatures that could destroy the world.

Stepping closer to him but maintaining enough distance not to get scorched again—even if at this stage a little fire sounded kind of nice—I peered around. “So, are you capable of tracking and containing them?”

He scoffed, like that was up there with my top stupid questions. And considering how he’d reacted to many of them, there was some stiff competition. “You will learn to fear me, little wolf.”

It was my turn to scoff, only it sort of came out like a snort. “Yeah, yeah. So you keep telling me.

What’s the point of wanting everyone to fear you, though? Doesn’t seem like a great way to make friends.”

He stopped what he was doing, and even Inky ceased swirling around his arms, settling against his chest instead. “You want us to be friends?”

I shrugged. “I mean, what would it hurt if we’re stuck together for a while trying to track these creatures of darkness down?”

Shadow was the one to move closer, his energy caressing me, sending warmth across my body that was almost as good as an orgasm. “There are five beings in this world I call friend,” he murmured, his accent the strongest I’d ever heard. “Five whom I trust with my life, and for whom I would fight to the death.”

At this point, I was mindless, lost in the thrall of his voice and power, but he didn’t take advantage. Nope. He stepped away, tearing the delicious heat and tingling energy away from me.

“You’re not in that five, wolf.”

He started to walk, and I blinked, trying to bring myself back to reality.

The fact that I wasn’t in the five beings he trusted with his life shouldn’t have come as a surprise to me. I’d known this dude for about one point three seconds, and in that time, it had mainly been torture, snark, and fear, but for some stupid reason, I’d felt disappointed when I’d heard him say that.