Rejected (Shadow Beast Shifters, #1)(66)

Ignoring him, I let my wolf out, attacking him as soon as I was partly shifted. When we bit down on his neck, there was a jerking resistance, our fangs finding no traction at all. We couldn’t pierce his skin; the beast was too strong for me.

“You’re wasting time,” he snapped at me, unconcerned by my attempt to kill him. “You need to open the door to the Shadow Realm.”

Door.

When my wolf wiggled to get down, he set me on my feet, and we took off as fast as we could toward the door. My wolf vision was doubled as well, turning everything more shadowy than normal.

Thankfully, the library was empty of its regular visitors, so we had a clear path, with only a Shadow Beast on my tail. Literal wolf tail as it was. This time, in our double vision, there didn’t appear to be any resident of the Shadow Realm close by to touch, or maybe it was harder to reach the realm from the library? Odd, since the doorway was actually here, and now in our view.

Unlike the last time I’d looked upon it, there was an obvious smoke coating the entire door today, looking a lot like Inky. It wasn’t the same, though—we sensed the difference. Inky was relatively positive energy, while whatever coated the door had been pulled from the depths of hell.

A hell energy my wolf did not want to touch. We shied away, but Shadow was having none of that, pressing in behind us, using his will to propel us forward.

A whimper escaped when our nose touched a puffy tendril of darkness that had escaped the mass.

It recoiled, as did we, but once again, our backtracking was blocked by a giant asshole.

Shadow was not going to let us hide from a chance to break the seal on his land. As my wolf’s body was shoved forward, the smoke wrapped around us, insidious and cold, and I had the brief thought that I really should have pushed harder for answers about this world.

Especially why it had been blocked in the first place.

Warnings were there for a reason, and we should have heeded them. Because I had the sneaking suspicion that opening the Shadow Realm might prove to be the one thing that destroyed us all.





37

Our vision was no longer in shades of black and white with grey tinges, and there was no longer a double view of the landscape that we just couldn’t quite touch.

Now we remained suspended in an eternal darkness.

This darkness was a living, breathing entity, one that had existed in the beginning and would be there long after the rest of us were gone. The first touch on my fur was icy and invasive, making my wolf want to simultaneously run and hide, but there was also a part of us… this tiny, curious part…

that didn’t rebel at the sensation. It embraced the dark, opening up our soul to let slivers of it creep inside. It was so slow that we didn’t even realize it was happening at first, and by the time we did, well, let’s just say, neither of us cared.

“Mera!” He said my name with a snap of command. “You must not embrace the darkness.”

I understood the individual words, but the true meaning was lost to me. The new darker reality was all I knew… and I craved it.

“For fuck’s sake,” a rumbly voice muttered from nearby. “At least open the damn door before you let it consume your soul.”

Maybe it was the asshole statement, or maybe it was just a moment of clarity, but Shadow’s growl snapped us out of our dazed state long enough that I latched on to what remained of myself and my wolf, rolling to the side and calling on the change back to human.

For the first time—in our very limited shifting experience together—my wolf truly fought me. She didn’t want to relinquish control, and our silent battle continued for much longer than I’d expected.

“Shift!”

There he went, commanding me again, but this time, I appreciated the help. My wolf dug her claws in, though, as Shadow placed his hands on me. “She belongs to me! Release her.”

My scream was low and guttural as the change ripped through me, tearing, searing, and burning me alive. The pain I felt when I touched Shadow without permission had nothing on this new form of torture. But when it was all said and done, I returned to myself, panting and sobbing on the spotless floor, naked and exhausted.

Shadow was still touching me, his power surging across my skin. “You have some explaining to do, Sunshine. If you don’t die before I get you warmed up.”

Shivers wracked my body, almost to the point of convulsions. Shadow must have lifted me because the next thing I knew, crashing rivulets of hot water poured over my frozen skin.

“Stop,” I cried. “It hurts.”

I was struggling, but the steel trap that was Shadow’s hold didn’t give an inch. “Let me go.” I sobbed on his chest. “It’s too much. Return me to the darkness.”

“I will fight the darkness to keep you,” he murmured against my skin. Maybe it was my delirium, but for once, he sounded possessive in the way a man would toward a woman.

Not the way a god did with his pet.

Or maybe I was just a really important pet.

“Shadow.” I groaned, my head clearing as the bone-shattering chill eased from me.

“You just need to warm up,” he said softly, and my aching head appreciated the low rumbles of his voice.

When he released me, I expected to fall to the floor, but instead, he wrapped one arm around my waist to stabilize me, while the other rubbed against my back, sending more heat circulating through me, using his particular brand of fiery power.