Rejected (Shadow Beast Shifters, #1)(73)

Torin was close, his half-shifted wolf form faster than my broken and bruised human. All I had going for me was pure determination not to end up in his grasp. I had no idea what Torin would do to me if he caught hold, but there was a chance he’d kill me straight-up so as not to deal with the remnants of our bond.

The death of a true mate usually resulted in an irreparable mental break for the other shifter, but Torin probably thought that because he didn’t want this bond, he would recover easier.

Either way, I could not let myself fall into his hands. I had to fight with everything I had, and hopefully, since I was no longer the same shifter who’d been stolen from Torma all those months ago, I’d have a new weapon to best him. Like my Shadow Realm abilities.

Like the shadow creatures… still frozen on my command.

Could I use them to slow Torin down?

“I release you!” I shouted, sending the energy out into the world, hoping I wasn’t too far away to reach them. Now I just had to stay out of Torin’s reach long enough to let those little leprechaun bastards do their worst. Torma might be searching for a new alpha before this day was done.





41

My pace was slowing as Torin’s thudding gait grew closer, and it was only when the high-pitched whistling of the grekins reached my ears that I allowed myself a moment to turn around and assess the situation.

Torin let out a roar when they tangled around his legs, the three going down in a tumble. The new “alpha of alphas” didn’t bother to try to negotiate a truce with them; he just used his partly shifted claws to rip into them before he gracefully leapt back to his feet.

Torin must have been able to see them even at hyper-speed, because his next swipe sent one flying.

Completely enthralled in watching this fight, I’d stupidly stopped trying to escape. The thought that I might see Torin get his ass kicked was too much temptation, but I had many regrets when his furious eyes locked on to mine.

“Don’t move another fucking step,” he warned, about thirty feet away. “Or I’ll turn you over my knee and smack your ass until it’s red and aching.”

I blinked. “Did you seriously threaten to spank me as punishment?” I laughed. “Jokes on you because I’m into that shit, Torin. You’ll have to try harder than that to threaten me.”

That took him by surprise, and he faltered, just long enough for a second round of grekin attack.

“Fuck, ours!” they shouted.

It was my turn to look at the creature because I was starting to understand what it was saying.

They thought my name was fuck, or at least that was their new adopted name for me. And they seemed to think I belonged to them.

“Fuck is not yours,” I shot back. “I mean, Mera. My name is Mera.”

“Fuck, ours,” the other shouted, disappearing from sight with a zap.

What in fresh hell was this?

“You and I need to talk,” Torin said, sounding a little less ragey. A grekin zipped at him again, but he just booted it away with one swift kick. Bastard was having no trouble seeing them and I couldn’t figure out why they were always a blur to me.

My wolf rose to the surface, like a sign I should have been using her senses instead of the more restricted human ones that I tended to favor. Whoops, sorry. Dumb moment there, not figuring out how Torin saw the grekins. Wolf senses could keep up with— Torin moved, sprinting toward me, and I’d lingered too long to do anything except brace myself for the hit while simultaneously preparing to fight him. Because I would. I’d fight with everything I had in me.

As he closed in on me, Torin crouched in a typical tackle position, his intent to scoop me up. I embraced the wolf, allowed her energy to fill me as I took the option away from him, falling to the ground and spinning so I could slam my hand up into his thigh as he went past.

“Fuck, ours!” a grekin shouted, trying to grab at me again, but this time, I could see them coming, thanks to my wolf lingering close to the surface.

My fist crashed into its face. “Fuck not yours,” I growled.

Torin recovered far quicker than I’d expected, his hands wrapping around my arms as he hauled me off the ground and against his body. It was such an alpha signature move. Shadow had used it on me more than once, but it wasn’t the same with Torin. He was big, but not Shadow big. With the beast to compare him to, Torin seemed like a boy, without enough years of experience to harden him. One day he’d have it, but not this day.

“Let me go, you motherfucker,” I seethed, slamming my head forward to smash into his chin.

Torin let out a roaring rumble. “Bitch!”

“God yes, I am. You’re just realizing it now? Slow-ass fuck.”

“Bitch, ours!” a grekin chirped, leaping up onto Torin’s shoulder and wrapping its twiggy arms around his neck.

Was bitch an upgrade from fuck? Didn’t really matter, as long as they gave me a chance to get away. Wrenching myself out of Torin’s arms, I managed to get my feet back on the ground, but I was too slow again.

Sliding across the grass, I was jerked back when Torin wrapped a hand around my ankle.

“Shadow!” I screamed, finally resorting to the ace in my back pocket—he had to be somewhere nearby.

“Who the fuck is Shadow?” Torin yelled, dragging me back into him with one hard jerk. He lifted me again, and this time, instead of shouting in my face, he kissed me. A firm slap of his lips against mine, the power rising up between us as the bond that had been rejected but not completely severed surged to life.