Rejected (Shadow Beast Shifters, #1)(76)

Damn it to hell! So he was ignoring me now and expecting I would just trust that he’d take care of it. And why in all the fucking fucks was he spanking me like an errant child?

Nothing boiled my blood more than that, and the fact that his hand was still on my ass, holding it almost possessively, made me want to… well, shit, it was making me flustered. Not being naked right now would have been excellent, but once again, I’d shifted before I’d thought about the ramifications.

Tearing into Torin had been worth it, though.

“The talk about Dannie is not done,” I warned Shadow. “We will be revisiting it very soon.

However, I have some other questions that need answers as well.”

“Of course you do,” he grumbled.

I ignored him and tried ridiculously hard to ignore his hand. “What happened to all of those shadow creatures? Even the little leprechaun trees disappeared…”

Silence.

“Did you capture and imprison them all in the time I was dealing with Torin?” At this point, we’d both stopped pretending that he needed my help to subdue them.

Silence again.

“What are you hiding from me, Shadow? What is so important in the Shadow Realm that you would keep me around just on the off-chance I get the door open?”

The silence was heavier, if that was even possible. We’d entered the library at this point, and as soon as the bright room came into view, I felt a pressing wave of exhaustion. Rapid shifts still drained my energy.

Shadow didn’t stop. He didn’t speak again. I wasn’t even sure he was breathing, but the flames continued to rage at an impressive height, thankfully not catching the library alight. The magic here must have protected it from storming savage shadow beasts. Otherwise, I imagined it would have burned down before now.

When we reached his lair, I was deposited in my room.

“Shadow?” I asked, “We need to talk about Dannie. And the shadow creatures. Maybe even Torin.

It’s all important.”

He paused at the doorway, not turning back. “The next time I return,” he said, “you will open the door to the Shadow Realm, or I will kill you myself.” Pause. “That’s the only important detail you need to worry about.”

Then, with a surge of fire that singed the door frame, leaving a trail of burning embers and soot behind, he left the room, locking me inside.





42

“Let me out!”

For days, I’d been smashing my fist against, and screaming into, an unmovable door. Slumping forward, I closed my eyes and wondered if maybe Shadow had just decided this was the easiest way to deal with me. I had water in the bathroom, and it would take months or longer for me to weaken from lack of food, so there was no inherent danger, unless he forgot about me forever.

And maybe that was his plan. But I had friends and family to take care of, and I needed to win that bet if that was the only way to make him keep his word and allow me to visit the pack lands again.

According to my calculations, I had one week left now to fulfill my side of this bet, and for those few people I loved, I would do whatever it took.

Whatever it took.

Just had to get out of here first.

The redundant nature of pounding against a door that was sealed with something stronger than what a wolf could break had finally caught up to me, but I was literally at a loss of what else to do.

I’d tried to call out to Angel, but clearly, our bond wasn’t mature enough yet to hear each other’s thoughts.

I’d even resorted to slipping written SOS notes under my door. I’d had to tear paper from one of the stolen books in my room—that hurt, even if it was one of those blank pages at the back. I’d used eyeliner to write a “help me” letter, and since no one had rescued me, I’d clearly desecrated a book for nothing. I’d added that to my list of shit Shadow would pay for.

I’d also searched the room for hidden passages, but there was nothing to be found.

At this stage, I’d exit via the Shadow Realm if I could figure out how to touch it. Ironic, since this was the one thing Shadow wanted from me; the reason he had me locked up in the first place.

If I unlocked the realm, I might even be free to go back to Torma, bet or no bet. I mean, not that I would be rejoining the pack, no matter what Torin thought was going to happen, but I would return long enough to assure myself that Dannie and Simone were okay. Then I’d embrace freedom like I never had before.

Torin. What was up with that bastard of a shifter anyway? Since when had he decided to change his mind about wanting the true mate bond? It felt like a grab for power, not to mention control—he didn’t want his true mate freely wandering around the world.

Not that he’d have to worry too long about it… I was breaking the bond as soon as we were in the same room again.

At this point, I was sprawled across the bed, letting all these thoughts consume me. The lack of food wasn’t making me weak yet, but I was weary. Might be time for a nap. Maybe in my dreams I’d find the path to the shadow world, open the door, and the beast would release me from his hold.

Maybe I’d finally figure out what I was missing about the spell holding the door? What had we all missed? And in all honesty, how was I going to solve this mystery when a bunch of powerful god-like bastards couldn’t?

At some point in my musings and stress, I drifted off, a rumbling stomach my only companion. My dreams took on the same dark thread of my thoughts, slashes of red and gold scattered through a shadowed world. I was running, chasing, hunting. The wolf was in control as we let the colors slide across us. Only we didn’t have a real body. We were wolf, but we were not the wolf we knew from Earth side. This wolf embraced the fire-threaded darkness. This wolf could slip from solid form and become one with the shadow. And when we were shadow, we were powerful… invincible.