Rejected (Shadow Beast Shifters, #1)(84)

And now I was ready to kick some fucking fae ass.

Rolling off the soft surface, I dropped to the floor silently, half-crouched as I stared around. I was in a garden. No, actually, garden was too much of an understatement to be accurate.

I’d found myself in the epicenter of the most perfect piece of nature I had ever seen. Flowers ran for miles, in colors that didn’t exist in the earthly plane. Dotted between were trees, so magnificent and grand that the entire scene looked like it was a painted depiction of perfection.

And the smell. My god. As I took a step forward, an overwhelming crush of scents hit me. There was no way I was on Earth or in the library any longer, and considering it was Len who’d decided to hocus pocus my ass and bring me here, that left me with one logical conclusion.

I was in a land I’d been warned never to go to.

Faerie.

What they do to Earthlings who stumble into their world makes me look like a fucking saint.

That warning was extra terrifying today.

Shadow was a coldblooded bastard who thought nothing of pushing me, punishing me, and possessing me like I was a piece of furniture that he owned, and he’d warned me off this place.

Yeah, I was fucked, and when I got my hands on Len, I was going to rip his pretty hair from his pretty head.

Not able to stay still when it felt like I was under attack—despite the complete lack of anything alarming in my vicinity—I crept forward through the swarths of flowers. I made a concerted effort not to touch anything, and half a dozen steps later, I passed a bunch of yellow daisy-like flowers. Daisies that were seven feet tall with thick, midnight purple thorns all the way up their stems. On the other side of them were shorter floral bunches, in a pink near blinding in its intensity.

Those flowers, above all the others, caught my eye. My steps faltered, and I found myself reaching out to run my fingertips along their velvety stems. They were almost too perfect, with not a single flaw in their greenery or variation in the flower petals.

The perfection made me uneasy. Nothing alive could look that flawless, and yet I felt its energy.

All of nature had it, and these flowers were particularly strong. Pausing just before my fingertips made contact, I inhaled one final breath of their sweet scent before moving forward— “Halt, Mera!”

The command had me snatching my hand away, my heart thundering in my chest. Fuck, I’d lost my head there for a minute and had almost done exactly what I’d promised I wouldn’t. Don’t touch, eat, or interact with Faerie. That was the old urban legend and I’d had every plan to adhere to it, until the flowers had drawn me in.

Len, my warning system, strolled closer, dressed more casual than I’d ever seen from him before.

His silver cloak was gone, revealing quite the impressive set of broad shoulders encased in a simple long-sleeved black shirt. I’d never seen him wearing an outfit so dark, and the contrast was quite striking to his silver coloring.

He was slender compared to Shadow, but most men were, and now that he had his sleeves rolled up to the top of his forearms, I could see the lithe corded muscle there. The tight black pants did nothing to hide the rest of his physique, and it was startlingly obvious how he’d developed into such a flirt. Women would throw themselves at someone like this. Most women… but not me.

As soon as Len was in striking distance, I strode forward, hauled my arm back, and slammed my fist into his face. Confusion drifted across his features as his head jerked. “Shit, Mera.” He groaned, rubbing his cheek. “What the hell was that for?”

I growled, a wild wolf sound. “How dare you drag me here without my permission?”

Len tilted his head, still seeming confused by how upset I was.

Jabbing my finger against his chest while fighting the urge to hit him again, I raged. “If one more of you fucking assholes thinks you have the right to take my will away, I will find out how to ensure you breathe your final breath.”

“Technically, we don’t need to breathe,” Len murmured.

Ignoring him, I glared with total effort. “All of you have seen the last compliant version of me.”

I jabbed him again, even though the tip of my finger was starting to ache from being pressed so firmly against his chest muscles. Len reached out and grasped my hand, stopping me from moving it again. “I’m saving your damn life.” It was his turn to growl, and it was impressive for a non-shifter.

“Shadow said there were creatures from his world running loose, many of whom would be looking for you. He wanted you protected while he rounds them up before the next fucking apocalypse starts.”

I sagged forward. “Shadow is alive?”

I might not have admitted it to myself, but a part of me had mourned that bastard from the moment I’d seen the fireplace cold and empty.

Len laughed. “Of course he is. Nothing will kill Shadow.”

Rubbing at my temples, I let out a sigh. “Why didn’t you just tell me this at the library? Would have been a lot easier than whatever it was you did.”

He shrugged. “Would it have been, though? You’re pretty well known for being a touch argumentative and I literally didn’t have the time to waste. If anything had happened to his little shadow magnet, my friend would not have been happy with me.”

Len wasn’t scared of Shadow—their friendship was obviously long and true—but he was respectful of the beast’s power, and that was always a safe place to stand.