Rejected (Shadow Beast Shifters, #1)(90)

“Inky has ties to the library that go beyond the norm,” Shadow said after a few seconds of awkward silence. I had not expected him to answer, so I was genuinely shocked. “He’s also connected to me, and between the two, it allows him to form a small magical portal. It comes in handy at times.”

Inky wrapped around us both, and I dragged my fingertips along the darkness. At some point, just like with Shadow, I could touch it without any repercussions. How that had happened, I had no idea, but I wasn’t upset. We’d made progress in the time I’d been with them. Shadow might have only trusted five beings in the world, but I was no longer the enemy I had been at one point.

To test the theory, I casually brushed through Inky and let my hand scrape across the skin of Shadow’s hand that rested near his side. Just a graze. But there was no pain.

I couldn’t stop the broad, triumphant grin from crossing my face. Shadow shot me a half-smirk, like he knew exactly what I was doing. “Don’t get too comfortable, little wolf,” he warned me. “You should take care to protect yourself at all costs.”

I nodded. “Always have, Shadow. And I always will. I’ve been let down too many times to be any other way.”

He didn’t seem convinced, but that was okay. I’d been underestimated just as many times as I’d been let down in my life.

Vague warnings aside, the rest of my time with Shadow went smoothly. The box was like a picnic extravaganza, with sandwiches, salads, and some cold cuts. Shadow didn’t eat with me, but he remained nearby while I dove in. When I was full and couldn’t possibly fit one more delicious morsel of food in, the box shut. I eyed it sadly and Shadow sounded amused when he said, “It’s magically sealed. Everything will stay fresh and cold inside.”

A relieved sigh left me. “Good, because wasting food is a sin.”

Shadow, who was sprawled back on his couch across from me, grinned lazily. “Sin is my calling card, Sunshine. It’s what I built my entire reputation on, and the reason I found myself kicked out of my land.”

He might not have been eating, but he did have a drink in hand, twirling the glass so the amber liquid swirled. He looked relaxed, and since he currently couldn’t go anywhere else to escape me, I decided to ask about the Shadow Realm.

Leaning forward, I tucked a fluffy pillow against my chest, propping my head up on it. “Tell me about the Shadow Realm,” I said softly. “Why is the doorway blocked? And how the hell am I drawing beings from there to here?”

His first instinct was to deny me the information; I saw that in the closed-off expression that replaced his relaxed features.

“This involves me,” I reminded him. “And you’re asking me to complete a task without giving me all of the information I need to complete it. For the sake of all our sanities, and possibly lives, it’s time to tell me now.”

His face remained set, the stubborn bastard.

“Why is the fucking door barred?” I lost my shit and those words came out a bit shoutier than I’d anticipated.

“Because of me,” he shot back. “I was born as the next Supreme Being, the true heir, and my family conspired against me, taking my crown and power. I was betrayed by the one who was supposed to have my back, and when they shot me out into the space beyond my world, they barred the door with a spell I’ve never been able to best.”

There was a deep-seated pain buried under his cynical expression. For thousands of years, his family had kept him away from his home… his land.

Bastards.

“And I thought my family tragedy was bad,” I murmured. “That’s super fucked-up. Even if you did something terrible to deserve their wrath, no one should be barred from their home.”

Shadow’s flames roared to life around him, a giant fireball that turned into his flaming wolf. I’d never seen him shift into a literal beast, but this time as the flames settled into the shape of a wolf, his other features morphed as well. His face grew elongated as his arms extended, claws protruding from his fingertips.

My heart raced, a natural fear response. This was the Shadow Beast in all of his glory—or at least ninety percent of it. The shadow fire version of him was truly a sight to behold.

“Shadow,” I murmured as he rose to his feet, standing twelve feet tall, the darkness of devils dancing around his body while flames soared higher.

“There will be no forgive and forget,” he rumbled, and with each word, the wolf in his face and voice was more pronounced. “I need that door open so I can tear them all to shreds and dance on their graves.”

I was on my feet too, feeling a great need to submit. The sheer power he was throwing off as the beast overtook the man, along with the rumble of his voice, almost sent me to my knees. This was the beast who had created shifters, the one who was feared and revered and loved by shifters the world over.

“I will help you open the doorway,” I promised, meaning every word of it. “For the first time, this task truly makes sense to me. I get why you’ve kept me around now… I’m the only one in all this time who has been able to bypass the spell on the door. A spell keeping you from your land, family, and destiny.”

He’d finally started to calm; the fire retreated, and his face returned to the darkly handsome man, versus the ferocious majestic beast. As it switched back, I could finally relax, not being drawn forward by the power of his fire wolf. Truth be told, I didn’t know which side of him I preferred, and I had no idea what it meant that I was hoping to see him properly wolf out again sometime soon.