Compelled (Shadow Beast Shifters Book 5)

We returned to a library on fire. Literally.

“What the hell,” I exclaimed as I hurried out of the shelving near Valdor’s door and into the main area to try and see where all the billowing black smoke was coming from. “Who is hurting the library?”

The who in question came raging around the corner, and it was only because Mera dropped her flames at the last second that I wasn’t burned to a crisp when she threw herself at me. Her hug was so firm that I felt my ribs rearrange themselves before settling back into place. There was no belly between us anymore, and it seemed she was already back in her normal jeans.

“Meers,” I said, pulse racing. “Is our baby girl okay?”

She just held me tighter, and right when I was about to freak out, I felt Shadow close in on us. He came from the same direction as Mera, so I could lift my head and see he held their daughter, clad in a black jumpsuit, comfortably in his huge, tatted arms. The baby was sound asleep, clearly uncaring about the chaos Mera was causing, and I’d have to say she looked content being held by a creature that gave most of us nightmares.

“Simone!” Mera snapped as she pulled away, drawing my attention to her face. “How could you go to Valdor without us? You had no idea of the dangers you were facing, and everyone just let you leave!”

Ah, the flames were starting to make more sense, and at least it seemed with Mera wielding them, none of our books were destroyed. It was just her body spontaneously combusting.

“I told the others to let you know we were leaving,” I reminded her. “Plus, I had Lucien with me.”

Mera didn’t seem to think that was an adequate response as she shook me. “You had Lucien with you last time and some horrible shit still went down. Shit that none of us even know about!”

I felt the brush of Lucien’s energy against mine as he moved closer, and his blood responded inside me by swirling in hot arcs. “I think it’s time to fill you in on what happened with Simone in Valdor. She’s under a compulsion from many masters that I can’t lift alone, but I’m under none. Best we are all on the same page moving forward since things have escalated past what I expected.”

Mera was trying to kill him with her glare. “You better fucking start talking, Lucien, or I will rearrange your internal organs, starting with your balls.”

In case anyone was wondering, Mera did fail biology in school, but that felt like a deliberate mistake.

I turned my head in time to see Lucien’s lips twitch. “Fair enough. Let’s get comfortable.”

Mera didn’t release me, not even as we made our way to the dining room and sat at their usual table. Angel and Reece weren’t here, and neither were most of the other males that made up Shadow’s inner circle. It was just Mera, Shadow, Lucien, and me. Oh, and the baby. Speaking of…

“Does she have a name yet?” I asked as Mera let out an exaggerated huff.

“She does. Don’t change the subject. The naming ceremony will not go ahead until you’ve dealt with your Valdor issues. Which you will tell us about now.”

The short, sharp sentences were all we needed to hear to know that Mera meant business. She would not let this slide again, and I was secretly grateful that all the information would finally be out in the open.

Lucien, who sat across from me, leaned back in his chair and crossed his arms over his chest. He looked somewhat relaxed, but I’d spent enough time watching him to notice the tension in his broad shoulders and defined jawline. “When I took Simone to Valdor to protect her from what was happening in the library, my plan was for her to just stay in my house and lay low. As a tier one master, no one enters my domain without my permission, so it was the best way to ensure she remained safe and…”

“Uneaten?” Mera suggested when Lucien appeared lost for an appropriate word.

He nodded, flashing his perfect, white teeth. “Exactly. Valdor is not a world that any enter except vampires and occasionally…”

“Food.”

Mera was on fire with finishing his sentences tonight, but he never snapped at her. For alpha males, they were surprisingly okay with alpha females too. Unlike many of the Torma shifters I knew.

Lucien hurried on with his story. “The problem we ran into is that Simone is a strong, intelligent, wild creature, and keeping anyone like that caged for long was obviously going to be an issue. She started to push back against my rules. At first it was just exploring my yard, but then she wanted to see Crimson City and to meet other vampires and to live her life on her terms.”

I’d brought everything on myself. We all knew that. Lucien was trying to make me sound less like a stubborn dickhead than I’d actually been.

“I’ve changed since Valdor,” I told them all, relieved that I could say that much. “I don’t rush in like I used to. I’m more measured in my response to what life throws at me because I fucked up bad there.”

My mouth was shut again, but I’d managed to get that sentence out.

Lucien shook his head. “It was not all her fault. I’m rarely in Valdor, so when I am, I have to deal with enclave and master business. I left Simone alone, relying on trusted friends to keep her safe. And that was my mistake. Grant, a tier two master who often helped with enclave business, decided he wanted my position. He saw Simone as a weakness to use against me, and when he convinced her to let loose and have some fun, he took her to the Master Chambers where we keep the Stone of Katu, our most sacred rock from the vampire god.”

Mera gripped my hand tighter as the story went on. Shadow, meanwhile, looked to be reserving judgement as he slowly patted his daughter’s back as she snuggled against his huge chest.

“Simone touched the stone.”

That meant something to Shadow but not Mera, judging by their expressions.

“It carries a death sentence,” Shadow rumbled, and that was when his mate gasped and just about broke my fingers. She ended up jumping to her feet, looking furious.

“Yes,” Lucien said quickly. “The guard ripped her throat out on sight, but I got there in time to save her and destroy Grant. He’d been hoping Simone would die and he could blame it all on me so that I’d have the death sentence, but he underestimated this shifter’s will to live. She held on until I arrived and could save her.”

“What happened next?” Mera bit out, her face pale.

“The masters agreed to free Simone, as long as she didn’t return to Valdor again.”

“And I never planned on it,” I got out drily.

“They called her back though,” Mera pushed.

Lucien let out an annoyed rumble of a sound. “Yes, apparently when Simone touched the stone, she sent out a pulse of energy that called to a master without an enclave, a powerful, ancient being who is strong enough to challenge even me.”

“Really?” Shadow shook his head. “I find that hard to believe.”

Lucien shot his brother a smirk. “Look, I can’t be sure since he’s never challenged me, and I haven’t seen him in action for centuries. After his mate was killed, he went into hiding. He takes no enclave and claims no land, but we knew he was in Crimson City somewhere. He’s been left to exist, since no one wants to challenge him and find out exactly how powerful he is. But now he’s suddenly decided that he wants to rejoin vampire society. He’s called for a selection to find a new mate.”

“And what the hell does that have to do with Simone?” The pitch in Mera’s voice was growing shriller, which appeared to be the one thing that could disturb Shadowshine Jr from her peaceful slumber.

The tiny baby stirred, waving little hands around, the black jumpsuit highlighting the shimmery bronze of her skin. Golden eyes met mine, and I managed to hide my flinch at the spark of awareness present within them. Mera reached down to scoop the baby up from Shadow. He didn’t protest, but when she turned around to hold the child out to me, a rumble escaped from the beast.

Mera shot him a glare over her shoulder. “Come on, you possessive bastard. You’re going to have to let her go eventually. Our daughter will be ten and unable to use her legs.”

“She will be perfect,” Shadow shot back in a huff of smoke, eyes tracing from his mate down to his baby. Mera was vastly underestimating his possessiveness and how long it was going to last. This beast was a goner.

We all better hope their kid liked us, or Shadow would be arranging our funerals without a second thought.