Compelled (Shadow Beast Shifters Book 5)

Inky showed up a few minutes after I’d shut everything down inside and stored my phone in the drawer, since I wouldn’t need it where I was going. My guide to Mera was a black cloud of power originating in another world—the Shadow Realm—and was bonded to the Shadow Beast himself. The first few times I’d met it, it had scared the ever living fuck out of me. I was used to it now, though.

Mostly.

Since most shifters were not as cool as me around clouds of power, I ushered it inside so it could open a doorway to the magical library in privacy. I didn’t hesitate to step through once the swirling portal appeared, and then I was sprinting along the hallway toward the library.

Labor was not an act I was familiar with, but I had watched enough shows to know it was fast for some and slow for others. Mera never did shit half-assed, and I did not want to miss holding her hand when she birthed her child. Neither of us had ever thought we’d be moms, so it hadn’t been a childhood dream for us. But now that it was happening, I couldn’t imagine another path for her. This was fate. Destiny. Whatever bullshit you wanted to call it.

Kismet and serendipity had come together the day Mera called the Shadow Beast.

“Will I make it in time?” I huffed to Inky as I ran along the hall.

It bobbed up and down before vibrating and shooting sparks of lightning around, and I took that as a most decisive yes.

My flats slapped against the ground as I ran. More appropriate footwear would have been useful, but there’d been no time to change. If I ended up staying for a while, there were always spares in Mera’s magical wardrobe, aka the beast’s way of dressing his mate in the sexy-ass outfits he liked to see her in.

Again, I would never be jealous of my best friend, but she did get a mate, a library, and a fucking magical wardrobe. Least she could do was share some of her goodies.

Not the mate, he terrified me, but the clothing I’d take.

When we reached the next swirling portal, I stepped right through into the Library of Knowledge, which was both a room containing information from all the worlds connected in the Solaris System and Mera’s home. It acted as a hub, allowing beings to walk between multiple worlds using the doorways that lined its white, window-filled walls.

Stepping into a place so beautiful, with its massively high ceilings containing hand-carved depictions of gods and images of battle up high, always took my breath away and had my heart pounding.

Today, though, I had one focus.

I didn’t bother to glance at the supernaturals who littered the aisles and shelves, each of them from one of the ten worlds. Without even looking, I already knew some would be very alien in appearance, while others more humanlike. This was a neutral zone for all of the worlds to gather and learn, and if any tried to disturb that, they’d have one pissed off Shadow Beast up their asses.

No one wanted that… except maybe Mera, but that was an entirely different scenario.

Picking up the pace, we made it to the farthest end of the library, where one final door existed. Shadow’s private domain.

I’d never been into this space—the beast was very territorial with everyone except Mera—but when the door opened of its own accord and Inky zoomed through, I figured I’d follow.

There was no resistance, and on the other side I barely managed not to gasp at what lay beyond. “That bitch has two libraries?” I cried. “We really need to have a long conversation about sharing.”

Inky couldn’t reply, but I liked to think that it agreed with me, as it grew larger and started to spark. It was either that or it wanted me to hurry up, and with that in mind, I managed to ignore the long expanse of heavy, dark wood shelves, gorgeous chandeliers, and the scent of books as I followed Inky deeper into the beast’s lair.

We ended up at a door, a nondescript wooden door that opened before I’d touched it, and words spilled out. “You fucking did this to me, you stupid, oversized beast. Of course, you would create a giant baby trying to annihilate my vagina.”

Some of my panic faded. That was Mera, my best friend for life, and she appeared to be doing just fine. I hadn’t missed the birth yet. We’d only reached the cursing-your-mate-for-knocking-you-up stage.

This was going to be fun.

With a smile on my face, I was about to step through the door, when I felt a strong wash of power. It tickled across my shifter senses, stirring my wolf deep inside. She surged to the front, but I was too controlled to let her out when I wasn’t ready. My wolf and I had been at odds ever since Valdor, which was an issue we’d have to deal with sooner or later.

My vote would be later.

My time in the vampire world had been not without dramas, and lots of shit had gone down. Shit I didn’t talk about–mostly because I couldn’t. But ever since then, I’d been struggling with my energy and senses. Sometimes they were strong, and other times I felt as weak as I imagined a human did.

On the rarest of occasions, there was a swirling of energy deep in my center that I didn’t recognize, and it scared me the most.

It was this foreign energy that sprang to life when we felt him: Lucien, master fucking vampire and thorn in my damn side.

He was right behind me.

Move, Simone.

Despite my inner voice pushing for avoidance, a part of me was curious at how it’d feel to see him after all this time. Would he still stir my body in a way I had no experience with and yet craved desperately? Would he send fire through my veins and anger into my heart? Would I hate him, while at the same time longing for what could never be?

There was only one way to find out.

“B,” he said softly. “I’ve been waiting for you. I need to tell you something.”

My throat hurt at the nickname, and not only because this pointy-fanged fucker liked to call me by my blood type—the cunt—but because I had missed hearing that smooth, sexy rasp of his voice.

Knowing it would hurt less if I just ripped the Band-Aid off, I turned and faced him. “Can I help you, Lester?”

The master vampire was still the most beautiful man I’d ever seen. Towering over me, huge, blond, and muscular, he had piercing green eyes that cut through the bullshit and saw into your soul. Eyes that contrasted so brilliantly to his golden, sun-kissed skin. He was sex on legs, and I barely managed to conceal my expression at the jolt I felt in seeing him again.

Apparently, despite all the growing up and changing I’d done in the time since I saw him last, part of me had just never let him go.

His lips twitched, even if a darker emotion burned in the green depths of his irises. “Lester? I don’t think so, sweetheart. You remember my name.”

Faking boredom, I stared at my nails. “Sorry, Linc, but I’m super busy right now. My best friend is about to have a baby, and I kind of don’t want to miss it. Was there something you needed to tell me?”

At this, Lucien sobered. Yeah, the bastard was right—I’d never forget his name. My dreams wouldn’t let me.

“I’ve been waiting for the birth, knowing you would be here,” he started. “I’ve put this off as long as I could, but the masters have spoken. You have to return to Valdor.”

My body went cold. Lucien had taken me to his vampire world a year or so ago when the library had been compromised. In Valdor, I’d learned that I was nothing more than a walking blood bag to those fuckers. Shit had gone down, and I’d broken a rule or two, but…

“I thought it was all sorted. You promised me…”

The perfectly smooth skin around his eyes pulled tighter. “I’ve been protecting you, just as I promised. But this went above my head to the full council of tier one masters. If you don’t return, they will send others to bring you back.”

Lucien was a tier one master, too, which meant he was one of the ten that governed the various vampire enclaves. I’d had brief dealings with some of the others my last time there and hoped never to again.

Before I could shout out my fear and frustration, a second power joined us: Len, the fae. “You’re here too?” I blurted, taking in the silver-clad immortal. He was one of Shadow’s and Lucien’s best friend slash brothers, so of course he would be here for the birth of this baby. My brain was working a little slower after the summons to Valdor.

He nodded. “Yes, we’re all waiting for the child to be born, but once it’s safe, we will accompany you and Lucien to Valdor. Vampire politics be damned, nothing will happen to Mera’s best fri–”

He didn’t get to finish his sentence as said best friend screamed, the sound echoing through the partially open door. Moving on instinct, I was inside the bedroom taking a step toward Mera when Lucien’s power wrapped around me, rendering me motionless.

My rage built again. I’d told him to never use his powers on me, but as usual, he did not freaking listen. “You broke the rules, B,” he said, reminding me of the worst day of my life, “and now you must answer the council’s questions about that day.”

With that final statement, he released me and walked away, letting the door close between us. My body trembled as I fought to keep strength in my legs.

Lucien was right. I did break the rules and he’d saved me. Protected me.

Looked like he was finally done.

Mera shouted again, swearing as she sobbed, and I pushed my worries away. Today I would be by my best friend’s side as she brought a god-baby into the world, and tomorrow…

Tomorrow I would return to the land that had almost stolen everything from me.

Including my heart… and my life.