Deserted (Shadow Beast Shifters Book 4)

THE TIME BEFORE

My scream was hoarse as I held my sister’s body, tightening my grip as if pure will alone would keep her in this world with me.

But deep in my power… in my energy, I knew it was too late.

I’d been a warrior my entire life, and that training told me her injuries were beyond repair. At some point, there was too much damage, even for the long-lived and powerful.

Her vessel had fought until it had nothing left to give. Her power was returning to our collective, and it was time for me to release her from my hold and bless her journey to our sacred afterlife.

If only I could force my fingers to open.

“Mel,” she coughed, her brown skin rapidly losing color as her lifeforce bled out into the desert lands. “You have all the power now. You can end this.” Her words were whispered and broken, golden liquid on her lips as she spluttered out her final advice.

My brain immediately rejected the notion. “I can’t,” I rasped, angling my body so I was lying in the black sands with her—side by side, twin souls by choice rather than birth. “If I release the power, I’ll no longer feel you with me.” The very thought stole the air from my lungs, and I almost couldn’t continue. My next words were choked. “What if I can’t follow you and our treasora into the afterlife? The only way I can continue living this life and fighting all the battles is knowing that you’re all waiting for me in the end.”

The last member of my family was dying in my arms, and as much as I wanted to fulfill her final wish… I couldn’t. The power, as she’d said, was all mine, and with that came a lot of responsibility. Using it all now to end this battle in the sacred Desert Lands would take everything I had, leaving me without a connection to my ancestors.

“I can’t risk it,” I whispered.

“Yo— you will find us,” she replied fiercely. “We will find you. Death is the beginning of our next journey. War—” She spluttered again, and my heart stopped when her eyes rolled back for a beat before she found strength. “Warrior and heart,” she whispered, “swift winds and sharp blades. Until our souls meet again.”

That was our goodbye, and with that I felt her fade. My body trembled as I wrapped myself around her, holding her for the last time. My entire essence wept as I murmured the final sacred words that would guide her home. “Swift winds and sharp blades, my Lekakin. Beyond the meadows, your journey is done. Until our souls meet again.”

My scream was no longer hoarse as I lifted my head and released the pain of this death. When my parents left this existence years ago, I’d thought I’d never experience such aching hurt again, but this was worse. There were only a few beings in this world who had ever touched me at a visceral level, and Leka was one of them.

Now I was alone.

Alone in a world that was bursting with pain and death and loss.

Her body faded before me as the energy she’d held settled into the well of power that filled our family coffers. Light and dark, destruction and creation, it warred within me until I allowed it to settle and flow. I controlled our power, and as Leka had said, I could use it to end this once and for all.

But that wasn’t to be my fate today.

Today I was leaving this godforsaken world that had taken so much from me: the Desert Lands.

“Lale!”

I heard his shout, but I never turned back. Reece of the Rohami dynasty was an old friend of mine. My best friend. He was here with his brother, neck deep in this battle, on the shores of their sacred Delfora.

They fought to keep the power of this land from falling into the wrong hands, one dynasty pitted against another. The only reason Leka and I were here was to honor the longstanding friendship of our families. I owed Reece loyalty, but today I was done.

I’d lost enough. I’d sacrificed everything, and I had nothing left to give.

“Lale, are you okay?”

Rough hands landed on my shoulders, and as he spun me, the rich blue in his eyes captured mine. Those eyes had gotten me into a lot of trouble in my life, and even as I drew on my training and numbed myself to keep the pain from destroying me, I couldn’t halt the memories of last night.

“We need your help,” he said, pulling me closer.

My body shook, and I looked to my hands, covered in the blood of my enemies… and my sister.

“I’m done,” I said my voice cold and flat.

Confusion tugged at his brow as he examined my features, and then that confusion morphed into anger, his eyes blazing as he narrowed them on me. His grip tightened, and I was again reminded how much bigger and stronger he was. In close combat like this, I would never best him. Thankfully, I had many other weapons at my disposal.

My power knocked him away, a sharp pointed attack that he hadn’t expected. He landed on his feet, a powerful god of this world, able to control the sands and energy of the desert. By the time he was zipping back toward me, clearly pissed, I’d already taken off, sprinting toward the transport doorways that had been left for warriors to return to Rohami. Only from here could I open a pathway back to my world.

“Melalekin,” Reece shouted from behind me, and even though I told myself not to look, I had to risk one glance back.

Our eyes met, and his held nothing but fury at my betrayal. I shook my head, pressing a hand to my mouth before I stepped through the transport.

I was done.