Deserted (Shadow Beast Shifters Book 4)

The rest of the evening continued with those of us who ate ordering food. My new ability to enjoy food was a true gift in my life. Transcendents generally took their energy from the land, the world’s power, and their own family line. We did not have the need—or digestive system—for food. But after my rebirth, I found I could indulge in both if I wanted, and I’d really developed a taste for eating.

Everything was just so delicious, sliding across my newly evolved tastebuds with ease. After years of just touching and smelling food items for enjoyment, I finally got to experience the most important sense: taste.

‘I told you the pot pie was to die for,’ Mera crowed, all but beaming as she watched me shovel another forkful in.

‘How do they get the pastry so flaky and buttery and perfect?’ I moaned, chewing each delicious layer.

‘It’s magic,’ Mera told me seriously. ‘Swirling portals and the ability to walk between the worlds are great and all, but the food is the true magic.’

She was in her own seat now, eyes closed as she took another bite. Shadow was beside her, sipping his drink and chatting with his friends, but all the while, his possessive gaze remained on his mate. I swear to creations, watching her eat was foreplay to that fucker.

Jealousy was another new experience I had to contend with, and while I’d never want to take Mera’s happiness for my own—not in a million lifetimes—a small part of me craved to know what that sort of bond felt like.

Unconditional love.

It probably wasn’t in the cards for me, and while I felt some reassurance that there was a peaceful future out there, even without a mate, I knew it would take time. Maybe what I really needed was someone to quench this fire burning in my body, and once that happened, I could return to focusing on what was truly important: peace.

Yes, that was a good plan. My mission—after the Desert Lands mission, of course—was to seek out a suitable sex partner and see what I’d been missing out on all these years. No longer would I deny my body, and in doing so, I felt reassured that peace would follow.

After all, there was no greater dream for a transcendent.

When dinner was done, the others left to rest and gather their weapons. They’d all be back soon though, along with Alistair, who was returning from Karn tomorrow.

‘Will you come with us in the morning?’ Mera asked me as she was dragged to her feet by Shadow.

‘We won’t have much time,’ Shadow reminded her. ‘Quick stops to Sam and then Simone. No lingering.’

Mera didn’t fight him. Reece rarely ever asked for help, so whatever was going on in the Desert Lands was a big deal and deserved all of our attention.

‘If you want me there, I’m there,’ I told her.

Mera shot me her what the fuck expression. ‘You’re my family. I want you wherever I am.’

‘Except in bed,’ Shadow grumbled, and then he scooped her into his arms, cradling her close to his body. ‘We’ll see you in the morning, Melalekin.’

A low chuckle escaped from me, and I had to shake my head as I watched his broad shoulders disappear so fast that it would appear he was running. Except the smug bastard was clearly in a casual stroll. Whatever Shadow did with his energy, the ways he manipulated it, could not be replicated by another. Except for maybe the one being I did not want to think about.

My eyes landed on Reece’s empty seat again, and I forced myself to get up and walk away before I could dwell on his absence. Of course, that was a brilliant plan right until I stepped from the dining hall and all but smacked into him.

The pain of my past, here to torment me.

Heavy hands landed on my shoulders, and while I’d normally be swinging at this uninvited contact, I froze as a dry pine scent invaded my nose. That, along with that earthy, deserts-in-the-summer, was all Reece.

It was unclear if he’d known it was me barreling out of the dining hall, but with his senses it wouldn’t take him more than a few seconds to figure it out. When the shoulder contact didn’t cease, I found my eyes fluttering open as I tilted my head back to stare into his face. I was tall with a body built for battle, but when I was with this male, he made me feel petite.

I’d always loved and hated that about him.

‘Reece?’ I asked softly, my expression scrunching as I tried to figure out why he was still holding me. ‘Is everything okay?’

His face was unreadable, telling me nothing even as his grip remained firm. He pulled me closer, our bodies touching along their length, and I tried to ignore his hardness against me. I wasn’t exactly soft, having honed my body into a weapon, but Reece was made of rock in comparison.

‘Lale,’ he breathed, his irises swirling and tormented, and fuck, my heart stopped. He hadn’t called me that in… forever. It’d been forever.

I couldn’t tear my gaze from him, those eyes that destroyed my control and invaded my dreams. They were my favorite part of the desert god, the blue a color unmatched in any of the universes with the darkest, thickest lashes framing them. And deep inside those depths, where most wouldn’t see because you had to be very close, there was a galaxy of stars and magic. Magic that betrayed his connection to the Delfora.

Only a very select few—most dead now—knew that Reece had been conceived and birthed in the Delfora, a land filled with the energy of the ancients. It was an act that should have killed his parents and any child, but for some reason, it had been allowed. A completely forbidden act, now a secret lost in time.

It was the reason galaxies of power existed in his eyes, and it was also, no doubt, the reason he was being called back to their lands.

Since he didn’t appear to want to release me any time soon, I went into defense mode. ‘What are you doing?’ I snapped. If I stayed in his arms like this for one more second, I was going to do something truly fucking stupid.

My tone knocked Reece out of whatever had been brewing between us, and as he released me, blood rushed back into my limbs, my muscles pulsing hot and cold for a beat. Before I could say another word, he strode past me like nothing had happened, entering the dining hall.

From the moment he’d touched me, adrenaline had been rushing through my body, pumping everything into overdrive. Now that he was gone, this eased, and I fell against the nearest shelves, overstimulated and somehow also exhausted.

‘No!’ I chastised myself with a hard shake of my head. ‘Pull yourself together. Now.’

It had been a while since I’d needed my own personal pep talk, but with everything that had changed in the past few months, Reece being back in my life was proving to be the catalyst that turned it all to shit.

We’d been so good at avoiding each other.

So damn good. No one even knew the true details of our tattered past. At least I’d never told anyone, outside of giving Mera some basic information. Knowing Reece, he wouldn’t have divulged much either, but I had the sense that by the end of this little adventure in the Desert Lands, the truth would come out. After all, what happens in the sands doesn’t always stay buried there.