Reborn (Shadow Beast Shifters Book 3)

It took us another ten minutes at least to get the being free. It was not a rat, or a cockroach, or any other critter, but it also wasn’t a human or shifter, that much we knew for sure.

Despite her previous fear of what we might uncover, Sam was the first to dive down and help them up. I was slower because I couldn’t stop staring at the hairless, three-foot-tall… little dude?

Roughly humanoid, it had gnarled and toughened skin. Despite its small stature, it had to be very strong because there were no visible injuries from being buried under a very large and heavy pile of books and shelving.

When the creature was in a sitting position, it wiped the last of the dust from its face, smiling at Sam before it turned to me. When its huge eyes locked on mine, the dark, unblinking orbs sent trills of unease through me.

Just when I was about to step away, it said, “Mera?”

For a beat, I freaked out before remembering this was exactly what I’d been waiting for. Evidence that I’d been here before. Dropping to my knees, I reached out and grabbed on to its hands, and the firm grip that almost crushed my fingers confirmed how strong the creature was.

“You know me?” I choked out. “You’ve met me before?”

Our gazes remained locked for a long moment in time before the being nodded. “I know you very well, Mera Callahan, of the Torma shifters.”

A tear escaped from me, and I sucked in a shuddering breath, trying to get myself under control, lest I fall down and cry on this poor guy.

The creature smiled at me, a crooked curve of thin lips that strangely calmed me. “And before you ask, my name is Gaster. I’m a goblin of the demi-fae of Faerie, and I identify as male, in what you would understand gender to be.”

I swallowed hard. “How did you know I had all of those questions running through my mind…? Wait a fucking minute. Did you just say ‘Faerie?’”

His smile grew. “You have not changed, my girl. With or without your memories, you’ll always need labels.”

The smoke cloud drifted closer, wrapping around Gaster. I leaned away, unsure if it was going to attack or not. Gaster laughed, a rough, grating sound. “Ah, yes, I should have known Inky would find you.”

I looked between him and… Inky?

“The smoke cloud has a name?” I asked, my aching brain trying to piece it all together.

“You gave it the name,” Gaster told me. “It stuck.”

I shook my head. “I don’t remember,” I breathed. “I don’t remember any of this and when I try, my head feels like it’s being pummeled in a knife fight.”

Gaster pulled himself to his feet, needing only a little help from me. “I have the answers you seek,” he said softly. “Just give me a moment to restore my energy.”

Answers! He had freaking answers.

My gut had been right, and I owed Samantha Rowland a fucking house on the beach for her help today. Speaking of… “Are you okay?” I asked, noting how pale she looked.

Her throat moved as she swallowed roughly. “I’m not sure. Who is this being you’ve found?”

I tilted my head. “He said his name is Gaster, a goblin of the demi-fae.”

She stared at me. “And you speak demi-fae?”

It was at that point I finally understood why she looked so pale and confused. Gaster didn’t speak English, and apparently, I spoke whatever language he did. Just like with the Japanese alpha back in Torma.

Gaster cleared his throat and I looked down to meet his eyes. “The universal translator on the library has been destroyed, along with the Solaris System doorways. We’re in deep trouble, and I’m afraid you might be the only one who can help us fix this mess.”

“Holy shit,” I breathed. “Even speaking demi-fae, I only understood about half the context for what you just said. Maybe you can start at the beginning and tell me everything.”

He nodded, wincing as he stepped forward. “I agree, but I’m not sure how much time we really have before it’s too late to undo what has been done.”

Oh, excellent, more ominous forecasting.

“Does he need any help?” Sam asked, still confused as hell. “Food or water or medical attention?”

I repeated her questions to Gaster and he shook his head. “No, I’m fine. My energy is returning faster than expected, and I think I have the strength now to find you some clothes. When you are comfortable, we can quickly catch each other up on what happened.”

I repeated his words to Sam, and she let out a relieved breath. “Yeah, look, I know we’re shifters, but at some point, I prefer not to have all of my body parts greeting the world.”

An actual genuine chuckle escaped me. “Yep, same.”

“Then follow me,” Gaster said, already looking more energized as he moved through the debris. His face fell as he took in the destruction, craggy crevices creasing his cheeks. “I was knocked out during the first assault,” he said sadly. “Unable to protect my charges. I think the only reason I wasn’t banished from the Library of Knowledge like all the others is he missed me in the chaos.”

He? Oh, damn, I legitimately had so many questions, but now wasn’t the time. Gaster had said he would spill everything that had happened; I just had to be patient. Which was clearly a strong character trait of mine. Along with delusion.

When he finally reached the part of the library east of the main entrance, he started to search through what looked like badly dented storage cupboards. I spent the time waiting for him, filling Sam in on everything she hadn’t understood because she didn’t speak demi-fae.

Like a normal shifter.

By the time Gaster finally emerged, with long sheets of white material that he helped us fashion into makeshift togas, my friend was completely up to date. And then, when our naked parts were clothed, Gaster led us to one of the very few spots not covered in devastation, gesturing for us to sit.

“I’ll translate,” I told Sam.

She nodded, looking like a toga-clad goddess. Pretty sure Sam could wear a potato sack and still be gorgeous. “I can wait until the end. I know this is your story and you’ve waited a long time to uncover this truth.”

Technically, it hadn’t been that long, but it felt like a damn eternity.

“Thank you,” I said, before Gaster cleared his throat, stealing all of my attention.

“You arrived here almost two Earth years ago,” he said.

My stomach swirled violently. “Two years?” I repeated, feeling my lips tremble. “When the Torma pack was locked in their stasis?”

Gaster shook his head. “They were in stasis for a few months, that is all. The last two years were normal for them, but clearly, someone has changed the timeline.”

I opened and closed my mouth, no words emerging, because I was too stunned to form coherent thoughts, let alone speech. All of the packs had remembered this new version of the timeline, none of them questioning the small inconsistencies. How was the being who did this powerful enough to change the minds of tens of thousands of shifters?

Sam reacted to the devastation on my face, inching closer to wrap her arm around me. “What did he say?” she bit out. “Are you okay?”

I shook my head, swallowing roughly. “No, I’m really not okay. He told me I arrived here two years ago, and there was no long-term stasis with Torma. Which all boils down to the fact that I’m not missing two months of memories… I’m missing two years.”

Her brow furrowed as she stared at me. “You know,” she said slowly. “I have the memories of Torma being locked down, but a part of me also remembers applying to them during what should have been the stasis. Applying and getting rejected.”

There were many holes in this entire fucking situation, but Sam, like all the others, had just brushed off her confusion. I was the only one who couldn’t stop picking.

“You were brought here by our master, the Shadow Beast,” Gaster continued, bringing my scattered attention back to him.

“The Shadow Beast?” I confirmed, once again parroting him in shock.

A flutter hit me hard in my chest, and it was different to the one I’d felt in Torma. My palm was itching again too, stronger than ever, and in the same moment, my wolf surged to the surface, almost forcing me to shift.

Somehow I managed to wrest her back because we had to stay in this form to ask our questions. “I know the Shadow Beast?”

Gaster nodded. “Oh, yes, very well. You’re friends. Maybe more than friends, I think, even though I wasn’t really privy to the inner workings of your relationship. But I never saw him treat anyone the way he treated you. You’re special, Mera. You changed the beast for the better, and for a powerful being who has spent two thousand years ruling with fear and control, that means something.”

None of this felt real, and yet… I believed him. I felt it deep in my chest, where a huge, gaping hole existed. A hole that Torin had tried to fill, but he’d been a poor substitute for what I’d truly lost.

A mate.

“Shadow.” I tested the name on my tongue, and Inky responded by wrapping around me.

“You called him that,” Gaster said with excitement. “Are you starting to remember?”

I shook my head. “Not really, but it’s familiar. Whatever spell was placed on me, it’s designed to cause me pain whenever I push at its barrier. I have to figure out a way to break through so the memories return. Whoever created this spell, they hoped I would just settle into my new life and never question the plot holes, so to speak.”

Gaster’s laughter rasped out of him again. “They don’t know you at all. You’re forever questioning everything. It’s part of your appeal.”

At this point, I wanted to hug this little guy, but I refrained, just in case it was offensive here.

“So how did my memories get taken? And what happened to the library?”

This was when he sobered, the odd laughter that I already enjoyed hearing disappearing as quickly as his smile. “You had a powerful spell placed on you,” he said, his eyes lowering. “From what I observed, almost everyone who was outside of the library at the time of placing was affected by the spell. Those of us inside these walls were somewhat protected.”

I nodded, encouraging him to continue, even as dread built within me.

“Shadow was outside the library,” he said in a rush, “and even though he was spelled to forget you, he knew something was wrong. When he returned to the library, he was more beast than I’ve ever seen him be. He lost control, destroying the library and Solaris System. He didn’t know what he was looking for, but he knew something important had been stolen from him. He…” Gaster shook his head. “It was catastrophic, and I have no idea who survived the fallout. Everyone is gone, as you can see, and the doorways have been destroyed. Along with any means to get help from the outside world.”

“What is the Solaris System?”

At this point, I’d given up repeating for Sam, but she was good to her word, waiting patiently.

“It was a network of doorways connected to this library.” He waved his hand, letting out a long breath. A sad breath. “This was one of the most beautiful and complete knowledge portals in all the worlds. Knowledge that will now be lost for eternity.”

Okay, if he cried, I would cry because this was heartbreaking.

“There were ten doors, each leading to a different world in our system of worlds. Including my home world of Faerie.”

He repeated a bunch of other names, including Valdor, where vampires of all fucking things lived, and the Shadow Realm, which was where he said I’d been when everyone’s memories had been wiped.

“Was Simone here in the library?” I asked, because that was what made sense with everything else I’d learned.

Gaster nodded, sitting straighter. “She was! She was here when Master Shadow released his beast, and I have no idea what happened after that.”

My heart thumped loudly, and I pressed a hand to my chest to try to keep it together.

“She’s alive,” I decided, still refusing to accept any other possibility.

He nodded. “There’s every chance she made it out alive. Many escaped through the doors before they were ripped away. And she was with Lucien, the Master Vampire of Valdor. If he could have saved her, he would have.”

Tucking my trembling hands under my legs, I fought through the panic. I had no idea what I’d expected to find when I’d started out on this journey. As always, I’d taken it one step at a time, dealing with the information as it came to me, but seriously… Seriously!

This was so much more than any shifters should be expected to accept. “Is there any way to return my memories?” I asked, figuring that would fill in all the blank spots and hopefully remove the low level of panic flooding my veins.

“A very powerful being has cursed you,” Gaster said, leaning in to examine me closely. I prepared myself for the bad news. “And, while it won’t be easy to break through the multiple crisscrossing lines of their power, there might be a way. It’s just…” He trailed off ominously.

“What? I’ll do anything.”

Crisscrossing lines? That had to be the wall of sunlight and moon beams I’d seen in my head when I’d been fighting against the memory spell.

“To break this spell, you have to break as well,” he said, ripping the Band-Aid off in one swift yank. “The spell has had enough time to infiltrate into your true self, and to remove it…” No one needed him to finish that sentence.

It really didn’t matter to me. Whatever the consequences, I’d take them. “I can’t live like this anymore, Gaster,” I told him, having no doubts. “Missing all of my memories and life-changing experiences. It’s worth the risk.”

Gaster nodded, and I loved that he didn’t bother to argue with me.

I might not be strong enough, but at least he was giving me a chance.

Sometimes a chance was all anyone ever needed.