Reborn (Shadow Beast Shifters Book 3)

The jungle was surprisingly quiet. I’d never been to the Amazon, or to any place with more forests than Torma, but even in the sparse sections of land back home, there had been a lot of wildlife.

Here there was nothing. The silence itself somehow deepening the farther we traversed, and despite the many unanswered questions still running through my head, I didn’t voice them.

It felt wrong to speak.

“Angel likes silence,” Shadow reminded me when we’d been walking for half an hour without saying a word. Clearly, he had no issue breaking through the energy she had over her land to keep it quiet. “She’s designed this part of her territory to be a tranquil oasis, an escape from the rest of the worlds.”

“I feel it.”

The layers of Angel were definitely reflected in the layers of this world she’d built here. Maybe one day my power would create the perfect world for me… Then again, maybe it was already there, in the Library of Knowledge and the lair, both of which I loved.

“We’re finally getting somewhere,” Shadow said. “Her true presence is stronger here than anywhere else we’ve been so far.”

I pressed a hand to my chest again as the flutter kicked harder than ever. Following this was a strong burst of emotion. Rage first, and then the tiniest spike of panic. Angel had just realized there were strangers in her midst, strangers with strong powers, and she had no idea how that had happened.

I felt her energy searching through ours, cataloguing the threat, and when she paused on Shadow, there was confusion and curiosity. Shadow, she remembered, but no doubt she was wondering what the hell he was doing here.

Angel appeared a moment later, dressed for battle, in black molded armor that closely followed the lines of her body. The dark outfit blended beautifully into the mahogany of her hair and amber in her wings. No being had ever looked more like an angelic celestial than my Honor Meadows best friend. Hence the nickname.

“Shadow Beast,” she snarled, marching forward. “How dare you enter my domain without my permission? How did you even get around the securities? I didn’t feel you until you were almost upon me.”

Instead of attacking first, she was smart enough to ferret out the breach in her security so she could ensure it never happened again. Meanwhile, I was fighting the urge to run forward and wrap my arms around her. I’d missed her so much, and even as I pressed a hand to my chest, I couldn’t stop the huge swell of power beating at me like a drum, right in the spot she’d first touched me to bond us.

Her gaze jerked to mine, boring into me as she too pressed a hand to her chest. We examined each other, and while it was clear she had no memory of me, she felt the connection.

“What is happening?” she snapped, stepping closer. The curved blades appeared in her hands, making it clear that she was more than a little threatened by our presence. We’d invaded her tranquility. Her peace. We’d stepped foot where I would hazard a guess no other had since her family died.

And while she might have learned to trust Shadow during her time bonded to me, that time was no longer in her memory. “Can you break through Dannie’s spell on her?” I whispered to Shadow.

He shook his head. “Not from this distance. She’s too powerful here in her dominion.”

“Speak up!” she commanded, the air crashing around us in tune to her voice. “Or I will attack, and even the Shadow Beast cannot stand against me here, surrounded by the power of my family.”

His eyes met mine. “It would be close,” he admitted reluctantly. Which in and of itself told me everything. My girl was a total badass.

I stepped forward to draw her attention while remaining near Shadow because there was no way he’d let me out of his protective circle. “You don’t remember me,” I said, projecting my voice, “because our memories were manipulated by a powerful goddess, but I’m Mera Callahan. I’m a wolf shifter slash goddess of the Nexus. And you and I are bonded because we’re family. Treasora.”

She paled, her hands trembling until her blades visibly shook. “You lie.”

I smiled sadly, hating this distance between us. “You feel our bond. It has been calling to me for weeks. Even when I’d forgotten everything about you and this world, the flutters in my chest never stopped.”

Her head jerked as she shook it, like she was trying to clear her thoughts. “I’m too powerful for any to touch my mind. I protect that above all else. And I would never have bonded to one not from my world. We are warne—”

“Warned against it,” I finished for her. “Yeah, I know. But you trust me. You didn’t want your family line of power to die with you, though if I have anything to say about it, you’ll be outliving me anyway, so it’s a moot point.”

Shadow’s pissed-off grumble from behind broke through, but we ignored him.

“Angel,” I said, allowing her name to drift across in a whisper. “I call you ‘Angel’ because you’re the most beautiful, angelic being I’ve ever seen. You remind me of Earth’s version of a guardian angel, and I know your family filled that role in the past.”

Her eyes widened, and I had all of her attention now.

“If you allow me to touch you, I can release your memories,” Shadow said.

She snarled again, any sliver of trust that had been building gone in a flash. “You would touch me to steal my power. Or plant the very memories you want me to have. The odds of me allowing you to ever touch me are zero.”

“Great work,” I muttered to the beast, wanting to sigh at the backward steps we’d just taken.

“I don’t need her damn power,” Shadow rumbled. “Since I returned to the realm and bonded to my stone, I’m stronger than I’ve ever been, and if Angel removed her head from her ass for five minutes, she’d see that.”

And there he was, my Shadow Beast, nailing people skills since the dinosaur days.

Thankfully, Angel, who was also ancient, took a moment to consider his words and examine his power. When her eyes closed, I knew she was assessing the truth of what he’d said. An increase in power was a tangible measurement, giving our story some credibility.

“You are stronger,” she said, her gaze once again on us. Her expression remained wary, but there was curiosity there as well. Angel was ancient and world-weary, and more than a little broken, but deep inside, there was just a being who loved fiercely and deserved the same in return.

If she took the risk here, she would discover the inbuilt family she had in us. Her treasora.

Her family.

As that word shimmered in the air between us, she locked me in those depthless eyes. “Did you just speak in my mind?” she asked.

I shook my head. “We’re bonded, and while I can’t speak in your mind, sometimes the emotions or words cross through our connection.”

Her denial of our bond didn’t emerge this time. “I know you,” she whispered. “I’ve been feeling so lost, in a way that I haven’t felt since my family perished in the final battle of the meadows. I couldn’t understand why, after all of these centuries, I was back in the pit of despair. What could I have lost again when I had nothing left of any value?”

Her words cracked me open and left me bleeding, tears falling down my cheeks as she spun her tale of hurt and loss and emptiness.

“Mera was who you lost,” Shadow said bluntly. “We all lost her, and apparently, she’s the humanity that holds us all together.”

Before he even finished that somewhat sweet statement, Angel leapt forward. I expected Shadow to react defensively; it was his nature, after all, especially when she was still armed. He didn’t move, though, and I remembered his earlier words about her never hurting me. He obviously had faith in that, and I did as well because I didn’t even flinch when her blades glided up to rest against my throat.

Shadow’s chest rumbled, but he remained where he was. The only thing saving Angel in this moment was the lack of aggression in her face. “I’m going to touch you now,” she said softly. “If I feel even the slightest tingle of Shadow’s energy near my own, I’ll end both your lives.”

Shadow added a scoff to his rumbling, which Angel ignored, focusing on me. With one blade remaining at my throat, the other faded into nothing so she could press that free hand against my chest.

The moment our skin connected, there was a burst of power that flowed between us. The past, present, and future that had been stolen by Dannie tumbled around like weeds in a swift wind until both of us were swimming in our bond.

Angel gasped, a choked and shattered sound. The other blade faded out in the next second as she wrapped her arms tightly around me. Just like with Shadow, the rare hugs I got from these god-like creatures were treasured above any power or gold. They made me feel safe, and loved, and strong; they made me feel like I had a family.

“Dannie is going to die,” Angel said hoarsely, and fiercely. “She stole from the wrong beings, and I don’t care whom she calls brethren—her blood will spill.”

Her rage was tangible, tasting like bitter oranges on my tongue. And while no one argued with her, a part of me still hoped our original plan would work, and that there was a chance to save the Danamain.