Compelled (Shadow Beast Shifters Book 5)

Lucien

Whenever the darkest recesses of my vampire soul took control, I saw only in shades of grey, with no bright colors penetrating the darkness. Before I’d met Simone, it had happened maybe a dozen times over the centuries, but since she’d come into my life, there’d been no control.

She released the primal beast in my soul, and the oddest part was that when I vamped out around her, she was always in color.

A crimson red highlighted her eyes and lips, with her hair an even deeper shade of red.

If I hadn’t had centuries of dealing with my baser urges, I wouldn’t have been able to stop myself from capturing her and stealing her away the very first moment I saw her.

The first moment I scented her blood.

But she’d been an innocent—a shifter who knew nothing of the vampire world. And it was safer for everyone to keep her away. So, I’d left and avoided her, done everything I could to keep her alive. And then she’d ended up in Valdor anyway.

Leaving her in my compound had done nothing to dull her pull. Every damn time I closed my eyes, she was there. If I breathed deeply enough, I could smell her flower and aniseed scent in every part of the city.

She was in my blood long before I’d tasted hers.

My determination to remain without the burden of a true mate bond had almost cost me the ultimate peace. The ultimate pleasure. The ultimate joy.

Simone was too good for me, her kindness and empathy beyond my understanding, since I’d long stopped giving a shit about anything other than my brothers and my enclave. But somehow, she made me a better vampire.

A stronger one.

One willing to fight for a chance at true happiness.

A chance to give her the life she deserved.

As she touched the Stone of Katu for the final time, I was mesmerized by the pink in her cheeks shining brightly. It was the sort of pink I liked to see when my mouth was on her body. My fangs inside her.

I’d spent centuries refusing to let another feed from me, but I’d been compelled to give her my life force that night in the chambers when she’d been near death.

I refused to let her die, and now I knew why.

True mate. She was my blood call mate, and I intended to complete the ritual as soon as we were done with the stone’s blessing today.

The light grew stronger around her as the stone accepted her touch, and it was only when the scent of her blood hit me that I realized something was wrong. She pulled her wide eyes from mine, glancing toward her hand, and I was already on my feet moving forward.

In that moment, the light turned blinding as heat filled the room.

My vision darkened as I growled at Carter, knowing what that bastard had done. As soon as I saved my mate, he was fucking dead.

Only a few masters knew that the Stone of Katu was more than just a gift for blessings—it had a double purpose. The core was infused with a swirling well of energy that could be turned into a weapon if needed. The triggers to initiate it were not complicated, but since it required the blood of an ancient tier one master, it also wasn’t easy.

Carter knew Simone was feeding from me, and he’d used my blood inside her to trigger the heat-filled center. He must have had one of the other selected add some sort of point to break Simone’s skin when she touched the side.

Screams filled the hall as the other masters sensed the danger, and I was sure they were taking off, but I couldn’t see a damn thing through the blinding light. As I fought against it, it burned my skin in an attempt to hold me away.

I pushed forward to get my mate.

I had to be there to protect her. To stand between her and the blast.

“Simone!” I bellowed, rage growing inside of me fueled by pure fear.

My Bee wasn’t a full vampire—she would not survive a direct blast of the stone’s energy.

Through the light, I caught a glimpse of her terrified face. She opened her mouth, and even though I couldn’t hear her, I read her lips. “I love y—”

The explosion ripped through the space a second later, and I roared, throwing up shields. I was grateful to be powerful enough not to be taken down, because I had to save Simone.

The fire raged on, burning me, while my energy repaired the damage just as quickly. I had to hope that my blood was doing the same for Simone—keeping her alive until I could get to her through the light and chaos.

No part of me would accept that Simone was gone.

My bloodline was the most powerful in Valdor, and it would give Simone a fighting chance.

When I finally reached the stone, I searched for her body, only to find a trail of blood where she had been. Whoever had taken her had come from the far end of the room, away from the blast radius.

The Stone of Katu was still mostly standing, with only a small exit wound where the energy had emerged. Punching out, I smashed my fist into the stone, sending it crashing to the floor and shattering into a million pieces. This blessed and sacred stone had taken my mate from me, and I felt nothing of its destruction.

Pocketing some pieces in case they came in handy later, I zipped around the room and checked who was still here. Carter was the only one missing, which all but confirmed my suspicion that he’d planned the entire thing.

He’d had help, though, and I would kill everyone who’d assisted him.

Shadow came into my vision, his energy raging. Behind him was Mera, her fear tingling across my tongue. “Lucien,” Shadow roared in his beast form. “Where is Simone?”

“Carter took her,” I rasped, voice filled with sharp edges and broken pieces. This was what I’d feared about having a mate, but I still wouldn’t change my decision for anything in the worlds. I would get her back and destroy every fuck who’d touched her.

“I need to find and kill him,” I continued. “Him and anyone who helped him with this.”

Shadow nodded before turning to Mera.

“Is Simone alive?” she shouted, and whether she was talking to me or Shadow, he was the one that answered.

“She’s gone from my vision,” he said softly. “But there’s always a chance to save her. We just have to find her first.”

Gone from my vision.

Shadow was her creator, and he could feel all his shifters.

Even with the vampire blood, that shouldn’t have taken away his ability to track her. “She’s alive,” I bit out. “She has to be.”

If she wasn’t, I would walk into the fucking underworld to get her back.

Without my mate, the world was darkness, and I would be as well.

“We have to search for her,” Shadow said to Mera. “While we do, can you go back to the library and rally the others? We might need all of them.”

Mera made a raging sound as flames burst from her, grey in my vision. “Find her, Shadow. I don’t care what you have to do or how many worlds you rip apart.”

My fangs lengthened, and as Donovan came up to me, shouting about the stone, my hand shot out and closed around his throat. “You’re the reason Simone was here in the first place,” I rumbled. “You took Carter’s side and then you took Hattie’s. You’ve almost been the cause of my mate’s death twice now.”

Before he could say a word, I flexed my fingers and sent out a burst of energy, severing his head in a way that not even a vampire could recover from. Uncaring, I dropped Donovan at my feet, stepping over him like he was mere debris from the blast.

Mera hugged her child to her chest as she shot me a twisted smile. “Now take that level of brutal and unleash it on this fucking world until you find my sister.”

“I’m finding my mate,” I rumbled. “Any that stand in my way will die.”

There was no mercy in my soul. No give or understanding.

And that was if Simone was alive.

If she wasn’t, the world would end today.