Compelled (Shadow Beast Shifters Book 5)

Lucien relaxed as my body grew larger behind him, the hybrid energy unmistakable in the air. When I stepped into the open, there was an extended moment of silence as they all stared. “Gonna make a girl feel insecure here,” I rasped in my wolfish voice, and Len dropped the crystal he had been shifting through his fingers. It comedically clanked on the stone floor, rolling across to almost land at my furred foot.

A snort of laughter escaped Lucien, and that appeared to break the tension. “Simone has evolved into a true hybrid, and she’s fucking spectacular.”

His tone, once again, had me wanting to ditch the fur and drag him out of here.

Maybe I was the Neanderthal after all.

Shadow approached me, and this time Lucien allowed it. “This is like Mera’s new shape,” he said, shaking his head. “I wish I’d thought to make wolves as strong and perfect as Simone is right now.”

Wow! Was the all-powerful beast admitting that maybe he could have done it better?

Speaking of…

“I found out some information about your shifters,” I rumbled. “Turns out, when you were intoxicated and making a bet, you kind of drew on power you weren’t supposed to. Apparently, you’re the prime example of just because you can, doesn’t mean you should.”

He stopped examining my new form. “Explain,” he said shortly.

“When the stone of Katu detonated, I died,” I told them. I felt Lucien vamp out and grow larger, and his arms banded around me as he yanked me back against his chest.

“What?” he raged. “You died?”

He wasn’t the only one; the others reacted violently with growls and furious expressions. It made me feel as if Lucien and Mera wouldn’t have been the only ones to mourn my loss. This whole “having a family” thing was going to be my undoing. In the best way.

“The blast tore almost all of my soul from this world, and I ended up in limbo. Apparently, my desire to stay with Lucien was strong enough to keep a small sliver grounded. Being in limbo meant that I could choose—to go on into the afterlife or return to Earth.”

“What was limbo like?” Len asked, his eyes glowing near silver as he watched me closely.

I swallowed roughly; even in my wolf form, my chest tightened at the memories. “Painful. Really fucking painful. It was like I had to heal the broken and burned parts of my body while I was making my decision. But there was a voice; he said he was one of the original gods known by many faces and names. He told me he’s in charge of the pool of souls that have made the decision to be reborn. It was from this pool that Shadow pulled all the souls of his shifters when he created them. It means, even when we’re born from other shifters, our souls are all from that pool.”

Shadow’s face turned as shadowy as his name, and I could see the tension in his rigid jaw.

“All of the shifters are recycled souls from the many worlds. And my soul was originally a vampire.” I paused, not wanting to say it but needing to. “And it was originally in Carter’s mate.”

A burst of flame escaped Shadow, and I whipped around to find that Carter’s head and body were on fire. When I returned my gaze to Shadow, there was a slight smirk on his lips. “Whoops,” he said, and I couldn’t stop the weird wolf-laughter from shaking my body, even as Lucien continued to hold me.

“I think you’ve been spending too much time with Mera,” I choked out.

Lucien rumbled. “Should have been me destroying him. That bastard never deserved your soul, in this life or previous ones. Hopefully, this time, he stays fucking dead.”

I nodded. “My hope too, but at least now we know why I always felt so at home in Valdor, and why you’re my blood call mate. Your blood and soul call to mine, and I think it always would have.” I let out low breath. “Shadow bringing my soul back into this world righted a wrong. Carter should never have been my mate. Never.”

Lucien’s hold tightened, and I could sense he was nearing the end of his patience.

I’d just dropped a lot of information on him, including the fact that I’d almost died, and I didn’t even have to ask to know he was ready to cement our bond. I wasn’t sure how that happened, exactly, and I didn’t care. Whatever it took, it would be worth it for a true blood call bond.

“I’m shifting back now,” I warned them, and to their credit, they turned their backs and gave me a moment. Not that I cared about nudity, but the possessive, growling vamp I was in love with cared an awful lot.

When the wolf faded from my skin, my body was shorter and less muscled again. Lucien pulled off his shirt and draped it gently over my head. It ended up mid-thigh on me since he was such a giant, but he was satisfied by this.

“She’s covered,” he told his friends. “Now, I need to take my mate and finish our bonding process.”

The guys stepped forward one by one and slapped a hand on his shoulder before dropping a kiss on my cheek. “I’m so fucking happy for you,” Len said, the last to hug me. “Seeing my brother so complete… There’s hope for all of us.”

I nodded. “Yes, there’s so much hope, Len. I feel it. And now that we know shifter souls have been pulled from all the different races, maybe your mate is on Earth. Remember that call you felt…”

He blinked at me like that thought hadn’t remotely occurred to him until this second, but I’d never forgotten Shadow’s words about seeing our paths intertwining. We had to start paying attention to the clues the universe was giving us. “I will consider your words,” Len said to me with a nod. “Thank you.”

“Thank you for showing up,” Lucien told all the guys as they moved to exit the stone room. “We’ll see you in the library soon.”

Shadow turned back. “When you’re ready, meet us there for the naming ceremony. My baby girl deserves to be honored with an official name.”

“We wouldn’t miss it,” I said, choking up a little. “I can’t wait to learn her name.”

They left then, and it was only Lucien and me in the cave room. I didn’t care much about the place Carter had brought me to, my focus all on my mate as he lifted me into his arms. “I know you’re strong and fast enough to keep up with me,” he murmured, mouth pressing against my throat like he was tasting the pulse of blood there. “You couldn’t have killed an ancient master like Carter if you were anything less than master level yourself. But I need to hold you.”

I wrapped my arms around his neck and my legs around his waist, feeling the ache in my center as I pressed against him. “Run, Crimson. Run as fast as your powerful thighs can go because I need y—” He kissed me before I could finish, and then we were moving, zipping along a very long tunnel.

“These tunnels run all throughout Valdor,” he managed to say between kisses. “I never knew of their existence, but some of the oldest vampires remembered. Carter was using that to his advantage, thinking I’d never find you with all this stone blocking your blood. Little did he know I would find you any-fucking-where in the multiple worlds.”

“I never doubted it,” I whispered, pressing my face into his neck and breathing him in. “I never doubted my choice to return to Valdor. To return to you.”

My fangs and canines elongated as I drank in the scent of his lifeforce, and Lucien’s pace picked up. “If you feed now,” he rasped, “we won’t make it to a bed.”

“Fine by me,” I murmured. I sank my hybrid fangs into his throat, moaning at the first hit of his blood. Still like a damn drug, and I still gave zero fucks that I was hooked for life. This was how it was meant to be, and fighting it had done nothing except make us both miserable.

Lucien slowed before grinding to a halt, holding me as I fed. When I lifted my head and licked along the small marks, it was his turn. “There’s no trace of Carter in my blood,” I told him. “I burned through it in my rebirth and spat out the extra drops he tried to taint me with. It’s only me and you.”

Lucien’s fans sank into my throat, and as he did, he thrust inside me. My nakedness under the shirt gave him all the access he needed. Somehow his cock was free, too, and filling me completely. Even as wet as I was, there was some resistance, but soon, I was feeding and fucking him so hard that all I could hear was the slapping sounds of my wetness, which only increased as I orgasmed, once and then again, and he didn’t stop, lost in the moment and the blood and the healing.

We were alive. We were together.

It was a future that I’d only ever dreamed of, and now it was a reality.