Reborn (Shadow Beast Shifters Book 3)

We were on a countdown clock, and since I wasn’t too keen on Dannie busting out of her prison before I found the creatures and could wrest control of them back to me, I moved forward with a laser focus.

Shadow, true to his word, remained as a giant ball of fun at my side, silent and deadly, his attention on what lay ahead as well. The fact that he would soon take part in destroying his mother was not an ideal situation, but he would not hesitate or shirk his duties. He never had.

“Can you feel them?” he asked as we got closer to the castle entrance.

I hadn’t been inside this part of his home before, and I was curious to see what was on the other side. “I feel something. There’s a huge gathering of energy behind here,” I said as we paused at the massive entrance doors. They looked to be barred on our side with long, metal planks, and I wondered if the other side was the same, or if Dannie had just done this to tie the creatures in.

Shadow flicked his hands and the planks, which no doubt weighed a damn ton each, were jerked out of their cross-barred placement and flung into the fire-razed land behind us.

The doors opened easily, making it clear that the intention had been to lock them in, not keep someone out. Definitely the work of a Danamain.

When it was open, we stepped into a dark, dank room.

My eyes adjusted fast, but with the persistent low light of the realm now, there wasn’t a whole lot of free natural light to pick up the smaller details. To counter that, Shadow’s flames lit up, and I did the same. When it came to Dannie, it was safer to be totally sure we weren’t walking into any traps.

As soon as we had light, it was immediately obvious where the damp smell in this room came from. The front entrance was coated in what looked like moss, grey and brown moss that had grown across the walls and furniture before dripping down to coat the windows that lined this front entryway.

“Don’t let it touch you,” Shadow warned, his voice an annoyed snap. “It’s a lot like the tar that almost killed you last time we were in the realm. Only this is worse. The porous underside of this creature is filled with razor-sharp needles that dig into your skin to suck your energy out.”

“It shouldn’t infiltrate my skin now,” I reminded him, while still sidling closer because the thought of being coated in a layer of bitey moss… Yeah, no thanks.

“No risks, Sunshine. No more damn risks.”

I nodded because it was a good plan.

As we walked through slowly, I was relieved to see that the moss was wary of our fire and didn’t venture closer. It slid across the walls, showing just how quick it could move to attack any normal being entering or leaving this castle. A second layer of defense, in Dannie’s insane plan.

“She must have had a reason to keep the creatures locked in here,” I said softly, finally breathing freely once we’d made it past the entrance. “Something to do with her plan once she had the Nexus complete.”

“No doubt they would form part of her new world,” he said shortly, before focusing on the next obstacle in our way.

I did the same, eyeing the window-lined hall, which was clearly a thoroughfare into the rest of the castle. It looked fairly innocuous when we first stared down it, right up until Shadow sent a small ball of power along it and a bunch of arrows fired in unison.

“What the fuck?” I exclaimed, shaking my head. “This is due to all the times Dannie made me watch Indiana Jones. She loved the ancient booby traps.” The bitch had created her own pyramid of disasters to keep her prisoners in their cage. It was fitting that she herself was also in a cage.

Shadow wasn’t worried about this hall, his power shielding us as we walked along. This particular set of traps was definitely geared toward regular inhabitants of the realm, not those of us who were a touch more powerful.

“This is really not as impressive an Indian Jones adventure as I expected,” I grumbled to Shadow as we made it through the hall. “Just… moss and arrows. Not very inventive.”

His chuckle was low. “One day, in the very near future,” he said, his deep voice a caress on my senses, “you and I will spend a week in bed, where I destroy your body, and in between, you can let me be part of this world of movies you enjoy. Like Indiana Jones.”

I coughed. “I legitimately heard nothing after the destroying my body part, but it doesn’t even matter what you said. My answer is yes. Always yes.”

“Now you’re getting it, Sunshine,” he said with a small smile.

Shaking my head to clear the lust from it, I focused again on what was awaiting us next, but it appeared that Dannie had run out of boring ideas after the first two.

The next room was an outdoor courtyard. In my head I was arranging the castle layout, seeing that the outer thoroughfare of a hall led around the outside, while at the center was this large, open space with no roof and plenty of room for recreational activities.

This was the gathering point for all who made their home here. Market stalls and socialization and parties. Made sense that this was where we’d find them—not just my creatures, but thousands of royals and freilds and other inhabitants.

I blinked at the sight, not expecting to see so many Shadow Realm beings here. And clearly, they returned the sentiment, gaping at the two fire-coated weirdos who had wandered into the middle of them.

The murmurs were immediate, and I noted how bedraggled they all looked. Thin, dirty, and more than a little broken. Dannie hadn’t killed them yet, but she also hadn’t treated them like anything other than trash waiting to be tossed to the dump.

“We have to help them,” I whispered to Shadow, barely able to look at their poor faces, terrified but also resigned. They were preparing for the worst.

“Yes,” he snapped, seemingly unable to get more words out through his anger. At least until he said, “Are your creatures here as well?”

“I don’t actually know. I feel their energ—” I didn’t get to finish my sentence because that was the moment they crept into view. Maybe I’d somehow called them with those words, or maybe they’d just been slower to appear, but as the hundreds of shadow creatures made their presence known, my power exploded.

I hadn’t done anything to initiate the explosion, the power reacting of its own accord, in a similar way to how my wolf used to occasionally burst free from my skin. This time, it was the change, washing over me so I went from human-looking Mera to phoenix wolf Mera in a heartbeat, flaming wings and all.

Shadow’s chest rumbled, his energy reacting too, as he shifted into his Anubis form, flames still surrounding us both. Our clothing was destroyed again, the energy of our shift always leaving us naked, but in this form the extra hair covered us.

There was a beat of stunned silence, and then the royals rushed forward, bowing and chanting at us. They called us “Nexus gods” and offered up every sacrifice one could think of in worship. I had no idea what I was going to do with fourteen thousand barrels of “gre gre,” or what gre gre even was, but apparently, I was going to have more than enough of this unknown item coming my way soon.

As immensely uncomfortable as this entire situation made me, I didn’t belittle their actions or beliefs in any way, nodding and thanking them before focusing my attention on my creatures.

My wings spread out farther, the flames shooting into the air behind me as I stepped forward. Thankfully, everyone got out of my way so I didn’t have to stress about accidentally burning a royal.

Come to me.

I called the creatures, as I had so many other times. The ones who had been visible stepped forward… followed by so many others. The hundreds quickly turned into thousands, all of whom must have been squished in the very back of this deceptively huge courtyard.

I opened my arms, and even though there was absolutely no way for me to reach around the group, my power didn’t have the same limitations. It crashed over them all, like a wave, and as it touched their essence, my bonds to them clicked into place.

Like a mother with her children, I offered them love and comfort and the promise that while I was alive, I would do everything in my power to protect them. My creatures had not had that for a very long time. Dannie had lost her way years before I’d been born—probably around the time she’d broken the rules and fallen in love with a royal. For that, though, I could never be upset with her. She’d given me Shadow, and without him, there’d be no me.

I’d give her a pass on that falling in love part… the rest, though, she’d have to answer for. “I’m going to take you somewhere safe,” I told them in a whisper of power. The creatures brayed and called and bellowed out into the world, finally showing life and excitement and their animalistic nature.

“You’re taking them to the outlier island?” Shadow asked in his deep Anubis voice.

I nodded. “Yes, it is best to leave them there while we have to fight Dannie.”

Shadow moved forward as if to open a doorway, but I stopped him with a hand on his arm. “I don’t want you to expend any more energy,” I said quickly. “Do you think I can attempt to open it?”

My well of power inside was raging like a storm. Overflowing, overwhelming, especially in this current form I was rocking, as a giant wolf-bird. This version of me was so much stronger than I’d ever been. Torma would not have had it so easy beating the fuck out of me if I’d been able to access this form back then.

I had a thought. “Are my scars gone?” I asked Shadow. “Did you notice?”

“I notice everything about you,” he said shortly, “and yes, your skin is unmarked from your shifter life.”

An odd feeling filtered through with that knowledge. I wasn’t sure how I felt about my “clean slate.” My scars were part of who I was, memories of what I’d survived, and knowing they were gone now settled uneasily within me. It seemed rebirth always had consequences.

Shadow brushed a hand over my cheek, bringing me back to him. “Your strength will never fade. You don’t need the scars for everyone to know you survived—not just survived, but flourished.”

I let out a deep breath. “You’re right. I know my truth, and that’s all that really matters.”

Shadow looked like he wanted to drag me up his body and remind me that he also knew my truth, and every other part of me, but somehow, he refrained. “You can open the doorway, Sunshine,” he said, keeping that enigmatic gaze locked on me. “There’s nothing you can’t do.”

He had faith in me. Far more than I probably deserved, but it was the confidence boost I needed to close my eyes and reach for a doorway to the island we’d been on. I pictured it in my mind, threw some power at it in the hopes that would work, and when I opened my eyes again, there was a swirling portal. Well, fuck. It seemed my new energy was going to baby me through these early skills, filling in the blanks itself when I fell short on knowledge.

It was a nice change from my usual bumbling through life approach.

“I need to check with the locals first,” I said to Shadow, moving closer to my portal. He stayed right on my ass so we stepped through together.

The locals appeared in an instant, bowing down to us. “We need your help,” I said softly, having no time to sugarcoat it. “We have many creatures, royals and freilds. Not to mention other realm inhabitants who need somewhere safe to stay while we fight the final battle. Will you take them in?”

No one answered for a beat, and I wondered if they were going to refuse us. I wouldn’t blame them after the way the royals had treated them, but it would make the situation a touch harder.

A being with the greenest skin I’d seen so far stepped forward. “We will. We’ve never been their enemy, even if we chose to live a different way of life. If they can accept that way here, they are welcome to stay as long as they need.”

Relief and gratefulness for their gracious attitude had my voice wavering. “I will let them know, and thank you.”

We moved back to our portal, which remained strong and unwavering. I felt no strain in my power from what I’d done, and I had the sense that I could leave the portal there forever and it wouldn’t overtly affect me. It was damn impressive, but there was no time to give myself a pat on the back. I had to get my creatures and all the others to safety.

I called the shadow creatures through first, and they were somewhat orderly as they journeyed from the royal compound into the island. All too soon, they filled that field the original creatures had gone into, but the locals found more space for them, looking absolutely delighted by all their new friends.

“Which outlier is this?” I asked Shadow, having wondered but not asked until now.

Shadow took a second to look around again, like he’d not even given it a second thought until I asked. “I aimed for the largest that was away from Trinity,” he said, his brow wrinkled. “Samsan Grove, possibly.”

In the great scheme it really didn’t matter, as long as it wasn’t the mainland, where Dannie would focus her attack first. But it felt a little more respectful to at least acknowledge the name of the locals who were assisting us.

The ones who had given us a shot at taking down the most powerful goddess to walk the worlds.

Samsan Grove had shifted the odds in our favor, and now it was time for us to do them proud.