Rejected (Shadow Beast Shifters Book 1)

The rest of my afternoon—it was afternoon, right?—was spent in Len’s garden. Turned out this was his private land, cultivated over the past thousand years, and no one was allowed to enter without his permission. The plants would literally eat them if they did.

Two sentinels sat at his front entrance. Massive flowers with a huge opening in the center, their pistils basically a full row of razor-sharp teeth. They reminded me of jacked-up, ogre versions of the Venus Fly Trap, and apparently, if they snatched you up into their huge mouths, you were done for. Not even Len could release you before they’d crush your body.

“But they won’t eat me now?” I asked again for the tenth time when we wandered a little close for my comfort.

“You’ll be fine with me.”

Len’s smile was relaxed, and I would normally take that as a good sign, but I was coming to learn that he didn’t stress about much. A being who was basically immortal, had lived a thousand plus years of life, and was a powerful prince, didn’t worry about killer plants.

Unlike me, who did not want to die via plant mouth. As a virgin, to boot. Like… fuck no.

When I was done with the botanical garden adventure, I stopped walking, and Len looked back with raised eyebrows. “Can I eat food here?” I asked, hungry and irritated that I was being forced into another prison courtesy of Shadow. Whether it was to keep me safe or not, I was a grown-ass shifter and should be consulted before some caveman-fucker dragged me off by my hair.

The least they could do was feed me.

“I’m curious to see how our food affects you,” he finally said, silvery eyes examining my face, like he was searching for a flaw. “But let’s not risk it. I’ll venture back to the library and procure some sustenance.”

Do not roll your eyes at the overly dramatic fae prince. He has plant sentinels.

“I would appreciate that, kind sir.” I half-bowed with a chuckle.

He didn’t laugh as I expected. Instead, his face serious, he stepped toward me and dropped his head down to press a brief kiss to my cheek. When he pulled away, I blinked at how stunning he truly was. The silver shimmer of his magic, the perfect planes of his face, and the charm he exuded with little to no effort made him quite devastating on hormone-riddled females.

“Stay safe, gorgeous,” he said softly. “Don’t touch the plants.”

He moved like one of his leaves, drifting along a brisk wind. In a single graceful leap, he left, and I was alone in this garden of… well, Eden. Killer plants and all.

Tiptoeing my way back to the stone bench that I was almost certain wouldn’t devour me, I decided to wait there to save myself from accidentally being murdered via plant. It was softer than I remembered, and as I stretched out, leaning back on my arms, I closed my eyes and let the warmth of this world embrace me. It was the perfect temperature, not humid or too hot, but like a spring day. As nice as it was, though, there was this undercurrent of magic in the air, and that told me that this climate—just like the plants—wasn’t quite real.

Was all of Faerie like that? A world so infused with magic that the natural aspect was lost to whatever the fae wanted to create? And did it really matter? Humans tried to control their world with technology, most of which didn’t work out too positively, if their general unhappiness was any indication. Maybe the magic in Faerie was more successful with its end results.

The calm of the air had me closing my eyes and stretching out across the platform. I shouldn’t have been tired, but the urge to nap overcame me, and even though it was probably a ploy of this garden so it could consume me, I decided to give in to the temptation and let the haziness wash through me.

Naps were a god’s work. What god, I had no idea, but surely, even Shadow loved to nap. I had to believe that even sociopathic beasts needed downtime too.

For an unknown period of time, I remained in my cozy snooze fest, and it wasn’t until a warm hand pressed to my cheeks that consciousness returned. Still disoriented, I groaned softly as that hand moved along my neck, down the center of my chest, and over the planes of my stomach, stroking the bare skin where my shirt had risen.

Fire burned along with that touch, heating me to my core, and as my back arched, a breathy groan escaped. In the same instant, my brain clicked on to the fact that I was being touched by someone… or something unknown.

My eyes jerked open and in the second it took me to look around, I found I was completely alone. Or… I choked back a gasp as Shadow came into sight. He was nowhere near me, and even as fast as he was, I didn’t think he could have moved that quickly. He was back at the entrance, sheltered between the sentinel plants, his hands pressed to each of their trunks, like he was greeting his favorite puppy.

What was it with those guys treating these plants like favorite pets?

“Shadow,” I called out breathlessly, my body still burning and aching. It felt deprived, like we had gotten so close to the good part just as it had been stolen from us. “What are you doing here?”

With a final pat on the killer plants, he strode toward me. It took him a couple of minutes to reach me, cementing my thoughts that he couldn’t have touched me.

Since he was in his most giant height, I had to crane my neck back to see his face. It felt like weeks since I’d glimpsed his darkly masculine features, and just the sight of his mop of hair and full lips had me getting up to my knees and throwing myself forward toward him.

“I thought you were dead,” I said, my voice husky and muffled as I collided with his chest. “The fire was out.”

Shadow remained statue-still as I held him, and a moment later, sanity caught up to me—I was hugging the fucking Shadow Beast. Just as I went to jerk back, his arms moved, and he enclosed me in a hug.

Wait… what?

My soul screamed as he squeezed me in his firm grip, and I found myself a little choked up. A hug from Shadow was like finding the rarest, most desirable stone in the world, and for the briefest moment, I’d held it in my hand.

He pulled away just as fast, but it had happened, and as my heart pounded against my chest, I knew there was no way I could deny being affected by him. I mean, he’d always been the cause of a raging fire in my body, hormones going buck wild at his mere presence. In the early days, I’d written it off as Shadow being the most badass, sexy ass dude I’d ever seen. I mean, anyone would be into that, but it had been a superficial interest.

What I was feeling right now was more. Deeper.

The hug meant something to me.

How stupid was I to care about a fucking god who could never care about me outside of my usefulness to open the doorway to his realm? Yeah. Super stupid.

Surely, once he went back to being a total asshole—and we all knew he would—I could return him to a place of hate in my heart. That was safer and healthier for everyone involved.

Shadow appeared to be watching me as closely as I was watching him, but hopefully none of my softer feelings for him were showing on my face; he already had too much power over me, based solely on our station in the world. God versus shifter was a no-brainer. Everyone would put their money on Shadow. It was logic.

And the absolute last thing he needed to know was that my emotions were now involved. Emotions made people do stupid shit and sacrifice their morals… I’d never give him that power. Never.

“You noticed the fire was gone from the library?” he asked finally.

“Of course I did,” I exclaimed, ready to jump into this topic. “The lair is positively cold and barren without it.”

My words surprised him, if the slight flare of his pupils followed by those sinful lips pressing together was any indication. “I needed to use it for a spell,” he said, and I paid close attention because when Shadow was in a sharing mood, I learned a lot from him. “The flames will call the shadow creatures to one place, saving me the energy of tracking them individually. Easiest way to minimize the damage.”

Whoopsie. I really had to stop damaging shit. “Why didn’t you use the fire the first time I touched the shadows?”

Enigmatic stare.

Should have guessed that was all I’d get, but this time I didn’t let him get away with it, setting my face and crossing my arms—I was serious about wanting an answer.

Shadow released a breath before he shocked the crap out of me—again—by sitting next to me on the stone ledge. Was this the real Shadow Beast? Should I have been asking him some security questions only he’d know the answer to? Maybe we needed a secret code word, because he was acting way out of character.

“The fire protects my lair when I’m not there,” he said, his accent deeper in his rumbly voice. “I’ve never let it go free, especially in a situation I could handle on my own. This new development is a little more complex, though, and to save time and energy, I decided to break out the big guns.”

“And why are you here and not following up on the fire?” I pushed, hoping his sharing mood would continue.

He focused on me in that disconcerting way of his. “The spell to draw all creatures from the Shadow Realm would affect me as well. It’ll infiltrate almost every world, except for Faerie. Shadows are not welcome here, so here we’ll remain until the spell has run its course.”

A chuckle escaped from me. “Are you telling me that you could have been swept up in the spell as well, even though you cast it?”

His lips tilted up. “Yep. The power of my flames is beyond all others. None are immune, and even though their energy is keyed to my own, I would have not been able to resist their pull.”

Interesting.

“Didn’t know you had any weaknesses when it came to magic,” I said, sounding like I was joking, but it was the truth.

Shadow shook his head. “Everyone and everything in this world has weaknesses. Some have more than others.” I got a pointed look, like he thought I was the most fragile flower in the world. What he had to remember, though, was like this garden, sometimes the most delicate flower had the strongest bite.

“Do you have a lot of weaknesses?”

He laughed, a throaty sound that genuinely seemed amused. “You’re refreshing in your directness.”

I’d never been called “refreshing” before, and he didn’t say it like a compliment, but coming from Shadow, I was taking it as one.

“You’re not going to tell me, are you?”

A spark of fire flamed in his eyes. “Not a chance, Sunshine. Two beings in this world know my weakness, and I’m not adding a third.”

It was my turn to laugh. “Fair enough.”

If all five of his best friends didn’t know, then I sure as fuck wasn’t getting on that Christmas card list.

My stomach chose that moment to grumble, reminding me I was hungry.

“Len went for food,” I said defensively when Shadow eyed my midsection, like it was about to grow legs and start walking around.

“I know. I relieved him of guard duty, so now it’s up to me to keep you alive.”

My smile faded as I stared him down. “I mean, are you really qualified for that job? You’ve basically tried to murder me daily since we first met. And that’s not even counting the days you locked me in my room without food.”

Shadow draped his arm around me, a sudden movement, and then I was surrounded by his warmth. It should have been too much, but it was weirdly perfect.

“You’re only alive because of me, Mera,” he said, no jest in those words. “I could have killed you at any moment, and despite my judgment insisting that it is you who might be a facet in my downfall, you’re still breathing.”

It was only as he all but swept me off the table that I realized something kind of huge. I’d hugged him before. Me making the first move, and there had been no pain. This wasn’t the first time recently that had happened—I’d dismissed the others, thinking he’d seen me coming and stopped the pain. But this time, I’d taken him completely by surprise, and still no fire raged across my nerve endings.

What did that mean?

Before I could ask, he set me on my feet. “Come on. Let’s get some food. We have a day or two before we can leave Faerie, so we’re going to have to make ourselves at home.”

That was my sole focus then. “Can I survive here outside of this garden?”

Shadow was back to wearing his mask of mystery, nothing on his face except a resigned acceptance of being stuck with me.

“I’ll keep you alive, Sunshine.”

For some reason, that felt like a promise.

A promise, for once, I actually believed in.