A howl escaped my wolf because verbal goodbyes were really tough when one didn’t have vocal cords. Could they see in my eyes how much they both meant to me? How blessed I felt to have been thrown over a Shadow Bastard’s shoulder and dragged into a world of books, magic, and… love.
“No,” Shadow snapped. “Get that fucking look off your face, little wolf. You’re going nowhere.”
He lifted me with ease, and then he was running.
“What are you doing?” Angel shouted, taking to the air above him.
The creatures might have been following—I couldn’t tell as the darkness crept over the top of my head toward my eyes. The sound of battle was around us, and I could only assume inhabitants of the village were trying to attack, while the creatures kept them at bay.
Or maybe it was Shadow, deflecting them with barely more than a thought.
His fury was spinning out of control, bursting from him in flames and dark mist, breaking this town to rubble. I’d always wanted a mate who would burn the world down for me, and it looked like I’d get to pretend I had one for a few more minutes.
Inky appeared in my line of sight, and it seemed that it was assisting in burning the town to ash.Great fucking job, Mera.No way was Shadow getting into the royal compound undetected now, and I hoped that he’d still manage to achieve his revenge.
He deserved it. Even if I wouldn’t be here to hear about it.
Shadow was roaring. I could feel his chest shaking, but there was no sound. My ears were completely blocked now, and as the last of the sludge dripped into my eyes, I opened my mouth and let out another howl.
Felt like a fitting way to go.
18
My expected death never arrived.
There was no end once I was encased in a dark cocoon of tar, which held me in stasis, like a coma victim who was still aware but couldn’t move.
I wanted to scream. To shift. To push through what held me, but I was lost to the dark magic of my prison. The outside world didn’t exist, at least not at first, and then it was freezing cold. So icy it stole my breath, until it was gone, replaced with a heat so intense, I wondered if I was being baked alive.
The hot and cold continued for so long that it could have been days or years or lifetimes. In this waking coma, time had little relevance, and my thoughts were sporadic and scattered, as if oxygen deprivation was getting to me, and I could no longer think in linear lines.
My wolf slipped farther inside as time went on, and at some point, I lost her, returning to my human form.
“Fight, Mera!Come on, Sunshine. You are stronger than theleicher scourge.”
I heard him. The first outside noise that had penetrated my prison since I’d been encased, and while I had no idea what leicher scourge was, I liked the concept of fighting it.
I’d been a passive victim for too long.
Clawing out with my energy and hands, I scraped against my cage, the ice and fire of temperature still alternating as I fought. As I pushed more power, my energy near tapped out, I felt a slight crack under my fingers. This boosted my strength as I pressed harder until a gust of fresh air hit me, and I was rolling free of the cage.
Strong hands caught me as I coughed my guts up, air filling my lungs. Wondering why I was being held as I was, I focused on my surroundings, only to find I was dangling over a rolling world of red.
The lava chasm.
Holy fuck.
“Shadow,” I choked out as he hauled me up and away from the burning stream below.
I collapsed against him, completely wrecked and unsure how I was even alive. His arms wound tightly around me, and as his chest rumbled, I pulled back to see him half-beast-like, the fire wolf above him and all around us.
He was not in control.
Angel was visible on the outside of Shadow’s fire, trying to get closer, but every time she stepped forward, his rumbles increased, the flames growing larger.
Even Inky—andMidnight?—were stuck on the outside.
What in the worlds? I must have unknowingly called my mist when I’d been in danger. The mark on my hand started to tingle, as if to remind me that I was bonded to a mist.
