I hesitated and Shadow sighed. “You have no choice but to trust me. Release them or die; those are your options.”
Dammit.The big fucker had me there.
You are free.
Instinct took over in my near-dead state, and I didn’t fight it like I might have normally. The moment my hold on them faded out, a literal boost of energy cleared my head, and I jerked upright, my eyes open.
“Let me down,” I demanded, the blinding white of the hallway making me blink watery eyes as I glared up at the beast.
“Shut up,” Shadow snapped, not even glancing at my A-Game resting bitch face. An epic look wasted once again.
“Just like old times,” I grumbled, trying to dredge up enough energy to fight him.
Pretty sure he said something aboutannoying shifters, which was drowned out by Reece’s laughter.
“Give up, Mera,” the desert deity said, and I wasn’t sure when we’d become such good friends, but at some point, he’d thawed toward me, acting nothing like the original asshole I’d met in the lair. “Shadow cannot be bested when he sets his mind to a task. Let him take care of you.”
I snorted and then groaned, pressing a hand to my forehead. “I don’t need a Shadow nurse. I can sort my own shit out, thanks very much.”
Digging my elbows into his chest, I tried to leverage myself away, but his hold didn’t give an inch. Not. One. Fucking. Inch.
Did he have to be powerful in all ways? It was overkill.
“Sunshine, just… I need to do this, okay?”
He almost sounded sad, and it halted my struggle as I tilted my head back to see him. “Did you kill Dannie? Or in any way contribute to her death?”
Now that I wasn’t distracted with hundreds of creatures, my head much clearer, I needed to ask again.
His steps slowed. “She’s not dead.”
I just blinked at him, trying to figure out if my ears had malfunctioned.
“Don’t—” I broke off as my throat got tight. “Please don’t lie to make me feel better… Her blood was everywhere. And the pack used her knowledge or energy orsomethingto get into the library and shut it all down.”
“Those bastards took her blood,” he confirmed, “and since she was born in the Shadow Realm, they used it to concoct the potion that knocked me and the library out for a few minutes. It was also powerful enough to block the doorway because it reacted to anything that was connected to me. It wasn’t until your power called me that I could break through the blocking spell.”
I was blinking at him. Over and over. “Dannie is from the Shadow Realm?” I whispered.
What in the fuck? How in the fuck?
Shadow nodded. “Yes. I don’t know the finer details of it, but I recognized her power.”
I shook my head like that would clear the jumble of thoughts in there. It didn’t help.
Maybe it was best to focus on the part that was even more important. “You promise she’s not dead?” I was crying. I tried hard not to cry these days, and especially not in front of Shadow, but the sobs just burst up from my chest and didn’t stop coming.
“Fuck,” Shadow said softly, and then he was shifting my position so he could hug me. My legs wrapped around his waist as he held me tightly.
“She’s not dead? You promise?” I repeated, sobbing into the spot between his neck and shoulder. The heat of his power wrapped around me, but I didn’t even care in my distraught state.
His chest shook as an annoyed rumble escaped him. “She’s not dead, Sunshine. I don’t know who she is or how she made it into your world, but once I smelled her blood, I knew she was from the Shadow Realm. I’ve been trying to track her ever since, but there’s no sign of where she ended up.”
“How much blood?” I asked, sniffling. “And how can you be sure she’s—”
He cut me off. “I’ve told you before, no Shadow Realm being can be killed by shifters, even if they believe they had the power to do it. She’s out there somewhere, reforming, to one day be your Dannie again.”
My tears had started to dry now, but I kept my head buried against Shadow’s shoulder. He strode forward again, and it should have been weird and uncomfortable for him to keep holding me this way, but I was an emotional wreck, weak and mentally shaken, so I let it happen. For a few minutes, I soaked up his comfort, but that all came to an end.
