“I can walk.”
He didn’t argue, setting me on my feet. I wobbled for a beat, but he allowed me to find my own strength, and as I wiped away the tears on my face, I noticed Reece and Lucien hovering just behind their friend.
“Thank fuck,” Lucien said, his hands held in tight fists at his side. “I never know what to do when women cry. I’m glad Shadow was here.”
I narrowed my eyes just as Reece barked out a laugh. “I had no idea Shadow knew what to do with a crying woman, either. Usually, he just silences them with his power so he can’t hear their sobs any longer.”
The beast himself crossed his arms, staring both of his friends down, and their laughter died off, even if the smiles remained. They didn’t fear him, but they respected him. Shadow was lucky to have friends like his. Speaking of…
“I will need to see Simone very soon,” I warned him. “Whenever you explain to me exactly what just happened on Earth, I want her to be part of it.”
Reece and Lucien were already shaking their heads. “Shadow will never allow another human—”
The desert deity was cut off when Shadow said, “I will make it happen.”
All three of us were shocked into silence, and I tried to clear my dry throat. “Thank you,” I told Shadow, feeling as if we’d reached a place of mutual respect that we hadn’t visited before.
Maybe it was my power matching his for a brief moment on Earth, or how I’d apparently called him when I’d lost my shit. Or maybe it was another secret that I wasn’t aware of yet. Only time would tell, and it appeared that I was finally going to learn more about the Shadow Realm, the mists, and these creatures I continued to call into my world.
Had Dannie known what I was all along? She’d definitely taken an interest in me from her first arrival in Torma, and it hurt to think that maybe it had all been a ruse. She’d been a mother figure, but maybe like my real mom, she really hadn’t given a fuck about me.
What had her endgame been, though? In the ten or so years we’d known each other, she’d never asked me for anything. She’d given me a job, paid me well, protected me, and cared for me when life had been knocking me down. I found it hard to believe that was all just an act.
Hopefully one day, I’d get a chance to ask her.
“You need to rest,” Shadow told me, and he wasn’t wrong since I’d once again just drifted off in my fuzzy brain.
“Yes. Right.”
We started to walk along the hall, and I was getting more than one concerned look from the three dudes around me, but before anyone could bring it up, a figure burst from the veil connected to the library and flew toward us.
“Angel!” I exclaimed, and if I’d had the energy to run, I would have met her halfway. As it was, I barely managed to hobble a few steps before I wanted to curl up and take a nap.
She must have seen me stumble, and using her wings and preternatural speed, she was at my side in less than a second. Wrapping her arms around me, she steadied me before I fell. “What happened?” she demanded, looking fierce in her battle armor. It reminded me of how she’d fought Shadow for me, right before the library had been attacked by a few dickhead shifters.
Angel was the sort of friend every woman deserved.
“After the battle with Shadow, I went into the dining hall to calm down,” she continued, “only to learn upon my return that the library had been attacked and you were taken. The barrier wouldn’t allow me to leave and track you on Earth. I’ve been trying ever since.”
Over her shoulder, I found Shadow’s eyes. “The barrier was blocked?”
He nodded, completely unsurprised. “I shut it all down until I knew what we were dealing with. An extra protection against any new threats while I was busy getting the current situation under control.”
Simmering anger brewed in his eyes, and his jaw was so rigid that I wouldn’t have been surprised to hear his teeth crack. The reminder that shifters had managed to sneak in under his watch was sending him into a dark place. And when Shadow went dark, bad things happened.
I turned back to Angel, hoping for a distraction. “Were you planning on heading to Earth to help? Once you got through the barrier?” She’d all but torn into the hall in a frenzy when Shadow had finally released it.
She shook her head. “No. Well, yes and no. I was coming to find you, but I also needed to see Shadow.” She stepped away, keeping one hand on me like she knew her energy was helping regulate mine. “The door is open,” she said.
It was at this moment my distracted mind snapped into gear. I froze as the absolute truth of what she’d just said penetrated my brain. There was only one door that anyone would speak about with such a combination of fear and distaste.
“Shadow Realm?” Shadow bit out, and he was as focused as me.
Angel nodded. “I don’t know how it happened, but the spell on the door is broken. It happened not long ago.”
Shadow looked at me, but it wasn’t necessary. I’d already done the math, and it was growing obvious that when I’d brought the mists and creatures from the realm to Earth, I’d done more than put my world in peril.
I’d finally opened the door that had been barred for nearly two thousand years.
