I’d been kidding myself from the start. There was no walking away from Shadow.
Only death would tear us apart, and we were ready to fight it every step of the way.
25
Despite the major emotional breakthrough I’d just had with Shadow, there was no time for us to remain wrapped in each other. Sam might only be a very new friend, but she was already important to me. We’d bonded over a huge experience, and it was cruel to allow her to worry.
Of course, there was the small problem of leaving the lair in my current state. “You’re some sort of sperm overachiever,” I said to Shadow, staring down at the mess that was the bed and me. “I mean, fuck, dude, at some point, it’s just overkill. In all the books I’ve read, they rarely mention the aftermath of fucking a virile alpha male—”
The rest of my sentence was cut off as he hauled me over his shoulder in one swift move, shutting me up quite effectively with a firm smack on my ass. “If you don’t want to experience more of my virility, Sunshine, you better shut up now.”
I mean… which way did I want to go here?
Dammit.Sam was lucky I liked her.
Shadow cleaned the bed with his powers, energy racing over the surface, removing all evidence of our sex session, but he didn’t do the same for us; instead, we walked into his shower. He then proceeded to wash me all over, very,very thoroughly.By the time I was done, I’d forgotten my own name, let alone my friend’s, but Shadow got us back on track.
“Your clothes are in there,” he told me, showing me back into the walk-in wardrobe I’d gotten his shirt from. The shirt that was ash on the floor.
“Oh my god.” I squealed when my section came into view. That hadn’t been there last night. “All of my clothes are back. Now you just have to fix the library and life will be perfect.”
He hugged me, that full-bodied sort of hug that Shadow was damn good at, and I wondered how full a heart could feel before it burst. Turned out, random hugs were a few of my favorite things.
“We do have that small problem of my power-crazed mother,” Shadow reminded me as he pulled away.
Ah, right. “Yeah, true. Dannie is just lucky she spent a lot of time keeping me safe when I was growing up. Otherwise, I’d be inclined to drop an atomic bomb on her head and call it a day.”
Shadow quietened. “If I thought an atomic bomb would work against her,” he said with a sigh, “I’d have already dropped one. Her power is too strong… too unbalanced. We cannot allow her to continue this way without peer or enemy. It’s only a matter of time until it ends in the destruction of multiple worlds.”
It hurt my heart to hear him talk like that. “She’s your mom, Shadow, and she cared for both of us. We have to at least give her a chance to either release the stone’s power, or maybe we can just take the stone from her power base…?”
Shadow considered this, and I appreciated the fact that my suggestion wasn’t immediately dismissed. He respected my thoughts, and there he went again, speaking love without saying the words.
“I’m not sure she deserves a shot,” he finally said. “But if she did willingly release the stone, it would go a long way to making amends.”
“I agree,” I said, finally paying attention to the clothing selection. Shadow was already dressed in his black pants and a dark grey shirt, and I needed to move my naked ass.
“Do we even know if she’s killable?” I asked, pulling on underwear, followed by a white shirt, ripped-up black jeans, Converse-style shoes, and a denim jacket. “Maybe it would take the end of the Nexus, which would end the damn worlds.”
“In that situation,” Shadow said, stepping closer, “we’d have no choice but to imprison her. If we could create a powerful enough cage.”
He wrapped his arms around me, drawing us together. I was really starting to get used to this new side of him, with all the touching and loving and orgasms. If only we weren’t discussing the possible end of the worlds at the same time…
“We need our pack,” I said, feeling the surety of that. “This is going to take effort from more than just us.”
Shadow nodded. “We need those powerful enough to stand at our side,” he agreed. “Our pack and friends.”
“And they’re all alive and well?” I double-checked.
“I banished everyone back to their worlds when I destroyed the doorways. And I can feel all of themalive and wellexcept Midnight.”
“Are Inky’s memories back?” I asked.
“Yes,” Shadow said instantly. “The moment your power hit me and broke through my mother’s web of lies, both Inky and I were able to restore our memories.”
“So Midnight should remember,” I said, the true worry I felt creeping into my voice. “It should have remembered the moment Gaster broke the lock on my memories.”
Shadow shook his head. “I don’t know. My gut says yes, it’ll have its memories again, but there’s a decent chance it’s stuck in the Shadow Realm.”
