The roar spilled from my lips as I tried to destroy the caged Danamain, but another entity blocked my way. With my vision filled with fire and shadow, I’d missed that the fortress was no longer existing on its own.
A layer of security surrounded it.
Midnight, sparking and zapping, striking everything that got too close, except for the second part of the security: Mera’s creatures.
“She called them,” Angel cried, her voice cracking as she too fought to get closer, blades in hand, grief tearing at her face. “When she pulled on our bonds.”
Her pain was real, but mine was destructive.
I’d been too slow to save Mera. To save the worlds.
I’d been doing everything in my power to save them, but now, as far as I was concerned, they all deserved to burn.
My true beast form rose up to take control, our roar sending all the beings around us to their knees. And it was here they would stay.
This world belonged to me. The Solaris System belonged to me.
They would all burn.
My land raged with me, trembling until it was impossible for any who stood upon it to remain upright. Lava burst up, the land itself cracked, and I tilted my head back, letting more of the power flow from me.
They would all pay. For touching her. For bringing about this event.
When Mera’s empty vessel finally disintegrated in my arms, a guttural sound escaped me, sending forth another whip of my destructive power.
Without my Sunshine, there was only darkness.
Iwas darkness.
And I would destroy everything.
48
I’d come close to death more than a few times in my life. And since meeting Shadow—a.k.a. being kidnapped—death had hovered close by, waiting for its moment to steal me away.
Why this time it had succeeded was anyone’s guess. Maybe it was just my time. Or maybe I’d hastened the process with some ill-thought-out ideas and actions, but whatever it was, when the last of my energy faded into the fortress of binding power, I died.
For real.
My soul and power were torn from the vessel, and I had a brief glimpse of Shadow raging, his power whipping around the lands, flattening them in the wake of his despair before I was gone from that realm and speared into another.
This new realm was warmth, a gentle fire compared to the blazes I’d felt in my short but tumultuous life as a shifter.
Here, I floated in the primordial ooze of creation. The womb of the universe. It was so perfect in its perfection that I was content to exist in the gentle glow.
At least until a light, which was just a little brighter, burning a little hotter, drew me closer. With no physical body, I moved with thought, sending my essence into that bright beam that called me. When the light surrounded me, clarity returned.
The light brought with it memories. Memories of Angel, Simone, and Midnight. My pack. The Shadow Realm. My libraries and all the shadow creatures.
Beings and places I truly loved and would miss.
But above all of them.
Above all else.
There was Shadow.
My Shadow Beast.
