“Now!” Alpha Lorenze screamed.
Grant leaned over toward me, prepared to make first mark as was the alpha-to-be’s right. Somehow, I didn’t flinch away. Somehow, I didn’t slash my claws across his throat to rip his head from his shoulders. Just as I felt the first scrape and break of skin on my shoulder, the storm around us died in an instant, and Grant stopped moving.
Blinking, I looked between Lorenze and Grant, wondering what the fuck was happening.
They were both frozen, mouths partly open, Grant’s face still partially shifted. Sending my wolf back inside, her icy energy faded as I turned to take in the mess that was the rest of the pack and wedding zone. Only a couple of chairs and members hadn’t been blown away, and they too were frozen on the spot.
Who in the worlds had the power to stop a…?
I didn’t even finish that thought before it hit me suddenly. There was only one being who could do this.The Shadow Beast.
The Shadow Beast whose name had been invoked by the alpha right before the storm started.
Had he called him just in time to stop this ceremony from happening? And if so, where was he and would he have Mera with him?
I knew one thing for certain this time: Mera would not rest until she got the truth from me.
One way or another.
I just had to hope that the truth didn’t cost the most important being in the worlds to me.
My daughter.
5
SAMANTHA
As I walked back along the red carpet, my wolf was calmer in my chest, and I had the sense she thought we’d gotten a reprieve from our fate. I didn’t have the heart to remind her it was no doubt temporary. Our fate was set in stone, and it was my own damn fault for allowing myself to fall apart all those years ago and to hand my heart to someone to be used against me.
A heart that, ironically, I hadn’t even known I’d lost until recently.
The eerie calm remained as I continued up the red path, all the way back to the tent. The pair stepped out of the shadows a moment later, taller than was natural, more beautiful than should be possible, and… with a baby strapped to the fucking Shadow Beast god’s chest.
Simone had told me Mera was in labor, but damn, seeing the truth of it was a whole other thing.
At some point I’d ground to a halt, and it was Mera who closed the last few steps and raced down the path to me. “Sam!” she cried, her voice filled with the sort of power I hadn’t felt the last time I’d been in her presence. It wasn’t the only change either. Her ombre red hair was more luminescent, the green in her hazel eyes piercing, and her skin faintly glowed as if so much energy pulsed inside of her that it couldn’t be contained.
“Mera?” I said hesitantly, unsure why she was even here. “Did you hear about the mating?”
Tiny flames flickered to life in her eyes, and if I’d been in a different mood I might have even reacted to that. “I didnothear about the mating,” she growled, sounding like she was barely holding on to her fury. “Because my so-called friend has been ghosting me for years. Fucking years. I don’t even know why we’re here now, outside of the fact that Simone thinks you deserve one last chance.”
She crossed her arms, and I swallowed hard. Flickers of pain tried to push through the numbness, but I couldn’t let them out. If they got out, all the rest would too. “I’m sorry,” I said listlessly. “I was trying to deal with the shit in my life, and I just couldn’t… I couldn’t care about anyone else. I only have so much energy to give, and it’s been fucking spent up.”
Her face softened minutely. Shadow moved in to stand at her side, one of his massive hands pressed to the back of the baby carrier. “Congratulations,” I said softly, my heart aching for everything I’d lost in my fuck-ups. “She’s beautiful.”
She was more than beautiful, with thick curls of red falling down her face, and the same shadowy glowing skin as Shadow. She looked to be about eight months old, but it was hard to tell behind the protective hands of her father. Changing the subject because I couldn’t do the baby thing right now, I asked quickly, “If you didn’t hear about the mating, what are you doing here?”
The Fates weren’t about saving me these days, so there was some other reason.
“Your alpha invoked my name,” Shadow rumbled, his tone prominent in the unnaturally quietened land. “Mera worries about you, so I keep an eye on this pack. When my name was spoken, I knew we needed to return here.”
Mera wasn’t looking directly at me, and it was clear that I’d hurt her even more than I thought. That harsh truth cut through some of the numbness in my chest and I took a step closer. A rumble escaped from Shadow, but he didn’t stop me. No doubt he knew his mate was an uber badass and could take me out with a mere thought if she wanted to.
“I’m so sorry, Mera,” I told her softly. “I’m a terrible friend.”
“The worst,” she sniffed with a growl. “The. Fucking. Worst.”
I nodded hard. “You’re right. You’re totally right as always. I wanted to tell you the truth, but I’m…” I shot a quick look toward the scariest dude in the room. "I'm worried about how certainshadowy beingsmight react. I must protect someone who can’t protect themselves.”
