“You’re fucking important too,” I shot back, my voice wavering. Fear and anger were taking me over, and I wasn’t always the most reasonable when that happened. I knew Len was right—I had zero fucking skills or idea how to fight in Faerie. But I needed him alive. It was a fundamental part of my existence.
“Tabby needs you,” he reminded me.
“She needs us both,” I countered, like a petulant teenager.
He reached out and brushed the tip of his finger down my cheek. “I don’t die easily,” he whispered. As he leaned in, his lips pressed against mine, and when I was suitably distracted he shoved me into nearby arms. “Hold her,” he said. “If I don’t fall, follow as soon as possible.”
Thehold hermade sense a beat later when strong arms banded across my chest and I was lifted about seventy billion feet from the ground. I didn’t even try to fight. It was Shadow holding me after all, the spark of his power painful as it zapped my skin. I wouldn’t waste my energy fighting against a god when I’d need that strength tokick a motherfucking fae prince’s ass.
Mera appeared in my line of sight, her narrowed eyed gaze shifting above my head. “Put her down, Shadow,” she said shortly. “Just because we’re smaller doesn’t mean you get to manhandle us.”
His reply was a grunt, and zero loosening of his hold.
She said something else snarky, but I was too busy watching Len step out onto the first stone before he set off, fleet of foot, following the path of light he’d set across the coal land. He moved like a being unbeholden to the same gravitational pull as the rest of us.
“I realllyyy hope he doesn’t expect me to run across a skinny beam of light like that,” Simone said with a snort-laugh, which dried up into a nervous cough. “I mean, I’m a shifter, reborn into a badass Lycan who will probably live forever—if the worlds don’t end of course—but that level of grace is not in my repertoire.”
Girl, same. Shifters might be stealthy, but we couldn’t move like that. Len looked as if he was floating above the light, almost completely out of sight now. “Put me down,” I said shortly. “He’s already gone. I can’t do anything but follow when it’s our turn.”
Shadow’s chest expanded and he took a moment—probably so there was no way this could be misconstrued as the beast taking an order from me—until he set me on my feet. As I shook off the pain of being in contact with the shifter god, I focused on my next step. In a flash, I was naked, stripping my clothes faster than most of them could blink.
My thoughts before about being stealthy had given me an idea.
The shift came over me quickly.
Outside of a few exceptions, I’d always been able to call my wolf with ease. She just waited patiently inside, a comfort and friend. When she was free, the dark strands of her coat drifted around us and my heart soared. It was only when I shifted that the true energy of my beast filled me, and with it my love of her wilder soul.
The darkness faded even further as I pranced around, getting used to four legs once more.
“Great idea to shift,” Angel said as she bent and gathered my clothes and boots, disappearing them into what I hoped was a magical pocket since I’d need them later.
In my wolf form, the world was still as dark, but I had better vision of the gem bridge across the black expanse. There was no signal from Len yet, but he also hadn’t fallen, so I felt it was somewhat safe to move. Unsure if Shadow was going to stop me, I stepped toward the edge and closest red gem, waiting a beat to see if he’d move forward too.
He didn’t.
With a howl to the air, I leapt across to the first gem, and then I was racing along the thin line of power almost as fast as Len had. I didn’t look back, but I felt the others behind me. Everything was smooth sailing and calm on the surface, and I wondered if there was anything lurking deep in this black coal. The energy of this section of the Deep was milder than I’d expected.
The farther we crossed, the colder the air grew, which didn’t bother me in my wolf form. My beast was near frolicking as we raced across the gems. There was no end in sight, but I wasn’t worried. Len was clearly extending the path as he moved, and so far this was the easiest of trials.
Or so I thought.
From the moment I jinxed myself by addressing how easy it was, there was a ripple in the sand a short distance away. My wolf sight allowed me to see clearer in the darkness, and I was certain that a shadowy shape had just broken the seamless surface.
Pausing, four paws balanced precariously on the shimmery line beneath my feet, I watched to see if it would appear again. Could it have been a current? Maybe there were some small waves out here in the middle of the coal field. Or was it something more sinister, such as another guardian? It might not be the crabs this time… it could be something way worse.
“Sam, is everything okay?” Mera’s low musical voice reached me just as the dark shape broke the surface again.
I couldn’t say anything in my wolf form, but I hoped the others were seeing it too.
“Why has she paused?” Shadow rumbled.
He was at her back, and as they slowed behind me, it appeared that I was still the only one to have noticed the disturbance. Was it due to my connection to this land? Or a benefit of being in my shifted form?
“She’s looking out into the distance,” Mera said, sounding unsure. “As if she saw something.”
“I haven’t noticed anything,” Shadow rumbled. “Normally I’d try and connect to her thoughts, but I won’t while she’s working to keep the darkness from taking her. And shifting back while balanced is not a great idea either.”
Despite that, I was contemplating a brief shift because that shadow was a worry. I knew it, deep in the parts of me that were connected to this land.
