Neera inhaled abruptly. “Oh.”
“I met her across the seas when—”
“You don’t need to explain, Shaw,” she cut in, raising a hand. A warm smile graced her lips. “I understand.”
Gods above, I thought,Neera deserves a mate worthy of her.
“I’ll bring Rhea some clothes,” Neera said to her father as she turned to leave.
“I’ll join you,” Magnus added. “Skylar said they were on their way.”
Alone, I turned to Zola. “Neera is—”
Zola silenced me with her touch, fingers curling around the back of my neck as she slid into my arms. Unruly heat ignited in my center as she pressed her body against mine.I swallowed, my cock pulsing—achingwith a primal need to claim her.
She smiled, dark and deadly in a way that excited the animal beneath my skin. “Twelve kills. I believe I won.”
“Only twelve?” I mocked, leaning in to graze her ear. “I had fifteen.”
“Liar.”
“I swore I’d never lie to you, my little shadow.”
She huffed a laugh, and my heart skipped a beat. “Was the female shifter with dark hair a past lover?”
“Neera?” I pulled back and straightened my shoulders, clearing my throat. “Um, no. I thought she could be something more, but—”
“But fate had other plans for you,” Zola said flatly.
“Exactly. You’re not jealous, are you?”
She raised a brow. “Of a female you never bedded?Gods, no. Jealousy is not—”
“Then, can you explain what happened back in the healers’ tent?” I asked, knowing for a fact that she was capable of such an emotion.
Zola’s scowl would send a lesser male into an early grave. But it just made me want her more. I hadn’t kissed her since the aftermath of the last battle, and the hunger burning in my chest to kiss her once more was driving me mad.
The sound of boots crashing through the forest drew our attention.
“Is that—”
“It’s Daxton and the warriors,” Zola cut in. “We’ll continue this conversation later.”
Regretfully, I released my hold on my mate as we regrouped with the others. Gunnar, Castor, and Daxton raced toward the beach with their horde of Silver Meadows warriors in tow. Thankfully, only a handful were injured, and none seemed to have sustained lethal wounds.
Daxton straightened before saying, “We pushed them back… But—”
Skylar’s battle song split the sky as she dove from the clouds, flames trailing behind her. She shifted and sprinted into Daxton’s arms.
“I’m here, Spitfire,” he said.
Skylar pulled back, her chest heaving. “We have a few more coming.”
I noticed the crease in her brow and the uneasy way she pursed her lips.“Sky?”
“I’m fine, Shaw,”she snapped.“Let’s just get out of here. Solace is no longer a safe haven for shifters.”
There was a raw hollowness to her voice that cracked through me. A grief she wouldn’t dare speak aloud.
