Are you okay?
Midnight’s voice was loud and clear in my head again, so whatever Shadow had been doing to block us, he’d dropped it in the face of the danger around us.
Royal spy, I shot back quickly. It was a relief to know our mists were close.
“What is it?” I asked Shadow, trying to peer around him, but he kept shifting his position, stubbornly blocking me from view.
We’re on our way, Midnight said in a rush.
Best news ever. We’re kind of naked out near the waterfall.
They’re spinning energy around the place, and we’re attempting to get through. They may be planning something huge. Be on guard.
With that ominous statement, Midnight cut off from me, and while I was panicked, I also loved that we had mists on our side. I’d seen the look on Kristoff’s face when he’d learned they were bonded to us, and since he appeared to be both ancient and powerful in his own right, that told me it was a big deal.
A threat many wouldn’t see coming. Maybe the threat that saved us.
Can you see if it’s royal spies or something else?
There was a long pause, and if I hadn’t been able to feel the bond to Midnight, I might have worried that we’d been cut off again.
Three beings that are cloaked in darkness, adept at camouflage and subterfuge. Kristoff has disappeared as well. No idea what happened to him.
Wow, that sounded a lot like a James Bond movie, and that could only mean one thing: It was my time to Bond girl the situation and sort this shit out.
Placing my hand on Shadow’s back, I wasn’t surprised to find his skin boiling hot, despite the chilled water still pouring over us. “Midnight said that Kristoff is gone. Do you think he betrayed us?”
Shadow was furious, if the flames licking across his body were any indication. “A lot could have changed in the past two thousand years. So maybe.”
“Are they shadow creatures?” I wondered, mostly to myself. “I could try to command them,” I added louder.
His muscles rippled under my palm. “They’re not like anything I’ve ever seen before, but their power is different from a regular creature’s. I won’t risk you.”
Midnight had said the same thing about them being odd, or outside its knowledge, but I still thought it was worth trying my ability to call and control them.
“Get inside. Now!” Shadow snapped. “I will take care of them.”
I shook my head, even though he couldn’t see me.
“Sunshine, you will get your fucking ass inside, or the next time I have you naked, the punishment will be so much worse.”
Punishment? I hadn’t even realized I’d been punished, but maybe he meant when I was pinned spread-eagle against the wall while he’d eaten me out? Did I maybe want to find out what the next punishment would be? I mean… for research purposes, of course.
“Don’t push me,” he growled.
“I’m not leaving you to battle alone,” I said stubbornly. “At least not until the mists arrive.”
“They’re not going to make it in time,” he said quietly. Then he launched forward, leaving me squinting through the waterfall, trying to assess the situation.
For fuck’s sake. Shadow was off the edge of the cliff, wrestling with Mr. Invisible in the air. Pushing myself as far forward as I could on the outdoor deck, I tried to figure out a way to help. For all my talk about not leaving him alone, I was literally useless when I couldn’t fly out into the middle of an open space.
If I stepped off, I’d plummet straight into the water below.
I briefly considered if it would be worth doing that, simply to distract them and give Shadow a chance… The water looked hectic, but I’d survive. That could be Plan B.
I just needed an A now.
The urge to shift into my wolf flooded my veins, pulsing along with her howls in my chest. She’d been quiet during the entire sex session, but now she was chomping at her leash, trying to take control.
We’ll follow, Midnight said, but the words were breaking up and staticky, like our connection was being interfered with. They’ve transported you, and we keep losing your location.
Sorry, what?
Transported us? No, we’re in the same spot. At the treehouse.
There was no reply this time, just white noise in our connection. Were we actually moving? That would explain why the mists, who had been close enough to communicate, hadn’t reached us yet. They were chasing a moving target, and if the current lack of connection was any indication, we were racing ahead.
Shadow was still fighting one of the beings, and it looked like he had another one torn to pieces, a few visible fragments floating around them.
“Shadow,” I shouted, over the raging winds. “We’re not at Kristoff’s any longer.”
“I know!” he roared back. “They’re moving the entire fucking structure, and I can’t figure out what energy they’re using.”
I could barely see Shadow, and my wolf had had enough, forcing the shift on me. It was scary how easily she could do that. Super freaking scary. I had no weapons to fight the change, so I didn’t. Nothing worse than being attacked between shifts.
Once I was in my wolf form, we shook off the lingering pain, a nice little surge of energy filling us. We were stronger here, like the wolf was plugged into a Shadow Realm power outlet, getting a boost directly from the source.
Not only that, but I could see the spy through her eyes. It was a ghostly specter, exactly how I imagined a poltergeist would look, with a large, swirling hole where the face should have been. Not to mention the multiple arms around its body. Arms that were filled with deadly silver weapons.
There were no visible legs, just trailing cloth as it flew around. It continued to try to slice at Shadow with the blades, but he was adept at avoiding the attack. The beast transformed his hands into the long-clawed version, swiping at the specter, tearing into it like he’d done with the other.
My wolf, over waiting, leapt off the edge of the stone. I had no idea what would happen once I made the jump, considering a lot of what lay out here might be an illusion. It still looked like there was water below, but we were apparently moving, so what was real?
My wolf sailed through the air for a long time, far too long for the force of my jump, and somehow, I landed on the back of the third creature. I expected to sink through it, but it was solid, and my claws wasted no time tearing into it. My jaws clamped down as well, as we’d done with the hunter back in the library, slicing through cloak and body.
Between Shadow and my wolf, we got this one torn into pieces in seconds. When the final sliver of it fell beneath us, Shadow caught my wolf around the center, hauling us both back to the stone pathway. The water was still streaming across it, but the house we’d walked out of—Kristoff’s—was no longer in sight.
That part of the illusion was gone, leaving behind just the stone we stood on.
I shifted back, my bones screaming at me briefly before the pain faded, but at least my wolf didn’t fight. I sensed that she was trying to play nice because she knew she’d fucked up forcing the change on me again. We were going to have words soon, but it would have to wait since today was already fully booked with drama.
When I was standing on two shaky legs, I moved toward Shadow. “Where are we?” I asked, hoping he might have figured it out.
He arched an eyebrow, his gaze drifting out toward the misty surroundings. “I’d thought they were taking us to the royal compound, but… I was wrong.”
“Did you just say you were wrong?” I coughed. “Uh, did you hit your head? Maybe get scratched and infected?”
He growled at me, turning away from the fake view. “We killed the mist-driven energy that set this in motion, but from what I can tell, the current course we’re on is set. I can’t change it; we’re heading for The Grey Lands.”
I grabbed at his arm, holding on because I needed the fucking fortification. “The land with all the creatures? Where the mists used to converge?”
He nodded. “Yes, and I have limited knowledge of that area, which will make it harder for me to protect you when we arrive.”
“The birthplace of creatures?”
He nodded. “Yes, of much of the realm, really. It’s only here that the remaining creatures freely roam. Wild and untamed. Dangerous.”
I wrinkled my nose. “Creatures are kind of my jam. Maybe I’ll be the one to protect you. Are you looking for a knight in shining armor?”
His expression could have melted the polar ice caps, and I didn’t blame him. It probably wasn’t the best time for joking, but once again, it was laugh or cry.
Story of my life.
