The next room in this never-ending labyrinth of chambers appeared to be a gathering area. There was a colossal table, spanning from one end to the other, and it was made of—you guessed it—crystal that shimmered in the twinkling lights from above. The ceilings themselves were up so high that I had no idea what was being used for illumination, but from what I could tell, it appeared to be gaps in the design of the building that allowed light from outside to filter through specifically designated spots.
And, yes, I was examining every single other aspect of this room so I didn’t have to look at the pair already seated. The true mates. Bleh.
The guard pushed up on me in a bid to hurry me along, so I went slower than ever.
“Wow, really love what you’ve done with the place,” I said, chatting to a bird-girl like we were old friends. “I mean, the color scheme alone must have taken weeks to perfect.”
Everything was white. Stark, stuck-in-a-snowstorm white.
A few of the guards started to mutter, pressing even closer as my steps slowed dramatically. I wanted to look at Shadow. I wanted to look at him so badly my eyeballs hurt from the effort to stop them moving, but I was on a mission, and would be stronger than the need he created in me. I had to be.
When one of the dinosaur people got fed up with my game of walk as slow as possible without going backwards, he did what no other had until this point.
He grabbed me.
The move took me by surprise. They’d been so careful up until this point to not even graze my skin with theirs, and that made me slower than usual to react. By the time I swung my elbow back to jab Dino-boy, who still held me, a rumbling roar filled the room.
Everyone in the damn place froze. I mean everyone. Shadow’s power swept ahead of him as he got to his feet. I couldn’t look away any longer, my eyes on the raging beast as he stalked across the room to where we stood. Around me, the animal-people cowered and a part of me almost felt sorry for them.
His flames slapped out first, followed by smoky darkness seeping from his skin. “Better put me down, triceratops,” I said cheerily. “Shadow doesn’t like people touching his possessions.” I lowered my voice. “And that’s all I am, so don’t stress on the behalf of your poor little queen.”
I was dropped, and Shadow went at us. Well, at me because everyone else bailed. His power wrapped around my body and I was lifted to my feet. When I was eye level with his furious, flame-filled gaze, I forced a smile on my face. One of those fake, we’re strangers and I’m gonna pretend shit is fine sorts of smile.
“Oh, hey, fancy meeting you here. Can I help you with something?”
Shadow’s eyes traced across my face and down to my arm where Dino-boy had grabbed me. I blinked at the visible bruising, already fading out as my healing kicked in. Not fast enough for Shadow, though.
His flames snapped out and there was a bellow as Dino-boy was dragged back to sprawl on the ground between us. Shadow, who hadn’t touched me yet—I was dangling in the air from his power alone—stepped closer to me.
“He hurt you?”
I shrugged. “You know, it’s kind of a theme with me today. Dudes getting a little rough, shoving me around. I wouldn’t worry your pretty head about it.”
His expression was fucking furious, and I felt nothing but a sense of satisfaction. Part of me knew I was acting like a child. Shadow had a true mate; that was not new information. I should have been accepting and happy for him; this was what he’d wanted for the last few thousand years.
In the great scheme of his life, I’d been around for fuck-all time, and it was stupid to expect anything from him outside of what we’d already shared. It was just… when his power had zapped me, it had zapped my ability to take this graciously.
Now, Shadow got to deal with the same angry-ass bitch he’d thrown over his shoulder that first day back in Torma.
Dino-boy was begging on the ground now, whimpering and crying—in a dinosaur way, which didn’t seem to include literal tears, but there was a lot of slobber. It was sad and gross, and I honestly didn’t need him to suffer any longer.
Drawing on my anger, I slammed my energy back into Shadow. I’d learned this move when I’d figured out how to trace the pathway into the realm. I couldn’t do the flame thing on command yet, but I could definitely use my energy aggressively.
My power slapped against Shadow’s, and I felt a sense of surprise from him, but he didn’t drop me. If anything, his hold tightened and it wasn’t until his mate called out across the room that he stopped dragging me forward.
“Darkor, please. Leave the guard alone. They know they’re not supposed to touch you or your wolf.”
She said that the same way someone would say your pet. This woman, for all her light and bright smiles, was a secret cunt in disguise. Call it women’s intuition; I already knew she was a complete and total psycho. All the damn white had been the first giveaway.
“Good luck with that one, Darkor,” I whispered sweetly. “You’re going to fucking need it.”
Shadow’s lips twitched, and finally, he released me from his hold. I landed easily on my feet before accidentally on purpose kicking Dino-boy, sending him sliding across the floor. “Don’t ever fucking grab me again.”
Strolling over to the table, I sat right in the seat Shadow had occupied before.
“Oh, uh, excuse me, that’s Darkor’s seat.”
I tilted my head at the queen bitch before I leaned back in the crystal chair and lifted my boots to drop them on her table. “Plenty of other seats,” I said sweetly, pretending to clean my nails as I stared at her. “He’ll figure it out.”
She looked horrified, and then furious, and then completely calm. If I hadn’t been staring at her over my pointer fingernail, I’d have missed the full range of her emotions. As it was, the rage lingered long after she covered it up with a smile.
“Very true.”
Shadow made his way back to the table, dropping into the chair on the opposite side of me. We were both beside her, since she sat at the head of the table. Only now, he got to stare at me as well, and hopefully that made him just a little squirmy.
Though judging by his cool-as-a-cucumber expression, he wasn’t bothered at all.
“Ixana, this is Mera Callahan, one of the shifters I created.”
She eyed me like I’d just been shit out of Dino-boy’s ass, her petite little nose wrinkling. Up close, her skin was quite blue, not like the fronds, but it was noticeable. And her eyes, those icy-blue eyes, were freaking me out with their laser intensity. She didn’t feel powerful like Shadow, but there was a frosty crush in the air whenever she moved, the scent of freshly fallen snow following her around.
“It’s, uh, nice to meet you,” she said.
I’d figured out pretty quickly that Shadow’s translation spell was rewording everything into the sort of colloquialism I would understand. Because there was no way this formal bitch talked like that.
Shadow and Ixana were watching me, so I loudly dropped my boots to the floor, pleased to see mud and debris remained on the pristine crystal table. “Wish I could say the same.”
Shadow’s chest rumbled and I narrowed my eyes on him. “What? She kidnapped my ass and you know how I feel about that. A simple invitation would have me feeling much more gracious, and since she isn’t my true mate, I’m not going to just forgive and forget.”
Fuck, the amount of unsaid shit in that petty ass statement could have filled a 747 jumbo jet, but before we could really throw down, the ice queen fell back on diplomacy.
“Yes, sorry. I do owe you both an apology for the way I brought you here, but I was afraid to miss my chance, and if you ended up in the royal compound, you would have been beyond my reach.”
Dammit. Why was she not snapping back? Right now, I looked like the childish, petty asshole in the room. And even though I was sensing undercurrents of evil from this lady, there was not a shred of evidence that she was anything other than the gracious and kindly benevolent leader before us.
I had to dial it back. Until such a time I had evidence of her underhanded ways.
“What did you want to tell me, Ixana?” Shadow asked, diverting attention from me before I could say something else horrible. Bastard knew me too well. “You obviously brought me here for a reason.”
“I mean…” She blinked, looking a little shell-shocked. “Were you not here to find me? I have been waiting, building our army, all for the moment I knew you’d return to this world and take back what was ours.”
Shadow didn’t say anything, his face unreadable. “Shadow,” I pushed, my fake smile firmly in place. “Why don’t you answer the nice lady?”
Ixana flashed me a glare before re-fixing her affable expression. “Would you like to freshen up? I can have someone show you to a guest room and bring some food. You must be exhausted.”
“No,” Shadow rumbled. “She stays here. She can hear all of this, and I don’t trust your guards yet.”
Ixana didn’t like that, but she didn’t argue. I wondered if she’d been the deferential type when they’d been together. “I’m definitely staying,” I said with faked enthusiasm. “Shadow and his mate taking back what is theirs is totally my jam. Super excited.”
If looks could kill, they’d both be having a shot at it. Luckily, I had thicker skin that that.
Ixana released a long breath. “Okay, well, I guess I best start with my side of this story.” Another deep breath. “The day of your crowning, Darkor, I was waiting in the wings to congratulate you. I wanted to see you before the moment we reaffirmed the bonds we felt at birth.”
Nice, they’d been true mates since fucking birth. How sweet—cough, cough, gross cough.
I was really proud of how well I was handling this situation so far.
“I saw your sister give you the cup. I didn’t know it held a stasis spell until you took a drink and fell.” There were tears in her eyes, and I found myself somewhat moved by the stupid tale. Did she have to be an excellent storyteller as well? With just the right touch of emotion in her voice?
Fuck her and her perfection.
“I had your stone,” she continued.
Shadow sat straighter. “Why did you have my stone?”
Her big, blue eyes did a lot of blinking at that one. “Well, I was going to be the one to bond it to your mist mark. Right?”
Shadow didn’t look convinced of that, but he also didn’t argue.
“And when it was clear you were in trouble,” Ixana hurried to add, “I rushed off with the stone so Cristell wouldn’t get it as well.”
What the fuck had she been doing running like a coward when her mate was in danger? If I’d held any respect for her, it would be gone now. I mean, there was a decent chance that the rules here were protect-the-power-first or some shit.
I’d never be that person.
Shadow looked around. “And you ended up here? Creating… your new world?”
If he was angry about her story, he wasn’t showing it.
“I’ve gathered a lot of power over the years,” she said, and her smile was a touch creepy as it tilted up her pale-ass lips. “Experimented where I should not have, using power from the creatures that walk this land, and the few followers I managed to take with me. I was determined to build an army that all would fear.”
All the while her mate had been locked out of this realm and she’d done fucking nothing to try to get to him. Bullshit if you asked me.
Clearly the ice queen was not worthy of the beast.
