Unlike Len, Shadow didn’t seem to stress about us leaving the magically hidden garden.
When we stepped out to find Inky on the other side of the sentinels, I understood why. Between Shadow and Inky, nothing was going to take us on. Even the surrounding flowers appeared to be leaning back from us, creating a nice, clear path.
“What is Inky?” I asked Shadow as we stepped onto a garden path that appeared to have a massive house right at the end of it. Well, actually, house wasn’t right… it was a mega mansion. And it was floating. The fae knew how to do this living thing right… if ultimate luxury and magic was your thing, of course.
Shadow side-eyed me. “You can’t possibly think I’m going to tell you that. It’s tied to me, and I won’t give you any weapons against me.”
Hmm. So Inky might hold information about his weaknesses, somehow…
It was clear from Shadow’s expression that I wouldn’t be finding out one more thing about either of them today, so I gave up worrying and focused on seeing every part of Faerie that I could. Ever since I’d opened the doorway and heard that music, a need to come here had taken root inside me. Like that music had seeped into my soul when I hadn’t been looking.
“How can I be here without suffering any ill effects?” I asked Shadow when we stopped before the floating palace. I wanted to examine the building so badly, but my focus was locked on the enigmatic beast beside me. As always, his mere presence eclipsed all else.
“You didn’t enter of your own free will, so Faerie can’t keep you.”
“Seriously? Len never told me that.” I thought this new information over. “Guess it explains the way he took me. He should have said something; I’d have been a lot more forgiving.” Instead, the fae had let me hit him and still apologized and admitted to a wrongdoing. Which was … interesting.
Shadow’s smile was warm, as it often was around his friends. “Magic is a living entity, and like all that exist, it has rules. Faerie is more magic than any of the worlds, and once you know the rules, it’s a perfect location to visit. If you don’t know them, though, it will eat you alive. Len would have had his reasons for going about it the way he did.”
Shit, now I felt bad. It had been a high-tension time, firstly fighting the hunters…
Wait!
“I touched the Shadow Hunters,” I blurted out, suddenly remembering the most recent odd occurrence in regard to me and my wolf. “And they didn’t steal my soul, or whatever was supposed to happen.”
Silence. A long echoing silence.
Dammit, say something. Something reassuring.
Instead, expression unreadable, Shadow dismissed me, turning to press his hands on the wall of the building. It stopped shimmering and glowing, as a set of stairs appeared, leading up to a large double set of front doors.
“Shadow,” I pushed, needing some reaction from him.
He paused, one foot on the first step. “Normal rules do not govern you, Sunshine. It is growing apparent that your origin is from the realm. There’s no other explanation for what you can do.”
I wanted to scream, the tension inside of me threatening to explode as it grew in intensity. “How? The door has been locked for thousands of years! How would I get through? And I look just like my parents…?”
He turned back, staring down at me. “I have no idea what it means or how it is possible, and until we get the door open, we won’t find out.”
His eyes were telling me that this was the reason he’d been driving me so hard to stay on task, but we both knew that had been for him and no one else. Finding out what I was, had just turned into a fun side-adventure.
He made his way back to me, reaching out to touch my face. It was the oddest, almost gentle movement. “Don’t stress on it today. No answers will come from running it through your mind. Think of it this way… you’re still alive. Still fighting. You’ve survived what ninety percent of shifters wouldn’t, and that can’t be a bad thing. We’ll get to the truth eventually. Until then, just embrace the life you’re living.”
Fuck, I guess this ancient beast of a philosopher wasn’t wrong, and it probably wouldn’t hurt to take his advice.
For now.
Shadow started up the stairs again, and this time I followed, finally getting my chance to truly examine the stunning palace. I had to sigh as I looked over every aspect of it. It was straight from a fairytale—ironic, seeing as we were literally in a place called “Faerie”—with white stone walls, speckled through with glittering crystals, turrets, and multiple towers, topped off by various levels of elegant dark grey shingled rooves.
It was even larger than I’d thought initially, and as I followed Shadow up the stairs, I gasped at the sheer size of the double doors. They had to be twenty feet tall, and just as wide, and as both of them silently swung open to allow us entry, I was again staring around, wide-eyed.
The entrance was white, quite stark, with only a few pieces of art on the wall. The art wasn’t stationary as paintings would be on Earth, though; the images swirled and moved around, dusted with glittering magic as they depicted flowers and waterfalls and oases. They were so real, it felt like I could walk right into them and be in the image.
For all I knew, here in Faerie, that was actually possible.
“This is Len’s house?” I asked. It felt sleek and silver like he was, but also not quite right at the same time. He was modern lines and minimalistic. The outside of this was so ornate, and as we moved deeper, the rest was like that as well. Rich tapestries, large pieces of furniture to accommodate someone used to comfort, and splashes of red and gold that reminded me of one person…
“It’s mine,” Shadow said, confirming my new theory. “I like to keep a residence here, and you’ll be safe from the foreign magics as long as you remain inside.”
He led me up the stairs, Inky beside me as we traipsed to the second floor. Here there was a library. Of course. I was starting to get the feeling that Shadow was a little bit book-obsessed, and if anything, that only increased his appeal. And dammit, he did not need any help in that department.
Stepping into the library, Shadow headed toward the center and a set of couches similar to the ones in his lair. Inky went with him, but I crossed to the expanse of floor-to-ceiling windows, framed in black steel, showcasing the world below.
Stopping before them, I stared out across the landscape. “We’re moving!” I exclaimed, noticing the fast-shifting scenery below.
I hadn’t expected Shadow to hear me—he really wasn’t that close—but when I turned toward him, it was to find he was somehow at my side. It was so fast that I had to reconsider my stance on whether or not he could have been the one touching me when I’d woken from a nap. It had been such a sensual touch, though, and that made no sense, so it had probably just been a very vivid dream.
That was my delusion, and I was sticking with it.
“Nothing is stationary in Faerie,” he said, and I had to jump back a few brain loops to remember what we’d been talking about. My mind had been caught on the heat pooling in my gut and dripping down to my…
“Nothing is stationary?”
Shadow’s face was highlighted by a burst of golden sunlight that chose that moment to dramatically spray through the window. We had been flying through a bunch of low-hanging clouds, and as they cleared, the light was brighter than ever, and below us was…lava. Just fields of flowing red.
“The landscape here changes as often as the images that adorn my walls,” Shadow explained.
Trying to wrap my head around this concept was not easy. Humans and shifters liked stationary. It was familiar, and that was comforting. “What about Len’s garden? That didn’t move.”
Shadow grinned. “You’re quick. I like that about you. Most humans take forever to catch up to the conversation.”
I stuck my tongue out at him. “Better?”
He nodded. “That’s more the level I expect from your kind. But, yes, Len’s is a small stationary section. There are many scattered about, but they are cut off from anything else, so you still need to find yourself a mode of transportation.” Hence why he had a floating house here. It was basically Faerie’s form of a campervan.
With a shake of my head, I turned back to the view, noticing a few small islands dotted among the rivers of lava. “Can we get back to the Library of Knowledge from your house here?”
Shadow shook his head. “No, there are only a few entrances from Faerie to the library. We’ll have to go back to Len’s garden in two days so we can return. It’s the closest portal on this side of the great divide.”
And just like that, I really wanted to know what this great divide was. Hopefully, I’d learn so much more in our few days here.
“Stand back, Mera,” Shadow said suddenly.
I wrinkled my brow at him, wondering what the hell he was talking…
Inky exploded, his size going to twenty times larger, and I almost got caught in its black smoke.
“Are we under attack?” I yelled, covering my head as I ducked to the side.
Shadow laughed, and I paused because that didn’t sound like someone worried. This was clearly not an attack, but what was happening?
Inky continued to swell, and the spark of lights inside grew brighter and brighter until… a box slid out from the middle of it. What in the creepy fuck was going on here?
Shadow seemed amused by my expression as I stared at the somewhat disturbing image. “Your food has arrived,” he said.
I rubbed a hand over my face, opening my mouth to speak before closing it again. Inky had birthed a damn box of food, and now I had to eat it?
My stomach growled again, louder than before.
Yeah, so, okay, I probably would. But still… “How did it do that?”
Shadow, the beast of secrecy, just grinned.
Throwing my hands in the air, I spun in a huff, annoyed by everything being a secret in this world. My curious nature was driven crazy by all the unanswered questions, and it felt like Shadow was doing it deliberately at this stage.
Although now that I knew Inky was possibly linked to his weakness, maybe he was just extra cautious about revealing any information to do with his little minion.
“Inky has ties to the library that go beyond the norm,” Shadow said after a few seconds of awkward silence. I had not expected him to answer, so I was genuinely shocked. “He’s also connected to me, and between the two, it allows him to form a small magical portal. It comes in handy at times.”
Inky wrapped around us both, and I dragged my fingertips along the darkness. At some point, just like with Shadow, I could touch it without any repercussions. How that had happened, I had no idea, but I wasn’t upset. We’d made progress in the time I’d been with them. Shadow might have only trusted five beings in the world, but I was no longer the enemy I had been at one point.
To test the theory, I casually brushed through Inky and let my hand scrape across the skin of Shadow’s hand that rested near his side. Just a graze. But there was no pain.
I couldn’t stop the broad, triumphant grin from crossing my face. Shadow shot me a half-smirk, like he knew exactly what I was doing. “Don’t get too comfortable, little wolf,” he warned me. “You should take care to protect yourself at all costs.”
I nodded. “Always have, Shadow. And I always will. I’ve been let down too many times to be any other way.”
He didn’t seem convinced, but that was okay. I’d been underestimated just as many times as I’d been let down in my life.
Vague warnings aside, the rest of my time with Shadow went smoothly. The box was like a picnic extravaganza, with sandwiches, salads, and some cold cuts. Shadow didn’t eat with me, but he remained nearby while I dove in. When I was full and couldn’t possibly fit one more delicious morsel of food in, the box shut. I eyed it sadly and Shadow sounded amused when he said, “It’s magically sealed. Everything will stay fresh and cold inside.”
A relieved sigh left me. “Good, because wasting food is a sin.”
Shadow, who was sprawled back on his couch across from me, grinned lazily. “Sin is my calling card, Sunshine. It’s what I built my entire reputation on, and the reason I found myself kicked out of my land.”
He might not have been eating, but he did have a drink in hand, twirling the glass so the amber liquid swirled. He looked relaxed, and since he currently couldn’t go anywhere else to escape me, I decided to ask about the Shadow Realm.
Leaning forward, I tucked a fluffy pillow against my chest, propping my head up on it. “Tell me about the Shadow Realm,” I said softly. “Why is the doorway blocked? And how the hell am I drawing beings from there to here?”
His first instinct was to deny me the information; I saw that in the closed-off expression that replaced his relaxed features.
“This involves me,” I reminded him. “And you’re asking me to complete a task without giving me all of the information I need to complete it. For the sake of all our sanities, and possibly lives, it’s time to tell me now.”
His face remained set, the stubborn bastard.
“Why is the fucking door barred?” I lost my shit and those words came out a bit shoutier than I’d anticipated.
“Because of me,” he shot back. “I was born as the next Supreme Being, the true heir, and my family conspired against me, taking my crown and power. I was betrayed by the one who was supposed to have my back, and when they shot me out into the space beyond my world, they barred the door with a spell I’ve never been able to best.”
There was a deep-seated pain buried under his cynical expression. For thousands of years, his family had kept him away from his home… his land.
Bastards.
“And I thought my family tragedy was bad,” I murmured. “That’s super fucked-up. Even if you did something terrible to deserve their wrath, no one should be barred from their home.”
Shadow’s flames roared to life around him, a giant fireball that turned into his flaming wolf. I’d never seen him shift into a literal beast, but this time as the flames settled into the shape of a wolf, his other features morphed as well. His face grew elongated as his arms extended, claws protruding from his fingertips.
My heart raced, a natural fear response. This was the Shadow Beast in all of his glory—or at least ninety percent of it. The shadow fire version of him was truly a sight to behold.
“Shadow,” I murmured as he rose to his feet, standing twelve feet tall, the darkness of devils dancing around his body while flames soared higher.
“There will be no forgive and forget,” he rumbled, and with each word, the wolf in his face and voice was more pronounced. “I need that door open so I can tear them all to shreds and dance on their graves.”
I was on my feet too, feeling a great need to submit. The sheer power he was throwing off as the beast overtook the man, along with the rumble of his voice, almost sent me to my knees. This was the beast who had created shifters, the one who was feared and revered and loved by shifters the world over.
“I will help you open the doorway,” I promised, meaning every word of it. “For the first time, this task truly makes sense to me. I get why you’ve kept me around now… I’m the only one in all this time who has been able to bypass the spell on the door. A spell keeping you from your land, family, and destiny.”
He’d finally started to calm; the fire retreated, and his face returned to the darkly handsome man, versus the ferocious majestic beast. As it switched back, I could finally relax, not being drawn forward by the power of his fire wolf. Truth be told, I didn’t know which side of him I preferred, and I had no idea what it meant that I was hoping to see him properly wolf out again sometime soon.
He stalked closer to me, energy riding across his skin as he shed the beast. “You are the first being in a thousand years to be able to touch the Shadow Realm,” he told me in his deeper-than-should-be-possible voice. “I don’t know how or why… You’re like nothing I’ve ever found in my lifetime, and I don’t know what to make of you.”
Moving forward, I was unable to fight the urge any longer. Shadow had broken the control he’d had over himself, and in doing so, called me so strongly, I could not resist. His gaze was cautiously curious, watching closely but not stopping me. Right before I touched him, a low melodic tune drifted in through the library.
Shadow froze, his head jerking toward the window, where the view from what we could see was nothing but a purple haze of sky. “Fuck!” he said in snap. “Len, you idiot.”
“What is it?” I got out, fear choking my voice.
He growled, his entire chest rumbling. “It’s the Faerie lunar moon. Their five moons will converge into one, and upon this land, the time of fertility will begin.”
Forcing a rough swallow down my parched throat, I took a shaking step toward the window. “Time of fertility?”
The music increased, louder, faster, and I groaned, my weakened knees giving out on me as I hit the floor, my body inexplicably alight with pleasure and pain. The low burn of arousal that I often felt was nothing compared to this new surge of want and need in my body.
“Gods,” I cried out, my legs trembling as my hands slid down my body, heading right for my aching pussy in a desperate need to relieve the tension.
“Mera,” Shadow said, stepping closer. “You must fight the temptation.”
My hands shook, and I could tell when I forced myself to sit up that my panties were soaked as fuck. The material rubbed against my clit and I legitimately almost came.
“I can’t fight this,” I said with a whimpering cry. “It hurts.”
The ache was like a stab in my stomach, and no matter how I moved or twisted, nothing eased the pain. Shadow wrenched me up into his arms, and then he was running, heading away from the windows. But there was no way to escape the music. It floated on magical winds, carried by the dust of Faerie, and had been designed to weave through the very essence of our being.
“Fae are fertile only once or twice a year,” Shadow bit out, sounding like he was talking just to keep me distracted. “They use this music to encourage new growth.”
“Sounds like a date rape drug,” I slurred, my head fuzzy as flames started to burn in my toes and fingertips before raging through my body.
“No,” he said bluntly. “Your mind is not able to fight as a fae would. The music is encouragement, not mind control. But clearly, it’s hitting you hard.”
I heard him mutter something about virgins and the like, but I was too far gone to care. Just as the fire was about to explode in my center, having filled the rest of me, he dumped my ass in a shower and turned the water on icy cold, soaking me completely.
“You must fight the fire, Mera,” he said seriously.
My strangled laugh told him everything. I didn’t have a damn hope in hell.
