Deserted (Shadow Beast Shifters Book 4)
Deserted: Chapter 11

He knew before he’d taken two steps toward me that I was furious. I hadn’t spilled any energy, but my wings were pitched at an angle above that indicated I was ready to fight. Whatever peace I’d found from my blessing in the meadows, was long gone in the face of my oldest friend turned enemy. Reece, as always, upset every part of my equilibrium.

“It’s time for us to head to the Desert Lands,” he said, addressing the others, even though his eyes never left mine. The blue bored into me, attempting to strip me down, but I was too far gone to be affected by that look.

“How dare you,” I said, my voice bristling with the undercurrents of my anger, even if the words never rose above a whisper. “You had no right to dictate who could and couldn’t form a friendship with me.”

The skin around his eyes tightened minutely. He was confused, but that would last all of two seconds before he figured it out. Unfortunately for all of us, this bastard was both powerful, attractive, and intelligent. The full package if, of course, you didn’t mind the arrogant, controlling, piece of shit side of him that was part of the deal.

Reece’s gaze flicked up and over my shoulder toward Len, and from my peripheral I saw the fae shrug as if to say Sorry, it kind of slipped out.

Returning his attention to me, Reece’s expression gave nothing away. “You deserved what you got.”

I slapped out with my energy, cutting through the protective layer of sand that always surrounded him. Most could not see it, the invisible barrier of red Rohami sand that was part of his natural defenses, but I knew exactly where to hit to bypass that security system.

He took a step back, jerking his head like I’d punched him.

“I accepted my punishment,” I growled, moving closer, my power seeping from me for the first time, swirling around and around until it formed spears. “I lost that day too. I lost everything, and yet you have continued to hate me for so many years that I’ve nearly forgotten what it was like to be your friend.”

His growl was annoyingly more impressive than mine, and then he was moving toward me fast. My energy-formed-projectiles released, and while he swiped most away like flies, a few sliced across his body, leaving wounds that healed almost instantly. It would take a lot more than I was throwing at him to truly wound the god, and I wasn’t so far gone that I’d go there.

Yet.

“You’ve forgotten what it was like?” he growled again, his chest swelling as he stormed closer. He didn’t stop as he swept me up in his powerful arms and slammed me back against a nearby shelf. The entire structure shook, books tumbling down around us, and despite the shouts of horrified goblins, neither of us looked away and no one approached us.

“I’ve forgotten everything,” I lied, tilting my head and calling more power to my hands, the energy ready and waiting to reject his hold. “It was far easier than I expected. I’m sure you can say the same, since you’ve ignored me for a thousand years longer than you cared for me.” I forced myself to hold his gaze, even as I wanted to look away.

He stilled, predatorily still, and after the galaxies flashed in his irises, ice followed, chilling me to the bone. “I’ve never forgotten a thing about you,” he breathed, leaning in so our lips were almost touching. “Your taste. Your scent. The burning knife of your betrayal.”

My eyes squeezed closed because I just couldn’t do it any longer… stare into those beautiful blue depths.

“Lale,” he bit out, and I couldn’t ignore him when he used that name. No matter how much I wished I could. When I opened my eyes again, red filled my vision; his sand was surrounding us on all sides, preventing the others from seeing us or stepping in to break this up.

“You took everyone away from me,” I said, an annoying tremble of hurt in my voice. Fucking hell, these new emotions were a pain in the ass. “I’ve been alone. No family. No friends. No goddamn hope. Your brother was injured in that battle; I understand that and know he was never the same until he passed. I get why you haven’t forgiven me, but try and understand… I lost everything.”

He didn’t reply, but he was clearly confused by the impassioned nature of my speech. My newly reborn emotions had not been on display for him before now, and no doubt he had zero idea how to handle them.

Reece released me suddenly, and as he stepped back, I resisted the urge to rub my skin where he’d touched. His power continued to burn me, but I refused to show him how affected I was. “You’ve changed,” he said, still staring at me like I was a mystery he needed to unravel. “Just when I needed the robotic warrior, you’re back to being…” His words trailed off as he shook his head.

“Back to being what?” I pushed, most of my fury gone now. Learning the truth from Len had thrown me, but I was already at a place of acceptance. I really should have expected nothing less from Reece.

Deciding his answer didn’t even matter, I simply gathered every ounce of my equilibrium and pushed through his power, exiting the sand barrier to find a furious Mera on the other side. Shadow was holding her back, and she was shouting, “If anything happens to her, I will legitimately break you into ten fucking pieces.” Her eyes spat fire while tears traced her cheeks. “He’s toxic for her—you know it as well as I do—and this is not okay.”

Her protective streak was as large as the Solaris System itself, and it reminded me that I was loved now. No longer would I exist alone, stepping through the day without feeling a damn thing. No matter how hard these changes were, they were the best thing that happened to me.

“Reece is not her kryptonite, Sunshine,” Shadow said, his eyes meeting mine over the top of his furious mate. “He’s not toxic for her. And those two need to sort their shit out, or it will impact the rest of us and our ability to deal with whatever is happening in the Desert Lands.”

Mera sobbed a few times, but she was no longer fighting him. “She always protects me, and I know she’s struggling. It kills me that I can’t protect her the same way.”

My heart ached when I heard that. “Hey,” I said softly. Mera’s head jerked in my direction, and as she released her hold on Shadow, she raced toward me, dodging fallen books and scurrying goblins.

My wings were gone by the time she reached me, so there was only a round belly to get in the way of our hug. “Are you okay?” she asked breathlessly. “I could feel the energy spikes, but the sand was too thick to get through. Shadow thought we should give you both a moment.”

Behind my back, I felt Reece’s power die down, the sands returning to their invisible barrier around him. Oddly, he stepped closer to me, and I could almost taste the dry heat of his power on my tongue. When he stepped even closer, I was all but sandwiched between him and Mera.

“Angel and I are fine, Meers,” he said in a soothing voice. “Don’t stress yourself. We have some unresolved issues to work through, and it’s best we do that before we head into this new situation. Once we’re in the Desert Lands, I’m going to need us to present a united front. Desertlandians can sense weaknesses quite easily, and we have no time to deal with manipulations that could arise from that.”

Mera pulled away to look up at him. “And have you sorted it out?” Her tone was short, and I was happy that she was still standing firmly on my team when it came to this situation. I turned as well to find that Reece wore his usual stoic façade, face void of any true emotion. “We’re closer,” he finally said.

Closer to murdering each other.

The thought thankfully didn’t show on my face, and we were able to reassure Mera enough that we could move on to planning our next few steps. As the atmosphere calmed, all the others stepped forward, including Alistair, Galleli, Lucien, and Len. Everyone was suited up for the trip into the Desert Lands, except for me in my human clothes, but since I could call my armor when needed, there was no concern.

Reece, who was still standing far too close to me, got right to business. “Everything will be provided by the dynasties, so no need for supplies outside of weapons and energy stones.” He looked around, catching our eyes. “There should be no immediate danger in this first part of our journey as we head to the Ostealon and attend this impromptu gathering of the dynasties. From here, I want us to start investigating the disturbance and figure out who’s involved. Once we know that, we can question them about what’s happening and hopefully get to the bottom of the real issue here.”

“The issue of who or what is disturbing the sacred lands,” Shadow added.

Reece nodded. “Exactly.”

At the same time Mera asked, “What’s an Ostealon?”

“It’s our neutral ground,” Reece told her. “A powerful piece of land that is owned by none and is a central gathering point surrounded by sand rivers, our main channels of transportation.”

Mera’s brow furrowed, and there was a flutter of confusion between our bond.

“You’ll understand it better when you’re there,” I told her. “It’s quite spectacular.”

This brought a smile to her lips. “Despite the dangers, I’m pretty excited about this.”

“We know,” Len, Lucien, and Alistair all said at once.

Low rumbles of masculine laughter filled this section of library, but I didn’t join in, far too stressed to find any of this funny. Returning to this world was always going to be a struggle for me. A torment I had to bear.

Something told me that after this mission, life as I knew it was never going to be the same again.

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